“Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.”
1 Corinthians 14:1-4 NLT
“Let love be your highest goal”
Paul finally sums up the previous chapter in 1 Corinthians by writing, “Let love be your highest goal”. But then he adds that the believers in Corinth should also desire the gifts of the Spirit. It isn’t an either/or, but love and the gifts work hand in hand, supplementing each other. Someone who loves without the Holy Spirit will lack the focus to determine where their love will be most effective. Someone with Holy Spirit gifts but without love can potentially undermine their effect.
Paul highlights the gift of prophecy as being the one to desire. But he picked out the tongue speakers for a gentle correction. It must have been the case in Corinth that everyone was speaking in tongues in the meetings, yet failing to be understood, resulting in a chaotic situation. So Paul explained that speaking in tongues was only a personal thing, between the person and God. Only He would understand what their tongue-speaking meant. Just as a reminder, there are three types of tongues. The one Paul was referring to was the Heavenly language given by the Holy Spirit for personal devotions. In Romans 8:26-27, we read, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will”. Perhaps we have reached a blockage in our prayer lives, and fail to understand what we should really be praying for or about. But as we speak in tongues, our spirits are communicating with God, with the Holy Spirit filling in the gap in our knowledge and understanding.
The second type of tongues is for a public meeting or other setting, where someone present can interpret the message. Some tongue speakers can interpret their own message, with the interpretation revealed to them as they speak. Both the first and second type of tongues sounds strange to a hearer because it is in the form of spoken syllables that make no sense to a hearer and probably not to the speaker either. The gift of tongues is, as Paul wrote, a mystery that will only be revealed when the Perfect comes. This is a faith gift because no rational explanation can be applied from a human perspective. Language is something that we gain from hearing our parents speak when we are just a baby. I have been in the privileged position of hearing a child start to speak at the age of about two. His words started with attempts to mimic those around him and were closely followed by understanding as a patient mum and dad explained and encouraged. As a result, almost daily, new words and phrases began to develop. Speech became clearer, and understanding followed. But our Heavenly language of being able to speak in tongues is indeed a mystery, but it is a Holy Spirit gift that strengthens the personal life of a believer, and in the second context, it is a gift that strengthens the church.
The third type of tongues can be seen in the Acts 2 setting, where the speaking in tongues was in a language unknown to the speaker but was understood by someone of a different nationality. We read from Acts 2:7-8, “They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!” This form of tongues is less well known today, but is still sometimes heard, as the Holy Spirit grants the gift.
But back to the first verse of chapter 14. There is a synergy between the quality of agape love and the Holy Spirit’s gift of prophecy. Each without the other lacks the potential that can be achieved by both working together, and Paul completes verse 4 with the assurance that those who prophecy build up the church.
Dear Father God. With Your Spirit empowering the church and its believers, we can grow from strength to strength in love and grace, becoming more like Your Son, Jesus. We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 