Commentary - 1 Corinthians 14:1-5

Bird's-eye view

Coming off the high mountain of chapter 13, where love is described as the more excellent way, Paul now descends to apply that principle of love to the chaos of the Corinthian worship services. The problem in Corinth was not a lack of spiritual gifts; Paul already said they were not lacking in any gift (1 Cor. 1:7). The problem was a carnal, showy, and disorderly use of those gifts, particularly the gift of tongues. This entire chapter is a work of pastoral traffic control. Paul is not forbidding the gifts, but rather regulating them according to the supreme law of love, which always seeks the good of the other. The central argument is this: the value of a spiritual gift in the corporate assembly is measured by its intelligibility and its capacity to build up the church. Prophecy, being clear and understandable, is therefore superior to tongues, which, without interpretation, is just noise to the congregation.

Paul’s task here is to restore order and right priorities. He establishes a clear hierarchy: love is the motive, edification is the goal, and prophecy is the preferred means in the public gathering. Tongues are not forbidden, but they are demoted from their place of pride and put under strict regulation. The principle is straightforward: God is not the author of confusion, and our worship should reflect His character. What builds up the saints is what glorifies God, and what builds up the saints is what they can understand.

Outline

Context In 1 Corinthians

First Corinthians is a letter of correction. The church was gifted but deeply carnal, riddled with factions, lawsuits, sexual immorality, and liturgical chaos. Chapters 12 through 14 form a unit addressing the specific problems surrounding spiritual gifts. Chapter 12 establishes that the gifts are from one Spirit for the common good. Chapter 13 provides the essential context for all ministry: love. Without love, the most spectacular gifts are nothing more than a clanging cymbal. Chapter 14 is the practical application of that love to the specific disorders in their worship, particularly the elevation of tongues above prophecy. Paul is reorienting their entire understanding of spiritual power away from individualistic, ecstatic experiences and toward the corporate building up of the body of Christ.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:1

Pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

Paul begins with a command that connects everything he just said in chapter 13 to everything he is about to say. "Pursue love" is the main imperative. The verb here means to chase after, to hunt down. This is not a passive suggestion; it is the central business of the Christian life. Love is the context for everything else. But this pursuit of love does not negate the desire for spiritual gifts. In fact, he commands them to "earnestly desire" them. The word is zealous, boiling with desire. There is no piety in pretending we have no need for the Spirit's equipment. But this desire must be governed and directed by love. And how is that desire directed? Paul tells us immediately: "but especially that you may prophesy." He sets up a ranking right at the outset. All gifts are to be desired, but not all gifts are equally desirable for the corporate gathering. Prophecy gets the gold medal because, as we are about to see, it is the gift of plain, understandable speech that builds the church.

1 Corinthians 14:2

For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.

Here is the reason for the superiority of prophecy. The one speaking in a tongue, without an interpreter, is not communicating with the congregation. He "does not speak to men but to God." In the public assembly, this is a problem. God already knows all things; the people are the ones who need to hear. The reason they do not speak to men is that "no one understands." It is unintelligible. Now, Paul is not saying it is meaningless gibberish. He says that "in his spirit he speaks mysteries." These are divine secrets, truths hidden from natural understanding. But the point is that they remain mysteries to the hearers. A mystery locked away in a private language does not edify the man in the next pew. The whole exercise is between the speaker and God, which makes it fundamentally a private act of devotion, not a public act of ministry. To make it the centerpiece of public worship, as the Corinthians were doing, is to misunderstand the nature of the church as a gathered body that must be built up together through intelligible communication.

1 Corinthians 14:3

But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and encouragement.

The contrast is stark. While the tongue-speaker speaks to God, the prophet "speaks to men." And he does so for three specific purposes, all of which are aimed at the listeners. First, for "edification." This is the word oikodome, which means to build a house. Prophecy is spiritual construction work. It lays bricks, raises walls, and puts the roof on the house. It strengthens the faith of the believers. Second, for "exhortation." This is a call to action, an urging to faithfulness, a stirring up to obedience. It is a word that says, "This is the way, walk in it." Third, for "encouragement" or comfort. This is the tender word for the weary, the afflicted, and the downcast. It is a word that binds up wounds. Notice that all three are profoundly corporate and communal. They require understanding. You cannot be built up, exhorted, or comforted by a sound you do not comprehend.

1 Corinthians 14:4

One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.

Paul now brings the comparison to its logical conclusion. The one who speaks in a tongue "edifies himself." This is not necessarily a bad thing; self-edification has its place in private devotion. But in the context of a church service, where love for the brethren is the governing rule, it is a lesser thing. The Corinthian error was to prize this self-edification in the public square, turning the worship service into a platform for individual spiritual experiences. But Paul contrasts this with the one who prophesies, who "edifies the church." The verb is the same, but the object is different. One builds up himself; the other builds up the entire assembly. Love seeks the good of the other. Therefore, in the gathered church, the gift that serves the many is superior to the gift that serves the one.

1 Corinthians 14:5

But I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. And greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he translates, so that the church may receive edification.

Paul wants to be clear that he is not despising the gift of tongues. "I wish that you all spoke in tongues," he says, likely meaning in their private prayers. He himself spoke in tongues more than all of them (v. 18). But he immediately qualifies this with his greater desire: "but even more that you would prophesy." Why? He repeats the principle: "And greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues." The standard of greatness is usefulness to the church. Then comes the crucial exception that proves the rule: "unless he translates." If the tongue is interpreted, it becomes intelligible to the congregation. And what happens then? "so that the church may receive edification." Interpretation turns a private utterance into a public prophecy. It makes the unintelligible, intelligible. And in doing so, it makes the gift useful for building up the body. The ultimate issue is not tongues versus prophecy in the abstract, but rather unintelligible speech versus intelligible speech in the corporate worship of God.

Application

The principles laid down here are timeless, even for those of us who believe the revelatory sign gifts have ceased with the apostolic age. The central lesson is that our public worship must be governed by love, and love demands clarity and intelligibility for the sake of others. We are not to gather as a collection of individuals having private experiences in public, but as a body, a family, a house being built up together.

This means that everything done in a worship service, from the sermon to the songs to the prayers, must be ordered toward the edification of the saints. Preaching must be clear, not esoteric. Music should be singable and rich with truth, not a performance designed to showcase talent. Prayers should be offered in such a way that the congregation can say "Amen."

The Corinthian temptation to value the spectacular and the mysterious over the plain and the understandable is still with us. We must resist it. The true measure of a "spiritual" service is not the level of emotional fervor or the presence of extraordinary phenomena, but rather whether the people of God are being built up in their most holy faith through the clear proclamation of the Word of God.