1 Corinthians and Tongues in Private Devotions

Well, I have returned to life as normal (almost). I spent my spring break writing my church history talks (the retreat is this upcoming weekend, April 1-4, so I would appreciate your prayers if you remember) and spending lots of time with my wife. We found a game that we have been playing incessantly, Settlers of Catan. It is a great game and I highly recommend it to you. I though about writing a theology of Catan (for example, just because something is probable does not mean it will happen, especially when you most want it to happen, as in, just because 8 is supposed to be rolled often does not mean it will be when you need it), but I decided against it for now. So instead, I have another topic. I have been leading a Bible Study recently in 1 Corinthians 14. We have just arrived at 1 Corinthians, which contains a whole slew of fascinating problems and issues. The issue I want to discuss today is whether tongues are appropriate for private devotions.

Just to tell you up front, I believe the miraculous gifts have ceased, so I am not so much asking the question to determine whether we should pray in tongues now, but what Paul intended when he wrote the passage. Now that you have been empowered, you can see where my presuppositions might influence my exegesis. The relevant verses for this topic occur in 14:2-4 and 28. I’m going to ignore 28 for this post, as it doesn’t seem to add much beyond the other verses. Verse 2-4 occur at the beginning of Paul’s comparison of tongues and prophecy. Verse 4 states that the one who prays in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophecies edifies the church. Many have sent this verse and determined from it that this self-edification is good, which is a reasonable conclusion. Edification is almost always a good thing, and so tongues are viewed as a legitimate way to build up oneself. However, I am not so sure that it is actually a good thing. While edification is usually a good thing, it is not always so. For example in 1 Corinthians 8:10, some are being edified to do something against their conscience. They are being encouraged to do something bad. Could it be possible that there is a similar negative connotation here?

A look at the context is very helpful. Chapters 12-14 are Paul’s discussion of gifts in the church. Chapter 12 emphasizes the unity of the church as well as the diversity of the gifts. The point Paul is making is that all the gifts are needed so that the church can be built up. Chapter 13 is a digression about love (note the resumptive repetition of 12:31 and 14:1 as well as the repetition of “excellent” in 12:31 and “greatest” in 13:13, which translate the same Greek word), written to remind the Corinthians that the gifts must be exercised in love. The overall reason for prophecy being better than (non-interpreted) tongues in verses 1-19 is that prophecy is intelligible and thus helpful for building up the church. The constant theme throughout this section of the epistle is to challenge them to think about others and to show them the need to build up the church. In this kind of context, to say that something builds up oneself is a highly negative statement. Paul is speaking sarcastically here, not giving them a model for a proper use of tongues. How could the gift of tongues used in private devotions build up the church? Gifts are supposed to be used to build the church! A possible response is that the person speaking tongues is encouraged and so can serve the church better, but that seems to miss the point of gifts. They are not indirectly for the building up of the church, but for directly building up the church. In the context of 1 Corinthians 14, tongues has no place in private devotions.

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