Spiritual Worship
SPIRITUAL WORSHIP
1 CORINTHIANS 14:13-19
Paul writes about using the gift of tongues in church worship.
Here Paul gives a contrast between a practice in which the mind is alert and active (obviously implied in the prophetic ministry of 14:3 and negatively in 14:14) and the use of a tongue which is the product of a spiritual upsurge requiring no mental effort.There is a further reason why the gift of tongues needs control, when it is used in congregational worship. Unless some intelligible interpretation is given (14:13), immature Christians, lacking this gift and the accompanying gifts of interpretation and discernment (for such gifts were not universally shared as 12:30 makes clear), will not be able to enter helpfully into the worship. In a specific instance, if they listen to what seems to them to be gibberish with no sensible meaning, they will not be able to confirm the truth of the prayer by an audible Amen (14:16) and they will not be built up in their Christian life (14:17). Therefore, Paul concludes, the usefulness of the gift of tongues in public assembly is limited, and is set over against the ministry of prophecy in which even five words which are readily intelligible are far more profitable than two thousand times that number of words which fall meaninglessly on uncomprehending ears.
14:18 refers to the earlier portion of the chapter when Paul is relating the gift to its private exercise. With this practice he finds no fault, because no interpretation is required; but “in church” a restraint must be placed on the gift of tongues.