Troublesome Topic: Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:18-21

1 Corinthians 14:18

Translation

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you do.

Paraphrase

I count it a blessing from God that I, more frequently than you, have the privilege of receiving a burden from God and responding to it by privately praying in tongues with groans, sighs, and tears. I keep it private because that is where it belongs, in part so as to avoid being tempted to put on airs.

1 Corinthians 14:19

Translation

But in the gathering of the called-out-ones

I desire to speak five words with my mind so as to make sound go down into the ears

of others, rather than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

Paraphrase

But, in contrast to what you are doing, when I am in a meeting of the church, I would rather be offered the opportunity of instructing others by saying only five words which make sense to them because my mind is fully engaged with my tongue, than to speak an unending stream of meaningless words the way you do. My five words will teach them something important; your many words will not help others at all.

1 Corinthians 14:20

Translation

Brothers, do not be children

in [your] diaphrams.

Instead, in evil be infants,

but in the diaphragm, come into being.

Paraphrase

Now brothers, take a good look at what you are doing and stop being so immature in your capacity for perception and proper judgment. Instead, you should seek to have no experiential knowledge of evil, but in your hearts and minds act like adults when it comes to the issue of tongues.

REMEMBER WHAT PAUL SAID IN CHAPTER 13

“when I became a man and reaped the consequences of becoming one, I brought the childish things to a motionless state” (I Cor 13:11). Some of the believers in Corinth had failed to grow up. The way Paul chides them makes us think that they knew better, but they chose the childish, self-centered way of doing things anyway.

1 Corinthians 14:21

Translation

In the Law it is written:

By other tongues and by other lips I will speak to this people, and not [even] in this manner will they hear me into [themselves].

Paraphrase

In the Hebrew Scriptures it is written “Through unknown languages and through strange-sounding speech I will communicate my desires to the people of Israel, and yet not even then will they listen intently to what I say and take it to heart and comply with it.

“BY OTHER TONGUES I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE”

This statement was taken from Isaiah 28:9-12 and adapted by Paul. The point of it is this: God used the strange-sounding language of the Assyrians and then the Babylonians to discipline the Israelites from the northern tribes and then the southern tribes respectively. The Assyrians were known as “dividers.” God used them to say, “You like division, therefore I will send you to the ones who specialize in division. The Assyrians will teach you the full consequences division.” Of those who were taken in captivity to Assyrian, basically none of them returned to Israel. The Jews saw the Babylonians as ones living in “Confusion.” God used this to say, “You like confusion, therefore I will allow the masters of confusion to teach you the full consequences of confusion.” Of those that were taken as captives to Babylon, only a small percentage returned to Israel.

According to Is 28:9-14, this disciplinary act was necessary because they had refused to listen to the tongues of the prophets whom they could understand. The Isaiah 28 passage is about punishment, but later, in v. 16, there is a hint that points to Jesus.

In Acts chapter 2 the statement came true again, although not an act of discipline, but to get the attention of Jews who did not yet believe in Jesus as savior and Messiah.

The next lesson in the Full Series on Tongues is Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:22-25

Footnotes

1: “the gathering of the called-out-ones”:

The word for church meant “called out, assembled, gathered.” We are the church if we have heard the call of God and responded by doing many things, one of which is to gather or assemble with other believers whose hearts share our passion for Christ.

2

This is the word for “instruct or teach.” You teach by making sound go down into someone’s ears so it can impact his mind.

3: "children"

This is the word from which we get our word “pediatric.” It means “children.”

4: "diaphragm"

This word’s basic meaning is “diaphragm” but from there they got the concepts of “midsection, heart, emotions, the cognitive faculties such as the mind, understanding, perception and judgment.”

5

This is the word for “infant.” It was also used to communicate being “innocent, uninformed, unlearned, simple-minded.” It is a good thing to be “unlearned” when it comes to evil.

6

Here “the Law” really means the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures because the source is Isaiah 28:9-12. It is not a direct quote, but rather a very free rendition of the Septuagint’s translation of that passage into Greek.

7

The compound word “hear into” was used for emphasis and had the force of “to grasp what is said and extend it to its purpose of result”. It can be rendered “hear deeply, listen intently, give ear to, assent to, comply with.”