1 Corinthians 14:2

Glossolalia (speaking in tongues) by itself is not edifying to other people, but prophecy is. This statement again raises a question about what speaking in tongues involved.

On the day of Pentecost people spoke in tongues and other people who knew the languages spoken received edification because they heard of God’s mighty deeds in their native languages (Acts 2:1-11). Interpreters were unnecessary on that occasion (cf. Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6). Evidently what was taking place in the Corinthian church was different from what took place on the day of Pentecost. In Corinth, and perhaps in other early churches, people spoke in tongues among people who did not understand the languages. An interpreter was necessary for those present to understand and benefit from what the tongues-speaker was saying in a strange language (1 Corinthians 14:5; 1 Corinthians 14:13). Paul used "tongues" and "languages" interchangeably in this passage (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:2; 1 Corinthians 14:10-11; 1 Corinthians 14:13, et al.). This is an important proof that tongues were languages.

Some Christians have suggested another distinction. They have claimed that the tongues in Acts were foreign languages but the tongues in Corinthians were ecstatic utterances, not languages but unintelligible speech. [Note: E.g., Robertson and Plummer, pp. 301, 306.] There is no basis for this distinction in the Greek text, however. The terminology used is the same, and the passages make good sense if we take tongues as languages wherever they occur. In 1 Corinthians 13:1 Paul wrote "of the tongues of men and of angels," evidently two types of languages. [Note: See Keener, pp. 112-13, and S. Lewis Johnson Jr., "The Gift of Tongues and the Book of Acts," Bibliotheca Sacra 120:480 (October-December 1963):310-11.]

If someone spoke in an unknown language and no one could interpret what he was saying, the person speaking was not speaking to men. God knew what he was saying even though no one else did, including the person doing the speaking. In his human spirit the speaker was uttering mysteries (Gr. mysteria, things hidden or secret from the understanding of those in the church who were listening). Obviously Paul’s concern was the edification of the church. He did not disparage the gift of tongues itself, but he put it in its rightful place.

Paul described the spirit as distinct from the mind (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:14-19).

"Contrary to the opinion of many, spiritual edification can take place in ways other than through the cortex of the brain. Paul believed in an immediate communing with God by means of the S/spirit that sometimes bypassed the mind; and in 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 he argues that for his own edification he will have both. But in church he will have only what can also communicate to other believers through their minds." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 657.]