1 Corinthians 14:27-28

Paul laid down three guidelines for the use of tongues in public worship. First, the believers should permit only two or at the most three interpreted tongues messages. This is in harmony with the inferior contribution that tongues make compared with prophecy. Second, the speakers should give them consecutively rather than concurrently to minimize confusion. The Spirit does not overpower the speaker but is subject to the speaker, and the Spirit leads speakers to contribute in appropriate times and ways. The Spirit’s leading of the Old Testament prophets to speak at appropriate times and settings illustrates this. Third, the Christians should not allow tongues without interpretation in the church services, though Paul did permit private tongues-speaking (1 Corinthians 14:2; 1 Corinthians 14:4; 1 Corinthians 14:27). However remember that tongues were languages, and Paul valued private tongues-speaking quite low (1 Corinthians 14:2; 1 Corinthians 14:10-11; 1 Corinthians 14:13-14, et al.).