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TWELVE RULES THAT ARE BROKEN WHEN PEOPLE SPEAK IN TONGUES
In chapter fourteen of the first letter to the Corinthians, twelve rules are laid down to regulate speaking in tongues. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul, the apostle, to write these rules. They are from God and he cannot violate any of them. If anyone in the Corinthian church spoke in tongues and violated anyone of the rules in 1 Corinthians 14, it was a confirmation that the Holy Spirit had not moved this person to speak in tongues; it was another spirit. The Holy Spirit cannot lead anyone to do contrary to His Holy Word. These seven rules condemn the Pentecostal and charismatic movements at every turn.
We find that Paul writes to the Corinthians to rebuke them of misusing the gifts. We also see that the Corinthian were not spiritual in any way but acting as the world.
1Co 3:1-3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
The Corinthian church had many serious problems, one of which was factionalism. After Apollos had ministered in Corinth for a time, some of the believers developed a special loyalty to him. Friction began to develop between them and those whose loyalty was to Paul. Others were loyal to Peter (Cephas, his Aramaic name) and still another group identified itself as belonging only to Christ. The apostle strongly rebuked all of them for quarreling and having such unspiritual divisions (1:10–13; 3:1–9).
Their most serious problem, however, was in not detaching themselves from the worldly ways of the society around them. They could not understand, and perhaps did not want to understand, the principle of “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world” (1 John 2:15). They could not get “decorinthianized.” In his previous lost letter, Paul specifically had warned them “not to associate with immoral people” (1 Cor. 5:9). Some of the Christians thought he meant for them not to associate with unbelievers who were immoral. But the sexually corrupt, the covetous, swindling, and idolatrous people to whom Paul referred were fellow church members who refused to give up, or had fallen back into, the debauched life–style of Corinth (5:9–11). The faithful believers were not to associate with such as those. Such wicked brethren were, in fact, to be put out of the fellowship in order to purify the church (5:13).
Like many Christians today, the Corinthian believers had great difficulty in not mimicking the unbelieving and corrupt society around them. They usually managed to stay a little higher than the world morally, but they were moving downward, in the same direction as the world. They wanted to be in God’s kingdom while keeping one foot in the kingdom of this world. They wanted to have the blessings of the new life but hang on to the pleasures of the old. They wanted to have what they thought was the best of both worlds, but Paul plainly warned them that that was impossible (6:9–10).
The Corinthians had gotten the principles confused. They continued to associate with openly and arrogantly sinful church members, with whom they should have broken fellowship. And, on the other hand, they mimicked, but refused to associate with, their unbelieving neighbors, to whom they should have been witnessing.
Yet they lacked no spiritual resources (1:5–7) and had great potential for spiritual power and blessing. Paul longed to see that potential realized. Such was the church to whom Paul wrote.
1. TONGUES HAD TO BE HUMAN LANGUAGES.
1Co 14:10 There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning.
Paul simply points up the obvious: the purpose of every language is to communicate, not to impress and certainly not to confuse, as the Corinthians had been doing with their counterfeits. That was clearly the point in the first instance of tongues: Each heard the apostles speak in his own language (Acts 2:6, cf. v. 8). This section makes an undeniable case for the fact that the true gift of tongues was never some unintelligible gibberish, but was human language that was to be translated (v. 13).
2. TONGUES WERE FOR PUBLIC USE AND EDIFYING THE CHURCH.
1Co 14:12, 13 So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.
1Co 14:26 What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
It seems that chaos and lack of order was rampant in that assembly (v. 33). It is interesting that no elders or pastors are mentioned, and the prophets were not even exercising control (see vv. 29, 32, 37). Everyone was participating with whatever expression they desired “whenever” they desired. a psalm. The reading or singing of an OT psalm. a teaching. This probably refers to a doctrine or subject of special interest (v. 33). a tongue. In the singular, this refers to the counterfeit. See note on vv. 2–39. a revelation. Some supposed word from God, whether spurious or genuine. an interpretation. This refers to that of a tongue’s message. for edification. This was Paul’s way of calling a halt to the chaos. Edification is the goal, (cf. vv. 3–5, 12, 17, 26, 31) and the Corinthian chaos could not realize it (cf. 1 Thess. 5:11; Rom. 15:2
The so-called closet use of tongues has no Biblical foundation whatsoever. The private use of tongues is selfish, unwarranted, and unbiblical.
3. TONGUES HAD TO BE A SIGN TO UNBELIEVING JEWS.
1Co 14:21 In the Law it is written, "BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME," says the Lord.
In a freely rendered quotation from Is. 28:11, 12, Paul explains that centuries earlier the Lord had predicted that one day He would use men of other tongues, that is, foreigners speaking unknown languages, as a sign to unbelieving Israel, who “will not hear Me.” These “other tongues” are what they knew as the gift of languages, given solely as a sign to unbelieving Israel. That sign was 3-fold: cursing, blessing, and authority. To emphasize the cursing, Paul quoted Isaiah’s words of warning to Judah of the judgment from Assyria
1Co 14:22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.
Explaining further, he says explicitly that all tongues are for the sake of unbelievers. In other words, that gift has no purpose in the church when everyone present is a believer. And once the sign served its purpose to pronounce judgment or cursing on Israel, and the judgment fell, the purpose ceased along with the sign gift. The blessing of that sign was that God would build a new nation of Jews and Gentiles to be his people (Gal. 3:28), to make Israel jealous and someday repent (see Rom. 11:11, 12, 25–27). The sign was thus repeated when Gentiles were included in the church (Acts 10:44–46). The sign also gave authority to those who preached both the judgment and blessing (2 Cor. 12:12), including Paul (v. 18).
4. A MAXIMUM OF TWO OR THREE WERE ALLOWED TO SPEAK IN TONGUES IN ANY MEETING
1Co 14:27a If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three
This means that, if a fourth person speaks in tongues in the same meeting, it is not of the Spirit of God but of another spirit.
5. ONE PERSON AT A TIME WAS TO SPEAK IN TONGUES
1Co 14:27b and each in turn,
By course means by order, turn, or succession. The Bible leaves nothing to guesswork. If two speak at the same time, at least one of them is not of God.
