1 Corinthians 14

V. 18-19, Five words better than ten thousand

Have you every tried to have a conversation with someone who is speaking another language than you? I have had a few such instances in my life where I had to try and explain my self to an individual whose native tongue wasn’t English. I worked in housing at Marshall University after I graduated college and Marshall had an English as a Second Language program, so it had many international students. My Southern West Virginia hillbilly accent probably didn’t help the situation, but it was very difficult for me to understand them and for them to understand me. I have had similar instance with doctors whose native tongue was not English as well and to say the least it can be frustrating. Now imagine you are in a church service and someone begins to speak in a language you don’t understand, you have no idea what is being said or what is going on.

Paul says is these few verses that he would rather speak a few words in a known tongue than to speak ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. He says this because speaking in a unknown tongue in a public worship setting without interpretation benefits no one. No one is edified by the process because there is no understanding of what is being said so there is no life application that can be learned. On the other hand, if someone is to speak in a known tongue then individual in attendance to learn and grow from what is being spoken or taught. We attend a Pentecostal church and I would be the first to tell you that a lot of time speaking in tongues is abused and used in an improper manning with in worship services but I would also be the first to tell you that nothing can top the experience of message being given in tongues and interpreted for the congregation. It is a powerful manifestation of the power of God as the Holy Spirit speaks directly to the congregation. But the key to this powerful moment is that the message given was interpreted for all to understand what was being spoken.