1 Corinthians 14: The Gift of Tongues for Building Up the Church

Introduction

Pastor Mike, one of the pastors at Birmingham City Church, closes a five-week series on the gifts of the Spirit. After the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy and the discerning of spirits, he comes to the subject people avoid when they invite a friend to church: speaking in tongues and its interpretation.

"Don't panic," he says right from the start. He doesn't want to be "weird." He wants to go back to the basics, because Methodists, Baptists, Anglicans, Catholics and Pentecostals all have an opinion on tongues: is it from the Spirit, is it biblical, is it still for today? His goal is that you leave better informed, so that you can practice better.

The thread running through the message is one conviction: tongues are a precious gift, but without love they are only noise, and in the gathering they exist to build up everyone.

Outline of the Message

1. Speaking in Tongues: What Are We Talking About?

The theological word is "glossolalia." "In theology, if we can put it simply, we refuse to say it," the pastor jokes. The word joins two terms: speaking and tongues.
His definition: speaking in tongues is an ability given by the Spirit to speak an unknown language, from our spirit to God, to communicate mysteries to him beyond words.
Throughout the series, he has insisted on one point: the gifts are a manifestation for a specific purpose, at a specific moment. The gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 is therefore not exactly the same thing as the practice of praying in tongues, which many already experience during worship.

2. A Normal Sign, but Not the Only One

Several Pentecostal denominations teach that speaking in tongues is the proof of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This was also the case in the foundational truths of Elim, the church's denomination (about 600 churches in the United Kingdom, 9,000 worldwide).
But in those same churches, there were men and women who feared God, clearly baptized in the Spirit, active in prophecy and the miraculous, who did not speak in tongues. When a position is not practical, "we don't tell God to change the rules, we think maybe we should change the rules."
For Pastor Mike, tongues are a normal sign of the Spirit, but the evidence of the baptism in the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control.
In Corinth, everyone spoke in tongues, but some were having affairs, others walked off with the offering, and at dinner, the other tongue was gossip.
At Azusa Street in Los Angeles, in the early 1900s, William Seymour, the son of former slaves, opens a small church in a rough neighborhood. During his Bible training, he had to sit outside on a step. At Azusa Street, Black and white, rich and poor, young and old worship together and speak in tongues. But once they stepped outside, segregation returned. "It was emotion, it was experience, but it changed nothing."
The pastor applies it to his own congregation: some speak in tongues during the service, then, instead of the Sunday roast, they "eat" the person sitting next to them by criticizing their outfit or their breath. "You can learn to speak in tongues without the Spirit. It is much harder to be kind, patient, self-controlled and gentle without the Spirit."
Paul says it in 1 Corinthians 13:1: even if I speak in tongues, without love it is only noise.

3. Upward, Outward, Through: Three Kinds of Tongues

Upward. In 1 Corinthians 14:2, Paul describes a spiritual, personal prayer language. It is prayer in secret, when life is so good or so hard that words fail. The pastor links this language to the groanings the Spirit carries before God in Romans 8:26-27.
He quotes the Christian neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, who calls himself a "neurotheologian." He observed the brains of Catholic nuns praying their liturgy and of Pentecostals praying in tongues. In the nuns, it was the frontal area of language and analysis that lit up. In the Pentecostals, it was the areas of emotion and self-awareness. Neither prayer is declared more powerful than the other.
In 1 Corinthians 14:14, Paul says that when he prays in a tongue, his mind is unfruitful. According to the pastor, the Greek suggests a mind "at rest." "We don't need a plan or an agenda." The spirit joins the Spirit of God, who lights up in us what logic cannot see.
Outward. This is the gift of tongues of 1 Corinthians 12:10: in the gathering, someone stands up and gives a message in tongues, for everyone. It must be followed by an interpretation, given by another person or by the one who spoke.
Through. The New Testament shows it explicitly only once, in Acts 2, at Pentecost: believers speak in languages they do not know, understood by people who came from everywhere. The pastor imagines the crowd recognizing a Birmingham or Liverpool accent, but these were languages and dialects.
Is it still for today? A man from the church, "as Brummie as they come" according to the pastor, shares his story. On a mission in Siberia with the evangelist David Hathaway, a woman of Yoruba background told him that he had prayed in her mother tongue: "Father, fill this city with your Holy Spirit." He has never learned a word of Yoruba. During those few days, 1,500 people came to the Lord and a blind woman received her sight.
Pastor Paul Hudson lived through a similar scene in Kenya: in a remote village, an illiterate young man who spoke only his own dialect started praying in English, in clear sentences.
These stories remind us that God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27). They do not only build the faith of the one who lives them: when shared, they build up the whole Church.

4. What Was Happening in Corinth

The gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 is a message given by the Spirit that, together with interpretation, builds up the gathering. It is rooted in the key verse of the series, 1 Corinthians 12:7: the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Paul was not writing with millions of readers in mind. He was writing a letter to a church of thirty or forty people, who met in homes and knew each other intimately.
There, worship was turning into chaos: one spoke in tongues, another shouted over them, and so on, with no interpretation. They would start by singing the greatness of God and almost end up in a fight. People left without being built up or equipped for the week.
The Corinthians had raised the gift of tongues above everything else, while immorality and a lack of generosity remained in the church. From 1 Corinthians 12 to 14, Paul restores the balance: "It's good that you speak in tongues, but it is not the be-all and end-all. Let me tell you about love."
Hence 1 Corinthians 14:4-5: the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, the one who prophesies builds up the church; he is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless the latter interprets. And 1 Corinthians 14:18-19: Paul speaks in tongues more than all of them, but in the church he would rather speak five intelligible words than ten thousand in a tongue.
Paul does not belittle tongues: he insists on their proper use when the congregation is gathered.

5. Order Does Not Quench the Spirit

Paul gives precise instructions: two or three messages in tongues, with interpretation (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). This may bother some Pentecostals, but Paul is correcting a disorder. A friend of the pastor sums it up: "A river without banks is not a river, it's a flood."
God is a God of order from Genesis 1: the Spirit hovers over the chaos, then come day and night, the seasons, the tides, the vegetation. "Structure will not quench the Spirit if the structure is submitted to the Spirit."
Pastor Mike refuses to turn the "rule of three" into an absolute (fewer than three, it's not the Lord; more than three, it's the devil). We keep the heart and the wisdom of Paul's teaching, and apply it to our context. At Birmingham City Church, tongues are not a problem: four one week, one the next, "we cope."
Praying in tongues in your seat, interceding in the Spirit, using it in spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:18): no problem at all. The question arises when a tongue becomes the dominant voice in the room and everyone stops to listen. That is when we discern whether it is the gift, with interpretation.
Paul encourages the one who speaks in a tongue to pray that he may interpret (1 Corinthians 14:13), and reminds us that the one who does not understand cannot say "amen" (1 Corinthians 14:16). The gifts work together: interpretation can come through a prophecy, a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 14:6).
One day, after twelve minutes of singing "Break Every Chain," a woman came to tell him she had a word: God wanted to break every chain. She was obedient, but it added nothing more at that moment. Another time, two successive words contradicted each other.
Sharing: "If you sense it's God, it's your responsibility to share it." Discernment: it is the leaders' responsibility (pastoral team, elders) to test the word. Sometimes it will wait until the following Sunday. Sometimes it is not for the church but for the person themselves.
A "no" is not always a final refusal: it also protects the person. The pastor remembers a woman who, on her first Sunday at a church, was handed the microphone and only exposed herself and embarrassed herself. Today, with online broadcasting, "ten seconds of an Instagram clip" is enough.
Above all, we must not fear the gifts because we have seen abuses on TikTok or in a dubious church. "We do ourselves a disservice, and we do God a disservice." There will be mistakes, we will sometimes hear God wrongly: we own it, and we try again.

6. The Holy Spirit Lives in Us, He Does Not Possess Us

"The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace" (1 Corinthians 14:32-33). When the Spirit acts, it is not compulsive.
"The Holy Spirit lives in us, but he does not possess us." To be possessed is to lose all control and all responsibility. God could do it, but would a loving Father do that to beings created in his image, with dignity and for a purpose? The pastor does not think so.
So you can choose when and how a prophecy or a message in tongues is given. Sometimes it is better to hold it until a natural pause rather than interrupt the preaching or a song.
The pastor smiles at "the holy prayer voice": you speak with a Black Country accent ten minutes earlier, then suddenly in King James style, with a tremble in your voice. He is not saying it is wrong, but that we need to balance the Spirit's work and our emotions.
Even preparation is open to the Spirit. When he prepares a message, he submits it to God: "Nobody wants to hear a 37-year-old Brummie." For him, preparing is a form of worship. If an impression derails the whole service, he has to test it: does it come from God, or from instant coffee that was a bit too strong?

7. Not a Spirit of Fear

2 Timothy 1:7: God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power, love and a sound mind. The pastor stresses the last word, which he renders as self-control, a fruit of the Spirit.
When you begin to exercise the gifts, there is uncertainty and nervousness. That is not fear. Fear does not come from God. If something seems disorderly and excessive, it may not be the Lord, but emotion.
"We can move forward in the things of the Spirit without being crazy." Pentecostals come across as the uncle who dances on the table at a wedding, tie on his head, at three in the morning. Yet they bring something to the whole Christian family: they believe the Spirit still acts and still speaks.
The series was not only meant to fill heads: it aims to give confidence to move forward in everything the Spirit wants to do. The pastor prays that the Church will not be a "holy huddle" turned in on its nice premises, but that it will leave with a renewed desire for spiritual gifts, to proclaim Jesus in the city.

Key Takeaways

Speaking in tongues is a normal sign of the Spirit, but the proof of a Spirit-filled life is his fruit, starting with love.
Praying in tongues is a personal language directed to God; the gift of tongues in the gathering calls for interpretation so that everyone is built up.
Paul does not reject tongues: he corrects a disorder and reminds us that God is a God of order and peace.
The Holy Spirit lives in us without possessing us: you can choose the moment and the way to share what you receive.
Abuses should not make you fear the gifts. If God speaks to you, share it and let the leaders test it.

Personal Application

Is your life in the Spirit seen more in your words on Sunday or in your love, patience and self-control during the week?
Do you take moments alone with God to open your heart to him beyond words, in joy as in sorrow?
Is there a word or an impression you are holding back out of fear? Who could you entrust it to this week?
How do you react when what you share is tested or postponed: with offense, or with trust?
Has a bad experience pulled you away from the gifts of the Spirit? What would help you desire them again?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

Is speaking in tongues the proof of the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

For Pastor Mike, speaking in tongues is a normal sign of the baptism in the Spirit, but not the only one. He observes Spirit-filled believers who do not speak in tongues, and Corinthians who spoke in tongues while living in sin. The proof he holds to is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control.

What is the difference between praying in tongues and the gift of tongues?

Praying in tongues is a personal prayer language directed to God, which builds up the one who prays (1 Corinthians 14:2). The gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12:10 is a message spoken aloud in the gathering, led by the Spirit. It must be followed by an interpretation so that the whole Church is built up.

Why does Paul set limits on speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians 14?

In Corinth, everyone spoke in tongues at the same time, without interpretation, and the congregation left the service without being built up. Paul does not say tongues are bad: he restores the balance. God is not a God of disorder but of peace, and a structure submitted to the Spirit does not quench him. As a friend of the pastor puts it, a river without banks is no longer a river, it is a flood.