“Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophesy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’”
- 1 Corinthians 14:22-25 (NIV)

This passage has confused me for a while. It seems paradoxical: tongues are a sign for the unbelievers, but if an unbeliever sees believers speaking in tongues, they will say that the believers are out of their mind. Yet prophesy is for the believers, and if an unbeliever sees believers prophesying, they will be convicted of their sin and worship God. Perhaps it is like what happened at Pentecost – the Holy Spirit indwelt in the hearts of believers, and they were filled with the Spirit. When the Spirit of God filled them, they began to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4). The unbelievers did not understand what happened, but Peter, prompted by God, used the opportunity to share the gospel with the everyone.

Or maybe it’s because tongues are a sign of being baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2, Acts 19:5-6). I want to stress the importance of it being a sign, not the sign, as there are many accounts in Acts where the Holy Spirit came upon new believers and they did not receive the gift of tongues. Paul writes in the verses prior to the above passage that the gift of tongues is a great thing, but without translation it is mostly for personal edification, and should be minimized if it will not edify the church. Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he was talking about unbelievers seeing everyone speak in tongues and thinking that all believers are crazy.

On the other hand, prophesy seems to be better for strengthening the church. While tongues glorify God as much as prophesy does, the church as a whole is more edified through prophesy. Paul writes that speaks in tongues more than any of the Corinthian church, but he would rather “speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:18-19). Perhaps it is because of this edification and strengthening of the Church that Paul would say that unbelievers would be convicted of their sin and be judged by all and then worship God. A church that is unfied under Christ is a powerful witness to non-Christians. So then, while both tongues and prophesy come through those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesy, which edifies the body of Christ, can convince unbelievers to worship God.

Now, to the tricky issue: Does this apply to us today? After all, church unity is great and everything, but if tongues and prophesy is not relevant to our lives today, what else should we be putting into practice in our lives? Well, for that you will have to wait for another day, since it’s another huge topic.

Until then!