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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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1 Corinthians 14:5
Comments
‘I would, that ye all spake with tongues’ – that is the apostle using language to say: ‘I would like that to happen’, but it wasn't the will of God as he goes on to say – ‘but rather that you prophesied.’ That is the great thing: to be edifying the people, building them up, with understandable truth. That was the purpose: to be a sign to Jews and also for the edifying of the church with special inspired messages until the Scriptures was complete. The apostle Paul may be speaking of all the congregation, but using exaggeration as he does in chapter 13 and elsewhere in this chapter. If so, then he doesn’t mean that literally: ‘I would that all the members of the congregation spoke in tongues.’ That wasn’t how God distributed the gift in the churches. He may exaggerate in order to show that he isn’t against tongues in principle. But actually, I don’t think that is the sense. He is talking to the platform party, to the leaders of the church. He is rather labouring the point; he will say this over and over again: ‘except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.’
Application
In a service of worship, to edify the people is everything; understanding is everything. There is no place, even in the days when tongues were given – and they were real languages – there is no place for the exercise if there is no message that can be understood by all the people, even in those days. And yet today, people speak in tongues that are not real languages, and they don’t understand what they are saying, and nor does anyone else. The apostle Paul labours over and over again to say, ‘This is not legitimate. This is not the purpose of the gift in those days.’
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