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NASB | 1 Corinthians 14:4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 14:4 One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church [promotes growth in spiritual wisdom, devotion, holiness, and joy]. |
Bible Question: How do tongues edify. Does the tongues speaker communicate meaningfully to God? Is it gibberish or meaningful thanks? |
Bible Answer: If you do a study of tongues (pl) in 1 Cor 14 you will see two types mentioned. While in the singular (unknown tongue) they refer to the counterfeit gift (exception of verse 27, I believe) when in the plural (tongues) the genuine gift. Do a study on Corinth's history and you will discover that the counterfeit gift is not of God--you may trace their history from the Tower of Babel forward. They are gibberish, meaningless for edification in the Church. The original gift has passed away but always (1) had a interpreter (2) others could already understand their own language being spoken (compare with initial outpouring in Acts). Notice one of the major purposes of the gift of TONGUES (pl) was for unbelieving Jews (1 Cor 14...in the law it is written), since Judaism passed away as a valid religion with the destruction of the Temple --70 AD, Judaism in essence can no longer exist in its true O.T. form. If you get into the Greek text of the end of 1 Cor 13 you will also see that tongues (pl-genuine) had a built in stopping place. Now to your question I know of no Scripture reference that tells us to speak to God in any unknown language (whether then, and of course now since they have passed away)? Experience does not dictate whether tongues still exist, only the Word of God may be our reference and the evidence of cessation is clearly seen throughout. A good book on this is Charismatic CHaos by John MacArthur |