Desire The Greater Gift

Dear Bethelites,

If God has blessed you with a spiritual gift, it is not for your own benefit but for the edification of the believers. For example, if God has blessed you with the gift of hospitality, showing mercy, teaching or singing, it is for the purpose that you may contribute to the good of others.

So, in this chapter, one sees the repetition of the words, edification, edifieth, edifying or edified, a total of seven times (vv.3, 4, 5, 12, 17, 26). Thus, it is a key word. Edification means to build up or to strengthen. The Corinthians were very concerned about spiritual gifts, but their motivations were all wrong, it was for the purposes of self-seeking, self-gratification and self-glorification, not for the edification of the church.

Verse 1, Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. The phrase follow after is a strong term which means to pursue or to chase after with intensity. The problem with the Corinthians was that the only strong desire they had for spiritual gifts was for themselves, therefore Paul urged them to pursue after charity (love). Without love, everything would be meaningless (c.f. 1 Corinthians 13).

But that does not mean that we only hold onto love, and everything else is to be disregarded. Love is no substitute for the other virtues, like truth and service. We must speak the truth with love, and we must serve with love. The point is that one needs to understand that the proper use of every spiritual gift is not for one to show off, but for him or her to minister to others with love.

Here essentially, Paul was saying that there was a more significant and important gift that could accomplish something that tongues could not accomplish, and that was to prophesy.

The word to prophesy can mean to fore-tell (as in fore-telling the future), or forth-tell (as in declaring the truth). When the Bible was completed, and with the strong warning in Revelation 22:18-19, the ability to fore-tell the future had come to an end. Today, when we prophesy about the future, like speaking about the end times, we are forth-telling what the Bible has already recorded for us. So, basically, to prophesy is to declare the truth of God’s Word.

So, Paul was making a point that prophesy could do something that tongues could not do. But how could prophesy be better than tongues? Again, it had to do with the word edification.

I. We Are To Edify The Believers, Not God

Verse 2, For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

The word tongue means language. The word unknown (which was added by the King James translators) is not a reference to the charismatic ecstatic speech which nobody can understand. It is a foreign language!

In those days, when the Bible was still not completed, there was the existence of the sign gifts, and speaking in tongues was one of them. When the person spoke in an unknown tongue (foreign language), he was speaking to God because only He could understand every language. He was not speaking to men unless those men knew and understood the language he was speaking.

Howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries — The word spirit is not a reference to the Holy Spirit, but to the person’s spirit. Essentially, the person was speaking things to himself that no one could understand.

Unknown words do not edify, because what you do not know or understand cannot edify you. If the preacher were to stand on the pulpit and speak in a language that the congregation does not understand (it could be French, Spanish or Mexican), it is of no value to those people who do not understand those languages.

One ought to remember that spiritual gifts are meant to edify. God gives us spiritual gifts for the edification of the saints. He does not give us spiritual gifts for the purpose of edifying Him for He is perfect and does not need edification, to be encouraged, built up or strengthened. Believers are to glorify God, not edify Him! On the other hand, we are not perfect, therefore God gives us spiritual gifts so that we may edify, encourage, build up and strengthen one another.

Words with no meaning edifies no one! The modern charismatic movement does not understand that. When you watch the charismatics speaking in tongues, they are speaking words that no one knows nor understands. One of the things the charismatics would always say is that speaking in tongues is a gift, and they are speaking to God, and only He understands. One does not need to speak to God in such an ecstatic speech or utterance for Him to understand. To reiterate again, God does not give us spiritual gifts so that we can edify Him, but rather to edify the believers.

Therefore, Paul said in verse 3, But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Speaking a foreign language cannot edify the one who does not understand. But there is something that edifies, and that is the preaching or declaration of God’s truth in the native tongue of the people. There are at least three benefits from the gift of preaching. This verse is not an exhaustive list of all the benefits of preaching, just citing some essential ones.

1. The first benefit is edification — This is the strengthening of our faith and knowledge of God which enables us to grow spiritually.
2. The second benefit is exhortation — This is the encouragement for us to press on and persevere.
3. The third benefit is comfort — This is to help us cope with the trials and struggles of life.

II. We Are To Edify The Believers, Not Ourselves

Verse 4, He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

This statement was spoken with a touch of sarcasm (in a good sense to drive across a point). It does not mean that the person who speaks in an unknown tongue (foreign language) actually edifies himself. In whatever language one speaks in, unless he or she understands that language, he or she would not be edified.

In other words, Paul was saying, “You are only thinking about yourself. You want to feel good about yourself. You are just after self-gratification. But spiritual gifts are not meant for yourself, they are given to you for the edification of others!”

Let’s say there is a sister-in-Christ who is gifted to play the piano, and the deacon-in-charge of music approaches her to serve in the music ministry. But she says, “No!” And the deacon says, “But God has gifted you in this area.” “Yes,” she says, “I know that, and that is why I play for myself every day. I feel so encouraged every time I play the piano for myself.” The same goes with the one who is gifted with a good voice, and she says, “I sing for myself.” Or the one who is gifted to preach but he does not want to teach in the Sunday school, and he says, “Well, I like to preach to myself, and I would record what I say, and then listen to my own preaching and be edified.” That was never the intention of any spiritual gift. It was never for the purpose of self-edification!

Again, we are not targeting the charismatic movement, but it is very common for those who practice the charismatic tongue-speaking to say that it is for their own private devotional use. Though, we believe this unknown tongue in verse 4 is a foreign language, but just for sake of argument, even if it is a reference to the charismatic ecstatic speech, Paul said, “Do you not know that was not the purpose for spiritual gift. It was never to edify yourself, and it was always meant to edify others!”

On the other hand, preaching edifies the church because the Word of God is powerful to edify, encourage and comfort the people.

Verse 5, I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

Here, it is a figure of speech, because Paul did not mean for everyone to speak in tongues. That would be impossible! If he did that, then he would be contradicting himself because previously he had said in 1 Corinthians 12:30, Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? Most certainly not! Only some of them were given those sign gifts! On another occasion, he said in 1 Corinthians 7:7, For I would that all men were even as I myself. (in other words, I am single and I wished that all men were like myself) But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. Did he really mean that everyone should not get married? No! Not everyone had the gift of celibacy!

In other words, what Paul was trying to do here, was that he did not despise the gift of speaking in tongues (foreign language). Even if God had given all the Corinthians the gift of speaking in tongues, there was something greater than that, and that was preaching. Greater in terms of edification. To put it simply, Paul was saying, “I would rather you are gifted to preach because that would be more edifying!”

Speaking in a foreign language is of no value to us, except when it is interpreted. By way of illustration, have you ever watched a foreign movie on television without subtitles? You have to keep guessing what the actors are saying, right? Some people may argue that in movies, the setting, sequence and actions may provide some clues. But what about listening to a foreign radio? That would surely leave us absolutely clueless. That is exactly what speaking in tongues without any interpretation means.

Some time ago, one church member said to me that she would not bring her parents to church because they could not understand English. They could only speak Cantonese, so she brought them to a Cantonese church. I totally agreed with her. What benefit could they receive from listening to an English sermon? What edification, or exhortation, or comfort, could they receive? None!

But there is one way in which speaking in tongues (foreign language) can have the same emphasis or significance as that of preaching, and that is when it is interpreted. For example, when I speak in English, and I have an interpreter who understands both Mandarin and English, standing beside me, and he interprets every word I say into Mandarin. When he does that, then it will be able to edify the Mandarin listeners.

Perhaps, you may be thinking to yourself, “Alright, I understand that prophesy is better than speaking in tongues (foreign language). But since the gift of tongues-speaking had ceased after the apostolic era, and no one is gifted in such a way anymore, so what has that got to do with me?” Well, remember, the keyword edification. If you are a believer, then God has gifted you; every believer is given at least one spiritual gift, some have multiple spiritual gifts. There are two things you can do in regards to your spiritual gift/s.

1. You may be unfaithful — God has given to you the spiritual gift, and you refuse to exercise the gift, or you use it only for self-edification, self-gratification or self-glorification.
2. You may be faithful — You understand that God has given to you the spiritual gift and you want to use it to glorify Him. Therefore, you want to consider your spiritual gift in relation to the edification of the church. How best can I edify the church with this gift? How best can I encourage, build up, strengthen and comfort the believers with this gift? When God opens the door for you to serve in a particular area, and you see the opportunity for you to exercise the gift so that you can edify the church, you will serve with all faithfulness and humility.

Dear friend, are you faithful or unfaithful in regards to the spiritual gift/s that God has given to you? One day, all of us would have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and we long to hear our Saviour say to us, “Come thou good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord. For you have been faithful to use the spiritual gift/s that I have given to you for the edification of the believers!”

With love in Christ,

Pastor Paul Cheng

1 CORINTHIANS 14

Desire The Greater Gift

Desire The Greater Gift

1 Corinthians 14:1-6

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1 Corinthians 14:7-19

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1 Corinthians 14:20-28