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Context No. 2966 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

Context · Reflection

1 Corinthians 14:20-25: in context

20Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature. 21In the law it is written, “By men of strange languages and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people. They won’t even listen to me that way, says the Lord.” 22Therefore other languages are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to the unbelieving; but prophesying is for a sign, not to the unbelieving, but to those who believe. 23If therefore the whole assembly is assembled together and all speak with other languages, and unlearned or unbelieving people come in, won’t they say that you are crazy? 24But if all prophesy, and someone unbelieving or unlearned comes in, he is reproved by all, and he is judged by all. 25And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed. So he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.

Paul urges the Corinthians to be mature in their thinking, childlike only when it comes to evil. He points out that if outsiders walk into a gathering where everyone is speaking in tongues, they will conclude the church is out of its mind. But if all prophesy, speak God's truth intelligibly, and an unbeliever or outsider comes in, he is convicted by all, the secrets of his heart laid bare, and he falls on his face and worships God, declaring that God is really among them.

Paul's concern is for the outsider who wanders in. Clear, God-revealing speech does something a dazzling display cannot: it pierces the visitor's conscience, exposes what is hidden in his heart, and brings him to his knees before God. The purpose of the gathering is not to impress or bewilder strangers, but to be the kind of place where the living God so plainly speaks that a stranger is undone and worships.

Is the way I speak of God the kind that lays bare a person's heart and draws them to worship, or that merely impresses or confuses them?

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