Were tongues for believers or unbelievers?

Question

1 Corinthians 14:

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

Tongues were for unbelievers and not for believers. Only 4 verses later:

26b When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

Were these latter instances of tongues for believers?

Answer 1

Were tongues for believers or unbelievers?

The scripture in 1 Corinthians 14:22 reminds us of the event on the day of Pentecost after Jesus' ascension in Acts chapter 2:

⁴ and they all became filled with holy spirit and started to speak in different languages, just as the spirit enabled them to speak.

⁸ How is it, then, that each one of us is hearing his own native language?

¹² Yes, they were all astonished and perplexed, saying to one another: “What does this mean?” ¹³ However, others mocked them and said: “They are full of sweet wine.”

Speaking in a foreign language was a powerful way to prove to Gentiles that God was real.

But because there would be many from different cultures and nations coming into the congregation of Christ, the need to be able to interpret or translate would become a necessity as Paul brings out in 1 Corinthians 14:28.

As an example, the Jehovah's Witness website jw.org is available in 1,000 languages and 100 sign languages (see the article "Jehovah’s Witnesses Reach New Preaching Milestone—JW.ORG Now Features Content in 1,000 Languages"). In our modern-day, the ability to speak, translate, and interpret languages provides "all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues" (Revelation 7:9) to come to the "house of Jehovah". (Isaiah 2:2)

[All scripture quotations from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition)]

Answer 2

I think Paul is deliberately muddying the waters a bit, building his argument somewhat playfully. It’s almost like a family scene where the kids are playing catch around the kitchen island and Dad says, “Hey come on kids, quit your running around now, even your mom’s red apron is telling you to stop! Now, put your running to good use and go and fetch a lemon from the tree outside.”

The quote from Isaiah is actually referring to the tongues (languages) of foreign invaders. The unbelievers are the unbelieving Israelites who have brought this judgement of invasion - with its accompanying lack of understanding of the invaders’ tongue - upon themselves. So the logic doesn’t really fit the tenor of his argument, but he throws it in to throw them off a bit, then gets back to his main point: if there are tongues (the babbling kind), they should be accompanied by an intelligible interpretation so that there is order and edification in the assembly.

Answer 3

“Tongues for believers or unbelievers?” - Both. This topic of ‘tongues’ is widely misunderstood. But it’s actually quite simple. There are two types of occurrence of this phenomenon we call ‘tongues’

The debate covers many areas, but one issue is determining whether ‘tongues’ are a known language or an unknown language - and the answer os both. It depends.

Becoming a ‘believer’ involves being ‘born again’.

2 COR 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;

It’s the/your spirit that is recreated. You are once again ‘re-united’ with God, through Christ. And when your ‘spirit’ is joined, it (your spirit) can communicate with God, using a spiritual (your ‘spirits’) language. You (your ‘head’) doesn’t understand this…

1 COR 14:14* For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

This is only able to be ‘done’ by believers, and even then requires ‘faith’ and essentially turning your ‘mind’ off (don’t try to reason this out). This is actually quite difficult, and if your theology doesn’t accept this interpretation it’s simply impossible. So here tongues is for believers.

But - what about unbelievers? The following is a key verse here …

1 COR 1:22* *Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,

The Jews ‘operate in the flesh’. That’s why the Law is needed. The ‘flesh’ uses your 5 senses, and your (natural) reasoning. So ‘tongues’ in this situation must needs to be a known (understandable) language. And that’s what happened on the day of Pentecost after the resurrection. Tongues were a sign. And there are documented cases in recent times where believers have spoken a language unknown to them, but recognised by others. So here ‘tongues’ is for unbelievers.

Answer 4

So what would the point be of Paul “muddying the waters” if that is indeed what he is doing? I am not saying that he is not doing this but simply questioning why he would. This church is struggling already and confusing them more would not be beneficial to them. That being said, as far as it goes on this one particular section (1 Corinthians 14:22-25) it appears that Paul contradicted himself, does it not? These that are “believing not” and “unlearned” in v24 should of thought the church was “mad” (v23), not worshipping God and becoming an evangelist at least according to Paul’s statements in 22-23. In Acts 2:13 they thought those speaking in tongues were drunk, yet later in the discourse we see that the initial stunned response by the hearers of the tongues was changed to conviction, not by the tongues themselves but by prophecy, the prophecy of David that starts in v25-31. Tongues are used throughout the later books, but Paul’s statements in 22-23 do seem to be contridictory.

Answer 5

I don't see any contradiction. We just have to remember that "for" can have more than one meaning.

Tongues are for believers, in the sense that believers use them, and for unbelievers in the sense that unbelievers hear them and receive the benefit of a sign.

Answer 6

I would like to take a shot at this, here is one perspective (take it with a grain of salt!):

The TL;DR is perhaps: Yes tongues are for both believers and unbelievers in various ways, but the emphasis of 1 Corinthians 14:20-25 would be that they are 'for unbelievers' (as a rebuke). Nevertheless, through this passage and others, we can say that as they progress (hopefully) to becoming a believer, they may experience tongues (and interpretation) as a blessing. (an interesting turnaround!)

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Longer explanation:

We know that in 1 Corinthians 14:21, where tongues are mentioned, it is apparently a reference to Isaiah 28:11.

I would like to also point out that in 1 Corinthians 14:20, Paul gives an interesting take on a kind of "childlike faith", if you will:

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

... and this kind of parallels with a slightly earlier Isaiah verse, in Isaiah 28:9-10:

⁹ “Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? ¹⁰ For it is: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there.”

But here, in Isaiah, 'the people' have gotten it wrong it would seem. They seem to be unreceptive (and unwise) regarding the message of the prophet, comparing it to a childish message.

So the rebuke of the Lord, is that they then receive 'tongues' -- a stranger message than the simple one first received.

So in a sense, I think these stubborn/complaining Israelites, are essentially unbelievers, who must now hear a message of tongues.

This then fulfills the message in 1 Corinthians 14:22 that "tongues... are a sign... for unbelievers". (yes, even Jews here are being called unbelievers.)

However, if these same unbelievers are to truly hear a message of salvation, it must ultimately be understood and received by them, in a way they can understand (in English! or whatever their native tongue is), and most importantly of course, embraced by the heart.

In this sense, 'prophecy' (a simpler/clear message from the Lord, like a sermon) is also "for unbelievers", to allow them to be converted to a believer.

This of course seems to be what we see in 1 Corinthians 14:25:

...So they will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

So overall, I think the 1 Corinthians 14:20-25 passage is kind of honing in on the unbeliever, as it draws out these truths. And this emphasis is perhaps in contrast with the rest of the chapter, which talks more about believers and the church. But anyway, to complete the picture, concerning believers specifically, we can say 'yes, tongues are for them (spoken by them, and yielding a blessing for them)' and also, 'yes prophecy is for believers as well (or anyone who has ears to receive the Lord and His message!)'.

Answer 7

In 1 Corinthians 14:22, Paul states that tongues are for unbelievers. In previous verse 14:21, Paul quotes Isaiah. In the original context of Isaiah 28:9-13, the Lord told Isaiah that since the people did not listen to the prophets He sent, He would use the tongues of the Gentiles to teach His people. This prophecy was realised when the Assyrian field commander spoke to the king in Hebrew. In this context, Paul quote Isaiah referred Jerusalem as the unbelievers, as they rejected His prophets.

Isaiah 36:11 NIV (a parallel passage in 2 Kings 18:26)

Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

It is worth noting that the use of tongues is essential to convey a message to the unbelievers, in a language that they can understand. This is consistent with what Paul wrote in chapter 14, that Paul requested tongues to be interpreted.

1 Corinthians 14:5 NIV

I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.

1 Corinthians 14:9 NIV

So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.

1 Corinthians 14:13 NIV

For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.

1 Corinthians 14:27 NIV

If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.

Paul's perspective was simple and clear. He wanted the church be edified (1 Cor 14:5). Basically, they could conduct all activities in the same language, instead of a foreign tongue. However, a letter from Chloe's household informed Paul that there were quarrels among the church (1 Cor 1:11). It appears that one issue was about "Spiritual Gifts" that Paul addressed from chapter 12 to 14. Apparently, there were members who spoke in tongues with the purpose of excelling themselves with "Spiritual Gifts", which others did not understand and rebuked. This kind of tension is seen in 1 Cor 14:39, that Paul asked them "do not forbid speaking in tongues".

Paul did not speak against speaking in tongues, nor did he deny that it is a spiritual gift. He affirmed that speaking in tongue should be allowed as long as it can be interpreted, and everyone can understand it so that the church can be edified.

But for believers, Paul is giving prophecy a higher rating relative to tongues, as he said in 1 Corinthians 14:5. His statement implies prophecy in the same language is beneficial to the church than foreign language that no one interprets.

I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.