Dear John,

Here is a little bit of a VERY condensed rendering about speaking in tongues and tongues with interpretation. Thanks for letting me share and God Bless!   I Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied...   This is usually where people stop reading in order to say that speaking in tongues in the Church is not very important.  They would rather have a believer prophesy. Most of the people who put forth this argument never prophesy either.  Do you see the trickery of Satan? He wants to belittle The Word, chop The Word to pieces. There is nothing that equals speaking in tongues in your private life.  This will build you up spiritually, whereas speaking in tongues with boldness in a believers' meeting with its interpretation builds up the body of believers.   I Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied (in the Church-context):for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.   When the believer speaks in tongues and interprets, the Church receives edifying. In the spirit? no. Where? In the mind.  The interpretation is always in the language of the body of people present.  This is why I Cor. 14:3 says, "But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men.." Why? Because prophecy is in the language of the body of people present.  If it were a German congregation, the prophecy would have to be in German, the natural language of the majority of the people present and the natural language of the person who prophesied.   I Corinthians 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.   Therefore, when you speak in tongues and interpret or prophesy, you and the other believers present are edified by way of exhortation and comfort. In your own private life who has to be blessed: You, the individual believer. In a believers' meeting however, everyone must be edified.   I Corinthians 14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual ("gifts" is in italics=added by the translators and should be deleted. The word "spiritual" is the word pheumatikos meaning "things of the spirit.")="spiritual matters or things". We must be zealous for things of the spirit, whether privately for our own selves spiritually or publicly for the minds of the entire body of believers. Let all things be done unto edifying!    This is very brief, but considering the whole holy spirit field is wrought with confusion in the church today, I'm glad to write about it. This area needs to be studied in-depth, line by line in I Cor. 12, 13, & 14 to really do it justice!  

Thanks,

Cheryl