ContradictionsReading order 551Bible context 2 min read
Should you speak in tongues?
Paul permits tongues while ranking understandable communication above unintelligible speech. The quoted conditions explain much of the apparent opposition.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Supporting
- A supporting event, teaching, or biographical claim.
Permission for tongues is expressly qualified by interpretation and audience benefit, matching the criticism of unintelligible speech.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Speaking in tongues is permitted but prophecy is preferred
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. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. 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.
1 Corinthians 14:2-5
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:1 Corinthians 14
Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
1 Corinthians 14:39