1 Corinthians 14:12-19

Desire That Which Builds Up the Church

Thus, Paul urged the Corinthian brethren to desire the spiritual gifts that would be most useful. Particularly, he urged them to desire those gifts which would be good for the edification of the church. The word for "edification" originally meant "(the act of) building; building up," according to Thayer. In the church, it came to mean, "the act of one who promotes another's growth in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness" (1 Corinthians 14:12).

If they had the gift of tongues, Paul encouraged his readers to pray that they might be given the power to interpret them. That power could only come through the laying on of the apostles' hands (Acts 8:15-17). Such a power would be needed so the listeners could be helped to understand the sense. The one praying in a foreign language could understand, in his own spirit, his prayer. But, his understanding would not profit the congregation since they could not understand (1 Corinthians 14:13-14).

Paul desired that the ones praying or singing should pray or sing as inspired by the Holy Spirit and in a language the congregation could understand. Prayers need to be prayed so that all could understand. Otherwise the congregation would not know what was said and could not affirm its truthfulness. Of course, the prayer would be a truthful one, if inspired by the Holy Spirit, yet, the congregation would not benefit if it could not understand (1 Corinthians 14:15-17).

Paul was able to speak in more languages than anyone in Corinth. Yet, when a congregation was assembled, Paul was more concerned with how much the people learned and could understand, than with the impression his ability left. McGarvey quoted Besser as saying, "Rather half of ten of the edifying sort than a thousand times ten of the other" (1 Corinthians 14:18-19).