1 Corinthians 14:2

For he that speaketh in. tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth; but in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.

'For' -This and the next verse begins to explain why prophecy is particular gift to seek in relation to the assembly of the church.

'unknown' -(KJV). This word was added by the translators of the KJV. It has no equivalent word in the Greek text to justify it's insertion here.

'speaketh not unto men' -But the tongue-speakers were speaking to men and wanting recognition. (1 Corinthians 14:11-17 "but the other man is not edified." 1 Corinthians 14:28) Hence this verse must be God's perspective. In reality, since no one in the Corinthian congregation knew the foreign language that the tongue-speaker was using, the only one in that assembly who understood the message was God.

'for no man' -'"No one understands" does not mean absolutely no one, for one who has the gift of interpretation, i.e. who is conversant with the particular foreign language used, would understand. Paul himself speaks about the possible presence of an interpreter, 27-28; in fact, the speaker himself may be able to act as an interpreter, 5,13.' (Lenski p. 577) In addition, there were other people in the world that understood that dialect. But the point is, as the fact's are, presently no one in the Corinthian assembly understood that language.

'but in the spirit' -'but in his spirit' (NASV) 'his', being in italics, indicates that it was supplied by the translators. 'he is no doubt inspired, but he speaks mysteries.' (NEB) 'to speak "in" or "by" the Spirit, is an established Scriptural phrase, meaning to speak under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.' (Willis p. 477)

'mysteries' -'there is something worth hearing..mystery in Scripture is the correlate of revelation; here is stops short of disclosure.' (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 902)

Points to Note:

1. The tongue-speaker isn't speaking gibberish. Rather he is revealing Divine truth. The word 'mystery' isn't speaking about 'mysterious things', but rather, Divine truth that was once hidden. (1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Corinthians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 13:2; Ephesians 3:3; Ephesians 3:9; Romans 16:25 '..the revelation of the mystery..')

2. The tongue-speaker did reveal the will of God. (Acts 2:11; Acts 10:46) The message he spoke was intelligent. Unfortunately, seeing that the church in Corinth wasn't composed of people who spoke that tongue (dialect/language), the message remained. mystery.