One has a teaching, and another has a revelation. A revelation must bring to light something that has been hidden but is now revealed. This kind of revelation should be centered on Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ, not other things. In the church meetings, teachings come from the teachers, and revelations come from the prophets.
A tongue is a proper language or dialect (Acts 2:4, 6, 8, 11) either of men or of angels (1 Cor. 13:1), not meaningless voices or sounds. The genuine and proper speaking in tongues is one of the many gifts of the Spirit (12:4), one of the many aspects of the manifestation of the Spirit (v. 7). The New Testament makes it more than clear that speaking in tongues is only one of the many gifts of the Spirit and that not all the believers have it. Furthermore, 1 Corinthians is a book that speaks of Christ as the wisdom and power of God and as the deep things of God. It also speaks of the church as the Body to express Christ and as the means to carry out God’s administration. Based upon the context of the entire book of 1 Corinthians, the proper use of the tongue should be to speak concerning Christ and the church.
Finally, in 1 Corinthians 14:26 Paul says that each one “has an interpretation.” The interpretation of tongues is to make the unknown tongues known or understandable.
According to the emphasis in 1 Corinthians, all five items listed in 14:26 should focus on Christ as God’s center for our portion and on the church as God’s goal for our aim. A psalm should praise God for giving Christ as wisdom and power to us for our daily life and church life. A teaching from a teacher and a revelation from a prophet should teach and minister Christ and the church, which is the Body of Christ, to people. A tongue and its interpretation should also have Christ and the church as its center and content. Any emphasis on things other than Christ and the church will confuse the church and distract the church from the central lane of God’s New Testament economy.
At the end of 14:26 Paul says, “Let all things be done for building up.” Whatever we do in the church meetings must be for the building up of the saints and the church. In our meetings our unique purpose and goal must be to exhibit Christ and to enjoy Him for the building up of His Body.
First Corinthians 14 reveals that prophesying, which is mainly to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord with a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge, is the excelling spiritual gift for the building up of the church. Paul says, “Pursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (v. 1). Since to prophesy is to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord, that is, to minister Christ to others, which is the main focus in the church meetings, prophesying requires the divine life to fill it as its content. Love is the most excellent way to experience the divine life and make it the content of the gift of prophecy for the building up of the church. Hence, we must pursue love and desire earnestly this greater gift.
In verse 3 Paul goes on to say, “He who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men.” Since to prophesy, to speak forth the Lord, ministers Christ to others, it builds them up and encourages and consoles them. In the last part of verse 4 Paul says, “He who prophesies builds up the church.” From this verse we see that to prophesy, to speak forth the Lord, not only builds up the individual saints but also builds up the church. In verse 12 Paul continues, “Since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may excel for the building up of the church.” In these verses we see that Paul was fully occupied with the consideration of building up the church. He was fully church-conscious and church-centered. Paul fully realized that prophesying is the greatest gift for the building up of the church (v. 5).