20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children.(A) In regard to evil be infants,(B) but in your thinking be adults. 21 In the Law(C) it is written:

“With other tongues
    and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
    but even then they will not listen to me,(D)
says the Lord.”[a]

22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy,(E) however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 14:21 Isaiah 28:11,12

Instruction for the Church

20 (A)Brothers and sisters, (B)do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil (C)be infants, but in your thinking be mature. 21 In (D)the [a]Law it is written: “(E)By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. 22 So then, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but (F)prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 14:21 I.e., Old Testament, Isaiah

20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. 21 It is written in the Scriptures[a]:

“I will speak to my own people
    through strange languages
    and through the lips of foreigners.
But even then, they will not listen to me,”[b]
    says the Lord.

22 So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers.

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Footnotes

  1. 14:21a Greek in the law.
  2. 14:21b Isa 28:11-12.

20-25 To be perfectly frank, I’m getting exasperated with your childish thinking. How long before you grow up and use your head—your adult head? It’s all right to have a childlike unfamiliarity with evil; a simple no is all that’s needed there. But there’s far more to saying yes to something. Only mature and well-exercised intelligence can save you from falling into gullibility. It’s written in Scripture that God said,

In strange tongues
    and from the mouths of strangers
I will preach to this people,
    but they’ll neither listen nor believe.

So where does it get you, all this speaking in tongues no one understands? It doesn’t help believers, and it only gives unbelievers something to gawk at. Plain truth-speaking, on the other hand, goes straight to the heart of believers and doesn’t get in the way of unbelievers. If you come together as a congregation and some unbelieving outsiders walk in on you as you’re all praying in tongues, unintelligible to each other and to them, won’t they assume you’ve taken leave of your senses and get out of there as fast as they can? But if some unbelieving outsiders walk in on a service where people are speaking out God’s truth, the plain words will bring them up against the truth and probe their hearts. Before you know it, they’re going to be on their faces before God, recognizing that God is among you.

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20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.

22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

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