哥林多前书 14
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
论讲道和说方言
14 你们要追求爱，也要切慕属灵的恩赐，尤其是做先知讲道的恩赐。 2 人说方言，是对上帝说的，并非对人说的，因为没有人听得懂，他是在心灵里述说各样的奥秘。 3 但先知讲道是对人讲的，为了要造就、鼓励、安慰人。 4 说方言只是造就自己，但做先知讲道是造就教会。 5 我希望你们都能够说方言，不过，我更希望你们都能做先知讲道。说方言的不如做先知讲道的重要，除非把方言翻译出来，使教会得造就。
6 弟兄姊妹，如果我到你们那里只说方言，不讲解有关上帝的启示、知识、预言、教导，我对你们有什么益处呢？ 7 就连没有生命的箫和琴，如果发出的声音杂乱无章，谁能知道所吹所弹的是什么曲子呢？ 8 如果号声不清楚，谁会预备打仗呢？ 9 同样，除非你们讲出清楚的信息，不然听见的人怎能明白呢？那岂不等于对空气说话吗？ 10 世上有各种语言，却没有一种是毫无意义的。 11 如果有人对我说话，我却不明白他的语言，我们彼此就成了语言不通的人。 12 你们也是一样，既然渴慕属灵的恩赐，就应该多多追求造就教会的恩赐。
13 所以说方言的人应当祈求能把方言翻译出来。 14 如果我用方言祷告，那是我的灵在祷告，但我的悟性没有发挥作用。 15 那么，我该怎么做呢？我要用灵祷告，也要用悟性祷告；我要用灵歌唱，也要用悟性歌唱。 16 否则，如果你在聚会中用方言[a]来感恩，在座不懂方言的人不明白你在说些什么，怎能在你感恩的时候说“阿们”呢？ 17 你的感恩表达得固然美好，无奈不能造就别人。
18 感谢上帝，我说方言比你们众人都多。 19 但在教会中我宁可用悟性说五句教导人的话，胜过说万句别人不懂的方言。
20 弟兄姊妹，你们的思想不要像小孩子，要长大成熟，但在罪恶的事上要像婴孩。 21 律法书上记载：
“主说，‘我要借着讲陌生语言的人和外邦人的口向这些子民说话。
虽然如此，
他们仍然不听从我。’”
22 由此可见，讲方言不是显给信徒的标记，而是显给非信徒的标记；但先知讲道是显给信徒的标记，不是显给非信徒的标记。 23 所以，如果你们在聚会中，全体信徒都说方言，偶然有不懂方言的人或非信徒进来，他们岂不会说你们全都疯了吗？ 24 但如果你们都做先知讲道，偶然有非信徒或是不懂方言的人进来，他会醒悟到自己的罪，良心受到谴责， 25 心中的秘密也会显露出来，便会俯伏敬拜上帝，说：“上帝真的在你们当中！”
聚会的原则
26 那么，弟兄姊妹，你们该怎么做呢？你们聚会的时候，不管是唱诗、教导、讲启示、说方言或翻译方言，都应该是为了造就人。 27 如果有人要说方言，应当只限于两个人，最多三个，要轮流说，而且要有人把它翻译出来。 28 如果没有人翻译，说方言的人就当在聚会中闭口不言，只向自己和上帝说。
29 做先知讲道的也应该限于两三个人，其他的人应当慎思明辨。 30 但如果上帝的启示临到在座的其他人，正在讲的人要停下来， 31 这样大家都可以轮流讲道，人人都可以得到教导和勉励。 32 先知的灵受先知控制， 33 因为上帝不是叫人混乱的上帝，而是赐人平安的上帝。
34 正如圣徒的各教会一样，妇女[b]在聚会中要保持安静，因为她们不可以发言，总要顺服，正如律法书所说的。 35 如果她们想要学什么，可以在家问自己的丈夫，因为妇女在聚会中发言是可耻的。 36 难道上帝的道是出自你们哥林多人吗？难道上帝的道单单传给了你们吗？ 37 如果你们当中有人自认为是先知或属灵的人，他就应该知道我现在所写的是主的命令。 38 如果有人对此视而不见，不必理会他。
39 所以，我的弟兄姊妹，你们要切慕做先知讲道，也不要禁止说方言。 40 但无论做什么事，都要按规矩，有次序。
1 Corinthians 14
EasyEnglish Bible
Messages from God
14 So you must always want to love other people. Also, want very much to receive spiritual gifts from God. More than anything else, want to speak messages from God. 2 If someone speaks in a different language, he is speaking only to God. The people who hear him do not understand his message. God's Spirit is causing him to speak about secret things. It does not help people. 3 But if someone speaks a clear message from God, he helps the people who hear him. He helps them to become stronger as believers. He helps them to be happy and strong in their troubles. 4 Anyone who speaks in a different language only helps himself. But a person who speaks a message from God helps the believers in the church to become strong.
5 I would like all of you to speak in different kinds of languages. But even more, I want you to speak God's message clearly to people. Anyone who can speak a message from God is important in the church. He is more important than someone who speaks in different kinds of languages. That person only helps the church if someone can explain what he says. Only in that way will his message help the church to become stronger.
6 My Christian friends, if I come to visit you, then I want to help you. But if I speak to you in languages that you do not understand, that will not help you at all. I would need to explain to you what God has shown to me. I would need to help you to understand something. I would need to speak a clear message from God, or teach you something. Only that would help you. 7 Think about how people make music with flutes or harps. Those things are not alive. We have to use them to make clear sounds. If we do not use them properly, then nobody can recognize the music. 8 Soldiers will not prepare to fight unless they hear a clear sound from the trumpet.
9 It is the same for you. You must use your tongue to speak clearly. If not, nobody will understand what you are saying. You will only be speaking words into the air. 10 There are many different kinds of languages in this world. They all mean something to the people who speak them. 11 Perhaps somebody may speak to me in a language that I do not understand. Then we are like foreign people to each other. 12 So think about what is best for you. You really want the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Most of all, you should want the gifts that will help the whole church to become stronger.
13 So, if you speak a message in a different language, you should pray to God about it. Pray that you may be able to explain to people what the message means. 14 If I pray in a different language, only my spirit is praying. But I do not use my mind while I pray like that. 15 This is what I should do: I will not only pray with my spirit. I will also pray with my mind. I will sing to praise God with my spirit. And I will also do that with my mind. 16 If you are praising God only with your spirit, not everyone will understand. Believers who have not learned these things will not know what you are saying. They cannot agree and say ‘Amen’. 17 You may really be able to thank God very well in your spirit. But your words do not help those other believers to become strong.
18 I thank God that I speak in different kinds of languages more than all of you. 19 But when the church meets together, I want to help other believers and teach them. So I would rather say five words that people understand than thousands of words in a different language.
20 My Christian friends, do not continue to think like children think. Instead, think properly like men and women should think. The only way you should be like babies is to keep away from evil things. 21 This is written in the Bible:
‘I will send strangers to speak to my people.
They will speak my message to them in strange languages.
But even when I do this, my people will not listen to me.’
That is what the Lord God has said.[a]
22 So the gift to speak in different languages is like a sign. It shows God's power to people who do not believe in him. It is not a sign to help believers. But the gift to speak clear messages from God shows his power to believers. It is not a sign for those people who do not believe.
23 Think about what happens when the whole church meets together. Perhaps some people come in who do not believe in God. Or perhaps they have not learned much about God. If all of you are speaking in strange languages, those visitors would not understand. They would say that you are all crazy! 24 But if all of you are speaking clear messages from God, a visitor will understand you. He may not believe in God. He may not have learned much about God. But he will hear God's message. He will understand that he has done wrong things. He will know that God will judge him. He will learn this from what all of you are saying. 25 The visitor's secret thoughts will become clear. As a result, he will bend down to the ground and he will worship God. He will say, ‘God is really here among you!’
Church meetings
26 My Christian friends, this is what you should do when you meet together. Some of you may have a song to praise God. Some of you may have a lesson to teach about God. Other people may have a special thing that God has shown to them. Some people may have a message in a special language. Other people may explain what the message means. Do all these things to help the church become stronger.
27 If some people speak in special languages, it should only be two or three people. They should speak one person at a time. Then someone must explain what each person said. 28 But perhaps there is nobody among you who can explain like that. Then, anyone who wanted to speak in a special language must be quiet in your meeting. When they are on their own, they should speak to God.
29 When you meet together, two or three people should speak a message from God. Then the other people there should think carefully about each message. 30 Someone who is sitting in your meeting may receive a special message from God. Then, the person who is already speaking should stop. 31 In that way, each person can speak a message from God, one person at a time. Then everyone will learn something that helps them. 32 All of you who speak messages from God have authority over your own spirits. 33 When we meet together as God's people, he wants there to be peace among us. He does not want to bring trouble.
This is what happens in all the churches where God's people meet together. 34 The women should be quiet during the meetings. They should not speak. They should remember that they are under authority. That is also what God's Law teaches. 35 If a woman wants to ask about something, she should ask her husband at home. Women should be ashamed if they speak in the church.[b] 36 Remember that God's message did not start from you in Corinth! You are not the only people who have heard it, either.
37 Someone may think that he has the gift to speak messages from God. Or he may think that he has received other spiritual gifts. Anyone who thinks like that should agree with what I have written to you. He should recognize that it is what the Lord himself is telling his people to do. 38 If anyone refuses to accept this, you should not accept that person.
39 My Christian friends, this is what I am saying to you: It is good when you want to speak clear messages from God. And if anyone has the gift to speak in a special language, do not stop them. 40 But you must do everything in a proper way that helps people.
Footnotes
- 14:21 See Isaiah 28:11-12.
- 14:35 See also 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. Paul says that women may pray or speak a message in a meeting of the church. He may mean that women should not speak at certain times. That is, while a man is explaining messages from God.
1 Corinthians 14
King James Version
14 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
2 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.
3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
5 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.
6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
8 For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
11 Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
13 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
16 Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
17 For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
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.
23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
30 If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
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