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
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 14
Prophecy Greater than Tongues. 1 [a]Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, above all that you may prophesy.(A) 2 [b]For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to human beings but to God, for no one listens; he utters mysteries in spirit. 3 On the other hand, one who prophesies does speak to human beings, for their building up,[c] encouragement, and solace.(B) 4 Whoever speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but whoever prophesies builds up the church. 5 Now I should like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.
6 [d]Now, brothers, if I should come to you speaking in tongues, what good will I do you if I do not speak to you by way of revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or instruction? 7 Likewise, if inanimate things that produce sound, such as flute or harp, do not give out the tones distinctly, how will what is being played on flute or harp be recognized? 8 And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? 9 Similarly, if you, because of speaking in tongues, do not utter intelligible speech, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be talking to the air. 10 It happens that there are many different languages in the world, and none is meaningless; 11 but if I do not know the meaning of a language, I shall be a foreigner to one who speaks it, and one who speaks it a foreigner to me. 12 So with yourselves: since you strive eagerly for spirits, seek to have an abundance of them for building up the church.
Need for Interpretation.[e] 13 Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray to be able to interpret. 14 [For] if I pray in a tongue, my spirit[f] is at prayer but my mind is unproductive. 15 So what is to be done? I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with the mind. I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will also sing praise with the mind.(C) 16 Otherwise, if you pronounce a blessing [with] the spirit, how shall one who holds the place of the uninstructed say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17 For you may be giving thanks very well, but the other is not built up. 18 I give thanks to God that I speak in tongues more than any of you, 19 but in the church I would rather speak five words with my mind, so as to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Functions of These Gifts. 20 [g]Brothers, stop being childish in your thinking. In respect to evil be like infants, but in your thinking be mature.(D) 21 It is written in the law:
“By people speaking strange tongues
and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
and even so they will not listen to me,(E)
says the Lord.” 22 Thus, tongues are a sign not for those who believe but for unbelievers, whereas prophecy is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.
23 [h]So if the whole church meets in one place and everyone speaks in tongues, and then uninstructed people or unbelievers should come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?(F) 24 But if everyone is prophesying, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person should come in, he will be convinced by everyone and judged by everyone, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be disclosed, and so he will fall down and worship God, declaring, “God is really in your midst.”(G)
Rules of Order. 26 [i]So what is to be done, brothers? When you assemble, one has a psalm, another an instruction, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Everything should be done for building up.(H) 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let it be two or at most three, and each in turn, and one should interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, the person should keep silent in the church and speak to himself and to God.
29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others discern. 30 But if a revelation is given to another person sitting there, the first one should be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged. 32 Indeed, the spirits of prophets are under the prophets’ control, 33 since he is not the God of disorder but of peace.
As in all the churches of the holy ones,[j] 34 women should keep silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but should be subordinate, as even the law says.(I) 35 But if they want to learn anything, they should ask their husbands at home. For it is improper for a woman to speak in the church. 36 Did the word of God go forth from you? Or has it come to you alone?
37 If anyone thinks that he is a prophet or a spiritual person, he should recognize that what I am writing to you is a commandment of the Lord. 38 If anyone does not acknowledge this, he is not acknowledged. 39 So, [my] brothers, strive eagerly to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues, 40 but everything must be done properly and in order.
Footnotes
- 14:1–5 1 Cor 14:1b returns to the thought of 1 Cor 12:31a and reveals Paul’s primary concern. The series of contrasts in 1 Cor 14:2–5 discloses the problem at Corinth: a disproportionate interest in tongues, with a corresponding failure to appreciate the worth of prophecy. Paul attempts to clarify the relative values of those gifts by indicating the kind of communication achieved in each and the kind of effect each produces.
- 14:2–3a They involve two kinds of communication: tongues, private speech toward God in inarticulate terms that need interpretation to be intelligible to others (see 1 Cor 14:27–28); prophecy, communication with others in the community.
- 14:3b–5 They produce two kinds of effect. One who speaks in tongues builds himself up; it is a matter of individual experience and personal perfection, which inevitably recalls Paul’s previous remarks about being inflated, seeking one’s own good, pleasing oneself. But a prophet builds up the church: the theme of “building up” or “edifying” others, the main theme of the letter, comes to clearest expression in this chapter (1 Cor 14:3, 4, 5, 12, 17). It has been anticipated at 1 Cor 8:1 and 1 Cor 10:23, and by the related concept of “the beneficial” in 1 Cor 6:12; 10:23; 12:7; etc.
- 14:6–12 Sound, in order to be useful, must be intelligible. This principle is illustrated by a series of analogies from music (1 Cor 14:7–8) and from ordinary human speech (1 Cor 14:10–11); it is applied to the case at hand in 1 Cor 14:9, 12.
- 14:13–19 The charism of interpretation lifts tongues to the level of intelligibility, enabling them to produce the same effect as prophecy (cf. 1 Cor 14:5, 26–28).
- 14:14–15 My spirit: Paul emphasizes the exclusively ecstatic, nonrational quality of tongues. The tongues at Pentecost are also described as an ecstatic experience (Acts 2:4, 12–13), though Luke superimposes further interpretations of his own. My mind: the ecstatic element, dominant in earliest Old Testament prophecy as depicted in 1 Sm 10:5–13; 19:20–24, seems entirely absent from Paul’s notion of prophecy and completely relegated to tongues. He emphasizes the role of reason when he specifies instruction as a function of prophecy (1 Cor 14:6, 19, 31). But he does not exclude intuition and emotion; cf. references to encouragement and consolation (1 Cor 14:3, 31) and the scene describing the ideal exercise of prophecy (1 Cor 14:24–25).
- 14:20–22 The Corinthians pride themselves on tongues as a sign of God’s favor, a means of direct communication with him (2:28). To challenge them to a more mature appraisal, Paul draws from scripture a less flattering explanation of what speaking in tongues may signify. Isaiah threatened the people that if they failed to listen to their prophets, the Lord would speak to them (in punishment) through the lips of Assyrian conquerors (Is 28:11–12). Paul compresses Isaiah’s text and makes God address his people directly. Equating tongues with foreign languages (cf. 1 Cor 14:10–11), Paul concludes from Isaiah that tongues are a sign not for those who believe, i.e., not a mark of God’s pleasure for those who listen to him but a mark of his displeasure with those in the community who are faithless, who have not heeded the message that he has sent through the prophets.
- 14:23–25 Paul projects the possible missionary effect of two hypothetical liturgical experiences, one consisting wholly of tongues, the other entirely of prophecy. Uninstructed (idiōtai): the term may simply mean people who do not speak or understand tongues, as in 1 Cor 14:16, where it seems to designate Christians. But coupled with the term “unbelievers” it may be another way of designating those who have not been initiated into the community of faith; some believe it denotes a special class of non-Christians who are close to the community, such as catechumens. Unbelievers (apistoi): he has shifted from the inner-community perspective of 1 Cor 14:22; the term here designates non-Christians (cf. 1 Cor 6:6; 7:15; 10:27).
- 14:26–33a Paul concludes with specific directives regarding exercise of the gifts in their assemblies. Verse 26 enunciates the basic criterion in the use of any gift: it must contribute to “building up.”
- 14:33b–36 Verse 33b may belong with what precedes, so that the new paragraph would begin only with 1 Cor 14:34. 1 Cor 14:34–35 change the subject. These two verses have the theme of submission in common with 1 Cor 14:11 despite differences in vocabulary, and a concern with what is or is not becoming; but it is difficult to harmonize the injunction to silence here with 1 Cor 11 which appears to take it for granted that women do pray and prophesy aloud in the assembly (cf. 1 Cor 11:5, 13). Hence the verses are often considered an interpolation, reflecting the discipline of later churches; such an interpolation would have to have antedated our manuscripts, all of which contain them, though some transpose them to the very end of the chapter.
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