Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹³ So then, the person who talks in a tongue of a different language, should ask God to help tell the meaning of the tongue.

¹⁴ If I pray to God in a tongue of a different language, then I am talking with my spirit, but I do not use my mind.

¹⁵ What then shall I do? I will talk to God with my spirit and I will talk to God with my mind. I will sing with my spirit and I will sing with my mind.

¹⁶ If you thank God with your spirit only, an ordinary person cannot say, `Amen, it is so!' He does not know what you say.

¹⁷ The way you thank God is good, but it does not help an ordinary person.

¹⁸ I thank God that I can talk in tongues more than any of you.

¹⁹ But in the church meeting it is better for me to say five words with my mind, so that I will teach other people also. This is better than to say ten thousand words in a tongue of a different language.

²⁰ My brothers, do not be like children in your thinking. When it comes to doing wrong things, be like small babies. But in your thinking be grown up people.

²¹ The holy writings say, `I will talk to these people by strangers and by people who talk in strange tongues. And yet, they will not listen to me.' This is what the Lord says.

²² So then, tongues are a sign to people who do not believe God. They are not a sign to those who believe him. But speaking words from God like a prophet is a sign to those who believe. It is not a sign to those who do not believe.

²³ Sometimes all the people of the church may be gathered together. If everyone talks in tongues, and if some people who do not know or believe come in, they will say that you are crazy.

²⁴ But what happens if everyone speaks words from God? If such people come in, then the words from God will prove to them that they have done wrong. They will all speak to the heart.

²⁵ Such a person sees everything that has been hidden in his heart. Then he will kneel down and worship God. He will say, `It is true. God is here among you.'