Corinthians chapter 14 and We'll begin reading at verse 13 and going down to verse 19 Therefore Let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may translate For if I pray in a tongue my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit. I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit. I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you bless the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the uninformed say the amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, the other person is not edified. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. However, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also rather than 10,000 words in a tongue. Title of my message is, translators anyone? translators anyone. Remember last week we spoke on the fact that edification requires intelligibility. Paul continues with this and notice that word therefore. He's really kind of bringing this point across to the church of Corinth. This practice of tongues was very much important to them, very much something that they thought was a big deal to the church at Corinth. And he continues writing about the practice of the tongue. And remember, in the King James, they used that word unknown there, the unknown tongue. Again, whether the Church of Corinth was practicing some sort of gibberish that they'd borrowed from the pagans, or using ancient Hebrew that hardly anybody understood, either way, whatever it was, whether MacArthur was right in his commentary, or Gill was right in his commentary, it really doesn't matter all that much. It was confusion, and it was wrong. And that's what Paul is driving home to the church at Corinth. Sometimes people get to trying to figure out what exactly was going on in a place and see how far they can get away with something in their churches, in their homes, and in their life. And instead, they needed to pay attention to the letter of the law and the spirit of the law and all of those things and really understand, hey, you know, whatever was going on there, understand something. If it's not understandable, it ought not to be done. And that's the point here. That's the point. And so in verse 13, he says, let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may translate. And maybe as he goes on in this, he might be using some sarcasm as he writes in hypothetical terms, when he says in verse 14, as he writes this, he says, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. Without a translator praying in a tongue that's not known, It brings no edification to the church. When worship is right, when it's done right, when it's proper, when it's in spirit and in truth, both spirit and mind are engaged. You don't leave your brains at the door of the church when you come into worship. When the church assembles, whether in a home or in a church building, you don't somehow check your brains outside, check your mind outside and come in to worship. But in a tongue that is not understood, That's kind of what's happening because the mind is not engaged. How can it be? How can it be? There's chaos there. The mind, the brain, it's not able to understand, not able to comprehend. It's chaos. Our worship has fallen short, you see. What good is it? to come together to worship our God if we have Bibles that nobody can understand, songs that people don't know the words that they mean. Now it may be that we have a new song, that's something that happens sometimes. We have a song that we don't know, we're learning a new song, that's something, but we know the words, what the meaning of the words are. We're not gonna bring in a song that's, okay, today we're all gonna learn this song in Swahili. Let's all learn a song in Swahili. Who here knows Swahili? None of us. It would not be of any edification to any of us. We could mimic the sounds, maybe such that someone from Africa would understand it. But how edifying would that be? It wouldn't do any of us any good. You see, what about prayers? Prayers that nobody understands without a translator. Maybe you've heard the story of the man who was praying so low, you know, the preacher called on a man to pray. And he spoke so softly and prayed so long that finally somebody a few rows back yelled and he said, hey, speak up, I can't hear you. The man yelled back, I ain't talking to you. I'm talking to the Lord. And in some ways he's right. He's praying to the Lord, absolutely, 100%. Our prayers are uttered to the Lord, but in a corporate setting, he does need to speak up. He does need to speak up, and he needs to use the common language of the people. And if he cannot, there needs to be a translator per this text. Per this text. He says, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then, verse 15? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. The spirit and the mind need to be engaged in worship. The words that we use in prayer and in song They need to be words that are known in the common vernacular and the language of the people. There is an intellect. There is a spiritual aspect of worship and they are to come together. And yes, it may be that our spiritual forefathers may, If they were to be alive today from 500 years ago, if they were to come and to sit in a worship service now, they may laugh at our English just like we kind of giggle at some of their English from five, 600 years ago, but that's okay because English has changed. But there are fellows out there who say things and write things that are terrible. Things like, oh, well, if you don't understand the Shakespearean English of the King James translators, you must not be saved. But why stop there? Why stop there? Why not say, if you don't understand the original Greek and the Hebrew? Because after all, after all, is it not the Spirit that is to instruct? Did He not give the Bible to Paul, to John, to Mark, the New Testament and the Greek? The Old Testament in primarily Hebrew, the psalm in Aramaic. I'm well aware that Paul is not writing about these issues, but these are the kind of principles that we deal with in our day. And so when when we read first Corinthians 16 verse 13 in in in the in the King James English and it says be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men or sorry That's the that's that's not the that's not the King James. That's the LSB But in the King James, it says, watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. And as a young kid, I used to think, and even as a young adult, I used to think, what does it mean to quit you like men? Was there something wrong with me? No, it's not a spiritual problem. It was a translation problem and not even really a translation problem. It was a language barrier. The kind of problem that Paul was addressing here in this text. You see. And what joy it was to read it in a more modern translation when it says, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men and be strong. But there are other things that come to play. The principles apply not only to Bible translations, but they apply to all things Christian. There's a Reformed Baptist church not too far from here, and they have on their sign, Soli Deo Gloria. It's part of the five solas. It means glory to God alone, it's Latin. And in the Reformed circles, that means something to that group. But guess what? Since that's all they put underneath their name of their church, it caused confusion such that many in the community thought that they were a Spanish-speaking church. And so he caused confusion. If they were going to put that, what they should have done is put solely day of Gloria. Maybe to God. Glory to God alone. Underneath of it, or maybe maybe just not put it up there at all, or maybe left it in the English you see. because only very few out in the world who read the sign looking in know the Latin of the five solas. This is the kind of thing that Paul is talking about. The only people who would have been attracted to that sign would have been those who were interested in church history, Those who are interested in theology, those who would have known something about the five solas, but everybody else would have said, oh, I don't know what that means. How could they? Even in our circles, traditionally, we haven't really spoken of the five solas, even though we may affirm them when we really start digging into them, it's true. Glory to God alone, we would say amen, that's true. But there needs to be an interpreter, a translator, you see. What other things fall into play here? A lot of things we take for granted. Sometimes we call them Christianese, language that we use in Christian circles that we take for granted that we know what they mean, but it's language that the world don't have any idea. We get ready to eat. We're with a group of people. We say, hold on, before we eat, someone's gonna ask the blessing. I guarantee you, your friends who have never grown up in church, they don't know what that means. Or even if we say, let's give thanks first, they don't know what that means. Even some people who grew up in Christian homes these days, they don't pray before they eat like they're supposed to. We use words sometimes, phrases like, I covet your prayers. What's that mean? Covet? That sounds bad. But we mean it in a good way, don't we? I covet your prayers. Even words like sanctification or justification. Words that need to be translated for the world if we're gonna use them. You see. Don't assume that people know what you're talking about when you're in a group. And even sometimes when you're around other Christians, other Christian groups or other groups that purport to be Christian, sometimes they've taken terms and redefined them. And so when you're with another group, maybe someone else that was raised in a different circle than you were, and they say, oh yeah, we believe in election. We believe in predestination. You start talking to them and realize, no, they don't. They've redefined the terms. And so there needs to be a translator. Someone's gotta interpret and let them know what you're talking about. Someone needs to let you know what they're talking about. They need to define their words to the edification of those around them. Otherwise it is an unknown tongue. So even though, what I'm trying to say is even though We're not around anybody on a normal basis who is speaking gibberish, or we're probably not around anybody on a normal basis who doesn't speak English. The principles that are laid down here are applicable when we're around other Christians, whether in church or even out and about in the world. around believers and unbelievers alike. We need to make sure that there's a translator, because words do change meaning over time, and sometimes other groups have redefined terms, either intentionally or unintentionally. And so, even when When I get up and preach, I used to say, I used to say, let's turn to a very familiar passage of scripture, assuming that everybody in the world knows this passage of scripture. That may not be the case. And so I try not to do that. I try to say something like, you who are Bible scholars, you are familiar with this, or you who are more mature in the faith, you know this passage of Scripture. And so I try not to assume that anybody knows what I'm talking about, or not to assume that everybody knows what I'm talking about, because not everybody knows. the meaning, or anything like that. Verses 16 and 17, he says, otherwise, if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the uninformed say the amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. to do anything, to do something, anything, whatever it is in the spirit without the understanding is of no good for anybody. And so to say amen is to affirm something, an impossible thing to do if you do not understand what is being said. So it's kind of always interesting to me. if a missionary gets up, missionary family gets up and sings a song, and nobody interprets it. They sing the song, it sounds beautiful, in another language, and he's done with the song, and everybody says, amen. And I think, how in the world can they amen that song? They said, well, he's a missionary. The tune was, and it may be a tune to a familiar song, but we don't know what's being sung there. Not without an interpreter. And Paul brings that out here. We don't. It's impossible if you don't understand what's being said. Don't aim in something if you don't understand what it is. I'll give you a reverse illustration. In the pidgin language of New Guinea, in their songbook, they have a lot of songs that are sung to the familiar tunes of the hymns that we know. They're all good songs. but there's one that is sung to the tune of Clementine. So, oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine. That song is a scriptural song. Now, if you walk by as they're singing it in a church, Service in New Guinea and your English speaker. You would think that's what they're saying. They're singing Clementine, but they're not they're singing they're singing a What we would think of as a hymn, but they're singing To the tune of Clementine now, so if that's true, why couldn't the reverse be true? Why couldn't a Song be sung to the tune of amazing grace. That's not scriptural Why couldn't some song be sung, amazing works, you know? And a missionary come over here and sing that in their tongue and sit down and everybody say, amen, amen. We don't know. So don't say amen to a song that you don't know the words, what's being sung. Verses 18 and 19, Paul switches back to legitimate Legitimate gift of the Spirit here, as he says, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all. However, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than 10,000 words in a tongue. You see, to the Church of Corinth, this gift of tongues was something that was amazing. They were like, man, this gift of tongues, it's exciting. It's something that's showing. It's something that everybody can say, wow, this guy, this church, they've got, and we see that today in some circles. I mean, after all, again, we don't see it much, but you see them on YouTube and stuff, they say, you're not saved unless you have the gift of tongues. And they get all caught up in this kind of nonsense. Paul says, I would rather speak something with the mind. He wasn't condemning the gift here, nor was he envious over the gift that he didn't possess. He actually had more occasions to use the gift than they did. Now, the Bible doesn't give us examples of where all he used this, but remember, Paul was all over the Roman Empire. He must have had opportunity to use this amongst different language groups and whatever. But it wasn't for show, is the point. It was for the edification of the saints, the furtherance of the gospel, and this is what he's trying to bear out here when he talks about it. And he says, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind so I may instruct others rather than 10,000 words in the tongue. I don't want, he says, I don't want your gibberish. I don't want to be able to speak in an ancient language. Whatever it is you're just going on in Corinth. He said, I don't want nothing to do with that if it's not for the edification of the church. I'd rather speak five words with my mind with clear language than 10,000 words in an unknown language. It wasn't for show. This whole thing was for edification. And this is the point of the whole thing. As he's bringing this all out, the gifts of the Spirit weren't so that they could make great names for themselves. And in fact, as we see what's going on in the world, as we see what's going on in churches, whether so-called churches or real churches, Are they being used to try for people to make names of themselves? Or are they being used for the edification of the church, for the glory of God? Or are they being used to try to further the gospel? Are they being used for those things? Or are they being used to try and make names of themselves? Swindle people out of money and so on and so forth. I think we can really make good judgment call on these things as we look at them in the light of the scriptures. God has to get the glory in whatever gifts we have. It would be for the edification of the church and the furtherance of the gospel. If they're not for those things, they're not of the spirit at all. And so as we think about that, let's consider in the light of God's word. I want to thank you for your attention this morning, and we'll go ahead and close there. Do we have any questions on this important topic?