Study Desk

But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.

Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit.

But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort.

The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.

I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

What then shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.

You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other one is not edified.

But in the church, I would rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

It is written in the Law: "By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord."

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.