Study Desk

If I speak in the tongues of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing.Matthew 7:22; 17:20; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10,28; 14:1;">[xr]

Even if I give away all that I have and surrender my body so that I may boastmy body to be burned">[fn] but have no love, I get nothing out of it.Matthew 6:1-2;">[xr]

Is never glad with sin,Psalm 10:3; Romans 1:32; 2 John 1:1:4;">[xr] But always glad to side with truth, Whene'er the truth should win.but rejoices in the truth">[fn]

But when what is completeperfect">[fn] comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.

Now we see only a blurred reflection in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.Matthew 18:10; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 5:7; Philippians 3:12; 1 John 3:2;">[xr]

Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

For the person who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands him, because he is speaking secrets in the Spirit.with his spirit">[fn]Acts 2:4; 10:46;">[xr]

But the person who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement, and comfort.

The person who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the person who prophesies builds the church up.

Now I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but especially that you could prophesy. The person who prophesies is more important than the person who speaks in a tongue, unless he interprets it so that the church may be built up.

In the same way, lifeless instruments like the flute or harp produce sounds. But if there's no difference in the notes, how can a person tell what tune is being played?

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is not productive.

What does this mean? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing psalms with my spirit, but I will also sing psalms with my mind.Psalm 47:7; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16;">[xr]

It's good for you to give thanks, but it does not build up the other person.

But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.

Brothers, stop beingdo not be">[fn] children in your thinking. In evil be infants, but in thinking be adults.Psalm 131:2; Matthew 11:25; 18:3; 19:14; Romans 16:19; 1 Corinthians 3:1; Ephesians 4:14; Hebrews 5:12-13; 1 Peter 2:2;">[xr]

In the law it is written,Isaiah 28:11-12; John 10:34;">[xr] "Through people of strange tongues and through the mouths of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,"Isaiah 28:11-12">[fn] declares the Lord.

Tongues, then, are meant to be a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is meant, not for unbelievers, but for believers.

But if everyone is prophesying, when an unbeliever or an uneducated person comes in he will be convicted by all and examined by all.