Sign Gifts and the Gift of Tongues

Intro Notes:

1. The cessation of the sign gifts

2. Follow love and desire the greater “things of the Spirit”. (1 Corinthians 14:1-5)

3. Musical instruments and military communication illustrate the superiority of prophecy over unknown languages. (1 Corinthians 14:6-12)

4. Since intelligibility is so important, we should prefer intelligible worship. (1 Corinthians 14:13-19)

Table Talk Questions

1. Which spiritual gift does Paul say should be most desired for the building up of the church? (v. 1)  What is the gift of prophecy?  What sign gift aspects are there of this gift?  What non-sign gift aspects are there of this gift?  Why isn’t tongues the most desirable? (vv. 2, 4, 6)
2. How “others oriented” are you in your desires for spiritual growth?  Why do we tend to think of spiritual growth in terms of personal enrichment and development rather than the building up of the body of Christ?  How can we move away from the personal enrichment definition and more toward the building up of the body definition?
3. In what way is the gift of prophecy more selfless and the gift of tongues more selfish? (vv. 4-6, 9-11)  Does Paul see any profit for others when one person speaks in tongues? (vv. 7-9)  Why not?  What two illustrations does he offer?
4. There are debates about tongues speaking.  Some say that these tongues were known foreign languages; others suggest that they are ecstatic utterances with no linguistic rules; others suggest that whatever the languages are, they are in fact languages that follow the science of linguistics.  What do you think? Why?  What indications are there in vv. 9-11 that they are known languages?  What indications are there in vv. 13-14 that the tongues may include unknown languages?
5. What should be the goal in using our spiritual gifts? (v. 12)  Why does Paul believe that we should engage our minds as well as our spirits in worship? (vv. 15-17)  What are some ways to do that?  What is more important to Paul than speaking in tongues, even though he did speak in tongues?