1 Corinthians 16:12-14

"Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love."

Paul had a strong opinion about what Apollos should be doing. He believed Apollos should go minister to the Corinthians. But Apollos wanted to continue ministering where he was. Knowing that the Corinthian believers were going to be without the benefit of Apollos' help, Paul urged them to stand firm in the faith and in love.

God gifts the church with preachers and teachers to lead His people toward a closer walk with Him. When a church is struggling, no man no matter how gifted, is the answer. But God can use a man to direct His people toward Himself. The pastor is to be directing God's people to follow him in watchfulness, to be firm in the faith, to be strong, and to act in love.

1 Corinthians 16:1-4

"Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me."

Beginning to wrap his letter up, Paul moves from the subject of the resurrection to some final, practical considerations. The first of these is a voluntary collection of funds for the struggling saints in Jerusalem. The believers in Corinth were instructed (probably because they asked about it) to systematically prepare a gift that could be delivered to the believers in Jerusalem. The Corinthians were to gather everything together and have it ready to go to Jerusalem before Paul arrived at Corinth. The gift was to be delivered by trustworthy believers of Corinth. Paul had not yet decided if he would accompany them on the journey to Jerusale or have them go on without him.

There are several potential lessons in these directions for those who have oversight over fellow believers' giving.

• Do not resort to emotional or heavy handed tactics when collecting money. Paul wanted everything taken care of before he arrived. Perhaps this was so that people did not feel pressured to give by an apostle.
• The farther a spiritual leader can be from the actual control and handling of the funds, the better. Paul was considering going to Jerusalem, but he was not going to take the collection himself. Whether or not he went, several trustworthy laymen were to make the delivery.
• Each believer was to personally decide what God would have him give. There is no call for a certain amount. They were simply to set "something aside . . . as he may prosper." While percentages are helpful guides, the important thing is that we are giving and that we are sensitive to what God wants us to give.

1 Corinthians 14:39-40

"So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order."

God has set up certain restrictions we must abide by when we exercise the gifts that He gives us. Prophecy (the proclamation of truth—not necessarily telling future events) more naturally lends itself building people up as long as it is done one by one. Therefore, we should “desire to prophesy.”

Tongues speaking, on the other hand, requires the presence of an interpreter for the church to benefit. Additionally, only two or three people can do it in a service. Scripture puts these guidelines on the gift, but they are ignored by most modern day, so-called tongues speakers. I can scripturally forbid that kind of tongues speaking.

But while I believe that the gift of tongues is not for today and while I don’t believe the modern use of tongues is ever genuine nor would I allow it in my own church, I cannot unilaterally forbid it. This passage specifically commands me “not [to] forbid speaking in tongues.”

However God has gifted you to serve Him, when you use your gift publicly your service should clearly glorify God. In order for this to happen, there needs to be a decency and an orderliness about your ministry. You should communicate clearly and carefully. Your ministry should never be showy nor distract from the message. And the message must be true—in agreement with the Bible. God gifts people in different ways, but it is all for His glory.

1 Corinthians 14:33b-35

"As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."

What does it mean that “women . . . are not permitted to speak in church”? If we take these two and a half verses in isolation, they seem to indicate that women are not permitted to say anything at all in church services. But that cannot be true because chapter eleven, when dealing with head coverings, puts guidelines on how women are to pray and prophecy in church. So in what sense should women “keep silent in the churches”?

I believe that the key to understanding the prohibition lies in the immediately preceding verses. The previous verses addressed how to keep prophets accountable. If there was a prophecy that contradicted revealed truth, the others were to call the contradictory prophecy and prophet into question. I submit that the restriction forbidding women to speak applies specifically to this necessary challenging of contradictory prophecy.

If a woman believed that what was being asserted as truth was really false, she was not to publicly call it into question. Instead she was to ask her husband at home. Notice how the prohibition is linked with the need to be in submission: "they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission." It is possible to converse, pray, or explain submissively. But challenging an assertion is not usually an act of submission.

This fits perfectly with the likelihood that the prohibition was a prohibition from publicly challenging men. Perhaps this was due to the cultural realization that it would have shamed a man to be corrected by a woman. Whatever the motivation, it frees women to participate in church while clarifying that everything should be done in a way that recognizes and respects authority.

1 Corinthians 14:29-32

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace."

A call for accuracy of message is added here to the call for clarity of speech. Avoiding confusion by speaking clearly is not enough. We must also avoid confusion by speaking a unified, truthful message.

As with tongues, prophecy must be done by individuals one at a time. But unlike tongues the number of believers who can share God’s truth (i.e. prophecy) is not limited. No believer is forbidden from declaring truth. He must simply wait his turn to do so. While you wait, you have the opportunity to be blessed by others.

While you are waiting your turn or even if you are listening without a message, you must pay attention to what is being said. You must compare what is said to revealed truth. The one who proclaims God’s message isn’t free to say whatever he wants. His message must be subjected to the scrutiny of the Bible. If he claims that God wants you to do a particular thing or act a particular way, the directive must be in agreement with God’s word. If it isn’t, the message is to be rejected. God doesn’t contradict Himself.

1 Corinthians 14:26-28

"What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God."

Everything done in a church service should have a purpose. The overarching purpose, not explicitly mentioned here, is the glory of God. However, the purpose drawn attention to in this chapter is for building up, the growth of the church—numerical growth of the church body through the conversion of unbelievers and the personal growth of individual believers as they understand more truth and walk more and more consistently with God.

In order for growth to occur, the various parts of a service must be orderly. That is not to say that churches should rigidly eradicate all vestiges of flexibility, as if flexibility were a problem. We are not directed to embrace rigid structure verses flexibility. However, Paul makes it clear that activities focused through the lens of church growth will be much more effective than a chaotic service.

The specific example is the exercise of the gift of tongues. The first century church was instructed to take turns in speaking in tongues—one speaker at a time. They were also limited to one to three people exercising the gift in a church service. This may have required some preferring of others and intentional restraint on the part of some church members. Also clearly all tongues speaking had to be interpreted. There is no instruction for how long or as to when in the service people should present "a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation." This lack of specifics probably indicates that there was room for flexibility here. But the flexibility existed within the confines of a spiritually beneficial, organized service.

Sadly, almost no Pentecostal or Charismatic groups today operate within these guidelines. Personally, I don’t believe that the gift is in operation at all. But if God were to give someone the gift of tongues, it would have to be exercised within the confines of biblical revelation so that the church would be built up and God glorified. And if this were clearly happening, I could not argue with a fellow believer.

1 Corinthians 14:23-25

"If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you."

Chaotic, disorganized gatherings do not cause people to praise God. Unbelievers who are exposed to confusing situations where truth is not clearly proclaimed do not benefit from them. If an unbeliever comes into a Christian congregation and sees Christians all speaking in different foreign languages, he will not attribute the tongues speaking to the gifting of the Holy Spirit. He will attribute it to foolishness at best and insanity at worst.

Unbelievers need to be confronted with truth. They need to hear about God’s greatness and of their standing before this great God. The secrets of each individual's heart need to be disclosed. Perhaps the exposing of a person’s heart referred to the supernatural exposure of particular hidden sins in the unbeliever’s heart to himself or others, or perhaps the exposing of a person’s heart referred to him understanding for the first time the universal, biblical truths about man’s heart.

Either way, when a tender-hearted man hears truth from God, he will recognize that he is a condemned sinner in need of a savior. And he will fall on his face, worshiping God and turning from his sin.

1 Corinthians 14:21-22

"In the Law it is written, 'By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.' Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers."

The gift of tongues is a sign for unbelievers that works two ways. In Acts, the gift helped lead many to salvation (see Acts 2). However, tongues is not a sign that universally leads unbelievers to repentance. Sadly, it is most often a sign of judgment. Despite the privilege of seeing this miraculous sign from God, most still chose to not believe.

The primary intent of the gift of tongues was never to encourage believers or to help them pray to God in a secret prayer language. The gift of tongues is a gift for the merciful condemnation of unbelievers. I say merciful because the sign ought to have lead to their conversion (and sometimes did), but it was a condemnation because most rejected the sign.

The sign of prophecy (forth-telling and foretelling), on the other hand, was a gift for believers. Believers are called to maturity of understanding. To gain that maturity, God has ordained the sharing of His truth. In the first century, prophecy (the sharing of truth from God) involved the expositing (thoroughly explaining the text in light of itself) of the Old Testament, the expositing of the ever growing New Testament, and direct revelation from God. Today, now that the Bible is complete, direct revelation is no longer necessary for our growth and maturity, but the gift of prophecy continues to be a sign for believers as they continue to learn from the exposition of the Old and New Testaments.

1 Corinthians 14:16-19

"Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue."

The blessings that God gives us should not stop with us. We should allow His blessings to flow through us to others thereby maximizing the glory that He receives for His gracious acts in our lives. If you were to tell me an exiting story of God’s goodness in your life, you would need to speak to me in English, if you want me to thank God with you. Otherwise, your words are completely lost on me, and I am not encouraged by your testimony at all.

This is not to say that the gift of tongues was worthless. Paul spoke in tongues and was glad for the gift. But he recognized its place—that it needed to be interpreted. If the unknown spoken language was not interpretable, Paul spoke in a language that could be understood by the hearers.

Five understandable words spoken to you, such as “God’s Son died for you,” are better than a thousand words that seem to be nonsense to you. For example: Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Unless you know Koine Greek, the previous sentence is meaningless. But translate it, and you will know it to be John 3:16. The problem is not with the words but with the need for understanding.

1 Corinthians 14:13-15

"Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also."

The Corinthian believers who were blessed with the gift of tongues could not use the gift however they pleased. If they were going to speak in tongues, they needed to have an interpreter. It wasn’t enough to be blessed by God. They needed to let God’s gift to them keep on blessing others by using it in the right way so others could understand what they were saying.

We need to do the right things, the right way, for the right reasons. We cannot put our brains on autopilot during prayer. We need to engage our minds and emotions when addressing the King of the Universe. When we pray and when we sing (which Luther referred to as type of prayer), we need to worship in a self-aware, God-aware understanding thankfulness. This will bring us and others closer to God.

1 Corinthians 14:6-12

"Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church."

In what wonderful condition our churches would be if everyone in them was “eager for manifestations of the Spirit.” Too often other less important pursuits occupy our affections. How different our churches would be if every member would daily seek the mind of God through prayer and daily would allow the Holy Spirit to teach and discipline him as He manifests Himself to us through God's Word. We would do well to copy the Corinthian’s desire for evidences of the Spirit’s work and power in our lives.

And we would do well to use what the Holy Spirit teaches us to actively strive to build up the church! These verse emphasize the need for whatever spiritual ministry we are given to be for the “building up [of] the church.” If something does not build up the church it cannot be called ministry and quite often it should be abandoned. Unintelligible, untranslated speech doesn’t communicate anything to others; it’s like “speaking into the air.” That kind of so-called ministry does not build up the church and is not really ministry at all.

1 Corinthians 14:3-5

"On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their up-building and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up."

God attributes greater value to selfless ministry than to self-absorbed indulgence. We do need to take time for personal refreshment and enrichment, but personal development should lead to the ability to glorify God better through ministry in His church. For this reason, the gift of tongues, if not interpreted, was inferior to the ministry of prophesy --the proclamation of truth.

When sharing God's truth with someone you can see God mature them, help them remain faithful, or comfort them when they are hurting. But if you talk to someone in a language they don't understand, the words are worthless. You are no help to them at all. How then shall we love? How then shall we minister? We must minister through words people can understand.

This is not to say that tongues were worthless. They had a purpose, but the gift had to be used the right way for it to fulfill its purpose.

1 Corinthians 14:1-2

"Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit."

Remembering that the desire for and the use of spiritual gifts should be motivated by selfless love, Paul draws the attention of the Corinthian believers to consider the use of the most coveted gift and most abused gift in that congregation.

Everyone wanted to speak in tongues. Admittedly, it's a pretty cool gift. I'd like to just head over to Romania and start proclaiming God's love in Romanian right away without any study, and when I meet a Hungarian, immediately be able to give him the gospel in Hungarian (the language my wife believes sounds like alien—as in little green men from Mars --alien). That would be a wonderful gift. But verse two indicates that the gift of tongues wasn't always used in a way that God intended the gift to be used.

Verse two is where most cessationists (those who believe that the gift of tongues was a temporary gift for specific miraculous time) believe that Paul is talking about something other than the true gift of tongues. Here tongues seems to be not a human language but a mystical-heavenly language.

This differs from the way the gift of tongues seems to be defined in Acts. In that book, tongues was the ability to speak an unlearned language to communicate God's message to people of a language other than one's native tongue. Whether verse 2 is speaking of a different type of the gift of tongues or of a perversion of the true gift, at the very least, the gift was being misused.

Later in this chapter we will see that the presence of at least an interpreter is still required by scripture even if the gift of tongues is a heavenly language at times. Either way, the gift of tongues was not for a speaker's own benefit but for the benefit of the church. So if the Corinthian tongues speakers were speaking to God alone and no one understood them, they were not exercising the gift as it was intended.

1 Corinthians 14

Finally, I have reached the most controversial of these three chapters dealing with spiritual gifts—the tongues chapter. I have heard several different attempts to explain this fourteenth chapter. None of them have fully satisfied me.

1. Those who believe tongues have ceased, argue that the word tongue or tongues is used three different ways in this chapter (spoken languages, heavenly languages, and nonsense babble that is falsely believed to be a spiritual gift), but this explanation offers no textual indication of which way was used when, and this interpretation seems to force fore-drawn conclusions on the text.

2. Another cessationist view claims that there is a textual distinction between the way Paul uses "tongue" and "tongues," the first being a mystical language—that is really a perversion of the true gift, and the second being the true New Testament gift, the supernatural ability to speak in a foreign language without study. This interpretation makes a bit more sense, but it fails to work consistently throughout this chapter and much less through the entirety of the New Testament.

3. A common non-cessationist's view to consider holds that all of the occurrences of the terms tongue and tongues speak mostly of the mystical language, but occasionally speak of a foreign language. This view also suffers from a lack of consistency, and unfortunately those who take this view most commonly, although not exclusively, abandon the guidelines in this chapter for use of the gift.

The best understanding of the chapter comes from a consideration of its meaning within the context of chapters twelve and thirteen. In chapter twelve, God reveals that He gifts people in many different ways and that we should be content with the gift that God gives us, using it to selflessly serve the church. Chapter thirteen explains why we should use our gifts to selflessly serve—the spiritually meaningful motivation of love. Now in chapter fourteen, the Bible addresses a specific application of this truth, indicating that the exercise of our spiritual gift in the church should benefit others. If we focus on this truth and always strive to edify the believers with our gifts, then wrangling about what tongues is becomes much less of an issue. If it can be used in obedience to Scripture and for the edification of the saints, then we must not forbid it, but if it is not used in obedience to the scriptures and it does not build of the Saints then it must be abandoned.

1 Corinthians 13:9-13

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Our knowledge and understanding are not complete. But God has given us all we need to know to be rightly related to Him at this time. Though His word, we know quite a lot about God, but we do not know everything. We have many questions because God's Word contains many paradoxes. For now, these mysteries remain, but there will be a time when our understanding of God will go far beyond its current level.

Then we will have full knowledge. When we look at a child's limited understanding of the world, it often results in chuckles and smiles for us. Someday when we are face to face with our Savior, we will look back on our limited understanding and think "I knew nothing at all." And if we, in heaven, were to look upon our desire for gifts that would increase our influence, we would realize that we were pursuing the wrong thing. We should have been pursuing things that last. Faith lasts; hope lasts; love lasts. Let's pursue what is best—love.

1 Corinthians 13:8

"Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away."

Those who enjoy history respect the achievements of the past, considering the effects and implications the past has on us today. But historians don’t care about everything that ever happened. They won’t be clamoring to soak up the minutia of my blogs nor do they care much about my extended family. Likewise, when eternity comes, there will be some things that abide and some things that will fall from our consideration as dust falls from a piece of clothing once shaken before entering a house.

When this world is not as it is now, when we have left the realm of the temporal and entered the eternal, love will still remain. God’s choice to love is what brought Christ to earth to die. And His love shall endure throughout all eternity.

When eternity comes, your advancement and influence will be gone forever. But love will never end. What is most important to you know: clout, wealth, personal achievement, or distinction? Or are your desires and priorities eternal in nature? If you value eternity, love should motivate all your actions.

1 Corinthians 13:6-7

"It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Some in the world rejoice at wrongdoing because they want to see evil triumph. No true Christian desires this. But how would you react if you knew that your pastor or some other prominent church member was wrongly accused of something? Would you rejoice at your newfound opportunity for personal advancement? If so, you do not love him as you should and are worthless. You should rejoice that the truth is known, regardless of the effect it has on your personal aspirations.

Neither should you wait with eager anticipation for that truthful accusation of someone else that will propel you forward. Real problems need to be addressed and dealt with, but we shouldn’t ever want to see someone fall. We should love others so much that we are willing to suffer wrong, enduring it, hoping and believing that the people who wrong us are growing and will realize their error. All the while we are patient and kind, loving them in every way possible.

My mother is a wonderful example of this to me. When she was helping someone who was making some selfish and self-destructive choices, I encouraged her to cut the person off. I will never forget my mother’s response. She said “I just thought that (s)he would make the right choice this time.” At the time, I thought “How foolish. That person is never going to make the right choice.” Now I think, “How loving. My mother saw bore and endured many things from that person, hoping and believing that (s)he would come to walk in the truth.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-5

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful."

These verses have broad, sweeping implications for the lives of all believers. However, remembering that the larger context of this chapter is the subject of spiritual gifts helps us apply these verses in a few specific ways.

We are all equal in God’s sight, but we are not equal in each other’s sight. Though there are no more important spiritual gifts, some people are more clearly gifted or perhaps gifted in more ways than others.

We should love those who seem to be more gifted than we are. You may look at a clearly gifted individual and wish that you had his gifts. You may treat him rudely because you wish you had the gifts that he has. You are resentful, and you are failing to love. You should rejoice and give thanks that God has so gifted your brother.

We should also love those who seem to be less gifted than we are. You may be quite happy with the gifts God has given you, but you may think of other believers as inferior because of what they don’t have. Perhaps you are short tempered when dealing with people who can’t do what you do or can’t do it as quickly. Perhaps you aren’t willing to consider other people’s opinions because you think that your way is always better or that they couldn’t possibly come up with a good idea. Perhaps you are irritable because you always have to deal with what you view as other people’s incompetence. You are have an over-inflated view of yourself, and you are failing to love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-2

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing."

Love is the more excellent way that the last chapter alluded to. Love is more important than any or all of the spiritual gifts that the Corinthian believers has clamored for. People in the church then and now foolishly want recognition, prominence, and influence, and they earnestly desire spiritual gifts that will give them these things. But if they wanted what God wants for them, they would desire love and not a more important position.

Any spiritual gift exercised without love is worthless. We give lip service to this truth but we fail to understand the depth of this reality. A pastor who preaches faithfully for thirty-five years, never committing a moral sin or violating any code of ethics, if he did not love his people, his ministry was nothing. A seminary professor who has unpacked weighty truths and prepared countless students to accurately handle God’s word, if his teaching was not motivated by love, it was a waste of his time. A Christian (perhaps a missionary like me) who sees God’s power and faithfulness in life and comes to understand God’s trustworthiness, trusting that he can do anything, if his faith is loveless, he is nothing.

While we know that these things are true, there is something in us that still objects: they helped so many people; they did many great things; they were faithful for so many years. Yes, but they left off the greatest thing. It is love that empowers ministry and gives it meaning. If I am going to do something of value, I must first learn what it means to love.

1 Corinthians 12:31

"But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way."

The higher gifts! How can there be higher gifts for us to desire when the whole point of the passage seems to be indicating that we are all important and that there are no higher gifts? I believe that today's reader naturally assumes something about this verse that is misleading. There is nothing wrong with the verse, but our understanding of it is flawed.

Here are two other translations/paraphrases that seem to fit the context better. The first says "And yet some of you keep competing for so-called 'important' parts. But now I want to lay out a far better way for you" (The Message). The second says "So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all" (New Living Translation).

Both of these translations reflect the fact that spiritual gifts are not to be desired for selfish reasons. The Message interprets the statement as a rebuke for those who were selfishly desiring the gift(s) that they had erroneously viewed as more important, presumably because the exercising of the gift was more public. The New Living Translation takes the position that "higher" means most helpful. Therefore, you should desire gifts that will allow you to be the most help to the church that you can be.

I think that The Message's interpretation fits the context most naturally. This is what you have been doing, but there is a better way. Then we enter chapter 13, showing us that better way.