07/17/2019 CONNECTING THE MIND
1 CORINTHIANS 14:13-15 Therefore, he 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 the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? [Revised Standard translation]
Discussion
The significance of Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians 13-15 provides much mental food for thought.
Some consider these verses as Paul’s desire to provide some “guidelines” regarding the use of the Spiritual gift of tongues. There is the suggestion that those who possessed this unusual spiritual gift were so caught up in their own ability to speak “in another tongue” they lost sight of the reason for the gift, which was to “serve.” To Paul, while the tongues speaker may gain a lot of “charisma” in having the gift unless it actually “benefits” “the church body or someone in the church,” it served no purpose. And, in order to benefit someone, including the speaker, someone needed to interpret. Therefore, Paul suggests that the gift of speaking in tongues and the gift of the interpretation of the tongue should go hand in hand. Without both, there is no mental understanding.
Others view this passage as a reminder to emphasize the importance of all spiritual gifts and a reminder to us that spiritual gifts are not our “personal property.” Gifts are given to individuals to glorify GOD or given to benefit the church, which glorifies GOD.
Others may see 1 Corinthians 14: 13-15 as Paul making a connection between prayer, spirit and mind. Sometimes people try to segregate their spiritual experience from their thinking. For example, sometimes people see work as more of a “mind” arena rather than a “spiritual” arena. Such people may come to church to pray and to have a “spiritual experience” but if asked if they ever pray at work or had a spiritual experience at work, they might say no. Sometimes people have the spiritual experience when they sing or pray often not thinking of the implications of what they are saying because they have “disengaged their minds.” For example, when we pray or sing, “LORD, I’m Available To YOU,” do the words reach the mind or are we just “caught up” in the spirit? Do we think about what it would mean to “bear a cross” for GOD or to put aside your desires for GOD’s work and plans?
Some believe 1 Corinthians 14: 13-15 reminds us that prayer and communion with GOD require connecting the mind and the spirit when we pray.