07/26/2017 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]
Summary: The significance of Paul’s comments in 1 Corinthians13-15 provides much 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 a tongue” that they were only edifying themselves, especially if they did not understand what they were saying and no one else understood what they were saying either. To Paul, unless the spiritual gift “benefits” “the church body or someone in the church,” the gift serves no one. And, in order to benefit someone, including the speaker, someone needs to interpret. Therefore, Paul suggests that the gift of speaking in tongues and the gift of the interpretation of tongues should go hand in hand. Without both, there is no mental understanding or mind connection.
Others view this passage as a reminder of the importance of all spiritual gifts; to emphasize that gifts are not our own personal “property;” and to stress that we are given all gifts to “Glorify GOD” and “to benefit the church body.”
Other 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, but they may not think of the implications of what they are saying because they have “disengaged their mind.” For example, when we pray or sing, “THY Will Be Done” or “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 for GOD to ask us to “bear a cross?” Can we “have the mind” of CHRIST (See Philippians 2:5) such that we have the “humility” and “servant nature” to allow GOD to take control?
1 Corinthians 14: 13-15 reminds us that prayer and spiritual communion with GOD requires connecting the mind and the spirit, when we pray.