So with yourselves; since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for the building of the church.
1 Corinthians 14:12
In Paul's time, Corinth was a large commercial city in Greece. It was characterized as being heavily influenced by Greek philosophy and by its immoral practices. This prompted Paul to write to the church concerning immorality within the church. While people of the church were gifted, the church was immature and unspiritual, and Paul wrote to instruct and restore the church in its areas of weakness. He wrote on many issues concerning immorality in the church, and in Chapter 14, spoke of prophecy and speaking in tongues. When speaking in tongues, the hearer does not understand what the person is saying. Paul said "...in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue". When God's truth is proclaimed in common speech others can grow, be strengthened and experience his presence. Since the goal of the church was to grow and build the church, in 1 Corinthians 14:12, Paul was asking them to focus on speaking in a language others could understand.
In my view, the message here is to strive to excel in the spiritual gift of communication using a language that can be understood by all people and/or the audience being spoken to. For instance, if we were trying to influence a non-Christian friend about principles of Christianity, the way in which we might talk to them would likely be different than when talking with a person of faith. In the same way, when talking with someone "new" in their faith we should use a "different" language, and when talking with children we should use yet another language.
And we should never forget that if we follow the example given to us by Jesus, one of the best languages to use in attracting other people to the Christian faith is the way in which we live our own lives.
Warren Harper
