19. But in church worship I would rather speak five words that can be understood, in order to teach others, than speak thousands of words in strange tongues.
20. Do not be like children in your thinking, my brothers and sisters; be children so far as evil is concerned, but be grown-up in your thinking.
21. In the Scriptures it is written:“By means of people speaking strange languagesI will speak to my people, says the Lord.I will speak through lips of foreigners,but even then my people will not listen to me.”
22. So then, the gift of speaking in strange tongues is proof for unbelievers, not for believers, while the gift of proclaiming God's message is proof for believers, not for unbelievers.
23. If, then, the whole church meets together and everyone starts speaking in strange tongues — and if some ordinary people or unbelievers come in, won't they say that you are all crazy?
24. But if everyone is proclaiming God's message when some unbelievers or ordinary people come in, they will be convinced of their sin by what they hear. They will be judged by all they hear,
25. their secret thoughts will be brought into the open, and they will bow down and worship God, confessing, “Truly God is here among you!”