Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? It is the same way with lifeless instruments that produce sound, such as the flute or the harp. If they do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is being played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves; if in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air. (1Corinthians: 14: 6-9)

What is the benefit? How does speaking in tongues benefit others? How does any gift or action benefit others? This is a consistent concern of Paul's.

If I had stood at the front of the church in Japan and given a carefully crafted sermon in English it might well have been an authentic spiritual act for me. But it would have meaningless to most of those with me.

Recently my wife and I attended mass in Venice. We listened carefully to the sermon given in Italian. I heard encouragement to live as if the kingdom of heaven has already arrived. My wife heard our current condition described as a jail from which we would soon escape.

Paul calls for accurate interpretation (prophetiteia), clarity (apokalupsis), knowledge (gnosis), and teaching (didache). He calls for what builds up -oikodome - one another and the whole community.

In what we say and what we do we should be sensitive to how it will be received by others. We should avoid that which is unnecessarily confusing, or provocative, or mysterious, or simply meaningless. Paul encourages us to love one another.

Above is an element of manuscript representing Jesus reading in the synagogue.