Therefore, one 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 unproductive. What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also. Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the ‘Amen’ to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying? For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. (1Corinthians 14: 13-19)

Some with a strong aversion to Pentecostal practice have made the case that Paul was discouraging the use of little known Hebrew. But this treatment of praying as with either with the spirit (pneuma) or the mind (nous) is clarifying.

Paul has experienced - more than others - an intimate communication with God that goes beyond what can be understood with the mind. It is clearly a form of speech that is, in the narrowest sense, ecstatic. It takes us to a new place.

Paul endorses the personal value of this ecstatic form. But Paul - once again - discourages us from a spiritual stance that might exclude others. The community is built up by including, involving, and instructing. Self-restraint is often a key to self-giving love.