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"So also ye, since ye are zealous of Spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound unto the
edifying of the church" (14: 12 R.V.).
This was the crucial test, not what each individual got out of the experience for
himself.
Tongue-speaking in connection with prayer.
The Apostle now deals with tongue speaking as it affected prayer. He wrote:
"For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding (or mind) is
unfruitful" (14: 14).
Paul seems to be using here the word "spirit" for the new nature. In this case the mind
was unfruitful or inactive, that is, it contributed nothing to the process. Now the mind is
extremely important to the believer as a study of the word nous as used by Paul will make
clear. When writing to the Roman church, he insisted that the believer should be
"transformed by the renewing of the mind" (Rom. 12: 2) and it is only by this mind that
one can prove what is "that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God"; and thus
render service and witness that is well-pleasing to Him.
Intercession for others is one of the highest expressions of the prayer life of the
believer, and how can one engage in this effectively without the renewed mind being
consciously employed? The Apostle puts his finger on a danger point when a tongue was
employed in prayer without the conscious use of the Spirit-renewed mind. This would
mean that a most important part of the believer remained out of action, which would be
neither good for him or for his fellow-believers and others with whom he came into
contact.
"What is to be done then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind too.
I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind too" (I Cor. 14: 15,
C. K. Barrett).
We ask again, how can the ministry of intercession be engaged in, when, knowing the
needs of others, something unintelligible goes on in the believer concerned and his mind
is completely inactive?
When Paul asks for prayer for himself, he tells the assemblies of his needs in plain
words, showing them what to pray for on his behalf. (Rom. 14: 30-32; Eph. 6: 18-20;
Col. 4: 2-4). There is not the slightest idea in these contexts that such prayer could be
rendered automatically in an unknown tongue, with the believers concerned being
unconscious of what they uttered. Furthermore, such a condition would be one of real
danger. There cannot be a hiatus or blank in the human mind and its activities. It must
be controlled by somebody or something. If the believer's thinking is not consciously
controlled by the renewed mind produced by the Holy Spirit, then Satan and the powers
of darkness have an opportunity which they will not be slow to use.