Scrutatio

Giovedi, 28 marzo 2024 - San Castore di Tarso ( Letture di oggi)

1 Corinthians 14


font

1Make love your aim; but be eager, too, for spiritual gifts, and especial y for prophesying.2Those who speak in a tongue speak to God, but not to other people, because nobody understandsthem; they are speaking in the Spirit and the meaning is hidden.3On the other hand, someone who prophesies speaks to other people, building them up and givingthem encouragement and reassurance.4Those who speak in a tongue may build themselves up, but those who prophesy build up thecommunity.5While I should like you all to speak in tongues, I would much rather you could prophesy; since thosewho prophesy are of greater importance than those who speak in tongues, unless they can interpret what theysay so that the church is built up by it.6Now suppose, brothers, I come to you and speak in tongues, what good shal I do you if my speakingprovides no revelation or knowledge or prophecy or instruction?7It is the same with an inanimate musical instrument. If it does not make any distinction between notes,how can one recognise what is being played on flute or lyre?8If the trumpet sounds a cal which is unrecognisable, who is going to get ready for the attack?9It is the same with you: if you do not use your tongue to produce speech that can be readilyunderstood, how can anyone know what you are saying? You will be talking to the air.10However many the languages used in the world, al of them use sound;11but if I do not understand the meaning of the sound, I am a barbarian to the person who is speaking,and the speaker is a barbarian to me.12So with you, as you are eager to have spiritual powers, aim to be rich in those which build up thecommunity.13That is why anybody who speaks in a tongue must pray that he may be given the interpretation.14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit may be praying but my mind derives no fruit from it.15What then? I shal pray with the spirit, but I shall pray with the mind as wel : I shall sing praises withthe spirit and I shal sing praises with the mind as well.16Otherwise, if you say your blessing only with the spirit, how is the uninitiated person going to answer'Amen' to your thanksgiving, without understanding what you are saying?17You may be making your thanksgiving wel , but the other person is not built up at al .18I thank God that I speak with tongues more than any of you;19al the same, when I am in the assembly I would rather say five words with my mind, to instructothers as wel , than ten thousand words in a tongue.20Brothers, do not remain children in your thinking; infants in wickedness-agreed, but in your thinkinggrown-ups.21It says in the written Law: In strange tongues and in a foreign language I wil talk to this nation, andeven so they will refuse to listen, says the Lord.22So then, strange languages are significant not for believers, but for unbelievers; whereas on theother hand, prophesying is not for unbelievers, but for believers.23Suppose that, if the whole congregation were meeting and al of them speaking in tongues, andsome uninitiated people or unbelievers were to come in, don't you think they would say that you were all raving?24But if you were al prophesying when an unbeliever or someone uninitiated came in, he would findhimself put to the test by al and judged by al25and the secrets of his heart revealed; and so he would fal down on his face and worship God,declaring that God is indeed among you.26Then what should it be like, brothers? When you come together each of you brings a psalm or someinstruction or a revelation, or speaks in a tongue or gives an interpretation. Let al these things be done in a waythat wil build up the community.27If there are to be any people speaking in a tongue, then let there be only two, or at the most three,and those one at a time, and let one of these interpret.28If there is no interpreter, then let each of them be quiet in the assembly, and speak only to himselfand God.29Let two prophets, or three, speak while the rest weigh their words;30and if a revelation comes to someone else who is sitting by, the speaker should stop speaking.31You can al prophesy, but one at a time, then al wil learn something and al receive encouragement.32The prophetic spirit is to be under the prophets' control,33for God is a God not of disorder but of peace. As in al the churches of God's holy people,34women are to remain quiet in the assemblies, since they have no permission to speak: theirs is asubordinate part, as the Law itself says.35If there is anything they want to know, they should ask their husbands at home: it is shameful for awoman to speak in the assembly.36Do you real y think that you are the source of the word of God? Or that you are the only people towhom it has come?37Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have any spiritual powers must recognise that what I amwriting to you is a commandment from the Lord.38If anyone does not recognise this, it is because that person is not recognised himself.39So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not suppress the gift of speaking in tongues.40But make sure that everything is done in a proper and orderly fashion.