16 When you give thanks to God in spirit only, how can ordinary people taking part in the meeting say “Amen” to your prayer of thanksgiving? They have no way of knowing what you are saying.
17 Even if your prayer of thanks to God is quite good, other people are not helped at all.
18 I thank God that I speak in strange tongues much more than any of you.
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.