1 Corinthians 14:17

17 Your blessing might be beautiful, but you have very effectively cut that person out of it.

1 Corinthians 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:17

For thou verily givest thanks well
In very proper words, and pertinent expressions, with great affection and devotion, suitable to the service;

but the other is not edified;
the rest of the people, who do not understand the language in which thanks are given; "thy friend", as the Syriac version reads it; or thy next neighbour, he that stands by thee, receives no manner of profit by it, because he does not understand what is said.

1 Corinthians 14:17 In-Context

15 So what's the solution? The answer is simple enough. Do both. I should be spiritually free and expressive as I pray, but I should also be thoughtful and mindful as I pray. I should sing with my spirit, and sing with my mind.

16 If you give a blessing using your private prayer language, which no one else understands, how can some outsider who has just shown up and has no idea what's going on know when to say "Amen"?

17 Your blessing might be beautiful, but you have very effectively cut that person out of it.

18 I'm grateful to God for the gift of praying in tongues that he gives us for praising him, which leads to wonderful intimacies we enjoy with him. I enter into this as much or more than any of you.

19 But when I'm in a church assembled for worship, I'd rather say five words that everyone can understand and learn from than say ten thousand that sound to others like gibberish.