Barnes on ‘tongues’ in I Cor. 14:10-12
Comments Barnes: “Paul meant to indicate that there were perhaps, or might be, as many languages as the Jews supposed — to wit, seventy [compare Genesis chapter ten. Calvin’s successor] Beza and others suppose it means that there may be as many languages as there are nations of men. Bloomfield renders it, ‘Let there be as many kinds of languages as you choose.’ Macknight, ‘There are, no doubt, as many kinds of languages in the world as ye speak’….
“The argument is, that as all the languages that are in the world, however numerous they are for utility, and as none are used for the sake of mere display — so it should be with those who had the power of speaking them in the Christian church. They should speak them, only when and where they would be understood….
