Calvin on ‘tongues’ in I Cor. 14:16-17
In his own Commentary on First Corinthians, Calvin follows Chrysostom and the Early Church Fathers’ correct consensus on the intepretation of these verses. Comments Calvin: “If the man who composes and says prayers on behalf of the people, is not understood by the congregation — how will the ordinary people share in it properly, and be able to indicate at the end that the prayer includes what they themselves want? For people do not participate in prayers — unless they are all in complete agreement….
“Paul now says: ‘If in public prayer you use a foreign language which is not understood by the uneducated and ordinary people in whose presence you are speaking — nobody will share in your prayer, and your prayer or blessing will no longer be public.’ [Asks Calvin:] Why? ‘[Because] nobody,’ Paul says, ‘can add his Amen! to a prayer or a psalm — unless he understands it’…. What is plainer than this prohibition: ‘Thanksgivings or prayers should not be repeated in public — except in the language everyone understands…?'”
