1 Corinthians 14:18-20 - I thank God that I speak in tongues

14:18,19

Just in case anyone gets the wrong end of the stick, and thinks Paul is denigrating tongues, he assures them that he “speaks in tongues more than all of you”. Tongues is a good gift, used in the right context. So on his own Paul often prays in tongues, but when he is in church he speaks intelligible words, so that all are instructed, edified.

14:20

The Corinthians were thinking and acting like children. They treated tongues as though it were a new toy. With regard to evil they should be infants, i.e. not knowing much about it at all, and having even less to do with it. Jesus told us that we need to become like children (Matt 18:3), but that referred to our trust in God, not to our being simple minded. In our thinking we are to be adults, to be mature.