Now as promised, I am publishing here my abstract for the other presentation, for tomorrow, the 2nd of August at the SBL International meeting in Helsinki. Ah, Helsinki is so lovely! I will definitely come back for holidays!
Here is my abstract:
Tongues as a sign in 1 Cor 14:22:
Madness, Mystery or Miracle?
This paper aims to
strive for balance in exegesis of 1 Cor 14 by claiming that the context speaks
about the valuable benefit of both gifts – tongues and prophecy, albeit
different for each of the participants. The focus of the presentation is not so
much a translation of sēmeion [sign], but the meaning of „sign” in 1 Cor 14:22. I
would like to propose that sēmeion here can be better understood to mean a
mystery or a miracle. In that case 1 Cor 14:22 could be understood as follows:
“Tongues, then, is a mystery not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy,
however, is not [a mystery] for unbelievers but for believers.” The meaning of
‘sign’ as a mystery would better reconcile v. 22 with v. 21. 1 Cor 14:21 makes
an allusion to Is 28:11, 12 saying that the people will not listen, hear or
obey, when God speaks through the foreign nation and foreign language. This
paper suggests the reason behind not listening or hearing - people struggle to
understand. Understanding and clarity seems to be the main thread in 1 Cor 14:2,
5-9, 11, 13-14, 16, 19 et al. Thus, in the discourse of 1 Cor 14, unbelievers
do not understand tongues and might think they are madness (v. 23); believers
who speak to God do not [need to] understand tongues, but they use the Charisma
for their own benefit (v. 2, 4, 14, 18); unbelievers do understand the
prophetic message and acknowledge God’s presence (v. 24-25), but believers do
not [need to] understand the prophetic message when it reveals particular
secrets of the hearts of the newcomers (v. 25).
