Even lifeless things giving a sound, whether pipe or harp, if they give not distinction to the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
For also, if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for war?
Paul is writing to a church where people spoke in languages their hearers did not know. He answers with two everyday sounds: a musical instrument and a battle trumpet.
Paul argues from sounds anyone can test.
We do not distinguish the sounds of a language we do not know. The truths it carries may be very weighty, but an unknown language is only a confused jargon... In short, the trumpet-call must be understood... The point pressed is distinctness, so that people understand. It need not be easy to understand, but the speech must be distinct enough to make sense. Otherwise all is lost for the hearers.
A tune played badly spoils the music. A trumpet blown badly leaves soldiers unready. Older translations call it an "uncertain sound", the wording used in the quotes below.
Here a comparison from nature confirms pure spiritual teaching. This is the frequent habit of Him who is Lord both of nature and of grace. The illustration is of the simplest kind, yet it carries a powerful moral lesson. There is a war to be fought by those whose calling is to fight the fight of faith. Those who would prove themselves good soldiers of Jesus Christ must listen to the tones of that trumpet. To the watchful believer it gives no uncertain sound.
One writer traces the picture back to the trumpets that guided Israel, alongside the cloud and the fire:
We have seen in the cloud and the fire the providential guidance of God over His people. Yet we are not left to depend only on this. The trumpets speak of the plainly declared word of God, as 1 Corinthians 14:8 reminds us... So the trumpets had to be sounded just as the Lord instructed, so that no one would mistake their message.
The verse names one fault; verse 7 names another. Muddled speech and hesitant speech both leave the hearer standing still.
Obscurity is not spirituality. If there were no "distinction in the sounds", music would convey no melodious meaning. If the sound is "uncertain", the trumpet will produce no effect upon the hearers. In the same way, ministry may be so confused that it conveys no meaning. Or it may be so uncertain that it has no effect on the hearers. If ministry is to build people up, it must use words "easy to be understood", and it must carry the certainty of the oracles of God.
Nobody today is tempted to preach in a language they never learned. The principle survives the gift.
The immediate point of these verses is that mere vocal sounds are of no value. Whatever the voice utters must mean something to those who listen. It must make sense. Is that only important in connection with the gift of tongues? By no means. It applies universally. In our meetings it will not be enough that the speaker talks in English. He may be drawn into a display of his learning. He may use crowds of long, unusual words that leave the minds of his hearers a complete blank as to his meaning. Or he may speak so fast, or with such mystic obscurity, as to be unintelligible. In all such cases people are merely "speaking into the air," and there is no profit.
Clear delivery is one half. Saying something definite is the other. One writer applies the trumpet to what a servant actually says, not just to how plainly he says it.
Paul did not beat around the bush. He did not say ambiguous things that people could read to suit their own wishes. If things were wrong, he spoke out clearly and plainly. He named them, so that people could face them and put themselves right in the light of God.
One writer sets Paul's words beside the public reading of the Law in Nehemiah:
"They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading"... Eloquence is not needed, nor finely polished sentences. Yet these two passages show that the servant is responsible to speak distinctly and simply. The truth he ministers may be very precious. Even so, it cannot build anyone up if those he ministers to can neither hear nor understand what is said.
- Sound. An instrument must give distinct notes, or nothing gets through. A language nobody knows is only noise.
- Sense. Two failures are in view: speech so confused it carries no meaning, and speech so hesitant it carries no weight.
- Signal. The trumpet was never decoration. It carried the plainly declared word of God, blown just as the Lord instructed so no one could mistake it.
- Scope. The rule outlives the gift of tongues — long words, speed, and mystic vagueness are all just speaking into the air.
- Soldiers. The test of the blast is whether anyone gets ready. Clear speech arms believers for the fight of faith; an uncertain note leaves them standing still.