I am not following you. My agenda is to understand what Paul was saying.
Did Paul sing in tongues in the assembly? Or was he talking about something he did in private?
I think it is clear that Paul was talking about a time of praying to himself and to God in tongues just as he told them to do if there was no interpreter. There was benefit in praying in tongues without an interpreter for the individual doing the praying.
1 Cor 14: 12So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.
13Therefore the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret. 14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding.
We can tell from taking in the whole context of these statements that the tenor of the message is that one can pray for and receive spiritual gifts and learn how to use them to the edification of the church. He even says that the person that speaks in a tongue (and I believe he is talking about in the assembly here) should pray for the gift of interpretation so that the church can be edified, and then he makes the point once again that when He himself prayed and SANG in tongues (and I think he is talking about when he does this between himself and God) that his understanding was unfruitful, but that he would do it anyway. This is obviously a personal devotion time and not in the assembly or he would say that he interprets it so that his understanding would not be unfruitful.
How could he say he would do it anyway even though his understanding was unfruitful and no mention of any need for an interpreter when he just told them if they do it they need to pray for interpretation if he is not contrasting the difference between praying in the assembly and between yourself and God?
If you have a better interpretation of this text please proceed to explain. We will see which interpretation sounds like it is following the intended message of the author. I do appreciate being shown things I missed....
Unless... He is saying "I will pray in the spirit...and then I will pray in the understanding interpreting what I just prayed in tongues?" I suppose that is a possible interpretation of what he meant. "I will sing in the spirit and I will sing the interpretation"
Did Paul sing in tongues in the assembly? Or was he talking about something he did in private?
I think it is clear that Paul was talking about a time of praying to himself and to God in tongues just as he told them to do if there was no interpreter. There was benefit in praying in tongues without an interpreter for the individual doing the praying.
1 Cor 14: 12So also you — since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to excel in building up the church.
13Therefore the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret. 14For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with my understanding. I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with my understanding.
We can tell from taking in the whole context of these statements that the tenor of the message is that one can pray for and receive spiritual gifts and learn how to use them to the edification of the church. He even says that the person that speaks in a tongue (and I believe he is talking about in the assembly here) should pray for the gift of interpretation so that the church can be edified, and then he makes the point once again that when He himself prayed and SANG in tongues (and I think he is talking about when he does this between himself and God) that his understanding was unfruitful, but that he would do it anyway. This is obviously a personal devotion time and not in the assembly or he would say that he interprets it so that his understanding would not be unfruitful.
How could he say he would do it anyway even though his understanding was unfruitful and no mention of any need for an interpreter when he just told them if they do it they need to pray for interpretation if he is not contrasting the difference between praying in the assembly and between yourself and God?
If you have a better interpretation of this text please proceed to explain. We will see which interpretation sounds like it is following the intended message of the author. I do appreciate being shown things I missed....
Unless... He is saying "I will pray in the spirit...and then I will pray in the understanding interpreting what I just prayed in tongues?" I suppose that is a possible interpretation of what he meant. "I will sing in the spirit and I will sing the interpretation"
Furthermore, he doesn't say that they should pray quietly in tongues if there is no interpreter. I take him to mean that they should be silent. I know we discussed this previously, but my point in saying it is that he doesn't say that he prays and sings in tongues outside the assembly. That's an assumption being made. An example in point is in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas were in jail, they prayed and sang praises to God, I take it to mean in a known language, and this would be in an assembly and in public, not in a private prayer.
And my point in bring this up is that you said you thought when Paul said "do all speak in tongues?" that this was in the assembly only. Did I understand you correctly? It's how I read your response. So I was saying how can you justify saying that this statement was only referring to the assembly, when you say his praying is outside the assembly? It's not consistent. And my point is that it doesn't follow the natural flow of the argument, as I pointed out previously.