The scriptures explain to us that the purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the church in love. This is why the Holy Spirit imparts spiritual gifts to the church. Understanding this purpose is important for understanding Paul's thoughts in 1 Corinthians 14. It is useful to expound this thought just slightly further: The purpose of the spiritual gifts is that those who practice them would build up (edify) the other members of the church. Spiritual gifts are not given so that we can practice them for our own benefit.
Paul started the topic of spiritual gifts in chapter 12, and at the end of that chapter, he says two things: "earnestly desire the spiritual gifts," and "I will show you a still more excellent way." What is this more excellent way? Love! He immediately launches from there into 1 Corinthians 13, the well known "love chapter."
It's no coincidence that 1 Corinthians 13 falls between chapter 12, where Paul introduces the topic of spiritual gifts, and chapter 14, where he is specifically contrasting two spiritual gifts: tongues and prophecy. Spiritual gifts are the primary theme throughout chapters 12-14. Paul even opens chapter 14 by associating two ideas together: "pursue love," and "earnestly desire spiritual gifts." This shows a link between the love that he talked about in chapter 13 and the gifts that he introduced in chapter 12, which he is still talking about in chapter 14.
We can see that in 1 Corinthians 13, several spiritual gifts are specifically named. in 13:1, Paul describes speaking in tongues. In 13:2, he talks about prophecy, knowledge, and faith. In 13:8, he again mentions prophecy tongues, and knowledge. Each of these was first mentioned in chapter 12, when Paul introduced the topic of spiritual gifts.
Parallel 1 - The earnest desire for spiritual gifts.
In 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul says "earnestly desire the higher gifts," and in 14:1 he says, "earnestly desire the spiritual gifts."
Parallel 2 - The idea that some gifts are higher or greater than others.
In 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul specifically says to desire the higher gifts, and in 14:1 he says to especially desire prophecy, which he describes as being greater in 14:5.
Parallel 3 - The way or pursuit of love as it relates to spiritual gifts.
In 1 Corinthians 12:31, Paul says "and I will show you a still more excellent way," which he reveals to be the way of love, in chapter 13. In 14:1, he leads the verse with "pursue love."
These parallels show us the strong continuity of thought from chapter 12 to chapter 14. These chapters are not supposed to be read as if they do not relate to one another. They relate strongly to one another.
In 1 Corinthians 13:8, Paul indicates that spiritual gifts will one day pass away (that day has not come yet: it is the day when we will be in the presence of the Lord and see Him face to face). He names several spiritual gifts as examples. But he also says that love will never end. The fact that love will never end is the driving reason why spiritual gifts are intended to be used to build up the church in love. It has never been about the spiritual gifts themselves. Those will end someday. It's all about the shared love of Christ that we have for one another and about building one another up with those gifts in that heart of love. One day, we will be in the presence of God. God is love and love will never end!
It almost doesn't need to be said, but when Paul says that we should especially desire prophecy, what he is doing is expressing that it is a more desirable spiritual gift. The word that is translated as especially, is the Greek word mallon (Strong's Greek 3123), which is used to describe superiority or preference. This does not mean that prophecy is the only preferable spiritual gift, or that it is even the best of all the spiritual gifts, but there is some reason why it is among those gifts which are considered more preferable. That reason why prophecy is more desirable is a major point that Paul is making in 1 Corinthians 14 and will be reviewed further in this study.
We are going to encounter this point several times in this study because Paul repeatedly brings it up in 1 Corinthians 14. It becomes apparent that the reason why Paul considers prophecy to be preferrable is because he is focusing on the fact that it is delivered as understood language and therefore can edify the church (remember that the purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the church in love). In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul specifically contrasts prophecy against unknown tongues, which do not edify the church unless they are followed by interpretation. Since it is interpretation which enables tongues to become edifying (1 Corinthians 14:5), we see that Paul is assessing the greatness of the gift based upon whether or not the gift is expressed in a known language.
It is important to understand what is happening when Paul is saying that we should desire spiritual gifts, and especially the gift of prophecy. He is not suggesting that we have a choice as to which gift we will receive. God (specifically the Holy Spirit) distributes the spiritual gifts according to His will, not ours.
"All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills." 1 Corinthians 12:11 (ESV)
"And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues." 1 Corinthians 12:28 (ESV)
"While God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." Hebrews 2:4 (ESV)
So Paul is only addressing the desire for spiritual gifts here in verse 1, not the choosing of them. His point is ultimately that our motivation in desiring spiritual gifts is that we should want to build up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12). But since we don't get to choose, Paul is obviously not giving his instructions in verse 1 with regard to choice.
If Paul's purpose in saying "earnestly desire he spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy," is not with regard to choice, then what is it with regard to? What is his purpose in telling the reader what their preferred desire should be, when desire in and of itself is not going to cause a particular gift to manifest (since the Holy Spirit will choose that)? It's because Paul is addressing motive. Desire is driven by motive. Consider Paul's opening phrase, "pursue love." This is the motive: Paul wants the reader to desire a spiritual gift that will enable them to better pursue love in the church!
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul indicates with regard to spiritual gifts, that we should neither be discouraged by our gifts ("...I am not a hand, so I don't belong...") nor be arrogant about our gifts ("...I have no need of you..."). So we can see that it is possible that someone might be driven to desire a particular gift because they think the one they have is not good enough, and it is possible that someone might be driven to desire a particular gift for prideful reasons as well - perhaps they want to be seen as more spiritual by others. Paul's point is that our desire for spiritual gifts should be driven by a motivation to build up the church (again, the purpose of spiritual gifts is to build up the church in love). This is why Paul indicates that prophecy is to be preferred over other spiritual gifts (specifically contrasted against unknown tongues).
I am personally acquainted with church circles that placed special emphasis upon tongues as a spiritual gift. Tongues were taught as being the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they were taught as being something that every believer can and should have, and they were promoted as a necessary and integral utility to the Christian in their spiritual walk, particularly with regard to spiritual warfare. Reasons for this emphasis were said to be self-edification in prayer language and the idea that tongues were a way for believers to pray the perfect will of God. I essentially understood the progression of the Christian walk as being "get saved, get baptized, get tongues." Prophecy was certainly endorsed, but I distinctly came away with the impression that the emphasis was on ongues rather than prophecy. This is the exact opposite of Paul's admonition in 1 Corinthians 14:1.
There will probably be some who would push back on what I have just said, by suggesting that Paul is speaking of a different kind of tongues in 1 Corinthians 14. They may argue that prayer language as evidence of Holy Spirit baptism is distinct from the spiritual gifts and that beacuse of this, Paul's emphasis of prophecy over tongues does not apply to prayer language specifically. We will get into this more at further points in this study, but my counter-response for the moment consists of the following.
In the church circles that I am acquainted with, they argued for the presence of prayer language in 1 Corinthians 14, in verses such as 2, 4, 14, and 15.
Paul specifically brings up prayer in tongues in 1 Corinthians 14:14-15.
It is my observation that 1 Corinthians 14 is the only chapter in the entire Bible which explicitly and unequivocally describes prayer in tongues. We will address this further in the study as I believe this is a key observation.
In sharing this personal experience, I think it is helpful to understand that I believe there is a significant problem in the modern church with false prophecy, particularly with those who many woudl identify as being "New Apostolic Reformation" (NAR) churches. In these churches, tongues may be promoted, but it's my opinion that they put a strong emphasis on prophecy, to the extent that they have whole programs dedicated to teaching people how to "prophesy" (they are actually being taught to literally guess at things vaguely until something sticks).
The problem of emphasizing tongues over prophecy is not corrected by swinging to an overemphasis on prophecy instead. It is very important to remember that in this verse, Paul is not addressing choice. The Holy Spirit is the only one who chooses ow spiritual gifts will be distributed in the church. Tongues and prophecy are not even the only options! We must be extremely careful to avoid a reinterpretation of Paul's statements such that we walk away thinking that Paul has said to "earnestly choose spiritual gifts, especially prophecy." That's not what he said! He only said to desire them. Then why desire them? Because if the Holy Spirit gives you a gift, you can use it to further edify the church! It is our mistake of inferring the idea of personal choice in the matter which results in error. We need to carefully consider our motives behind why we might want a particular spiritual gifting.