Paul reaches for an everyday picture: music. A pipe or a harp that gave no difference between its notes would produce noise, not a tune. The question invites the Corinthians to admit the obvious, and then to see that the same is true of speech in church. Barnes explains that without distinct tones "there would be no time, no music," and that a message, "no matter how important in itself it might be," is useless if it cannot be understood. Gill says such playing "would be a mere jargon, and not music."

The answer is plain: no one can tell what is being played. Paul adds a second picture at once, the trumpet with "an uncertain sound" (1 Corinthians 14:8). Then he applies both to the Corinthians: "So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air" (1 Corinthians 14:9).

Barnes describes the two instruments. The pipe (Greek aulos) "was usually made of reeds" and probably resembled a flageolet, a small flute. The harp (Greek kithara) was a stringed instrument that "usually had ten strings" and was played with a plectrum. Gill calls them two kinds of music: "wind music, or hand music." Barnes adds that "All music is designed to excite emotions," which is exactly what notes without distinction fail to do.

Paul calls these things "without life," yet even they must make sense to be of any use. How much more should living people, speaking in the gathering of God's church, speak in a way that others can follow. The gifts of the Spirit are meant to profit others (1 Corinthians 12:7), and this simple picture shows why: sound that carries no meaning cannot build anyone up.

The illustration also echoes what Paul has already said about love: without love even "the tongues of men and of angels" are only "sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1). Sound alone, however impressive, is not the goal. Understanding, and the love that seeks it for others, is.