The Some of Tongues

In the Acts of the Apostles, the only time we see the whole church publicly speaking in tongues is at the initiation experience in chapter 2. In that specific instance, the languages miraculously had some public good because they were the tongues of men rather than angels; hence, many of the pilgrims gathered for Pentecost understood them and were ministered to by them. There is no other biblical record of any church publicly, corporately speaking in tongues, but there is an inference that the church in Corinth did so.

Obviously, tongues had a very minimal benefit to corporate and public gatherings. 

The instructions Paul gave the Corinthian church concerning tongues revolve around the issue of corporate benefit. Apparently, in that church's gatherings everyone was publicly speaking in tongues at the same time. If only a few had the ability to speak in tongues, there would have been no issue at all. However,

everyone could, and everyone was. The result was chaotic meetings that accomplished little good for the church, and made no sense at all to visitors. 

If nothing gets understandably communicated, the meeting is pointless.

Paul instructed the church that corporate benefit and intelligibility should direct the practice of speaking in tongues in public gatherings. Though everyone could, not everyone should speak in tongues in public. Only two or three at most would be inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so, and those utterances would have to be interpreted by the sister manifestation of interpretation of tongues for the corporate benefit to ensue.

When it comes to tongues, the call is for restraint, not prohibition, in public.

In saying this, Paul did not imply that not everyone could speak in tongues, or that there was any prohibition from doing so in private. In fact, Paul wanted them all to continue to speak in tongues, and admitted that he spoke in tongues more than them all. Some, but not all of us will have a recurring ministry of speaking in tongues in public or interpreting tongues that were spoken in public; but all, not some of us who are baptized in the Holy Spirit have the privilege of praying in the Spirit for our own edification.

It is up to the Spirit to calculate which of us is the some.