<p>14:10 <i>There are, surely, many languages in the world and none is without meaning- </i>This is quietly making the point that the gift of tongues was the ability to speak the &quot;languages in the world&quot;, and every language has meaning to the native hearer. The words spoken must therefore have meaning; the hearers must &quot;know what is spoken&quot; (see on :9). But there is a word play going on here. &quot;Languages&quot; translates <i>phonos</i>, and &quot;without meaning&quot; translates <i>a-phonos</i>, literally 'non-language'. So Paul is saying that there are many world languages, and not one of them is a non-language. This seems a pointless tautology until we consider that in saying this, he was likely answering the false claim made by ancient Corinthians and modern Pentecostals alike- that actually, even if we can't understand the language spoken, it is actually a language of some other country unknown to us. But Paul is saying that a language is a language, not a non-language. Analysis of the ecstatic utterances of Pentecostalism show them to be the same as those of pagan religions. The syntax of the utterances, the repetition of the same sounds, is not that of language. it is mere sound. Hence Paul's apparently obvious point- that a tongue language is not a non-language.</p>