Paul's preference for prophecy over tongues in public worship prioritizes building up the church through intelligible communication rather than displaying spectacular but incomprehensible spiritual phenomena. His guidelines for orderly worship—including interpretation of tongues, evaluation of prophecies, and women's silence in questioning—aim to prevent chaos while maintaining the Spirit's freedom to work. The principle that worship should edify believers and convict unbelievers rather than confuse visitors establishes criteria for evaluating all religious practices.