Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Corinthians 12:28

οὕς μέν. St Paul evidently (see Winer, Gr. Gram. § 63) meant οὕς δὲ to follow. But he breaks off the construction by πρῶτον, and, instead of the simple enumeration he had intended, he arranges the offices in order of rank.

ἔθετο ὁ θεός. Literally, placed, i. e. when He founded the Church. See 1 Corinthians 12:18, of which this is the application.

πρῶτον�. The Apostles, the founders and rulers of the Church, were first placed in their responsible office. Matthew 10:1; Mark 3:13-14; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:1. The call of other disciples to a less responsible post is recorded in Luke 10:1. Cf. also Ephesians 4:11.

δεύτερον προφήτας. Secondarily, i.e. in the second rank in the Church. It may however be translated secondly. Prophets were those who by special gifts of inspiration (see ch. 1 Corinthians 14:1, and note) enlightened the Church on the mysteries of the faith.

τρίτον διδασκάλους. Those who with more ordinary gifts, by the exercise of the reason and judgment, expounded the oracles of God. Chrysostom remarks that they taught with less authority than the prophets, because what they said was more their own, and less directly from God. It would seem from the 15th chapter of the ‘Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,’ that the three orders ἀπόστολοι, προφήται, διδάσκαλοι, related to the missionary founders of the Church, and that, when a Church was once settled, the powers of the two latter descended on the ἐπίσκοποι and διάκονοι.

δυνάμεις. Literally, powers, or faculties (virtutes, Vulgate). See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 1:18. Here it no doubt includes miracles. See ch. 1 Corinthians 4:19-20; 1 Corinthians 5:4, and notes.

ἰαμάτων. Properly, medicines. See the account of the plague in Thucyd. II. 51 ἕν τε οὐδὲν κατέστη ἵαμα, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὅ τι χρῆν προσφέροντας ὠφελεῖν. Here it means, with χαρίσματα, various gifts of healing power, medicinal virtue, as we should say.

ἀντιλήμψεις. Literally, reciprocal seizure or hold. Hence an objection, Plat. Phaed. 87 A. ἀντιλαμβάνομαι is found in Luke 1:54; Acts 20:35; 1 Timothy 6:2. In the last place it means share. In the other two passages it means help. Hence it probably means here the power to help others in various ways, perhaps with the idea of sharing their burdens (Romans 12:15; Galatians 6:2). In Classical Greek this sense is not found.

κυβερνήσεις. Gubernationes, Vulgate. This would naturally mean the powers which fit a man for the higher positions in the Church. But Stanley (1) for the reason above assigned, as well as (2) from its position and (3) from the fact that it is employed in the Septuagint (Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 20:18; Proverbs 24:6), as the rendering of a Hebrew word signifying wise foresight, would refer it to the discerning of spirits. But the Hebrew word is derived from a word signifying a rope, and the proper signification of the word, as of the word here used, is the steersman’s art, the art of guiding aright the vessel of Church or State.

γένη γλωσσῶν. See note on 1 Corinthians 12:10. ‘Seest thou where he hath set this gift, and how he everywhere assigns it the last rank?’ Chrysostom.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Corinthians 12:28

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