Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:19

τῷ νοΐ אABDEFG, Vulg. Peshito. Rec. διὰ τοῦ νοός with some copies of the Vetus Lat.

19. ἀλλὰ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ. ‘Whatever I may do in private, I should desire my public ministrations to be for the instruction and edification of the flock, and not for my own individual glorification.’ See note on 1 Corinthians 14:4.

κατηχήσω. This word only occurs in two other places in St Paul’s Epistles, Romans 2:18; Galatians 6:6. Nor does any other of the sacred writers use it but his friend and companion St Luke. See Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; Acts 21:21; Acts 21:24. The meaning is, as the A.V. renders it, to instruct with the voice, to teach in such wise that the learner echoes back the words of the master. From it our word catechize is derived. The importance of sermons and catechetical teaching in public worship is thus indicated, as well as their proper object, the instruction and edification of the flock. See 1 Corinthians 14:24.

ἤ, rather than. θέλω ἤ had become a ‘common formula’ in later Greek. So Winer, Gr. Gram. § 35. Cf. Matthew 18:8; Luke 15:7; Luke 17:2.

ἐν γλώσσῃ. There is a difference between this and the simple dative τῷ νοΐ. ἐν here may intimate a degree of inspiration, or it may very possibly be a Hebraism for ‘with.’

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:19

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