Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 14:9

enforces the twofold illustration of 1 Corinthians 14:7 f.: “So also in your case (οὕτως καὶ ὑμεῖς), if through the tongue you do not give a word of clear signification (εὔσημον λόγον), how will that which is spoken be discerned?” εὔ - σημος (from εὖ and σῦμα, a sign) implies a meaning in the word, and a meaning good to make out; cf. Sophocles, Antig., 1004, 1021. πῶς γνωσθήσεται κ. τ. λ.; is an echo from 1 Corinthians 14:7; and “the tongue” (διὰ τῆς γλώσσης : cf. 1 Corinthians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 6:4; 1 Corinthians 7:17), as the means of living speech, is thrust before the ἐὰν in emphatic contrast to “the lifeless” pipe, etc. P. does not therefore refer in this sentence (as Est., Gd [2055], Ed [2056] would have it) to the supernatural Tongue (elsewhere, moreover, expressed by the anarthrous γλῶσσα : otherwise here), for it is precisely his objection to this charism that it gives an ἄσημον instead of a εὔσημον λόγον (1 Corinthians 14:16; 1 Corinthians 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:23); he means to say: “As inanimate instruments by due modulation, and by the fixed meaning attached to their notes, become expressive, so it is in a higher degree with the human tongue; its vocables convey a meaning just in so far as they are ordered, articulate, and conformed to usage”. Now this is what the Cor [2057] Glossolalia was not : “for you will be (otherwise) speaking into the air” the issue of uninterpreted Tongue-speaking (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:2; 1 Corinthians 14:17, etc.). εἰς ἀέρα λαλεῖν, a proverbial expression (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:26) for ineffectual speech, like our “talking to the wind”; in Philo, ἀερομυθεῖν.

[2055] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2056] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[2057] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 14:9

Old Testament

New Testament