1 Corinthians 14:25

Then a sudden penetrating illumination, spread over his whole life, is produced in him: he sees himself, as a whole and in the particular details of his life, as God sees him. One might apply this description to the revelation of certain particular circumstances of his life, as when Elisha speaks to Gehazi (2 Kings 5:26), or Jesus to Nathanael and to the Samaritan woman (John 1:4). But it is simpler to think here of a moral illumination, similar to that of the judgment, which shows a man his past and present state in its true light. What passes in him at such a moment resembles what passed in Paul on the way to Damascus. Struck by this light, he casts himself in the dust, not before man, but before God, acknowledging that such brightness can only proceed from the Holy of holies and the Searcher of hearts; that consequently it is He who speaks by the mouth of those into the midst of whom He has come.

The participle ἀπαγγέλλων, reporting, may refer only to what passes at the time in the assembly itself; it is a cry escaping from him under the power of overwhelming emotion: “Yes, God is among you of a truth!” But this declaration may be regarded also as extending after his departure from the assembly to those whom he meets.

The ἐν ὑμῖν may signify: among you; but in this context, where inspiration is the matter in question, perhaps it is more natural to explain it: in you. So Meyer, Edwards, etc. By the ὄντως, really, the man recognises that the claim of Christians to Divine inspiration is well-founded. Here is the opposite of the μαίνεσθε, ye are mad (1 Corinthians 14:23). The apostle could not better close the discussion on the relative value of the gifts of tongues and of prophecy than by these two examples; and now he can go on to lay down the practical rules which will secure the salutary use of these gifts.