1 Corinthians 14:1. FOLLOW AFTER LOVE, YET DESIRE EARNESTLY SPIRITUAL _gifts:_ ‘If I exalt love above all mere gifts, this is not meant to disparage the gifts, nor to quench the desire to possess and exercise them; only in doing so, forget not that the best and most useful of them all is prophecy.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:2. FOR HE THAT SPEAKETH IN A TONGUE SPEAKETH NOT ONTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD the Giver of that gift; FOR NO MAN (in the absence of an interpreter) UNDERSTANDETH HIM; BUT IN THE SPIRIT (as distinct from his conscious understanding) HE SPEAKETH MYSTERIES (see 1 Corinthians 14:14-15). By “m... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:3. BUT HE THAT PROPHESIETH SPEAKETH UNTO MEN EDIFICATION (in general), AND COMFORT, AND CONSOLATION. 1 Corinthians 14:4. HE THAT SPEAKETH IN A TONGUE EDIFIETH HIMSELF even when not understanding his own words (as the next verse shews to be meant). But how so? Feeling himself to be... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:5. NOW I WOULD HAVE YOU ALL SPEAK WITH TONGUES, BUT RATHER THAT YE SHOULD PROPHESY ‘because tongues require an interpreter, else they are a heap of unmeaning sounds, whereas by prophecy all may at once benefit.' _Note._ Could anything make it clearer that “speaking with tongues” me... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:6. BUT NOW, BRETHREN, IF I COME UNTO YOU SPEAKING WITH TONGUES, WHAT SHALL I PROFIT YOU, UNLESS I SPEAK TO YOU EITHER BY WAY OF REVELATION, OR OF KNOWLEDGE, OR OF PROPHESYING, OR OF TEACHING? four things nominally, but in reality only two distinct ways of edifying by the exercise of... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:7. EVEN THINGS WITHOUT LIFE GIVING SOUND, WHETHER PIPE OR HARP the only kind of musical instruments known to the Greeks. IF THEY GIVE NOT A DISTINCTION IN THE SOUNDS or ‘notes,' such as to denote some musical ideas, HOW SHALL IT BE KNOWN WHAT IS PIPED OR HARPED? what are the ideas i... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:8. FOR IF THE TRUMPET GIVE AN UNCERTAIN SOUND, WHO SHALL PREPARE HIMSELF FOR THE BATTLE? [1] Since in all ages the advance and retreat of armies have been directed by sound of trumpet, it is indispensable that the notes expressing each should be sufficiently distinct, the one from t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:9. SO ALSO YE, UNLESS YE UTTER BY THE TONGUE SPEECH EASY TO BE UNDERSTOOD, HOW SHALL IT BE KNOWN WHAT IS SPOKEN? FOR YE WILL BE SPEAKING INTO THE AIR ‘speaking to no one' (as “beating the air,” 1 Corinthians 9:26, means ‘hitting no one').... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:10. THERE ARE SO MANY KINDS OF voices (articulate languages [1]) IN THE WORLD, AND NO _KIND _ IS WITHOUT SIGNIFICATION without definite meaning. [1] In the LXX. this word is so used; and in 2 Peter 2:16 the ass that reproved Balaam is called the _voiceless_ ass, because its bray is... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:11. IF THEN I KNOW NOT THE MEANING OF THE VOICE, I SHALL BE TO HIM THAT SPEAKETH A BARBARIAN a foreigner, understanding not the language used (by this name all foreigners were called by the Greeks and Romans, Acts 28:2), AND HE THAT SPEAKETH WILL BE A BARBARIAN UNTO ME.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:12. SO ALSO YE, SINCE YE ARE ZEALOUS OF SPIRITUAL _gifts (Gr._ ‘spirits'), SEEK THAT YE MAY ABOUND (in them) UNTO THE EDIFYING OF THE CHURCH not for display.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:13. WHEREFORE LET HIM THAT SPEAKETH IN A TONGUE PRAY _i.e._ pray ‘in the spirit,' THAT HE MAY INTERPRET not ‘pray for the gift of interpretation' (as most of the old interpreters understood it), but so pray in the unknown tongue as having in view the need of interpretation to give t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:14. FOR IF I PRAY IN A TONGUE, MY SPIRIT PRAYETH, BUT MY UNDERSTANDING IS UNFRUITFUL ‘my rational intelligence is unavailing to explain myself to others.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:15. WHAT IS IT THEN? ‘As the result of all I have said, how am I to act, supposing me thus gifted?' I WILL PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT, AND I WILL PRAY WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO: I WILL SING WITH THE SPIRIT, AND I WILL SING WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO so pray and sing (in the spirit) a... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:16. ELSE IF THOU SHALT BLESS probably the Eucharistic blessing, though equally applicable to blessing at any meal (see Acts 27:35), WITH THE SPIRIT speaking the blessing in an unknown tongue, HOW SHALL HE THAT FILLETH THE PLACE OF THE UNLEARNED the place of one unacquainted with the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:17. FOR THOU VERILY GIVEST THANKS WELL, BUT THE OTHER IS NOT EDIFIED ‘Your own part may be done out of a full heart, but all in vain to your hearers.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:18. I THANK GOD, I SPEAK WITH TONGUES MORE THAN YE ALL: YET IN THE CHURCH I HAD RATHER SPEAK FIVE WORDS WITH MY UNDERSTANDING so as to be understood by others (see on 1 Corinthians 14:14). THAT I MIGHT INSTRUCT OTHERS ALSO, THAN TEN THOUSAND WORDS IN A TONGUE.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:20. BRETHREN, BE NOT CHILDREN IN UNDERSTANDING ‘power of judging,' HOWBEIT IN MALICE BE CHILDREN, BUT IN UNDERSTANDING BE MEN _(Gr._ ‘perfect,' ‘mature'): let your manly sense be applied to this subject, and ye will need neither direction nor persuasion from me: to babble in an unin... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:21. IN THE LAW (the Old Testament Scriptures) IT IS WRITTEN, BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES, AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS _(Gr._ ‘of others') WILL I SPEAK UNTO THIS PEOPLE; AND YET FOR ALL THAT WILL THEY NOT HEAR ME, SAITH THE LORD (Isaiah 28:11-12). The Jews were there warned that since... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:22. WHEREFORE TONGUES ARE FOR A SIGN, NOT TO THEM THAT BELIEVE, BUT TO THE UNBELIEVING who, on hearing their own language spoken by those who themselves understood it not, would be filled with awe, BUT PROPHESYING IS _for a sign,_ NOT TO THE UNBELIEVING, BUT TO THEM THAT BELIEVE.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:23. IF THEREFORE THE WHOLE CHURCH BE ASSEMBLED TOGETHER, AND ALL SPEAK WITH TONGUES, AND THERE COME IN MEN UNLEARNED OR UNBELIEVING not members of the church, and not understanding the tongues, yet not hostile or captious, but such as those in Acts 2:13, WILL THEY NOT SAY THAT YE AR... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:24. BUT (on the other hand) IF ALL PROPHESY in succession, as directed, 1 Corinthians 14:30-33 AND THERE COME IN ONE UNBELIEVING OR UNLEARNED (the same two classes as in the foregoing verse), HE IS REPROVED (or ‘convicted'), HE IS JUDGED (‘searched,' ‘discovered') BY ALL his state a... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:25. [1] THE SECRETS OF HIS HEART ARE MADE MANIFEST; AND SO HE WILL FALL DOWN ON HIS FACE AND WORSHIP GOD, DECLARING THAT GOD IS AMONG YOU INDEED probably by an open confession, giving vent to the irresistible conviction that had seized him. (The words are taken from Isaiah 45:14.) S... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:26. WHAT IS IT, THEN, BRETHREN? Does your practice correspond with the principles now expounded and enforced? Nay, WHEN YE COME TOGETHER, EACH ONE [1] HATH A PSALM to “sing in the spirit” (see 1 Corinthians 14:15), HATH A DOCTRINE some truth to utter “in the spirit,” HATH A REVELATI... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:27. IF ANY MAN SPEAKETH IN A TONGUE, _let it be_ BY TWO OR AT THE MOST BY THREE that is, only so many at one meeting should exercise their gift, AND _that_ IN TURN; AND LET ONE INTERPRET even though more than one should have that gift.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:28. BUT IF THERE BE NO INTERPRETER, LET HIM KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCH: AND LET HIM SPEAK TO HIMSELF, AND TO GOD in the way explained on 1 Corinthians 14:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:29. AND LET THE PROPHETS SPEAK _BY _ TWO OR THREE at one meeting, and only in turn, AND LET THE OTHERS JUDGE ‘let the other prophets discern whether it proceeds from the Spirit of God.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:30. BUT IF A REVELATION IS MADE TO ANOTHER SITTING BY in the attitude of a hearer, while another prophet is speaking. LET THE FIRST KEEP SILENCE probably on some hint to that effect being given to the speaker.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:31. FOR YE ALL MAY PROPHESY ONE BY ONE who possess that gift, THAT ALL MAY HE COMFORTED (see 1 Corinthians 14:3).... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:32. AND (bear in mind that) THE SPIRITS OF THE PROPHETS ARE SUBJECT TO THE PROPHETS not to other prophets (as unhappily is the view of Calvin, Beza, Estius, and one or two recent critics), else how could the apostle have said, “let the first keep silence”? as Meyer well asks, but ‘s... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:33. FOR GOD IS NOT _A GOD _ OF CONFUSION, BUT OF PEACE such as His organs therefore ought to be, AS IN ALL THE CHURCHES OF THE SAINTS and so surely in yours. [1] [1] The last clause of this verse is made the first of the following sentence by a number of critics (De Wette. Billroth... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:34. LET THE WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCHES: FOR IT IS NOT PERMITTED UNTO THEM TO SPEAK; BUT LET THEM BE IN SUBJECTION, AS ALSO SAITH THE LAW referring probably to Genesis 3:16, of which idea all subsequent passages of the same import are but repetitions and expansions.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:35. AND IF THEY WILL LEARN ANYTHING an explanation of something spoken at the meeting, LET THEM ASK THEIR OWN HUSBANDS AT HOME: FOR IT IS SHAMEFUL FOR A WOMAN [1] TO SPEAK IN THE CHURCH. [1] The singular here is best supported. _Note._ On the subject of women officiating in the pub... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:36. WHAT? WAS IT FOR YOU THAT THE WORD OF GOD WENT FORTH, OR CAME IT UNTO YOU ALONE? ‘Do other churches need to learn of you how God would have the services of His Church conducted?'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:37. [1] IF ANY MAN THINKETH HIMSELF TO BE A PROPHET, OR SPIRITUAL (spiritually gifted), LET HIM (shew it by being ready to) ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE THINGS THAT I WRITE UNTO YOU ARE THE COMMANDMENT [2] OF THE LORD for inspiration cannot disown inspiration. [1] This is not a new topic,... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:38. BUT IF ANY MAN IS IGNORANT, LET HIM BE IGNORANT: ‘If he will persist in his ignorance and obstinacy, let him remain so.'... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:39. WHEREFORE (to wind up), MY BRETHREN, DESIRE EARNESTLY TO PROPHESY: ‘If bent on the possession and exercise of spiritual gifts, let prophecy be that which ye most covet,' AND (at the same time) FORBID NOT TO SPEAK WITH TONGUES though an inferior gift; for that would be to “quench... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 14:40. BUT (whatever ye do in particular cases) LET ALL THINGS BE DONE DECENTLY AND IN GOOD ORDER alike as to time, manner, and measure. _Note._ This chapter discloses a state of things so singular to which no parallel can be found in later times, and one never to be looked for in futu... [ Continue Reading ]