1 Corinthians 14:1

“Pursue love” follow intently this f1καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδόν (1 Corinthians 12:31 b : see note): διώκω (see parls.: pr [2016] impr.) signifies to prosecute to its goal (1 Corinthians 13:13) a course on which one has entered. ζηλοῦτε δὲ τὰ πνευματικά, “but (continue to) covet the spiritual (gifts)”: P. resumes 1 Corinthians 12:31 (see note, also on 1 Corinthians 12:1). Love is exalted in the interest of the charisms, not to their disparagement; it is not to be pursued by forgetting everything else, but opens the true way to everything else: “Sectamini charitatem, affectate spiritualia” (Cv [2017]). “But rather (in preference to other gifts) that you may prophesy”: this is chief amongst “the greater charisms” of 1 Corinthians 12:31. Perhaps the Cor [2018] had asked specifically which of the two, Tongues or Prophecy, was to be preferred. ἵνα προφητεύητε (cf. θέλω … μᾶλλον ἵνα, 5) differs from τὸ προφητεύειν by making the object distinctly an aim : in striving after the charisms, Prophecy is to be set highest and to control the rest. For the use of ἴνα, cf. note on 1 Corinthians 1:10, also Bm [2019], pp. 235 ff.

[2016] present tense.

[2017] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[2018] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2019] A. Buttmann's Grammar of the N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans., 1873).