1 Corinthians 14:14

The Tongue has been marked out as an inferior charism, because it does not edify others; it is less desirable also because it does not turn to account the man's own intelligence : “If I pray with a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding (νοῦς) is unfruitful”. The introductory γάρ (see txtl. note) seems hardly needed; if genuine, it attaches this ver. to 1 Corinthians 14:13, as giving a further reason why the γλωσσολαλῶν should desire to interpret viz., that his own mind may partake fruitfully in his prayers. In any case, the consideration here brought in opens a new point of view. “The fruit of the speaker is found in the profit of the hearer” (Thd [2079]). “The νοῦς is here, as distinguished from the πνεῦμα, the reflective and so-called discursive faculty, pars intellectiva, the human πνεῦμα quatenus cogitat et intelligit ” (El [2080]): see Beck's Bibl. Psychology, or Laidlaw's Bib. Doctrine of Man, s.vv.; and cf. notes on 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 2:16 above; also on Romans 7:23; Romans 7:25. Religious feelings and activities prayer in chief (Philippians 3:3; Romans 1:9, etc.) take their rise in the spirit; normally, they pass upward into conception and expression through the intellect.

[2079] Theodoret, Greek Commentator.

[2080] C. J. Ellicott's St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians.