1 Corinthians 14:14

There is in the state of the glossolalete, who cannot interpret, something incomplete and insufficient.

The expression: my Spirit, is taken, by Heinrici and Holsten, to denote the Spirit of God acting and speaking in me. But the following expression: my understanding, forbids us to think of anything except a faculty belonging to the person of the man himself; comp. 1 Corinthians 2:11; Romans 8:16; and 1 Thessalonians 5:23, passages where it is in vain attempted to set aside the idea of the three fundamental elements of the human person, body, soul, and spirit: the body whereby the soul communicates with the external and material world; the spirit whereby it enters into relation with the higher and Divine world; finally, the soul itself, the free and personal force which acts by means of these two organs, using them to bring down the Divine world into the terrestrial, and thus transforming earth into heaven. But it is self-evident that the human spirit is not considered here in its natural isolation from the Divine Spirit, but in its complete union with Him. When carrying it into the state of ecstasy, the Divine Spirit separates it for the time from the νοῦς, the understanding, which is a faculty of the soul, or rather the soul itself viewed as thinking. Thereby the impressions take the character of pure feeling, ineffable emotion; it is a state of spiritual enjoyment of which sensual intoxication is, so to speak, the gross caricature; comp. Acts 2:13; Ephesians 5:18-20. Such a state manifested itself in extraordinary voices, consisting of prayers (προσεύχεσθαι, 1 Corinthians 14:14), praises (ψάλλειν, 1 Corinthians 14:15), or thanksgiving (εὐλογεῖν, εὐχαριστεῖν, 1 Corinthians 14:16), and expressing the satisfaction and aspirations of the saved soul. Only the understanding was not a partner in this state; it is unfruitful, says the apostle. The word used, ἄκαρπος, is taken by Chrysostom, Calvin, and others in this sense: does not reap fruit for itself. It does not seem to me accurate to allege, as Edwards does, that this meaning is contrary to 1 Corinthians 14:4, where it is said that the glossolalete edifies himself. For the speaker in a tongue must not be confounded with his νοῦς. But the context speaks rather in favour of the active sense: it does not produce fruit. The understanding, not deriving from this state any new idea, produces nothing, that is to say, has nothing to communicate to others. The conclusion is drawn in 1 Corinthians 14:15.