INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 14 In this chapter the apostle discourses concerning the use of spiritual gifts, and prefers prophesying, or preaching, to every other gift; and directs to the order and manner of using it, and also points at the persons who should exercise it; and whereas there was mu... [ Continue Reading ]
FOLLOW AFTER CHARITY,.... The apostle having so highly commended charity, or love, in the preceding chapter, presses here to an eager pursuit after it; that is, to an exercise of it, and after those things which make for it, and will serve to maintain and increase it: and everything he has said in p... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE THAT SPEAKETH IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE,.... Or with tongues, as some copies and the Ethiopic version read: Dr. Lightfoot thinks, that the Hebrew tongue, which was become a dead language, and understood but by few, is here meant, and that not without reason; seeing the public prayers, preaching, a... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE THAT PROPHESIETH,.... Preaches, prays, or sings, in a language understood by the common people: SPEAKETH UNTO MEN TO EDIFICATION; to the building of them up in Christ, and on their most holy faith, so that they grow up as an holy temple to the Lord: and exhortation; to the more vigorous exer... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT SPEAKETH ITS AN UNKNOWN TONGUE,.... Be it the Hebrew language, or any other; some copies, and the Ethiopic version, read, "with tongues": EDIFIETH HIMSELF; his heart may be warmed, his affections raised, his devotion kept up, and he be in a very spiritual and comfortable frame, knowing and... [ Continue Reading ]
I WOULD THAT YE ALL SPAKE WITH TONGUES,.... This the apostle says, to prevent being misunderstood; for his view was not to bring the gift of tongues into contempt, or to represent it as at all times, and on all occasions, useless and insignificant; nor would he be thought to envy them this gift, or... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW, BRETHREN, IF I COME UNTO YOU SPEAKING WITH TONGUES,.... The apostle exemplifies this matter in himself, and supposes it his own case, that should he who was the apostle of the Gentiles, and to be received by them as such, when he came to them, come with this gift of tongues, which he was capabl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND EVEN THINGS WITHOUT LIFE GIVING SOUND,.... He instances in things inanimate, that have neither reason, sense, nor life, in musical instruments, and these of various sorts: WHETHER PIPE OR HARP; wind music, or hand music; either that which is blown with the breath, or pressed or stricken with th... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF THE TRUMPET GIVE AN UNCERTAIN SOUND,.... That is not plain and manifest, so as that it cannot be known on what account it is given: WHO SHALL PREPARE HIMSELF TO THE BATTLE? the allusion is to the custom of many nations, Jews and others, who, when about to engage in war, made use of musical i... [ Continue Reading ]
SO LIKEWISE YOU, UNLESS YE UTTER BY THE TONGUE WORDS EASY TO BE UNDERSTOOD,.... This is an accommodation of the foregoing similes to the case in hand: for as unless there is a distinction of notes and tunes, it cannot be music, nor it cannot be known what is piped or harped; and unless the trumpet g... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE ARE, IT MAY BE, SO MANY KINDS OF VOICES,.... לשנא, "tongues", or "languages", as the Syriac version renders it; that is, as many as there are nations in the world; there may be seventy of them, as the Jews say there were at the confusion of languages at Babel; there may be more or less: AND N... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE IF I KNOW NOT THE MEANING OF THE VOICE,.... The force and power of a language, the signification of it, the ideas its words convey, but only hear the sound of it: I SHALL BE TO HIM THAT SPEAKETH A BARBARIAN, AND HE THAT SPEAKETH SHALL BE A BARBARIAN UNTO ME: like one of those rude and unc... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO YE, FORASMUCH AS YE ARE ZEALOUS OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS,.... Gr. "of spirits"; that is, "of the gifts of the Spirit", as the Syriac version renders it; and we rightly, "spiritual gifts"; the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, for which the apostle does not blame them; these being what he had befo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE LET HIM THAT SPEAKETH IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE,.... The Hebrew, or any other, the gift of speaking with which is bestowed upon him: PRAY THAT HE MAY INTERPRET; that he may have also the gift of interpretation of tongues; for as has been before hinted, these two gifts were distinct; and a man... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF I PRAY IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE,.... In the Hebrew tongue, which the greatest part of the Jewish doctors insisted a upon should be only used in prayer; which notion might be borrowed from them, and now greatly prevailed in the church at Corinth; and the custom was used by such as had the gift of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS IT THEN?.... A Talmudic way of speaking, and answers to מהו, often used when a difficulty arises in any case, then the question is, "what is it then?" what is to be done? what is most prudent, advisable, and eligible? what is proper to be determined and resolved on in such a case? the same w... [ Continue Reading ]
ELSE WHEN THOU SHALL BLESS WITH THE SPIRIT,.... Which must be understood of giving thanks to God, not in a private way, in the family and at meals, but in a public manner before the whole congregation, for mercies temporal and spiritual, especially the latter; and that not with the breath, or voice... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU VERILY GIVEST THANKS WELL,.... In very proper words, and pertinent expressions, with great affection and devotion, suitable to the service; BUT THE OTHER IS NOT EDIFIED; the rest of the people, who do not understand the language in which thanks are given; "thy friend", as the Syriac versio... [ Continue Reading ]
I THANK MY GOD, I SPEAK WITH TONGUES MORE THAN YOU ALL. This the apostle says, to observe to them that he did not despise speaking with tongues: nor did he endeavour to beat them off, and dissuade them from desiring them, or envied their having them, because he was destitute of them himself; for he... [ Continue Reading ]
YET IN THE CHURCH I HAD RATHER SPEAK FIVE WORDS,.... Referring not to the five books of Moses, as Jerom suggests, and much less, as the Papists say, to the five words, "for this is my body"; by the muttering of which they suppose the bread in the Lord's supper to be transubtantiated into the body of... [ Continue Reading ]
BRETHREN, BE NOT CHILDREN IN UNDERSTANDING,.... There are some things in children in which it is reproachful for believers to be like them; as nonproficiency in knowledge, want of capacity to receive, bear, and digest strong meat; levity, fickleness, and inconstancy, unskilfulness in the word, defic... [ Continue Reading ]
In the law it is written,.... In Isaiah 28:11 for the word law is not be confined to the five books of Moses, but includes all the writings of the Old Testament; and this entirely agrees with the sense of the Jews. Says R. Azarias q "is it not to be found with our wise men, of blessed memory, in ma... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE TONGUES ARE FOR A SIGN,.... Of wrath and punishment inflicted on a rebellious and unbelieving people, and not of grace and kindness, as prophesying, or speaking to them by the prophets, was; and so this is an inference from what is said in the preceding verse, and shows, that there was no... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEREFORE THE WHOLE CHURCH,.... The whole congregation of believers incorporated together in a Gospel church state, consisting of its officers and private members; the church at Corinth is particularly designed: BE COME TOGETHER IN ONE PLACE; to worship God, to pray unto him, sing his praise, pr... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF ALL PROPHECY,.... That is, all that speak publicly in the church, not together, but in their order, one after another, as is hereafter directed: AND THERE COME IN ONE THAT BELIEVETH NOT, OR ONE UNLEARNED; an unbeliever that has only the knowledge of his mother tongue, in which prophesying or... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THUS ARE THE SECRETS OF HIS HEART MADE MANIFEST,.... Not to the prophets, or preachers, or to the rest of the congregation, but to himself; the word preached being in the hands, and trader the influence, direction, and application of the Spirit of God, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW IS IT THEN, BRETHREN?.... Or "what is it brethren?" The Arabic renders it, "what is the sense of my words?" The meaning of what he had said, the drift of his whole discourse; or rather the sense is, what is to be done in the case he was about to propose? WHEN YE COME TOGETHER; as a church into... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY MAN SPEAK IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE,.... He begins with the gift of tongues, with speaking in an unknown tongue, as the Hebrew language, because this they were desirous of: and the rule for this he would have observed is, LET IT BE BY TWO, OR AT MOST BY THREE, AND THAT BY COURSE. The Arabic versi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THERE BE NO INTERPRETER,.... None that has the gift of interpretation of divers tongues, and he that speaks with them has not that, which was sometimes the case: LET HIM KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCH; let him not make use of his gift publicly before the whole congregation, since without an inte... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE PROPHETS SPEAK, TWO OR THREE,.... The apostle having finished the rules for streaking with an unknown tongue, proceeds to lay down some for the gift of prophesying; and observes, that where there are a number of prophets, as very likely there were in the church at Corinth, two or three of th... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANYTHING BE REVEALED TO ANOTHER THAT SITTETH BY,.... To another prophet that sits, and hears, and tries, and judges what he hears; if he has a clearer revelation made to him of what the other is speaking of, and has a more distinct knowledge of it, and is capable of removing any difficulty that a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE MAY ALL PROPHESY ONE BY ONE,.... Not every member of the church, but everyone that had the gift of prophecy; so that they were not confined to two or three prophets at a meeting, but as many as would, or as had anything to deliver, and as time would allow; only care must be taken that confusi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SPIRITS OF THE PROPHETS ARE SUBJECT TO THE PROPHETS. Meaning either that the doctrines which the prophets deliver, the explanations they give of passages of Scriptures, the revelations they declare, are subject to the examination, judgment, and censure of other prophets; who have a right to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION,.... Or disorder, or "tumult", as the Syriac renders it; wherefore he does not inspire and excite his prophets to deliver themselves in a disorderly and tumultuous manner, so as to break in one upon another; but when one speaks, the other is silent, or when one... [ Continue Reading ]
LET YOUR WOMEN KEEP SILENCE IN THE CHURCHES,.... This is a restriction of, and an exception to one of the above rules, that all might prophesy; in which he would be understood of men only, and not of women; and is directed against a practice which seems to have prevailed in this church at Corinth, a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF THEY WILL LEARN ANYTHING,.... If they are desirous of learning anything in relation to doctrine, duty, or discipline, and of improving their knowledge of divine things, which is very commendable in them; if any difficulty arises in their minds whilst hearing the word, which they want to have... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT? CAME THE WORD OF GOD OUT FROM YOU?.... That you must give laws to other churches, and introduce new customs and practices never known or used before? No; the word of the Lord came out of Zion, and the law or doctrine of the Lord, the word of the Gospel, the doctrine of the grace of God, came o... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY MAN THINK HIMSELF TO BE A PROPHET,.... Or "seems to be a prophet", and is really one; for the apostle does not so much design to strike at the pride, vanity, and appearances of false prophets, as to observe, that those that are really prophets, have the gift of prophesy, either of foretelling... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF ANY MAN BE IGNORANT,.... Of "these" words, as the Arabic version adds, and does not know and own them to be the commandments of Christ; though he may profess himself to be a prophet, or a spiritual man, he is a very ignorant one, and has not the Spirit of God he pretends to: and if he will no... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE, BRETHREN, COVET TO PROPHESY,.... The apostle now draws to a conclusion, and reassumes the exhortation he gave in the beginning of the chapter, pressing the members of this church to desire the gift of prophecy, that being the most eligible and preferable to others, particularly to speakin... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ALL THINGS BE DONE DECENTLY AND IN ORDER. Which may refer not only to what is said in this chapter, but in the foregoing part of the epistle; go not to law before the unbelievers; let not a believing yokefellow depart from an unbelieving one; let not him that has knowledge sit in an idol's templ... [ Continue Reading ]