King James Version
1 Corinthians 14
40 verses with commentary
Prophecy and Tongues
Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Follow after charity</strong> (διώκετε τὴν ἀγάπην, <em>diōkete tēn agapēn</em>—"pursue love")—Paul transitions from chapter 13's love hymn by making <em>agapē</em> the primary spiritual pursuit. <strong>Desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy</strong> contrasts <em>zēloō</em> ("be zealous for") with <em>mallon</em> ("more, rather")—not forbidding tongues, but establishing a...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XIV.
(1) **Follow after charity.**—Better, *Follow after love.* The preceding chapter is parenthetical, and the Apostle here returns to the subject with which he had been immediately occupied before he branched off into that great Psalm of Love. He has spoken enthusiastically in praise of the superiority of love as the greatest amongst graces, and of all graces as superior to all gifts; but still,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. And--**omitted in the oldest manuscripts The absence of the connecting particle gives an emphatical sententiousness to the style, suitable to the subject. The first step to knowledge is to know our own ignorance. Without love there is only the appearance of knowledge.
**knoweth--**The oldest manuscripts read a Greek word implying personal experimental acquaintance, not merely knowledge of a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. understandeth: Gr. heareth
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God</strong>—the Greek simply has <em>glōssa</em> (γλῶσσα, "tongue/language"), with "unknown" supplied by translators. Paul's point: uninterpreted tongues are vertically directed (God-ward) but horizontally ineffective (man-ward). <strong>No man understandeth him</strong> (<em>oudeis akouei</em>, "no one hears/understand...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue.**—Better, *For he that speaketh in a tongue.* The word “unknown” is not in the original, but it has been inserted in connection with the word tongue “all through this chapter, so as to make the various passages seem to be consistent with the theory that the gift of tongues was a gift of languages. This is not the place to enter into the question of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. love God--**the source of love to our neighbor (1Jo 4:11, 12, 20; 5:2).
**the same--**literally, "this man"; he who loves, not he who "thinks that he knows," not having "charity" or love (1Co 8:1, 2).
**is known of him--**is known with the knowledge of approval and is acknowledged by God as His (Psa 1:6; Ga 4:9; 2Ti 2:19). Contrast, "I never knew you" (Mt 7:23). To love God is to know God...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort</strong>—Paul defines prophecy by its three-fold effect: (1) <em>oikodomē</em> (οἰκοδομή, "edification, building up"), (2) <em>paraklēsis</em> (παράκλησις, "exhortation, encouragement"), (3) <em>paramythia</em> (παραμυθία, "comfort, consolation"). All three require intelligible speech directed toward human n...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Edification, and exhortation, and comfort.**—They communed with God by the speaking with tongues; they communed with the brethren by prophecy—building up, stirring up, cheering up, as each required.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. As concerning, &c.--**resuming the subject begun in 1Co 8:1, "As touching," &c.
**idol is nothing--**has no true being at all, the god it represents is not a living reality. This does not contradict 1Co 10:20, which states that they who worship idols, worship devils; for here it is the Gods believed by the worshippers to be represented by the idols which are denied to have any exist...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself</strong> (ἑαυτὸν οἰκοδομεῖ, <em>heauton oikodomei</em>)—Paul concedes tongues have personal devotional value. <strong>But he that prophesieth edifieth the church</strong> (ἐκκλησίαν οἰκοδομεῖ, <em>ekklēsian oikodomei</em>)—the contrast is between self-edification and corporate edification.<br><br>Paul doesn't denigrate private edificat...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **He that speaketh in an unknown tongue.**—Better, *He that speaketh in a tongue.* The introduction of the word “unknown” destroys the whole force of the passage. All tongues—as distinct from languages—were unknown, *i.e.,* unintelligible. The gift of prophecy is superior in usefulness to that of tongues, and therefore to be preferred. The use of the word “edify,” as applied to an individual s...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. "For even supposing there are (exist) gods so called (2Th 2:4), whether in heaven (as the sun, moon, and stars) or in earth (as deified kings, beasts, &c.), as there be (a recognized fact, De 10:17; Psa 135:5; 136:2) gods many and lords many." Angels and men in authority are termed gods in Scripture, as exercising a divinely delegated power under God (compare Ex 22:9, with Ex 22:28; Psa 82:...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied</strong>—Paul affirms tongues as a genuine gift (<em>thelō</em>, "I wish/desire") while maintaining prophecy's superiority (<em>mallon</em>, "more, rather"). <strong>Greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues</strong> uses <em>meizōn</em> (μείζων, "greater") to establish a hierarchy based on edific...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **I would that ye all spake with tongues.**—To avoid danger of misunderstanding or misrepresentation the Apostle emphatically asserts here that the error which he is combating is the undue exaltation of the gift of tongues to the depreciation of other gifts. The teacher of religious truth to others, who thereby builds up the whole edifice of the body of Christ, is a greater one than he who is ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. to us--**believers.
**of whom--**from whom as Creator all things derive their existence.
**we in him--**rather, "we for Him," or "unto Him." God the Father is the end for whom and for whose glory believers live. In Col 1:16 all things are said to be created (not only "by" Christ, but also) "for Him" (Christ). So entirely are the Father and Son one (compare Ro 11:36; He 2:10).
**one Lord...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you?</strong>—Paul uses himself as an example. The verb <em>ōpheleō</em> (ὠφελέω, "profit, benefit") echoes the love principle (13:3, "it profiteth me nothing"). <strong>Except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine</strong>—Paul lists four intelligible modes of Spirit-promp...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Now, brethren.**—Transferring these things to himself in an image the Apostle reinforces the preceding teaching. Now (*i.e.,* seeing that these things are so), what profit would I be to come to you speaking in tongues? I have been telling you that you cannot profit others: I ask you, do you think I speaking in tongues could profit you?
**Except I shall speak to you either . . .**—Here is an ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. Howbeit--**Though to us who "have knowledge" (1Co 8:1, 4-6) all meats are indifferent, yet "this knowledge is not in all" in the same degree as we have it. Paul had admitted to the Corinthians that "we all have knowledge" (1Co 8:1), that is, so far as Christian theory goes; but practically some have it not in the same degree.
**with conscience--**an ancient reading; but other very old manus...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? sounds: or, tunes
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp</strong>—Paul uses an analogy from musical instruments (<em>apsycha phōnēn didonta</em>, "lifeless things giving sound"). <strong>Except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?</strong> The Greek <em>diastolos</em> (διαστολή, "distinction, difference") refers to discrete, recognizable ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **And even things without life.**—The pipe and harp were the best-known instruments, and the principle just laid down of the inutility of sounds unless they be distinctive is illustrated by reference to them. Whether it was a harp or a pipe which was being played you could not know unless each gives a distinct sound of its own. The point here is not, as the English seems to suggest, that there...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. Other old manuscripts read, "Neither if we do not eat, are we the better: neither if we eat are we the worse": the language of the eaters who justified their eating thus [Lachmann]. In English Version Paul admits that "meat neither presents [so the Greek for 'commendeth'] us as commended nor as disapproved before God": it does not affect our standing before God (Ro 14:6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?</strong> The military analogy intensifies the argument. Greek <em>adēlos phōnēn</em> (ἄδηλος φωνή, "uncertain/unclear sound") from a war trumpet (<em>salpigx</em>, σάλπιγξ) means no one knows whether to advance, retreat, or stand.<br><br>The rhetorical question expects: "No one!" An unclear trumpet is wors...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound.**—Not only has each instrument its own sound, but in each instrument there is a distinction of notes. If a trumpet does not clearly sound the advance when it is intended, or the retreat when it is meant, the trumpet is useless, the soldiers not knowing what to do.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. this liberty of yours--**the watchword for lax Corinthians. The very indifference of meats, which I concede, is the reason why ye should "take heed" not to tempt weak brethren to act against their conscience (which constitutes sin, Ro 14:22, 23).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. easy: Gr. significant
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood</strong>—Greek <em>eusēmos logos</em> (εὔσημος λόγος, "intelligible word/clear speech") makes the principle explicit. <strong>How shall it be known what is spoken?</strong> The rhetorical question repeats the pattern (vv. 7, 8), driving home the point. <strong>For ye shall speak into the air</strong>—speaking <em>eis aera</em> (εἰς ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **So likewise ye.**—This is not the application of the foregoing, but the introduction of a third illustration, viz., the varieties of human language. The “tongue” here is simply the actual organ of speech, distinguished in the Greek, by the insertion of the article, from “tongues” which flow from the spiritual gift. If a human being does not use words that those spoken to understand, it is us...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. if any man--**being weak.
**which hast knowledge--**The very knowledge which thou pridest thyself on (1Co 8:1), will lead the weak after thy example to do that against his conscience, which thou doest without any scruple of conscience; namely, to eat meats offered to idols.
**conscience of him which is weak--**rather, "His conscience, seeing he is weak" [Alford and others].
**emboldene...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world</strong>—Greek <em>tosauta genē phōnōn</em> (τοσαῦτα γένη φωνῶν, "so many kinds of voices/languages"). Paul acknowledges the world's linguistic diversity. <strong>And none of them is without signification</strong> (<em>aphōnon</em>, ἄφωνον, "voiceless, meaningless")—every language has meaning to those who speak it.<br><br>The argum...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world.**—There are a great many voices or languages in the world, and none of them but has a right meaning when spoken rightly and to the right person. No word in any language can be meaningless, but must correspond to some thought—for the thought exists first, and the word is invented as the expression of it.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. shall ... perish--**The oldest manuscripts read "perisheth." A single act seemingly unimportant may produce everlasting consequences. The weak brother loses his faith, and if he do not recover it, his salvation [Bengel] (Ro 14:23).
**for whom Christ died--**and for whose sake we too ought to be willing to die (1Jo 3:16). And yet professing Christians at Corinth virtually tempted their bret...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian</strong>—Greek <em>barbaros</em> (βάρβαρος) originally meant a non-Greek speaker (from "bar-bar," the sound of incomprehensible speech). <strong>And he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me</strong>—the mutual incomprehension makes both parties "barbarians" to each other.<br><br>Paul's poin...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice.**—Language is useless unless we know what meaning is attached to each word uttered. The hearer is a foreigner (or *barbarian*)*,* then, in the estimation of the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner in the estimation of the hearer. Thus the truth that sounds of tongues are useless unless they convey definite ideas to the hearers, is illustrat...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. wound their weak conscience--**literally, "smite their conscience, being (as yet) in a weak state." It aggravates the cruelty of the act that it is committed on the weak, just as if one were to strike an invalid.
**against Christ--**on account of the sympathy between Christ and His members (Mt 25:40; Ac 9:4, 5).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. of spiritual gifts: Gr. of spirits
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts</strong>—Paul acknowledges their <em>zēlōtai</em> (ζηλωταί, "zealots, enthusiasts") for <em>pneumatōn</em> (πνευμάτων, "spirits" or "spiritual gifts"). <strong>Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church</strong>—Greek <em>zēteite hina... perisseūēte</em> (ζητεῖτε ἵνα... περισσεύητε, "seek that you may abound") redirects t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Even so ye.**—Here follows the practical application of the previous teaching and illustration. The “ye” of 1Corinthians 14:9 was addressed to them as human beings generally; but here the Apostle returns to the immediate subject in hand, viz., the exaltation of particular spiritual gifts in the Corinthian Church. He passes now from the contrast between prophecy and tongues to give practical...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. meat--**Old English for "food" in general.
**make ... to offend--**Greek, "is a stumbling-block to."
**no flesh--**In order to ensure my avoiding flesh offered to idols, I would abstain from all kinds of flesh, in order not to be a stumbling-block to my brother.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret</strong>—Paul's practical command: the tongues-speaker should <em>proseuchesthō hina diermēneuē</em> (προσευχέσθω ἵνα διερμηνεύῃ, "pray that he might interpret"). This assumes (1) interpretation is a distinct gift from tongues, (2) it can be sought through prayer, (3) the same person can potentially exercise bo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **In an unknown tongue.**—Better, *in a tongue.* The gift of interpretation would make the gift of tongues useful for the edifying of the Church. This would be an object of unselfish prayer, which God would indeed answer. In the Greek it is suggested that the gift of interpretation is not only to be the object of his prayer, but that it will be the result; and this leads on to the thought in ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-13**
Though some are weak, and others are strong, yet all must agree not to live to themselves. No one who has given up his name to Christ, is allowedly a self-seeker; that is against true Christianity. The business of our lives is not to please ourselves, but to please God. That is true Christianity, which makes Christ all in all. Though Christians are of different strength, capaci...
Read full commentary →For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful</strong>—Paul distinguishes between <em>to pneuma mou</em> (τὸ πνεῦμά μου, "my spirit") and <em>ho nous mou</em> (ὁ νοῦς μου, "my mind/understanding"). The adjective <em>akarpos</em> (ἄκαρπος, "unfruitful, barren") describes his <em>nous</em> when praying in tongues.<br><br>This doesn't mean tongues-p...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **For if I pray in an unknown tongue.**—Better, *if I pray in a tongue.* 1Corinthians 14:14-19 are expressed in the first person (except 1Corinthians 14:16-17, which are a parenthesis), as enforcing the Apostle’s own example. A man praying in a tongue needed the gift of interpretation. The emotions of his spirit, kindled by the Spirit of God, found utterance in a “tongue,” the gift of the Spi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 9
1Co 9:1-27. He Confirms His Teaching as to Not Putting a Stumbling-block in a Brother's Way (1Co 8:13) BY His Own Example in Not Using His Undoubted Rights as an Apostle, so as to Win Men to Christ.
**1. Am I not an apostle? am I not free?--**The oldest manuscripts read the order thus, "Am I not free? am I not an apostle?" He alludes to 1Co 8:9, "this liberty of yours": If you claim ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18**
Christ deals gently with those who have true grace, though they are weak in it. Consider the design of Christ's death: also that drawing a soul to sin, threatens the destruction of that soul. Did Christ deny himself for our brethren, so as to die for them, and shall not we deny ourselves for them, so as to keep from any indulgence? We cannot hinder ungoverned tongues from spea...
Read full commentary →What is it then? 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also</strong>—Paul resolves the tension with <em>kai</em> (καί, "both/and"). He'll pray <em>tō pneumati</em> (τῷ πνεύματι, "with the spirit") and <em>tō noi</em> (τῷ νοΐ, "with the mind"). <strong>I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also</strong>—the same principle applies t...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **What is it then?**—The Apostle, in answering this question—viz., What, then, is the practical conclusion of the whole matter?—still speaks in the first person, quoting his own conduct and resolution. He will not let his public ministrations as regards prayer and praise evaporate into mere enthusiasm; nor will he, on the other hand, allow a cold intellectual creed to chill and freeze the war...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2. yet doubtless--**yet at least I am such to you.
**seal of mine apostleship--**Your conversion by my preaching, accompanied with miracles ("the signs of an apostle," Ro 15:18, 19; 2Co 12:12), and your gifts conferred by me (1Co 1:7), vouch for the reality of my apostleship, just as a seal set to a document attests its genuineness (Joh 3:33; Ro 4:11).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18**
Christ deals gently with those who have true grace, though they are weak in it. Consider the design of Christ's death: also that drawing a soul to sin, threatens the destruction of that soul. Did Christ deny himself for our brethren, so as to die for them, and shall not we deny ourselves for them, so as to keep from any indulgence? We cannot hinder ungoverned tongues from spea...
Read full commentary →Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen?</strong>—Paul imagines someone giving <em>eulogia</em> (εὐλογία, "blessing, thanksgiving") in tongues. The person <em>anaplerou ton topon tou idiōtou</em> (ἀναπληροῦ τὸν τόπον τοῦ ἰδιώτου, "filling the place of the unlearned/uninitiated") can't say <em>Amēn</em> (Ἀμήν, "so be it, tru...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit.**—In this and the following verse the Apostle speaks in the second person, for they refer, not to his practice, but to that of some in Corinth. Their conduct and its results are introduced parenthetically here, in contrast with what he is laying down as his own earnest desire and practice.
**He that occupieth the room of the unlearned.**—Better, *...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. to them that ... examine me--**that is, who call in question mine apostleship.
**is this--**namely, that you are the seal of mine apostleship.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18**
Christ deals gently with those who have true grace, though they are weak in it. Consider the design of Christ's death: also that drawing a soul to sin, threatens the destruction of that soul. Did Christ deny himself for our brethren, so as to die for them, and shall not we deny ourselves for them, so as to keep from any indulgence? We cannot hinder ungoverned tongues from spea...
Read full commentary →For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified</strong>—Paul concedes the tongues-speaker gives <em>eucharisteis</em> (εὐχαριστεῖς, "thanksgiving") <em>kalōs</em> (καλῶς, "well, beautifully"). But <em>ho heteros</em> (ὁ ἕτερος, "the other person") is <em>ouk oikodomeitai</em> (οὐκ οἰκοδομεῖται, "not edified").<br><br>The concession is gracious: your tongues-thanksgiving i...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **For thou verily givest thanks well.**—It is here implied that speaking in a tongue was, as regards an individual, an acceptable mode of worship, and it is the public use of it that all throughout this passage the Apostle is dealing with.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. Have we not power--**Greek, "right," or lawful power, equivalent to "liberty" claimed by the Corinthians (1Co 8:9). The "we" includes with himself his colleagues in the apostleship. The Greek interrogative expresses, "You surely won't say (will you?) that we have not the power or right," &c.
**eat and drink--**without laboring with our hands (1Co 9:11, 13, 14). Paul's not exercising thi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18**
Christ deals gently with those who have true grace, though they are weak in it. Consider the design of Christ's death: also that drawing a soul to sin, threatens the destruction of that soul. Did Christ deny himself for our brethren, so as to die for them, and shall not we deny ourselves for them, so as to keep from any indulgence? We cannot hinder ungoverned tongues from spea...
Read full commentary →I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all</strong>—Paul's surprising disclosure: <em>eucharistō tō theō mou, pantōn hymōn mallon glōssais lalōn</em> (εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου, πάντων ὑμῶν μᾶλλον γλώσσαις λαλῶν, "I thank my God, speaking in tongues more than all of you"). This prevents misunderstanding: Paul isn't anti-tongues; he exercises the gift extensively—privately.<br><br>The...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18, 19) **I** **thank my God.**—Here the Apostle resumes in the first person, coming back, after the parenthesis, to the continuation of his own desire and example. He does not undervalue that gift the misuse and exaggeration of which he is censuring; he possesses it himself in a remarkable degree; yet in the Church (*i.e.,* in any assembly of Christians for prayer or instruction) he would prefer...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. lead about a sister, a wife--**that is, "a sister as a wife"; "a sister" by faith, which makes all believers brethren and sisters in the one family of God: "a wife" by marriage covenant. Paul implies he did not exercise his undoubted right to marry and "lead about" a believer, for the sake of Christian expediency, as well to save the Church the expense of maintaining her in his wide circuits,...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 14-18**
Christ deals gently with those who have true grace, though they are weak in it. Consider the design of Christ's death: also that drawing a soul to sin, threatens the destruction of that soul. Did Christ deny himself for our brethren, so as to die for them, and shall not we deny ourselves for them, so as to keep from any indulgence? We cannot hinder ungoverned tongues from spea...
Read full commentary →Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding</strong>—the emphatic contrast: <em>alla en ekklēsia</em> (ἀλλὰ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, "but in church"), Paul prefers <em>pente logous dia tou noos mou</em> (πέντε λόγους διὰ τοῦ νοός μου, "five words through my mind"). <strong>That by my voice I might teach others also</strong> (<em>hina kai allous katēchēsō</em>, "that I might i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. Barnabas--**long the associate of Paul, and, like him, in the habit of self-denyingly forbearing to claim the maintenance which is a minister's right. So Paul supported himself by tent-making (Ac 18:3; 20:34; 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-23**
Many wish for peace, and talk loudly for it, who do not follow the things that make for peace. Meekness, humility, self-denial, and love, make for peace. We cannot edify one another, while quarrelling and contending. Many, for meat and drink, destroy the work of God in themselves; nothing more destroys the soul than pampering and pleasing the flesh, and fulfilling the lusts of...
Read full commentary →Orderly Worship
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. men: Gr. perfect, or, of a ripe age
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Brethren, be not children in understanding</strong>—Greek <em>mē paidia ginesthe tais phresin</em> (μὴ παιδία γίνεσθε ταῖς φρεσίν, "don't be children in mind/thinking"). <em>Phrenes</em> (φρένες) means understanding, judgment, thought. <strong>Howbeit in malice be ye children</strong>—the positive contrast: <em>tē kakia nēpiazete</em> (τῇ κακίᾳ νηπιάζετε, "in evil/malice be infants"). <str...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Howbeit in malice be ye children.**—Better, *however in evil be ye infants.* There are three grades spoken of here in the original—infants, children, full-grown men. Their conduct in exalting these “tongues,” against which he has been warning them, is a proof that they are yet children in knowledge. They ought to be full-grown; the only thing in which they ought to be children is evil, and ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. The minister is spiritually a soldier (2Ti 2:3), a vine-dresser (1Co 3:6-8; So 1:6), and a shepherd (1Pe 5:2, 4).
**of the fruit--**The oldest manuscripts omit "of."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-23**
Many wish for peace, and talk loudly for it, who do not follow the things that make for peace. Meekness, humility, self-denial, and love, make for peace. We cannot edify one another, while quarrelling and contending. Many, for meat and drink, destroy the work of God in themselves; nothing more destroys the soul than pampering and pleasing the flesh, and fulfilling the lusts of...
Read full commentary →In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people</strong>—Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11-12, a judgment oracle against unbelieving Israel. God said He'd speak through foreign invaders' languages (Assyrian), a sign of judgment for rejecting His clear prophetic word. <strong>And yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord</strong>—even jud...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(21, 22) **In the law it is written.**—The preceding teaching is illustrated and enforced by an appeal to Jewish history. The Old Testament as a whole was not infrequently thus designated “the Law.” (See John 10:34; John 12:34; John 15:25.) The words are scarcely a quotation, but rather an illustration taken from Isaiah 28:9-12. The passage there refers to the refusal of Israel to hearken to Jehov...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. as a man--**I speak thus not merely according to human judgment, but with the sanction of the divine law also.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-23**
Many wish for peace, and talk loudly for it, who do not follow the things that make for peace. Meekness, humility, self-denial, and love, make for peace. We cannot edify one another, while quarrelling and contending. Many, for meat and drink, destroy the work of God in themselves; nothing more destroys the soul than pampering and pleasing the flesh, and fulfilling the lusts of...
Read full commentary →Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not</strong>—Greek <em>hōste hai glōssai eis sēmeion eisin</em> (ὥστε αἱ γλῶσσαι εἰς σημεῖον εἰσιν, "so tongues are for a sign"), but for <em>tois apistois</em> (τοῖς ἀπίστοις, "the unbelieving"), not <em>tois pisteuousin</em> (τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, "the believing"). <strong>But prophesying serveth not for the...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe.**—This is not an interpretation of the prophecy alluded to in the previous verse, but St. Paul now returns to the gift of “tongues” as existing in the Church, and introduces a thought regarding this gift suggested by the fact mentioned, viz., that in Israel unintelligible tongues, uttered in their hearing, were for a sign to unbeli...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. ox ... treadeth ... corn--**(De 25:4). In the East to the present day they do not after reaping carry the sheaves home to barns as we do, but take them to an area under the open air to be threshed by the oxen treading them with their feet, or else drawing a threshing instrument over them (compare Mi 4:13).
**Doth God ... care for oxen?--**rather, "Is it for the oxen that God careth?" Is the...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-23**
Many wish for peace, and talk loudly for it, who do not follow the things that make for peace. Meekness, humility, self-denial, and love, make for peace. We cannot edify one another, while quarrelling and contending. Many, for meat and drink, destroy the work of God in themselves; nothing more destroys the soul than pampering and pleasing the flesh, and fulfilling the lusts of...
Read full commentary →If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues</strong>—Paul imagines a corporate gathering where <em>pantes glōssais lalōsin</em> (πάντες γλώσσαις λαλῶσιν, "all speak in tongues"). <strong>And there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers</strong>—<em>idiōtai</em> (ἰδιῶται, "uninitiated, outsiders") or <em>apistoi</em> (ἄπιστοι, "unbelie...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **If therefore.**—Intended, as tongues were, for a “sign,” they cease to be thus useful if not properly employed. The report of the strange utterances which take place in the assembled Church may lead some unbeliever to come there: but if there be tongues alone, and they uninterpreted, the stranger will simply think those present are mad. (See Acts 2:13.) It is not meant here that *all* comme...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. altogether--**Join this with "saith." "Does he (the divine lawgiver) by all means say it for our sakes?" It would be untrue, that God saith it altogether (in the sense of solely) for our sakes. But it is true, that He by all means saith it for our sakes as the ultimate object in the lower world. Grotius, however, translates, "mainly" or "especially," instead of altogether.
**that--**"meani...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 19-23**
Many wish for peace, and talk loudly for it, who do not follow the things that make for peace. Meekness, humility, self-denial, and love, make for peace. We cannot edify one another, while quarrelling and contending. Many, for meat and drink, destroy the work of God in themselves; nothing more destroys the soul than pampering and pleasing the flesh, and fulfilling the lusts of...
Read full commentary →But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned</strong>—Paul contrasts a prophecy-dominated service with the tongues-dominated one (v. 23). <strong>He is convinced of all, he is judged of all</strong>—the unbeliever is <em>elegchetai hypo pantōn, anakrinetai hypo pantōn</em> (ἐλέγχεται ὑπὸ πάντων, ἀνακρίνεται ὑπὸ πάντων, "convicted by all, examined by all")...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **But if all prophesy.**—There is no danger of exaggeration regarding this gift. Each one uttering prophecy, telling forth the gospel truth, and revealing the mind of God, will have a message that will be useful to the unbeliever. As one after another they utter the words of divine truth, they each send something that pierces into his soul. By all of them he is convicted in his own conscience...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. we ... we--**emphatical in the Greek. We, the same persons who have sown to you the infinitely more precious treasures of the Spirit, may at least claim in return what is the only thing you have to give, namely, the goods that nourish the flesh ("your carnal things").
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
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<strong>And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest</strong>—Greek <em>ta krypta tēs kardias autou phanera ginetai</em> (τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ φανερὰ γίνεται, "the hidden things of his heart become manifest"). Prophetic preaching, illuminated by the Spirit, exposes the hearer's inner life. <strong>And so falling down on his face he will worship God</strong>—the result: <em>pesōn epi ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest.**—Better, *and the secrets of his heart are made manifest*—such being the reading of the best MSS. It is the third result of the prophetic utterances explained in previous Note. His complete conversion is evidenced by his worshipping God and recognising the presence of God in that assembly of Christians: “He will confess that you are not ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. others--**whether true apostles (1Co 9:5) or false ones (2Co 11:20).
**we rather--**considering our greater labors for you (2Co 11:23).
**suffer all things--**without complaining of it. We desire to conceal (literally, "hold as a water-tight vessel") any distress we suffer from straitened circumstances. The same Greek is in 1Co 13:7.
**lest we ... hinder ... gospel--**not to cause a hi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →Orderly Worship
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation</strong>—Paul describes Corinthian worship's participatory chaos. Each person brings something: <em>psalmon</em> (ψαλμόν, "psalm"), <em>didachēn</em> (διδαχήν, "teaching"), <em>glōssan</em> (γλῶσσαν, "tongue"), <em>apokalypsin</em> (ἀποκά...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **How is it then, brethren?**—From a discussion as to the relative value of the gift of tongue and that of prophecy, the Apostle now turns to practical instructions as to the method of their employment in public church assemblies. He first gives directions regarding the tongues (1Corinthians 14:27-28), then regarding prophecy (1Corinthians 14:29-36), and the concluding verses of this chapter ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. minister about holy things--**the Jewish priests and Levites. The Greek especially applies to the former, the priests offering sacrifices.
**partakers with the altar--**a part of the victims going to the service of the altar, and the rest being shared by the priests (Le 7:6; Nu 18:6, &c.; De 18:1, &c.).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. two: by two or three sentences separately
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course</strong>—Paul regulates tongues: <em>kata dyo ē to pleiston treis</em> (κατὰ δύο ἢ τὸ πλεῖστον τρεῖς, "by two or at most three"), and <em>ana meros</em> (ἀνὰ μέρος, "in turn, one at a time"). <strong>And let one interpret</strong> (<em>kai heis diermēneuetō</em>, καὶ εἷς διερμηνευέτω, "and ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(27) **If any man speak in an unknown tongue.**—Better, *If any man speak in a tongue.* Here is the practical application of the general rule just laid down to the exercise of the gift of tongues. Those who had that gift were not all to speak together, and so cause confusion; only two, or at the most three, were *to* speak in each assembly, and each of such group was to speak in turn, one at a tim...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. Even so--**The only inference to be drawn from this passage is, not that the Christian ministry is of a sacrificial character as the Jewish priesthood, but simply, that as the latter was supported by the contributions of the people, so should the former. The stipends of the clergy were at first from voluntary offerings at the Lord's Supper. At the love-feast preceding it every believer, acco...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church</strong>—Paul's stark command: <em>ean de mē ē diermēneutēs, sigatō en ekklēsia</em> (ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ᾖ διερμηνευτής, σιγάτω ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, "but if there is no interpreter, let him be silent in church"). The imperative <em>sigatō</em> (σιγάτω, "let him be silent") is unequivocal. <strong>And let him speak to himself, and to God</st...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(28) **But if there be no interpreter.**—But if there be no one with the gift of interpreting, then the speaker with tongues was not to exercise his gift publicly at all; he may only exercise his gift in private with himself and God.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
15. Paul's special gift of continency, which enabled him to abstain from marriage, and his ability to maintain himself without interrupting seriously his ministry, made that expedient to him which is ordinarily inexpedient; namely, that the ministry should not be supported by the people. What to him was a duty, would be the opposite to one, for instance, to whom God had committed a family, without...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge</strong>—Paul regulates prophecy similarly to tongues: <em>prophētai de dyo ē treis laleitōsan</em> (προφῆται δὲ δύο ἢ τρεῖς λαλείτωσαν, "let prophets, two or three, speak"), and <em>hoi alloi diakrinētōsan</em> (οἱ ἄλλοι διακρινέτωσαν, "let the others discern/judge").<br><br><em>Diakrinō</em> (διακρίνω) means to discern, disting...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(29) **Let the prophets speak.**—Here follows the application, to those who had the gift of prophecy, of the general principle, Let all be done to edification. Only two or three prophets are to speak in each assembly on each occasion; the others (not “other,” as in English version) who had the gift are to sit by silent and judging, *i.e.,* determining whether the utterances were from the Spirit of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. though I preach ... I have nothing to glory of--**that is, If I preach the Gospel, and do so not gratuitously, I have no matter for "glorying." For the "necessity" that is laid on me to preach (compare Jr 20:9, and the case of Jonah) does away with ground for "glorying." The sole ground for the latter that I have, is my preaching without charge (1Co 9:18): since there is no necessity laid on...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace</strong>—Paul addresses overlapping prophecies. If <em>apokalyphthē</em> (ἀποκαλυφθῇ, "it be revealed") to <em>allō kathēmenō</em> (ἄλλῳ καθημένῳ, "another sitting by"), then <em>ho prōtos sigatō</em> (ὁ πρῶτος σιγάτω, "let the first be silent").<br><br>The scenario: one prophet is speaking when another recei...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17. Translate, "If I be doing this (that is, preaching) of my own accord (which I am not, for the 'necessity' is laid on me which binds a servant to obey his master), I have a reward; but if (as is the case) involuntarily (Ac 9:15; 22:15; 26:16); not of my own natural will, but by the constraining grace of God; (Ro 9:16; 1Ti 1:13-16), I have had a dispensation (of the Gospel) entrusted to me" (and...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →For ye may all prophesy one by one , that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted</strong>—Paul explains the rationale: <em>dynasthe gar kath' hena pantes prophēteuein</em> (δύνασθε γὰρ καθ' ἕνα πάντες προφητεύειν, "for you can all prophesy one by one"). Purpose: <em>hina pantes manthanōsin kai pantes parakalōntai</em> (ἵνα πάντες μανθάνωσιν καὶ πάντες παρακαλῶνται, "that all may learn and ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(31) **For ye may all prophesy one by one.**—Better, *For it is in your power all to prophesy one by* *one.* How it is in their power is explained by the following verse. This orderly prophesying will accomplish the instruction and comforting of all; words of instruction will be interspersed with words of comfort, and so the teaching be suited to every condition of mind and soul of those present.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. What is my reward?--**The answer is in 1Co 9:19; namely, that by making the Gospel without charge, where I might have rightfully claimed maintenance, I might "win the more."
**of Christ--**The oldest manuscripts and versions omit these words.
**abuse--**rather "that I use not to the full my power." This is his matter for "glorying"; the "reward" ultimately aimed at is the gaining of the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets</strong>—Greek <em>kai pneumata prophētōn prophētais hypotassetai</em> (καὶ πνεύματα προφητῶν προφήταις ὑποτάσσεται, "and spirits of prophets are subject to prophets"). <em>Hypotassō</em> (ὑποτάσσω) means to arrange under, subject, subordinate.<br><br>Paul's principle: genuine Spirit-inspiration doesn't override self-control. Prop...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(32) **The spirits of the prophets . . .**—They might have said it was impossible to carry out St. Paul’s instructions; that the rushing Spirit of God overcame them—shook them, so that they could not control themselves. To this St. Paul replies (1Corinthians 14:31; see above) that it is not so; that they *can* prophesy one by one; that the spirits of the prophets are under the control of the proph...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. free from all men--**that is, from the power of all men.
**gain the more--**that is, as many of them ("all men") as possible. "Gain" is an appropriate expression in relation to a "reward" (1Th 2:19, 20); he therefore repeats it frequently (1Co 9:20-22).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. confusion: Gr. tumult, or, unquietness
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace</strong>—Greek <em>ou gar estin akatastasias ho theos all' eirēnēs</em> (οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἀκαταστασίας ὁ θεὸς ἀλλ' εἰρήνης, "for God is not of disorder but of peace"). <em>Akatastasia</em> (ἀκαταστασία) means instability, disorder, confusion (used of political chaos in James 3:16). <em>Eirēnē</em> (εἰρήνη) means peace, harmony, order—the opp...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(33) **For God is not the author of confusion.**—Better, *For God is the God, not of confusion, but of* *peace.* The Church is the Church of God, and should bear on it the moral image of its King: there should be order, therefore, not confusion, in their assemblies.
**As in all churches of the saints.**—It is best to make these words read as the commencement of the next subject, thus:—*As in all t...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**20. I became as a Jew--**in things not defined by the law, but by Jewish usage. Not Judaizing in essentials, but in matters where there was no compromise of principle (compare Ac 16:3; 21:20-26); an undesigned coincidence between the history and the Epistle, and so a sure proof of genuineness.
**to them that are under the law, as under the law--**in things defined by the law; such as ceremonie...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Let your women keep silence in the churches</strong>—Greek <em>hai gynaikes en tais ekklēsiais sigatōsan</em> (αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν, "let the women in the churches be silent"). This verse requires careful interpretation within its context. <strong>For it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law</strong>—<em...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(34) **But they are commanded to be under obedience.**—Better (as in some of the best MSS.), *but let them be under obedience.* The original precept laid down in Genesis 3:16 teaches this. “The law” stands for the Old Testament generally.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**21. To them ... without law--**that is, without revealed law: the heathen (compare Ro 2:12 with 1Co 9:15).
**as without law--**not urging on them the ceremonies and "works of the law," but "the hearing of faith" (Ga 3:2). Also discoursing in their own manner, as at Athens, with arguments from their own poets (Ac 17:28).
**being not without law to God--**"While thus conforming to others in ma...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home</strong>—Greek <em>ei de ti mathein thelousin, en oikō tous idious andras eperōtatōsan</em> (εἰ δέ τι μαθεῖν θέλουσιν, ἐν οἴκῳ τοὺς ἰδίους ἄνδρας ἐπερωτάτωσαν, "if they wish to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home"). This clarifies verse 34: the issue is learning/questioning behavior, not prophecy or ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(35) **If they will learn any thing.**—Better, *if they* *are desirous to learn anything.* They are not even to ask questions in public assemblies. They are to ask their husbands at home on every point on which they desire special instruction. (See 1 Corinthians 8.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**22. gain the weak--**that is, establish, instead of being a stumbling-block to inexperienced Christians (1Co 8:7) Ro 14:1, "Weak in the faith." Alford thinks the "weak" are not Christians at all, for these have been already "won"; but those outside the Church, who are yet "without strength" to believe (Ro 5:6). But when "weak" Christians are by the condescending love of stronger brethren kept fr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?</strong>—Greek <em>ē aph' hymōn ho logos tou theou exēlthen? ē eis hymas monous katēntēsen?</em> (ἢ ἀφ' ὑμῶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν; ἢ εἰς ὑμᾶς μόνους κατήντησεν;) Paul's rhetorical questions expect "No!" The Corinthians didn't originate God's word, nor were they its sole recipients.<br><br>This rebukes Corinthian arrogan...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(36) **What?**—The church at Corinth had on some of these points acted at variance with the practice of the other churches, and in a manner which assumed an independence of St. Paul’s apostolic authority. He therefore asks them, with something of sarcastic indignation, whether they are the source from whence the word of God has come, or whether they think themselves its sole recipients, that they ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**23. partaker thereof--**Greek, "fellow partaker": of the Gospel blessings promised at Christ's coming: "with" (not as English Version, "you": but) them, namely, with those thus "gained" by me to the Gospel.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
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<strong>If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord</strong>—Greek <em>ei tis dokei prophētēs einai ē pneumatikos, epiginōsketō ha graphō hymin hoti kyriou estin entolē</em> (εἴ τις δοκεῖ προφήτης εἶναι ἢ πνευματικός, ἐπιγινωσκέτω ἃ γράφω ὑμῖν ὅτι κυρίου ἐστὶν ἐντολή, "if anyone thinks he is a pr...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(37) **If any man think himself . . .**—The best evidence of the possession of these gifts would be that their conduct was the very opposite of what they seemed to think the possession of these gifts should make it. The Apostle asserts positively that what he is now writing to them are the commandments of the Lord. There could be no clearer or more emphatic statement of St. Paul’s claim to inspira...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**24. Know ye not--**The Isthmian games, in which the foot race was a leading one, were of course well known, and a subject of patriotic pride to the Corinthians, who lived in the immediate neighborhood. These periodical games were to the Greeks rather a passion than a mere amusement: hence their suitableness as an image of Christian earnestness.
**in a race--**Greek, "in a race course."
**all...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant</strong>—Greek <em>ei de tis agnoei, agnoeitō</em> (εἰ δέ τις ἀγνοεῖ, ἀγνοείτω). The present imperatives suggest willful ignorance: "if anyone is ignoring [this], let him continue to be ignored." Some manuscripts read <em>agnoeitai</em> (passive, "let him be ignored")—divine or communal ignoring of those who reject apostolic authority.<br><br...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(38) **But if any man be ignorant.**—There are here two readings in the Greek, for each of which there is strong evidence. The passage may run, either, as in the English, *if any man does not know this, let* *him not know it:* then the words would mean that a person who could not recognise such an evident and simple truth must be of a perverse mind—his opposition would give the Apostle no further ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25. striveth--**in wrestling: a still more severe contest than the foot race.
**is temperate--**So Paul exercised self-denial, abstaining from claiming sustenance for the sake of the "reward," namely, to "gain the more" (1Co 9:18, 19).
**corruptible--**soon withering, as being only of fir leaves taken from the fir groves which surrounded the Isthmian race course or stadium.
**incorruptible...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues</strong>—Greek <em>hōste, adelphoi, zēloute to prophēteuein, kai to lalein mē kōluete glōssais</em> (ὥστε, ἀδελφοί, ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφητεύειν, καὶ τὸ λαλεῖν μὴ κωλύετε γλώσσαις, "so, brothers, be zealous to prophesy, and don't forbid speaking in tongues"). Paul concludes by reaffirming the chapter's priorities: <em>z...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(39) **Wherefore, brethren.**—The practical summing up of the whole matter. Seek earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. The phraseology intimates the relative importance of the two gifts in the estimation of the Apostle, which was inverted by those to whom he wrote at Corinth. This ought you to do, but not leave the other undone.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26. I--**Paul returns to his main subject, his own self-denial, and his motive in it.
**run, not as uncertainly--**not as a runner uncertain of the goal. Ye Corinthians gain no end in your entering idol temples or eating idol meats. But I, for my part, in all my acts, whether in my becoming "all things to all men," or in receiving no sustenance from my converts, have a definite end in view, na...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →Let all things be done decently and in order.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Let all things be done decently and in order</strong>—Greek <em>panta de euschēmonōs kai kata taxin ginesthō</em> (πάντα δὲ εὐσχημόνως καὶ κατὰ τάξιν γινέσθω, "let all things be done properly and in order"). <em>Euschēmonōs</em> (εὐσχημόνως) means becomingly, decently, properly—with propriety. <em>Kata taxin</em> (κατὰ τάξιν) means according to order, arrangement, system.<br><br>Paul's clo...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(40) **Let all things be done decently.**—The former verse reiterates in a condensed sentence the principles laid down regarding the gifts in the first part of the chapter (1Corinthians 14:1-25). This verse similarly deals with the general principle laid down in the latter part of the chapter regarding the style and order of public worship. The object of all church assemblies is to be the building...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. keep under--**literally, "bruise the face under the eyes," so as to render it black and blue; so, to chastise in the most sensitive part. Compare "mortify the deeds of the body," Ro 8:13; also 1Pe 2:11. It is not ascetic fasts or macerations of the body which are here recommended, but the keeping under of our natural self-seeking, so as, like Paul, to lay ourselves out entirely for the great...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 14
Chapter Outline
The Jewish converts cautioned against judging, and Gentile believers against despising one the other.(1-13)
And the Gentiles exhorted to take heed of giving offence in their use of indifferent things.(14-23)
**Verses 1-6**
Differences of opinion prevailed even among the immediate followers of Christ and their disciples. Nor did St. Paul attempt to end t...
Read full commentary →