2 for he who is speaking in an `unknown' tongue -- to men he doth not speak, but to God, for no one doth hearken, and in spirit he doth speak secrets;
and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;
and Paul having laid on them `his' hands, the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were speaking also with tongues, and prophesying,
`And signs shall accompany those believing these things; in my name demons they shall cast out; with new tongues they shall speak;
so also ye, if through the tongue, speech easily understood ye may not give -- how shall that which is spoken be known? for ye shall be speaking to air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is unmeaning, if, then, I do not know the power of the voice, I shall be to him who is speaking a foreigner, and he who is speaking, is to me a foreigner;
and, confessedly, great is the secret of piety -- God was manifested in flesh, declared righteous in spirit, seen by messengers, preached among nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory!
the secret that hath been hid from the ages and from the generations, but now was manifested to his saints, to whom God did will to make known what `is' the riches of the glory of this secret among the nations -- which is Christ in you, the hope of the glory,
and in behalf of me, that to me may be given a word in the opening of my mouth, in freedom, to make known the secret of the good news,
that by revelation He made known to me the secret, according as I wrote before in few `words' -- in regard to which ye are able, reading `it', to understand my knowledge in the secret of the Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit -- that the nations be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in the Christ, through the good news, of which I became a ministrant, according to the gift of the grace of God that was given to me, according to the working of His power; to me -- the less than the least of all the saints -- was given this grace, among the nations to proclaim good news -- the untraceable riches of the Christ, and to cause all to see what `is' the fellowship of the secret that hath been hid from the ages in God, who the all things did create by Jesus Christ,
lo, I tell you a secret; we indeed shall not all sleep, and we all shall be changed;
I give thanks to my God -- more than you all with tongues speaking -- but in an assembly I wish to speak five words through my understanding, that others also I may instruct, rather than myriads of words in an `unknown' tongue. Brethren, become not children in the understanding, but in the evil be ye babes, and in the understanding become ye perfect; in the law it hath been written, that, `With other tongues and with other lips I will speak to this people, and not even so will they hear Me, saith the Lord;' so that the tongues are for a sign, not to the believing, but to the unbelieving; and the prophesy `is' not for the unbelieving, but for the believing, If, therefore, the whole assembly may come together, to the same place, and all may speak with tongues, and there may come in unlearned or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
but to us did God reveal `them' through His Spirit, for the Spirit all things doth search, even the depths of God,
but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a secret, that God foreordained before the ages to our glory,
and they who are with me the light did see, and became afraid, and the voice they heard not of him who is speaking to me --
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, according as the Spirit was giving them to declare. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation of those under the heaven, and the rumour of this having come, the multitude came together, and was confounded, because they were each one hearing them speaking in his proper dialect, and they were all amazed, and did wonder, saying one unto another, `Lo, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? and how do we hear, each in our proper dialect, in which we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and those dwelling in Mesopotamia, in Judea also, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia also, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya, that `are' along Cyrene, and the strangers of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we did hear them speaking in our tongues the great things of God.'
And he answering said to them that -- `To you it hath been given to know the secrets of the reign of the heavens, and to these it hath not been given,
I open with a simile my mouth, I bring forth hidden things of old,
`Jehovah doth lift up against thee a nation, from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle it flieth; a nation whose tongue thou hast not heard,
And they have not known that Joseph understandeth, for the interpreter `is' between them;
And Eliakim son of Hilkiah saith -- and Shebna, and Joah -- to the chief of the butlers, `Speak, we pray thee, unto thy servants `in' Aramaean, for we are understanding, and do not speak with us `in' Jewish, in the ears of the people who `are' on the wall.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Corinthians 14
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 14 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 14
In this chapter the apostle directs them about the use of their spiritual gifts, preferring those that are best and fitted to do the greatest good.
1Cr 14:1-5
The apostle, in the foregoing chapter, had himself preferred, and advised the Corinthians to prefer, Christian charity to all spiritual gifts. Here he teaches them, among spiritual gifts, which they should prefer, and by what rules they should make comparison. He begins the chapter,
1Cr 14:6-14
In this paragraph he goes on to show how vain a thing the ostentation of speaking unknown and unintelligible language must be. It was altogether unedifying and unprofitable (v. 6): If I come to you speaking with tongues, what will it profit you, unless I speak to you by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? It would signify nothing to utter any of these in an unknown tongue. An apostle, with all his furniture, could not edify, unless he spoke to the capacity of his hearers. New revelations, the most clear explications of old ones, the most instructive discourses in themselves, would be unprofitable in a language not understood. Nay, interpretations of scripture made in an unknown tongue would need to be interpreted over again, before they could be of any use.
1Cr 14:15-20
The apostle here sums up the argument hitherto, and,
1Cr 14:21-25
In this passage the apostle pursues the argument, and reasons from other topics; as,
1Cr 14:26-33
In this passage the apostle reproves them for their disorder, and endeavours to correct and regulate their conduct for the future.
1Cr 14:34-35
Here the apostle,
1Cr 14:36-40
In these verses the apostle closes his argument,