1 Corinthians 14

As we are known is a note of similitude, not of equality. The light of a candle as truly shines as the light of the sun, but not with that extent and splendor. We shall have such a perfect knowledge of God as our minds can receive and our hearts desire. We shall then see what we now believe concerning the glorious nature of God, his decrees and counsels, his providence and dispensations. The sublimest doctrine of the Christian religion, above the disquisition and reach of reason, is that of the sacred Trinity, upon which the whole economy of the gospel depends. In assenting to this, faith bows the head and adores. In the state above, where reason is rectified and enlarged, we shall understand that from eternity God was sole existing, but not solitary; that the Godhead is not confused in unity nor divided in number; that there is a priority of order, yet no superiority, among the sacred persons, but they are all equally possessed of the same divine excellences and the same divine empire, and are the object of the same adoration. Bates.

13. Abideth faith, hope, charity.** Could there in the region of spirit be found a brighter triad than those with which the apostle closes and crowns his noble eulogy on charity? Exquisite picture! On the right hand, Faith clinging to the cross of salvation; on the left, Hope leaning on the infallible anchor; and in the center, Charity, bearing in hand the burning heart, devoted as a daily sacrifice to the God of love! And now these three are here below the abiding companions of the Christian, amid all that changes and withers around him. They can abide, since they form the unchanging characteristic of every believer. They must abide, or all our Christianity would become form without life. They shall abide, because they are at once so sublimely Godlike and so truly human. Faith may have to wrestle with darkness; hope, with doubt; charity, with resistance; but, where Christ really lives in the heart, they can never disappear. Van O.

The greatest. Faith has its excellency in this, hope in that, and love in another thing. Faith will do that which hope can not do, hope can do that which faith can not do, and love can do things distinct from both their doings. Faith goes in the van, hope in the body, and love brings up the rear; and thus now abideth faith, hope, and charity. Faith is the mother-grace, for hope is born of her, but charity floweth from them both. Bun.—Love shall remain. Yea, not only shall it remain, but the narrow brook which in this life flowed from deeply hidden fountains will in that life become a wide stream. Here love could be preserved only while the eye of faith held the invisible world directly before itself. Shut for an instant this internal eye, look at nothing but the visible world, and thou wilt love only what thou seest. Ah! why dost thou hang solely upon creatures of the earth, and long after them; why but because thine eye of faith is not open, and thou seest not the invisible glory of the Father’s image? Couldst thou see this, thou must love it also; to see the invisible and to love him is the same thing. But when there shall be no more need of this intellectual exertion, when the thick cloud of the earthly vale shall no longer press upon the eye of faith, when the very object in which we here faintly believe shall stand constantly before our vision, oh, how easy will it then be to love! A. T.

1. Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. For 2 he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man 3 understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth 4 speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an 5 unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. 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 6 edifying. 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, 7 or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except 8 they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For 9 if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known 10 what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of 11 voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speak-

12 eth shall be a barbarian unto me. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, 13 seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Wherefore let him that speaketh in 14 an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my 15 spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. 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 16 sing with the understanding also. 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 un- 17 derstandeth not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: yet in the church I had rather 19 speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than 20 ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding: 21 howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 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 22 will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying secreth not for them that believe 23 not, but for them which believe. 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 unbe- 24 livers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there come in one 25 that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship 26 God, and report that God is in you of a truth. 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.27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and 28 that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence 29 in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. Let the prophets speak two or 30 three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the 31 first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may 32 be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is 33 not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women 34 keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are com- 35 manded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 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. 36 What? came the word of God cut from you? or came it unto you only? If any man think 37 himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto 38 you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. 39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all 40 things be done decently and in order.

THE Corinthians had no just ideas of the dignity and greatness of the divine life; they did not understand how those singular gifts in which they exulted were bestowed upon them for the benefit of others, not for their own personal glorification, and how they were to be exercised, therefore, with solemnity, wisdom, and great conscientiousness. The Christian Church became a theatre of display; and the Christian life, instead of being something serious and earnest, a work and a warfare, a building to be erected by strenuous exertion, an agony and struggle for life and death—instead of this, it put on the appearance of a boisterous holiday, and was as little dignified as a plaything or a song. But, worse than this, with the immaturity, vanity, and folly of boys, there mingled at Corinth the passions of men. They could not all be first; some must listen if others speak; where some lead, others must follow. But this is difficult where all are ambitious; and hence there were “envyings” and “strifes,” “jealousies” and “divisions.” The apostle reasons with the Corinthians. He tells them that “gifts” are a solemn trust, and bring with them a solemn responsibility; for that “the ministrations of the Spirit are given to every man for the profit of others.” He insists, therefore, that “everything should be done unto edifying,” that the Church may be benefited, and not that the actor or speaker may be glorified. He ridicules their ambition in all wishing for the best gifts, as if all the members of the body wished to be the eye, which, of course, would be the destruction of the body itself. He mourns over their strifes, their conceit, their jealousies and envyings of each other; and, looking upon these things as sure signs of ignorance and immaturity, of the want of an enlarged, well-informed mind, and of a properly disciplined and purified heart, he embodies his feelings in the words, “Be not children in understanding”—mere boys, without deep and comprehensive views of duty. “In malice,” indeed, and all foolish and angry passions, I wish you were even like “babes” who have not yet manifested these dispositions at all; but “in understanding,” in wisdom and knowledge, in mastery of yourselves, and in calm devotedness to the great business of the Christian life, I wish you to be men—men not only in the sense of having arrived at full age, but of having attained maturity of character. T. B.

1. This verse contains a résumé of all that has been said in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters. And we observe that charity holds the first place, and then spiritual gifts follow in the second. And of spiritual gifts, some for certain reasons—as, for instance, prophecy—are preferable to others. Charity implies a certain character; but a gift, as that of tongues, does not. This distinction explains at once why graces are preferable to gifts. Graces are what the man is; but enumerate his gifts, and you will only know what he has. You can not contemplate the grace separate from the man; he is lovable or admirable, according as he has charity, faith, or self-control. And hence the apostle bids the Corinthians undervalue gifts in comparison with graces: “Follow after charity.” Rather that ye may prophesy. Prophecy was a gift eminently useful; it was the power of expounding the will and the word of God. The deep insight into truth, the happy faculty of imparting truth: these two endowments together made up that which was essential to the prophet of the early Church. F. W. R.

2. In the gift of tongues, the high and ecstatic consciousness in respect to God alone predominated, while the consciousness of the world was wholly withdrawn. In this condition, the medium of communication between the deeply moved inward man and the external world was wholly wanting. What he spoke in this condition, from the strong impulse of his emotions and inward views, was not a connected discourse, nor an address adapted to the wants and circumstances of others. He was wholly occupied with the relation of his own soul to God. The soul was absorbed in adoration and devotion. Hence to this condition are ascribed prayer, songs of praise to God, and the attestation of his mighty deeds. Such a one prayed in spirit; the higher life of the soul and spirit predominated in him. When, therefore, in the midst of his peculiar emotions and spiritual contemplations he formed for himself a peculiar language, he was wanting in the power so to express himself as to be understood by the greater number. N.

5. Paul gives the preference to the gift of prophecy, which addressed itself directly and intelligibly to the congregation; whereas the Corinthians were disposed to overrate the gift of tongues, as it led to a refined egoism and indulgence in a spiritual intoxication of feeling. P. S.

19. The apostle considered that gift most desirable by which men might most edify one another. And hence that noble declaration of one of the most gifted of mankind, “I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” Our estimate is almost the reverse of this. We value a gift in proportion to its rarity, its distinctive character, separating its possessor from the rest of his fellow-men. Your lofty, incommunicable thoughts and aspirations, and contemplative raptures—in virtue of which you have estimated yourself as the porcelain of the earth, of another nature altogether than the clay of common spirits—tried by the test of charity, what is there grand in these if they can not be applied as blessings to those that are beneath you? The most trifling act which is marked by usefulness to others is nobler in God’s sight than the most brilliant accomplishment of genius. To teach a few Sunday-school children, week after week, commonplace, simple truths, persevering in spite of dullness and mean capacities, is a more glorious occupation than the highest meditations or creations of genius which edify or instruct only our own solitary soul. Gifts that are showy and gifts that please—before these the world yields her homage, while the lowly teachers of the poor and the ignorant are forgotten and unnoticed. Only remember that, in the sight of the everlasting Eye, the one is creating sounds which perish with the hour that gave them birth, the other is doing a work that is for ever—building and forming for the eternal world an immortal human spirit. F. W. R.

20. They who are children in understanding are proportionably apt to be men in malice; that is, in proportion as men neglect that which should be the guide of their lives, so are they left to the mastery of their passions; and as nature and outward circumstances do not allow these passions to remain as quiet and as little grown as they are in childhood—for they are sure to ripen without any trouble of ours—so men are left with nothing but the evils of both ages, the vices of the man and the unripeness and ignorance of the child. T. A.—The understanding needs to be opened and cultivated, the passions grow of themselves. The one requires to be encouraged and stimulated, the others to be repressed and restrained. The consequence is, that in early life, before the higher parts of humanity can have been ripened by knowledge and experience, the inferior parts are strong and active, as by the force of an internal impulse. Hence we have the phenomena that so often distinguish immaturity of character—folly, vanity, conceit, selfishness, ignorance, indiscretion, the want of common sense, the absence of large knowledge, of just views, of intelligent apprehension of the ends and duties of life, of all those things, in fact, which make up that moral “understanding” in which the apostle wished the Corinthians to be men, but which is seldom found to be the characteristic of youths or boys. T. B.—But too many are children in inconstancy, affection to sensible things, and love of toys; but how few are such in innocency, simplicity, ignorance of evil, and docility! Q.

23. There is great danger in ungoverned feeling; and hence religious life may degenerate into mere indulgence of feeling, the excitement of religious meetings, or the utterance of strong emotion. In this sickly strife life wastes away, and the man or woman becomes weak instead of strong. What a lesson! These divine, high feelings in the Church of Corinth, to what had they degenerated! Loud,

tumultuous, disorderly cries, such that a stranger coming in would pronounce of the speakers that they were mad! F. W. R.

apostle and his associates be folly if there were no resurrection. Ruckert.