1 Corinthians 14:11

1Co 14:11. Βάρβαρος, a barbarian) See Act 28:2, Note.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 14:11 . “If then I know not the meaning of the voice” ( τὴν δύναμιν τῆς φωνῆς , vim or virtutem vocis ) for every voice has a meaning (1Co 14:10 b ); on this very possible hypothesis, “I shall be a barbarian to the speaker, and the speaker a barbarian in relation to me” ( ἐν ἐμοί , cf. Mat 21:42 , and perhaps 1Co 2:6 above), or “in my ear”. By this illustration of the futility of the uninterpreted Tongues, Paul implicitly distinguishes them from natural foreign languages; there is a μετάβασις εἰς ἄλλο γένος in the comparison, just as in the previous comparison with harp and trumpet; one does not compare things identical. The second figure goes beyond the first; since the foreign speech, like the mysterious γλῶσσαι (1Co 14:2 ), may hide a precious meaning, and is the more provoking on that account, as the repeated βάρβαρος intimates.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_14:11

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.

Therefore, i.e. because the sounds uttered are significant; because the man does not make a mere senseless noise, but speaks a real language, therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice (i.e. the language), I shall stand in the relation of a foreigner to him and he to me. Otherwise it would not be so. If a man utters incoherent, inarticulate sounds, which no man living could understand, that would not make him a foreigner. It might prove him to be deranged, but not a stranger. The word barbarian means simply one of another country. All other people, whether civilized or not, were barbarians to the Greeks, or to the Romans. As ancient civilization came to be confined to those nations, not to be a Greek or Roman, was to be uncivilized, and hence barbarian or foreigner came to mean without civilization. Just as the true religion being confined to the Jews, Gentile (one not a Jew) came to be synonymous with heathen. In this passage, however, barbarian means simply foreigner. Comp. Rom_1:14. Act_28:24. Col_3:11.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As the Papists in all their sermons and they that ambitiously pour out some Hebrew or Greek words in the Pulpit before the unlearned people, thereby to get them a name of vain learning.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Therefore--seeing that none is without meaning.

a barbarian--a foreigner (Act 28:2). Not in the depreciatory sense as the term is now used, but one speaking a foreign language.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. If I know not the meaning of the voice] την δυναμις της φωνης, The power and signification of the language.

I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian] I shall appear to him, and he to me, as a person who had no distinct and articulate sounds which can convey any kind of meaning. This observation is very natural: when we hear persons speaking in a language of which we know nothing, we wonder how they can understand each other, as, in their speech, there appears to us no regular distinction of sounds or words. For the meaning and origin of the word barbarian, See Clarke on Ac 28:2.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian The tongue ought to be an index of the mind — not merely in the sense of the proverb, but in the sense that is explained by Aristotle in the commencement of his book — “On Interpretation.” How foolish then it is and preposterous in a man, to utter in an assembly a voice of which the hearer understands nothing — in which he perceives no token from which he may learn what the person means! It is not without good reason, therefore, that Paul views it as the height of absurdity, that a man should be a barbarian to the hearers, by chattering in an unknown tongue, and at the same time he elegantly treats with derision the foolish ambition of the Corinthians, who were eager to obtain praise and fame by this means. “This reward,” says he, “you will earn — that you will be a barbarian.” For the term barbarian, whether it be an artificial one, (as Strabo thinks, ) or derived from some other origin, is taken in a bad sense. Hence the Greeks, who looked upon themselves as the only persons who were good speakers, and had a polished language, gave to all others the name of barbarians, from their rude and rustic dialect. No language, however, is so cultivated as not to be reckoned barbarous, when it is not understood. “He that heareth,” says Paul, “will be unto me a barbarian, and I will be so to him in return.” By these words he intimates, that to speak in an unknown tongue, is not to hold fellowship with the Church, but rather to keep aloof from it, and that he who will act this part, will be deservedly despised by others, because he first despises them.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(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 illustrated (1) by different instruments of music, (2) by different sounds of an instrument, (3) by different words and languages of living men—in all of which cases the conveyance of distinct ideas is the sign and test of their utility.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. the meaning of the voice] Literally, its force.

a barbarian] This word is here used in its original signification of one whose speech is unintelligible,

unto me] Literally, in me, i.e. in my estimation.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice,.... The force and power of a language, the signification of it, the ideas its words convey, but only hear the sound of it:

I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me: like one of those rude and uncultivated people that inhabit deserts and wild places, who can neither understand the language of others, nor be understood by others; and indeed may be meant of any sort of people, that do not understand one another's language: the word "bar", and "bara", in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic languages, not only signifies a field, a wood, or desert place, but also without, or any thing extraneous; and being doubled, signifies one that lives without, in another land; a stranger, and that speaks a strange language; so all other nations of the world were barbarians to the Hebrews, and particularly the Egyptians; see the Targum on Psa 114:1 and so were all other nations to the Greeks, see Rom 1:14 and also to the Romans: and the sense is, that where the signification of a language and the sense of words are not known, the speaker is like a man that lives in a strange country to him that hears him; and the hearer is like to one that lives in a strange country to him that speaks, since they cannot understand one another. The word sometimes is used for men, , (z), "that can neither speak nor hear", men dumb and deaf; and when words cannot be understood, the case is all one as with such persons.

(z) Scholia in Aristoph. in Avibus, p. 550.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 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.

Ver. 11. A barbarian] So the Grecians called all nations that spoke not their language. It is reported that nowhere in this day is spoken more barbarous language than at Athens, once the Greece of Greece. (Neand. Chron.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The meaning of the voice - Of the language that is uttered, or the sounds that are made.

I shall be unto him ... - What I say will be unintelligible to him, and what he says will be unintelligible to me. We cannot understand one another any more than people can who speak different languages.

A barbarian - See the note at Rom 1:14. The word means one who speaks a different, or a foreign language.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But if a man doth not understand the language, the words are not significant unto him, I shall neither understand him, nor will he understand me; for a barbarian cannot understand one of another nation, till he hath learned the language of that nation; nor can a man of another nation understand a barbarian till he hath learned his language.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Meaning of the voice—Literally, the force of the speech.

A barbarian—The Greeks were proud of their own race and of their own language, and the talk of a foreigner was a mere bar bar, and so they called the foreigner a barbaros, or babbler. Hence Greek and barbarian, in Rom_1:14, is an antithesis for all the world, like Jew and Gentile.

The antithesis was first founded, as here, on language; but barbarian has finally come to signify uncivilized.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A barbarian; in other words, unintelligible, according to the definition of the word by Ovid

Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intelligor ulli.

Unto me; rather, in my eyes.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I shall be a barbarian to him - Shall seem to talk unintelligible gibberish.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian [a foreigner- - Act_28:2 ], and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. If I know not the meaning of the voice. The language. I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian. A foreigner, not understanding his language. The Greeks and Romans called all not of their races barbarians.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. δύναμιν. The force, as we say, of the sound. That is, the impression it was intended to convey.

βάρβαρος. This word is here used in its original signification of one whose speech is unintelligible.

ἐν ἐμοί. In me, i.e. in my estimation.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] Another example of the unprofitableness of an utterance not understood.

11.] οὖν, seeing that none is without meaning: for if any were, the imputations following would not be just. We assume that a tongue which we do not understand has a meaning, and that it is the way of expression of some foreign nation.

βάρβαρος,—a foreigner, in the sense of one who is ignorant of the speech and habits of a people. So Ovid, Trist. v. 10,—‘Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intelligor ulli:’ and Herod. ii. 158,—βαρβάρους δὲ πάντας οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καλέουσι τοὺς μή σφισι ὁμογλώσσους. (Wetst.) The appellation always conveyed a certain contempt, and such is evidently intended here. So Ovid, in the next line,—‘Et rident stolidi verba Latina Getæ.’

ἐν ἐμοί, in my estimation: so Eurip. Hippol. 1335, σὺ δʼ ἔν τʼ ἐκείνῳ κἂν ἐμοὶ φαίνῃ κακός,—‘in his judgment and in mine:’ see Kühner, ii. 275.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. All kinds of languages met at commercial Corinth with its harbours on two seas, and difference of language was a frequent barrier to common action. Moreover, it was well known how exasperating it could be for two intelligent persons to be unintelligible to one another. Yet the Corinthians were introducing these barriers and provocations into Christian worship, and all for the sake of display!

ἐὰν οὖν μὴ εἰδῶ … ἐν ἐμοὶ βάρβαρος. ‘Unless, therefore, I know the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him who speaks to me a barbarian, and he who speaks will in my estimation be a barbarian.’ The second result is more obvious than the first; but the Apostle assumes that the foreigner sees quite plainly that his words are not understood. Comp. Rom 1:14; Col 3:11; Act 28:2, Act 28:4. Βάρβαρος, like ‘gibberish,’ is probably meant to imitate unintelligible sounds. AV., with D E F G, Latt. Syrr. Copt. Arm., Chrys, omits the ἐν before ἐμοί: ‘unto me.’ Compare Hdt. ii. 158; Ovid, Trist. v. 10, 11; and see J. H. Moulton, p.103.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning [δυναμιν] . Lit., force.

Barbarian. Supposed to be originally a descriptive word of those who uttered harsh, rude accents - bar bar. Homer calls the Carians, barbarofwnoi barbar - voiced, harsh - speaking (" Illiad, "2, 867). Later, applied to all who did not speak Greek. Socrates, speaking of the way in which the Greeks divide up mankind, says :" Here they cut off the Hellenes as one species, and all the other species of mankind, which are innumerable and have no connection or common language, they include under the single name of barbarians "(Plato," Statesman, "262). So Clytaemnestra of the captive Cassandra :" Like a swallow, endowed with an unintelligible barbaric voice "(Aeschylus," Agamemnon, "1051). Prodicus in Plato's" Protagoras "says :" Simonides is twitting Pittacus with ignorance of the use of terms, which, in a Lesbian, who has been accustomed to speak in a barbarous language, is natural " (341).

Aristophanes calls the birds barbarians because they sing inarticulately (" Birds, "199); and Sophocles calls a foreign land aglwssov without a tongue." Neither Hellas nor a tongueless land "(" Trachiniae," 1060). Later, the word took the sense of outlandish or rude.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.