1 Corinthians 14:23

1Co 14:23-25. Yet sometimes prophecy is of more use even to unbelievers than speaking with tongues. For instance: if the whole church be come together — On some extraordinary occasion; (it is probable in so large a city they ordinarily met in several places;) and all — That are endowed with such a gift; speak with tongues — One in one language, and another in another; and there come in those that are unlearned — Persons ignorant of those languages; men of learning might possibly have understood the tongues in which they spake; or unbelievers — Heathen, who are strangers to these dealings of God with his church; will they not say ye are mad — When they see the confusion you make by speaking languages which no one present understands? “This is not contrary to what is said 1Co 14:22, that the speaking in foreign languages was a sign to convince unbelievers. For the unbelievers to be convinced by that sign, were such strangers as understood the language in which they were addressed; whereas the unbelievers and unlearned persons, who considered the speaking of foreign languages as an effect of madness, were those strangers who did not understand them.” — Macknight. But if all prophesy — Expound the word of God, or discourse by turns on divine things; and there come in one that believeth not — One who did not before believe; or one unlearned — Acquainted with no language but that in which the discourses are delivered; he is convinced — Rather, convicted, by all who thus speak in succession, and speak to the hearts of the hearers; he is judged of all — Every one says something to which his conscience bears witness. And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest — Laid open, clearly described in a manner which to him is most astonishing and utterly unaccountable; insomuch, that although he perhaps came into your assembly out of mere curiosity, or with some ill design, he is not able to command himself under the impression which the word of God thus spoken makes upon him; and so falling down — Under the power of it; on his face — To the ground; he will worship — That one living and true God — Whose people you are, and to whose truth you thus bear witness; and report — Declare to others; that God is among you of a truth — How many instances of this kind are seen at this day, in places where the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is faithfully preached! So does God still give point and efficacy to the word of his grace!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 14:23. Ὅλη ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, the whole into one place) That was a rare, occurrence in so large a city.—εἰσέλθωσι δὲ, and there come in) as strangers or even from curiosity.—ἰδιῶται, unlearned) men who have some degree of faith, but do not abound in gifts. There follows by gradation, or unbelievers, who did not so readily come in, and yet were not debarred. In this verse Paul speaks in the plural, in the following in the singular. Many bad men, when together, prevent one another from believing by their bad conversation; individuals are more easily gained.—ὅτι μαίνεσθε, that ye are mad) For they will not be able to distinguish that earnestness from madness; hence they will speak to your prejudice; comp. Act 2:13.

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

1Co_14:23. What, then, will be the effect of the speaking with tongues, which you all so much desire, upon ungifted persons or unbelievers? If such come into your church when you are assembled together, and get nothing else there to hear from any of you but glossolalia, so far will they be from declaring themselves as believers upon your speaking with tongues, that, on the contrary, they will declare you to be mad.

οὖν] draws an inference from 1Co_14:22 in such a way that 1Co_14:23 corresponds to the first, and 1Co_14:24 f. to the second half of 1Co_14:22.

πάντες] Paul does not suppose that all those assembled speak together in a confused, tumultuous way (Cornelius a Lapide and others; comp. also Maier), but that all in succession hold glossolaliae, and only such,not addresses of any other kind. For, if all spoke together and confusedly, even in the case of prophecy it could make no impression (1Co_14:24).

ἰδιῶται] is not to be understood otherwise than in 1Co_14:16 : Christians who are not endowed with glossolalia, or with the gift of understanding it. The context, however, shows by the foregoing ἐὰν … αὐτό that those meant are ungifted persons from any extraneous church, who come into the church at Corinth when in full assembly. Were the stranger who entered not an ungifted person, but one who himself spoke with tongues or interpreted, his judgment respecting the gift which he himself possessed or understood would, of course, not take the same form. All explanations which deviate from the meaning of the word in 1Co_14:16 are on that very account to be rejected, such as not only that of most of the old interpreters, with Billroth and Chr. F. Fritzsche: such as do not understand foreign languages, but also that of Theodoret, David Schulz, Flatt, Olshausen (also Rückert, although with hesitation): beginners in Christianity; comp. Pelagius, Thomas, Estius: nuper credentes, neophyti; Melanchthon: rudis qui primum coepit catechismi doctrinam audire, comp. Neander. Rückert suggests that Paul is supposing the case that the glossolalia should break out somewhere suddenly and for the first time, and there should then come in Christians who knew nothing of it and, not being present, had not been affected by the paroxysm, and non-Christians. But the suggestion is to be dismissed, because there is no mention of the suddenly and for the first time, which would in that case be the main thing. Hirzel and de Wette hold erroneously, because in opposition to 1Co_14:16,[15] and not to be established even by 2Co_11:6, that the ἰδιῶται are non-Christians (so, too, Ulrich in the Stud. u. Krit. 1843, p. 420, and Hofmann), in which case they are in various arbitrary ways distinguished from the ἄπιστοι, namely, by Hirzel[16] asserting that the ἄπ. are heathen, the ἰδ. Jews; by de Wette, that the former were still more aloof from believing than the latter; by Ulrich, that the ἰδ. were persons unacquainted with Christianity, the ἀπ. those acquainted with it indeed, but unbelieving and (Hofmann) hostile towards it. Not the ἰδιῶται, but the ἄπιστοι, are the non-Christians (who are never called ἰδ.), as in 1Co_14:22. We may add that Grotius remarks rightly: Solebant enim pagani (and Jews also) adire Christianorum ecclesias ad videnda quae ibi agebantur. Their admission (certainly not to the Agapae, however) was the less a matter for hesitation, since it might become a means of their conversion. Comp. generally, Harnack, Gemeindegottesd. p. 143 ff.

ὅτι μαίνεσθε] that you (Christians in Corinth) are foolish, and out of your senses, because, namely, you collectively and without exception carry on a kind of converse so unintelligible and meaningless for the hearers. Olshausen strangely holds that the verdict expressed is: We see, doubtless, that you are possessed by a god; but there is no prophet here; we do not understand what the god says to us! An unwarranted explaining away of the clear import of the word: μαίνεσθαι means insanire, just as in Act_26:24. The verdict of drunkenness passed by the unbelievers in Act_2:13 presents a remarkable analogy.

Observe, further: (1) Here ἰδιῶται is put first, and ἄπιστοι follows, because the ἰδιῶται, as Christians, and therefore acquainted with the uselessness and absurdity of the glossolalia without interpretation and to the exclusion of all other (intelligible) discourse, come here into the foreground,[17] and may and will be the first to pass the judgment ὅτι μαίνεσθε; in 1Co_14:24, on the contrary, ἄπιστος stands first, because conversion is spoken of, and hence praecipue agitur de infideli; idiota obiter additur ob rationem ejus non plane disparem (Bengel). (2) In 1Co_14:23, since Paul designs to cite the judgment in the form of an utterance (ἐροῦσιν), which is most naturally conceived of by him as a mutual communication, the plural εἰσέλθωσι κ.τ.λ. presented itself with as much appropriateness as the singular εἰσέλθῃ κ.τ.λ. does in 1Co_14:24, where the apostle wishes to depict specially the converting work, 1Co_14:24-25, in its course, which, from the nature of the case, is done most befittingly in an individualizing representation.

[15] For in ver. 23 and ver. 16 the conception of ἰδιῶται is determined by a like contextnamely, by the same contrast to those gifted with the glossolalia. This we remark in opposition to Hirzel, Ulrich, Hofmann, who assume that ver. 16 cannot regulate the explanation of ἰδιώτης in ver. 23 f.

[16] Comp. van Hengel, Gave d. talen, p. 94.

[17] ἢ ἄπιστοι is omitted in B, because it might appear unsuitable. Buttmann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 370, believes that it has crept in from ver. 24. But in that case ἄπιστοι would have been prefixed (so only Ambrosiaster).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 14:23 shows the disastrous impression which the exercise of the Tongues, carried to its full extent, must make upon men outside a result that follows ( οὖν ) from the aforesaid intention of the gift (1Co 14:22 ): “If then the entire Church should assemble together and all should be speaking with tongues, but there should enter uninstructed persons or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad !” If the Tongues are, as many Cor [2133] think, the highest manifestation of the Spirit, then to have the whole Church simultaneously so speaking would be the ne plus ultra of spiritual power; but, in fact, the Church would then resemble nothing so much as a congregation of lunatics! A reductio ad absurdum for the fanatical coveters of Tongues. The ἰδιῶται (here unqualified: otherwise in 16; cf note) are persons unacquainted with Christianity (altogether uninitiated) and receiving their first impression of it in this way, whereas the ἄπιστοι are rejectors of the faith. The impression made upon either party will be the same. The effect here imagined is altogether diff [2134] from that of the Day of Pentecost, when the “other tongues” spoke intelligibly to those religiously susceptible amongst non-believers (Act 2:11 ff.). The imputation of madness from men of the world P. earnestly deprecates (Act 26:24 f.). Ed [2135] renders ἰδιῶται “separatists” unattached Christians; but this interpretation wants lexical support, and is out of keeping with 1Co 14:16 : did any such class of Christians then exist?

[2133] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2134] difference, different, differently.

[2135] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

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

Vv. 23. “If therefore the whole Church be come together into one place, and all speak in tongues, and there come in novices, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?”

This is the first case: an assembly in which only glossolaletes speak.

Into one place is related to the whole. These plenary assemblies were held doubtless only at more or less considerable intervals; they attracted more strangers and others out of curiosity than the more private gatherings. Those whom Paul here calls ἄπιστοι, unbelievers, and ἰδιῶται, novices, are people who do not yet belong to the Church. By the second, Meyer and others understand Christians who have neither the gift nor the knowledge of tongues. But how, Rückert rightly asks, could these people be contrasted with the whole Church? Meyer supports his view by the use of ἰδιώτης, 1Co 14:16, where he holds that this term denotes the members of the Church themselves. But this is a mistake. What is said in 1Co 14:16, that the glossolalete makes the members of the Church play the part of ἰδιῶται, proves precisely that the ἰδιῶται are not members of the Church. The impropriety consists in giving the members of the Church a part which is not theirs. On the other hand, Hirzel, Rückert, and Holsten thereby understand non-Christians. But how distinguish them in that case from the ἄπιστοι, unbelievers? Hirzel proposes to apply the first term to non-Christians of Jewish origin, the second to those of Gentile origin. But this distinction is unfounded. Starting from the simple meaning of ἰδιώτης (1Co 14:16), we get at a perfectly natural distinction. The ἄπιστος is an unbeliever whom curiosity has attracted, but who has not yet given any sign of faith; the ἰδιώτης is a novice, an apprentice in the domain of faith, a man who has already received some impression and some instruction, but who is not yet baptized, we should say nowadays: a catechumen. Such people, in the exercise of plain common sense, will ask how, if God dwelt there as a Father in the midst of His children, He could speak to them in an unintelligible language: “You shall appear to them madmen, not subjects of inspiration.”

Edwards, with some ancient commentators, thinks that the πάντες, all, means that the glossolaletes speak all at once, and that the confusion which follows, no less than the unintelligibility of the tongues, is the cause of the impression made on the visitors. But the perfectly analogous expression in regard to prophecy, 1Co 14:24, proves that it is not necessary to give this so improbable meaning to the πάντες of 1Co 14:23. Paul wishes to describe an assembly where there is room for nothing except manifestations of glossolalia, succeeding one another without interruption during the whole meeting. Then the opposite example:

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_14:23

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?

If therefore. The inference from the preceding representation is, that speaking in languages not understood by the people is undesirable and useless. To show the justness of this conclusion the apostle supposes the case which follows. If the whole church be come together in one place. That is, if all the Christians of the place, or the whole congregation, be assembled. This is one of the conditions of the hypothesis. Another is, that all should speak with tongues. This does not necessarily imply either that all present had the gift of tongues, or that all who possessed the gift spoke at one and the same time, although from 1Co_14:27 and 1Co_14:30 it may be inferred that this was sometimes done. All that the words here require is that all who spoke used foreign languages. To speak with tongues must mean to speak in languages unknown to the hearers. The third condition of the case supposed is, that unlearned and unbelievers should come into the meeting. Who are the (ἰδιῶται), the unlearned here intended?

1. Some say they were Christians ignorant of the gift of tongues, because they are distinguished from unbelievers, or those not Christians.

2. Others say that the unlearned are those who were ignorant of Christianity, and the (ἄπιστοι) unbelieving are those who knew and rejected it, i.e. infidels. This is giving to the word a force which it has not in itself, and which the context does not give it.

3. The simplest explanation is that the unlearned were those ignorant of the language spoken, and the unbelieving those not Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles. Such persons were doubtless often led, from curiosity or other motives, to attend the Christian assemblies. The two classes (the unlearned and the unbelieving) are not so distinguished that the same person might not belong to both classes.

The same persons were either ἰδιῶται or ἄπιστοι, according to the aspect under which they were viewed. Viewed in relation to the languages spoken, they were unlearned; viewed in relation to Christianity, they were unbelievers. The apostle asks what impression such persons, in the case supposed, would receive? Would they not say ye are mad? Joh_12:20. Act_12:15; Act_26:24.

ut a firm conviction, founded on experience, i.e. on the demonstration of the Spirit, 1Co_2:4.

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

Another argument: The gift of tongues without prophecy is not only unprofitable to the faithful: but also doth very much hurt as well to them as to the unfaithful which should be won in the public assemblies. For by this means it cometh to pass, that the faithful seem to others to be mad, much less can the unfaithful be instructed thereby.

See Acts 4:13.

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

whole . . . all . . . tongues--The more there are assembled, and the more that speak in unknown tongues, the more will the impression be conveyed to strangers "coming in" from curiosity ("unbelievers"), or even from a better motive ("unlearned"), that the whole body of worshippers is a mob of fanatical "madmen"; and that "the Church is like the company of builders of Babel after the confusion of tongues, or like the cause tried between two deaf men before a deaf judge, celebrated in the Greek epigram" [GROTIUS].

unlearned--having some degree of faith, but not gifts [BENGEL].

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 23. Will they not say that ye are mad?] So they well might, finding a whole assembly of people talking languages which those who had most need of instruction could not understand.

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

23. If therefore the whole Church come together As they did not see their fault, in consequence of having their minds pre-occupied with a foolish and depraved desire, he tells them that they will be exposed to the scorn of the wicked or the unlearned, if any, on coming into their assembly, should hear them uttering a sound, but not speaking. For what unlearned person will not reckon those to be out of their right mind, who, in place of speech, utter empty sound, and are taken up with that vanity, while they were gathered together for the purpose of hearing the doctrine of God? This statement has much that is cutting: “You applaud yourselves in your own sleeve; but the wicked and the unlearned laugh at your fooleries. You do not, therefore, see what to the unlearned and unbelieving is perfectly manifest.”

Here Chrysostom starts a question’ “If tongues were given to unbelievers for a sign, why does the Apostle say now, that they will be derided by them?” He answers, that they are for a sign to fill them with astonishment — not to instruct them, or to reform them. At the same time he adds, that it is owing to their wickedness, that they look upon the sign as madness. This explanation does not satisfy me; for however an unbeliever or unlearned person may be affected by a miracle, and may regard with reverence the gift of God, he does not cease on that account to deride and condemn an unseasonable abuse of the gift, and think thus with himself: “What do these men mean, by wearying out themselves and others to no purpose? Of what avail is their speaking, if nothing is to be learned from it?” Paul’s meaning, therefore, is — that the Corinthians would be justly convicted of madness by the unbelieving and unlearned, however much they might please themselves.

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.

(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 Act_2:13.) It is not meant here that all commence shouting out at the same time, neither is it in the next verse that all prophesy simultaneously; but the thought presented is the undue and exclusive cultivation of this gift by all in the Corinthian Church.

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

23. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place] ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. The usual word for the place of assembly, as in ch. 1Co_11:20; Act_2:1. However well calculated the gift of tongues might be to arrest and compel attention when used properly, it is clear, says the Apostle, that its introduction at the public assemblies of the Church was not a proper use of it, unless (1Co_14:27) it were restricted in its use by wise rules. It not so restricted, so far from its being a sign to unbelievers, it would give them, as well as the great body of the Christian laity, occasion of complaint, and even ridicule.

all] Not necessarily all together, as some have supposed, but that no other means of communication was adopted by any but the unknown tongue. Meyer.

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.

But if all prophecy,.... That is, all that speak publicly in the church, not together, but in their order, one after another, as is hereafter directed:

and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned; an unbeliever that has only the knowledge of his mother tongue, in which prophesying or preaching is used:

he is convinced of all, he is judged of all; of all the prophets or preachers; they all reprove him, and detect his secret, as the Arabic version renders the words; and to the same purport the Ethiopic. This must be understood of such persons whom the Spirit of God, under, and by the ministry of the word, powerfully works upon; whose hearts he opens to receive the word, and to whom he effectually applies it; whom he convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment, shows the evil of their hearts and ways, reproves their errors, convicts them of their mistakes, and informs their judgments, and condemns all their principles and practices which are not agreeably to the word of God.

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

23 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?

Ver. 23. Will they not say ye are mad?] And may they not say as much if we jangle and dissent in opinion, one holding this, and another that. Ammianus Marcellinus taxed the ancient bishops of his time for their hateful miscarriage in this kind.

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.

Be come together into one place - For public worship.

And all speak with tongues - All speak with a variety of unknown tongues; all speak foreign languages. The idea is, that the church would usually speak the same language with the people among whom they dwelt; and if they made use of foreign languages which were unintelligible to their visitors, it would leave the impression that the church was a bedlam.

And there come in - those that are “unlearned.” Those that are unacquainted with foreign languages, and to whom, therefore, what was said would be unintelligible.

Or unbelievers - Heathen, or Jews, who did not believe in Christ. It is evident from this that such persons often attended on the worship of Christians. Curiosity might have led them to it; or the fact that they had relatives among Christians might have caused it.

That ye are mad - They will not understand what is said; it will be a confused jargon; and they will infer that it is the effect of insanity. Even though it might not, therefore, be in itself improper, yet a regard to the honor of Christianity should have led them to abstain from the use of such languages in their worship when it was needless. The apostles were charged, from a similar cause, with being intoxicated; see Act 2:13.

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

Be come together into one place; the phrase signifieth to one place, or for one and the same work; the first seemeth to be meant here by what followeth.

And all speak with tongues: some think that the apostle here, by all speaking with tongues, understands all, or many of them, confusedly talking together; and indeed that is an error we shall find the apostle afterward reflecting upon them for; but here I do not think it is intended, but only, many of you, one after another, because of what the apostle speaketh of prophesying, 1Co 14:24. For if all prophesied in that sense, talking at the same time together confusedly, and unbelievers came in and heard, they would also, instead of being convinced, say they were mad.

And there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers; those that are heathens, or that did not understand the language you discoursed in.

Will they not say that ye are mad? Would they not say you were men that had lost the use of your reason, to talk to men in a language you yourselves knew they understood nothing of?

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

23. If therefore—Paul now shows how a mismanagement of tongues will verify the prediction, (Isa_28:12,) they would not hear; and in so doing furnishes in these two verses one of the most vivid and interesting pictures of the process of conversion in a live Church of the apostolic age. We learn how improper management aggravated unbelief and brought obloquy upon religion: and how the vivid presentation of truth searched the life and soul of the hearer though and through, pierced him with conviction, and brought him down in prayer and complete self-surrender on the spot. Paul, no doubt, was familiar with such events, and many a powerful preacher since his day has witnessed the power of truth to convert the soul.

All speak with tongues—Not all at once; (just as all prophesy, in the next verse, does not mean all prophesy at once;) but no performer does any thing else but speak with tongues. There is no prophesying, or teaching, or interpreting; nothing but one lofty chant of tongues from different performers through the whole meeting. It is all vox et praeterea nihil. Not one distinct idea for the stranger through the whole.

Unlearned—Same word as in 1Co_14:16—ungifted persons; who neither speak, nor interpret, nor understand charismatically. Their want of share in the gift results in want of sympathy and in unbelief.

Unbelievers—Pagans or Jews.

Ye are mad—They will pronounce you at once unintelligent fanatics. From all this it would seem to follow that these Corinthian tongues did not express to the unsympathizing foreigner any connected discourse; and this sinking below the pentecostal standard was the reason of Paul’s just disparagement of them. From the Greek word for mad, μαινεσθε, come our words mania, maniac. The Greek word μαντις, a prophet, belongs to the same root, because the sacred mania by which the prophet was possessed was considered as a prophetic influence.

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

All speak with tongues. He does not necessarily mean that all are speaking at once; though, amid these strange scenes of self-asserting enthusiasm, even that was not wholly impossible; but he means, "if there be nothing, going on except glossolaly." Will they not say that ye are mad? This has often been the actual impression produced by these phenomena upon those who stand aloof from the spiritual influences which cause them. On the day of Pentecost the exaltation of the disciples caused mockers to charge them with drunken exhilaration. (Act_2:13)

Vers. 23-32. How a spectator would regard the tongues; the gracious effects of prophesying; interpretation or silence.

Suppose that the whole Church were to assemble in one place (argues the apostle), and all "speak with tongues;" the unchecked energy pouring itself forth in many and discordant volumes, each speaker borne away on the mighty tide of his own transport; no one considerate of another; the car scarcely cognizant of the sound issuing from the lips, the eye insensible to the impression made on a beholder; suppose such a state of things occurring in the Corinthian Church, and, amid the disorder and commotion, the "unlearned" (those unacquainted with the meaning of the exhibition) or the "unbelievers" (such as were not converted to Christianity) were to make their appearance and look upon the scene; would they not think them "mad"? Instantly he reverses the supposition. The work of teaching is in progress, and the Church is receiving the doctrines, duties, consolations, of the gospel in appropriate methods of instruction. A person, who is unlearned or unbelieving, enters the assembly. He hears, is able to understand, is "convinced of all" and "judged of all." The word reaches his inmost consciousness, and he is revealed to himself. Perception, reflection, self scrutiny, judgment, conscience, are aroused by the Holy Spirit, and for the first time, perchance, he listens to the voice of his own instincts in the articulations of others. It is usually through some mediating soul that God makes us known to ourselves In our darkness the light is reflected as that of the moon on the night, and the sunrise and the day follow afterwards. And, in this case, the unlearned or unbeliever has the "secrets of his heart made manifest." The throne of judgment is set within; the hour is calm and meditative; the man is brought to the bar; and the ministering servants of the eternal Judge are here with their testimony. Most of all, the Divine Agent is here, of whom Jesus Christ said, "He shall testify of me." Step by step the trial advances. Memory speaks from the past, fear speaks of the future. The sense of guilt is awakened, "and so falling down on his face," overpowered by his convictions, "he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth." How is this? In the one case, there is an impression of madmen; in the other, God is felt to be with these men. In the former, religion was an unintelligible thing; in the latter, it was comprehensible. Recall the power of the "five words" spoken to the understanding, versus the "ten thousand" uttered in rhapsody, and the secret is explained. What, then, is the practical inference? "If, when you are met together, one is prepared to sing a hymn of praise, another to exercise his gift of teaching, another his gift of tongues, another to deliver a revelation, another an interpretation" (Conybeare and Howson); shall any of God"s gifts be suppressed or discarded? Room for all, need for all, blessings for all, blessings in all, exist; and none must be suffered to fall into desuetude or cast away as useless. Let each have time and opportunity, subject to one inflexible condition: "Let all things be done unto edifying." Edify has had emphasis after emphasis in the conduct of the argument, and surely the Corinthians can be at no loss to understand its meaning. But St. Paul will particularize. Edification allows the use of tongues. Edification requires, however, that the tongues be used in order and under strict propriety. The order and propriety are specified: "If there be any who speak in tongues, let not more than two, or at the most three, speak (in the same assembly); and let them speak in turn; and let the same interpreter explain the words of all" (Conybeare and Howson). How important the interpreter was is obvious, for he says, "If there be no interpreter," let him who speaks in tongues "keep silence in the Church." Will this destroy his devotional spirit? Nay; he may still commune silently with himself and with God. Prophets may also "speak two or three," but edification holds them likewise under rule. "Let the others judge." Inspired teachers were amenable to the Church in the persons of those who possessed the gift of discernment as a specialty from the Holy Ghost. Furthermore, edification demands, that if the Spirit suddenly and powerfully act on "another that sitteth by," let the latter be heard. "One by one;" this is the method of edification, "that all may learn, and all may be comforted." For this was a matter under each prophet"s personal control. In him the "spirit" and the "understanding" were harmonious. Consciousness kept its serene poise. There could be no reach of thought beyond the jurisdiction of the will, no passion for undue excitement, no verging towards hysterical emotion. And as heart and lungs maintain their beautiful relativity, and thus secure the maximum of health and vigour to the body, so "spirit" and "understanding" act in the prophet with no jar or jostle, but in perfect accord. For the "spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. L.

Vers. 23-25. Conversion prepared for.

I CONVERSION EFFECTED BY MEANS.

1. The door of the sanctuary should be an open one (ver. 23). Restrictions and hindrances to attendance should be swept away. Non churchgoers are often such through the action of churchgoers.

2. Means should constantly be employed in the sanctuary. The gospel should be preached. The presence of "unbelievers" should constantly be borne in mind, and of those altogether "unlearned" in the truth. Casual hearers should not be forgotten; the bow drawn at a venture has often done signal execution.

II PROBABLE MEANS OF CONVERSION.

1. Order and propriety in the sanctuary. The building itself should not be regarded as altogether unimportant. There are some church buildings in which it is very difficult to be converted! Wherever practicable, a suitable structure should be secured; not bare and ugly, to repel, nor unduly ornate, to distract. And the services should be well ordered and decorous, else some coming in may suppose that we are "mad." But dullness and coldness are not decorous. Vigour and enthusiasm are in the highest degree proper. If we want to move others we must be moved ourselves. There can be great freedom in the service without overstepping bounds. Modern Christian services tend to be too stilted, formal, frigid, unemotional.

1. Church worship. Song and prayer have won not a few from the kingdom of Satan. But the song service is sometimes a hindrance to edification; the music attempted is such as no angel could learn, and, for the matter of that,

2. such as no angel would ever want to! Song, which should quicken, may freeze; and a freezing soul is very difficult to convert. Sanctuary song should be united song. In heaven the host sings, not a selected choir. Prayer should be earnest, real, intelligible. There are such things as mock prayers prayers without any praying in them. Prayers of words and time; nothing in them except letters and minutes. Often too many of these.

3. The preaching of the gospel. This, the pre-eminent means, should be:

(1) Intelligible. Not over the heads of the people.

(2) Sensible. Not under their heels. If the sermon is despised, the gospel may be.

(3) Direct. "He is convinced or, "reproved of all" (ver. 24). It is meant for him. There is something in the gospel which suits every condition. We are apt to take the edge off by general indefinite utterance.

(4) Searching. "The secrets of his heart are made manifest." Preachers need acquaintance with human life; they should mix among men, and not live as recluses. Then under Divine influence they will be able to apply the gospel so searchingly that often hearers will think somebody has told the preacher the secrets of their lives.

(5) Scriptural; or it may be preaching, but not preaching the gospel, and no conversion can be looked for.

III TESTS OF THE SUITABILITY OF MEANS.

1. What do the unbelieving and ignorant think of the means employed?

Some will indeed scoff, but what will the common sense and sincere ones think? What ought they to think?

2. What results follow? What are the effects of our services and work? We say no man can be responsible for results. This, in one sense, is a great truth, and in another a great lie. Do men under our ministrations fall down in contrition and humility, worship God, and declare that God is amongst us of a truth? If they do not, there is something amiss; and if we look for that something in ourselves and in our modes of work, we shall probably look in the right place. We must not ruin the usefulness of means by regarding them as anything more than means. To rest in them alone is suicidal. We need the power of the Holy Ghost, For this we should yearn, agonize, pray, as we humbly obey the command "not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together," and to "preach the gospel. H.

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

Yet - Sometimes prophecy is of more use, even to unbelievers, than speaking with tongues. For instance: If the whole church be met together - On some extraordinary occasion. It is probable, in so large a city, they ordinarily met in several places. And there come in ignorant persons - Men of learning might have understood the tongues in which they spoke. It is observable, St. Paul says here, ignorant persons or unbelievers; but in the next verse, an unbeliever or an ignorant person. Several bad men met together hinder each other by evil discourse. Single persons are more easily gained.

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

To convince the Corinthians that prophecy was for more excellent than the gift of tongues, the apostle here argues from the absurdity of speaking in the congregation with a strange tongue uninterpreted; Will they not say ye are man?

And from the utility and advantage of speaking in a language understood, it convinceth and converteth sinners: He is convinced of all, he is judged of all.

As if the apostle had said, When the church meets together, if all that speak should speak in a strange tongue, what will an ignorant or unbelieving person, coming into the congregation, think or say? Will he not apprehend you to be madmen?

Whereas if all that speak do prophecy and interpret scripture to the edification of the church, in such a case, if an unbeliever comes in, he is convinced, discovered, judged by all them that prophesy, and the secrets of his heart are made manifest to himself: and so, falling down, he will adore God, the searcher of the heart, and report, from his own experience, that God is in or among you of a truth.

Where note, Whence prophesying or preaching of the word has its convincing power, and converting efficacy, namely, from that God who is present in and with his own word: God is in, or with, you of a truth.

When Almighty God quickens the word with his own Spirit, and clothes it with his own power, when he bids it go in his might, and prevail in his strength, the strongest holds of ignorance and unbelief, of obstinacy and rebellion, fall to the ground like the first-ripe figs shaken with the wind: when the unlearned or idiot comes into the assembly of the saints, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, he falls down and worships.

What is it that works this sudden change?

Not the preaching of men, but the power of God: He will report that God is in you of a truth.

The arm of grace in the ministry of the word is victorious and invincible; the efficacy and success of the word depends not on the parts of a man, but the power of God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If therefore the whole church be assembled together and all speak with tongues, and there come in men unlearned [not having the gift to interpret tongues, and not being educated in foreign languages] or unbelieving [and hence having no faith in the works of the Spirit], will they not say [because of the queer and unintelligible sounds which ye are making] that ye are mad?

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.

23–25. If therefore the whole church be come together. The apostle now treats of the proper order and decorum in the church assemblies. And all speak with tongues. There would be a babble of confusion and no edification. To a private member, or an unbeliever, they would seem to be mad.

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.

23. ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. The usual word for the place of assembly, as in ch. 1Co 11:20; Act 2:1. However well calculated the gift of tongues might be to arrest and compel attention when used properly, it is clear, says the Apostle, that its introduction at the public assemblies of the Church was not a proper use of it, unless (1Co 14:27) it were restricted in its use by wise rules. If not so restricted, so far from its being a sign to unbelievers, it would give them, as well as the great body of the Christian laity, occasion of complaint, and even ridicule.

πάντες. Not necessarily all together, as some have supposed, but that no other means of communication was adopted by any but the unknown tongue. Meyer.

λαλῶσιν. Observe the present. ‘If the Church shall have been gathered together, and (when thus gathered) all are speaking with tongues, and there shall have entered strangers or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?’

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.

23-25.] Instances given of the operation of both on the ungifted or the unbeliever.

23.] οὖν, following up the axiom just laid down, by supposing a case = if then.… The first case put answers to the former half of ver. 22: the second, to the latter.

The supposition is this: that all the (Corinthian) church is assembled, and all its members speak with tongues (not in a tumultuary manner—that is not part of the present hypothesis, for if it were, it must apply equally to ver. 24, which it clearly cannot:—but that all have the gift, and are in turn exercising it):—then ἰδιῶται, ‘plain believers,’ persons unacquainted with the gift and its exercise, come in. It is obvious that the hypothesis of all being assembled, and all having the gift, must not be pressed to infer that no such ἰδιώτης could be found: no one hypothesizes thus rigidly. If any will have it so, then, as Meyer, we may suppose the ἰδιῶται to come from another congregation: but the whole difficulty seems to me mere trifling. The ἰδ. plainly cannot be, as De W. maintains, an unbeliever, for his case is separately mentioned. Such plain men, or perhaps a company of unbelievers, have come in:—they have no understanding of what is going on: the γλῶσσαι sound to them an unmeaning jargon; and they come to the conclusion, ‘These men are mad;’ just as men did infer, on the day of Pentecost, that the speakers were drunken.

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

23. But it is obvious that, even for unbelievers, prophesying is more valuable than Tongues. ‘If, therefore, the whole Church be come together to one place, and all are speaking with Tongues, and there come in ungifted people or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are raving?’ It was strange that what the Corinthians specially prided themselves on was a gift which, if exercised in public, would excite the derision of unbelievers. The Corinthians were crazy, although not exactly as heathen might suppose. Compare the charge of drunkenness at Pentecost; Act 2:13.

If ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό means ‘for the same object,’ the object might be the Tongues: the Corinthians came together to enjoy this spiritual luxury and exhibit it to others: but both here and 11:20 it probably means ‘to the same place’ (Luk 17:35; Act 1:15, Act 2:1, Act 3:1). In any case, πάντες does not mean that they all spoke at once: πάντες cannot mean that in v. 24, and therefore does not mean it here. It means that one after another they uttered unintelligible language, and no one said anything that ordinary persons could understand; the service consisted of glossolalia. Note the changes of tense; συνέλθῃ and εἰσέλθωσιν of what took place once for all, λαλῶσιν of what continued for some time. Perhaps in both verses (23, 24) he is assuming an extreme case for the sake of argument, that all present have the gift of Tongues, and that all present have the gift of prophesying. The latter would be very much better.

Evidently, the heathen sometimes obtained admission to Christian assemblies as to the synagogues. This may have depended upon local custom, or upon the character of the intruders, who might be friends of the family in whose house the assembly was held. See Swete on Rev 3:8.

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