12:18 Here again, as in v. 11, Paul dealt with the foolish and carnal Corinthians who were discontent with what had been given them sovereignly for the edification of the church and the glory of its Lord. See note on v. 31.
12:21 no need. While some in Corinth were bemoaning the fact that they did not have the showy gifts (see note on vv. 14–20), those who did were belittling those with the more quiet and less prominent gifts. The “eye” and the “head,” which are highly visible and the focus of all who engage each other, represent the people with public gifts. They so overestimated their own importance that they disdained those whom they perceived as less gifted and less significant. They were apparently indifferent (“I have no need”) and self-sufficient.
12:22–24 Paul’s answer to the pride of the more visibly gifted was to engage his analogy again and remind them that the more fragile and less lovely, in fact, ugly parts of the body which are not publicly “presentable” (v. 24) are given the greater respect for their necessity. He spoke of the internal organs.
12:25 God has designed visible, public gifts to have a crucial place, but equally designed and more vital to life are the hidden gifts, thus maintaining the perspective of unity—all are essential to the working of the body of Christ.
12:26, 27 This is a call to mutual love and concern in the fellowship of believers (cf. Phil. 2:1–4) which maintains the unity that honors the Lord. There is one body in which all function, yet never do they lose their personal identity and the essential necessity of ministry as God has designed them to do it.
12:28–30 God has appointed. Again emphasizing the sovereignty of God (cf. vv. 7, 11, 18), Paul illustrates the individuality and unity of the body by a repeat of the representative categories of ministries, callings, and giftedness.
12:28 apostles…prophets. See notes on Eph. 4:11. Their purpose was: 1) to lay the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20); 2) to receive and declare the revelation of God’s Word (Acts 11:28; 21:10, 11; Eph. 3:5); and 3) to give confirmation of that Word through signs, wonders, and miracles (2 Cor. 12:12; cf. Acts 8:6, 7; Heb. 2:3, 4). “Apostles” refers, primarily, to those 12 chosen by our Lord plus Paul and Matthias (Acts 1:26). See note on Rom. 1:1. In a secondary sense, others served as messengers of the church: Barnabas (Acts 14:14), Silas and Timothy (1 Thess. 2:6), and others (Rom. 16:7; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25). Apostles of Christ were the source of the church’s doctrine (Acts 2:42); apostles of the church (2 Cor. 8:23) were its early leaders. “Prophets” were especially gifted men in the local churches, who preached God’s Word (Acts 11:21–28; 13:1). Any message preached by a prophet had to be judged by the word of the apostles (see note on 14:36, 37). teachers. Could be the same as pastor-teachers (see note on Eph. 4:11), but probably should be broadened to include all who are gifted for teaching in the church, whether they have the office of pastor or not. miracles…healings…tongues. See notes on vv. 9, 10. helps, administrations. These less public gifts are mingled with the more public manifestations of the Spirit to show their vital necessity (v. 22). “Helps” is an ability for service; in fact, the gift of ministry (“service”) in Rom. 12:7 is in the same category. “Administration” is leadership. The word comes from the Gr., meaning “to pilot a ship” (Acts 27:11) and speaks of one who can lead ministries of the church efficiently and effectively.
12:29, 30 Each of these rhetorical queries expects a “no” answer. The body of Christ is diverse and God sovereignly designs it that way.
12:31 earnestly desire. In context, this could not mean that believers should desire the more prominent gifts, when the whole chapter has just been confronting the fact that they have sinfully been doing just that. Desiring a gift for selfish reasons is wrong, since they are sovereignly given by God as He wills (vv. 7, 11, 18, 28). Therefore, this must be rendered not as an imperative (command), but, as the verb form allows, as an indicative (statement of fact), “You are desiring the showy gifts, wrongly.” The real imperative is to stop doing that and learn the “more excellent way,” the way of love, which Paul will explain in chap. 13.
1 Cor. 12:31
Appearances of the Risen Christ
1 Corinthians 13
13:1–13 Spiritual gifts were present in Corinth (1:7); right doctrine was even in place (11:2); but love was absent. This led to the quarrels and exhibitions of selfishness and pride that plagued the church—notably in the area of spiritual gifts (see notes on 12:14–31). Instead of selfishly and jealously desiring showy gifts which they don’t have, believers should pursue the greatest thing of all—love for each other. This chapter is considered by many the greatest literary passage ever penned by Paul. It is central to his earnestly dealing with spiritual gifts (chaps. 12–14), because after discussing the endowment of gifts (chap. 12) and before presenting the function of gifts (chap. 14), he addresses the attitude necessary in all ministry in the church (chap. 13).
13:1 tongues of men. Cf. 12:10, 28; 14:4–33. That this gift was actual languages is established in Acts 2:1–13 (see notes there), affirmed in this text by Paul’s calling it “of men”—clearly a reference to human language. This was the gift which the Corinthians prized so highly, abused so greatly, and counterfeited so disastrously. God gave the ability to speak in a language not known to the speaker, as a sign with limited function (see notes on 14:1–33). tongues…of angels. The apostle was writing in general hypothetical terms. There is no biblical teaching of any special angelic language that people could learn to speak. love. Self-giving love that is more concerned with giving than receiving (John 3:16; cf. 14:1; Matt. 5:44, 45; John 13:1, 34, 35; 15:9; Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:4–7; Phil. 2:2; Col. 3:14; Heb. 10:24). The word was not admired and thus seldom used in ancient Gr. literature, but it is common in the NT. Without love, no matter how linguistically gifted one is to speak his own language, other languages, or even (hypothetically) the speech of angels, his speech is noise only. In NT times, rites honoring the pagan deities Cybele, Bacchus, and Dionysius included ecstatic noises accompanied by gongs, cymbals, and trumpets. Unless the speech of the Corinthians was done in love, it was no better than the gibberish of pagan ritual.
13:2 the gift of prophecy. See notes on 12:10. In 14:1–5, Paul speaks of this gift as the most essential one because it brings God’s truth to people. Even this gift must be ministered in love (cf. Eph. 4:15). understand all mysteries and all knowledge. This encompasses gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and discernment (see notes on 12:8, 10), which are to be exercised in love (see Phil. 1:9). all faith. See note on Matt. 17:20. This refers to the gift of faith (enduring, believing prayer; see note on 12:9), which is useless without selfless love for the church.
13:3 burned. The practice of burning Christians at the stake did not begin until some years later, but it was clearly understood to be an extremely horrible death. Neither volunteering for giving up all your possessions or being burned would produce any spiritual benefit if not done out of love for the body of Christ.
13:4–7 In the previous comments (vv. 1–3), the focus is on the emptiness produced when love is absent from ministry. In these verses, the fullness of love is described, in each case by what love does. Love is action, not abstraction. Positively, love is patient with people and gracious to them with generosity. Negatively, love never envies, or brags, or is arrogant, since that is the opposite of selfless service to others. Never rude or overbearing, love never wants its own way, is not irritated or angered in personal offense, and finds no pleasure in someone else’s sin, even the sin of an enemy. On the positive side again, love is devoted to truth in everything. With regard to “all things” within God’s righteous and gracious will, love protects, believes, hopes, and endures what others reject.
13:8–10 never fails. This refers to love’s lastingness or permanence as a divine quality. Love outlasts all failures (cf. 1 Pet. 4:8; 1 John 4:16). Paul strengthens his point on the permanence of love by comparing it to the spiritual gifts which the Corinthians so highly prized: prophecy, knowledge, and languages, all of which will
have an end. There may be a distinction made on how prophecy and knowledge come to an end, and how the gift of languages does. This is indicated by the Gr. verb forms used. In the case of prophecy and knowledge, they are both said to “be abolished” (in both cases the verb indicates that something will put an end to those two functions). Verses 9, 10 indicate that what will abolish knowledge and prophecy is “that which is perfect.” When that occurs, those gifts will be rendered inoperative. The “perfect” is not the completion of Scripture, since there is still the operation of those two gifts and will be in the future kingdom (cf. Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17; Rev. 11:3). The Scriptures do not allow us to see “face to face” or have perfect knowledge as God does (v. 12). The “perfect” is not the rapture of the church or the second coming of Christ, since the kingdom to follow these events will have an abundance of preachers and teachers (cf. Is. 29:18; 32:3, 4; Joel 2:28; Rev. 11:3). The perfect must be the eternal state, when we in glory see God face to face (Rev. 22:4) and have full knowledge in the eternal new heavens and new earth. Just as a child grows to full understanding, believers will come to perfect knowledge and no such gifts will be necessary.
On the other hand, Paul uses a different word for the end of the gift of languages, thus indicating it will “cease” by itself, as it did at the end of the apostolic age. It will not end by the coming of the “perfect,” for it will already have ceased. The uniqueness of the gift of languages and its interpretations was, as all sign gifts, to authenticate the message and messengers of the gospel before the NT was completed (Heb. 2:3, 4). “Tongues” was also limited by being a judicial sign from the God of Israel’s judgment (see note on 14:21; cf. Is. 28:11, 12). “Tongues” were also not a sign to believers, but unbelievers (see note on 14:22), specifically those unbelieving Jews. Tongues also ceased because there was no need to verify the true messages from God once the Scripture was given. It became the standard by which all are to be deemed true. “Tongues” was a means of edification in a way far inferior to preaching and teaching (see notes on 14:5, 12, 27, 28). In fact, chap. 14 was designed to show the Corinthians, so preoccupied with tongues, that it was an inferior means of communication (vv. 1-12), an inferior means of praise (vv. 13-19), and an inferior means of evangelism (vv. 20-25). Prophecy was and is, far superior (vv. 1, 3-6, 24, 29, 31, 39). That tongues have ceased should be clear from their absence from any other books in the NT, except Acts. Tongues ceased to be an issue of record or practice in the early church, as the Scripture was being written. That tongues has ceased should be clear also from its absence through church history since the first century, appearing only sporadically and then only in questionable groups. A more detailed discussion is given in the notes on chap. 14.
13:13 love. The objects of faith and hope will be fulfilled and perfectly realized in heaven, but love, the God-like virtue, is everlasting (cf. 1 John 4:8). Heaven will be the place for the expression of nothing but perfect love toward God and each other.
1 Corinthians 14
14:1 Pursue love. A command for every believer. Because lovelessness was a root spiritual problem in the Corinthian church, the godly love just described should have been sought after by them with particular determination and diligence. desire spiritual gifts. Love does not preclude the use of these enablements. Since Paul has addressed not desiring showy gifts (12:31) and not elevating one over the other (12:14–25), some might think it best to set them all aside for unity’s sake. Spiritual gifts, on the other hand, are sovereignly bestowed by God on each believer and necessary for the building of the church (12:1–10). Desire for them, in this context, is in reference to their use collectively and faithfully in His service—not a personal yearning to have an admired gift that one did not possess. As a congregation, the Corinthians should be wanting the full expression of all the gifts to be exercised. “You” is plural, emphasizing the corporate desire of the church. especially…prophesy. This spiritual gift was desirable in the life of the church to serve in a way that tongues cannot, namely, by edifying the entire church (v. 5).
14:2–39 Although it is not indicated consistently in some translations, the distinction between the singular tongue and the plural tongues is foundational to the proper interpretation of this chapter. Paul seems to use the singular to distinguish the counterfeit gift of pagan gibberish and the plural to indicate the genuine gift of a foreign language (see note on v. 2). It was perhaps in recognition of that, that the King James Version (KJV) translators added consistently the word “unknown” before every singular form (see vv. 2, 4, 13, 14, 19, 27). The implications of that distinction will be noted as appropriate. Against the backdrop of carnality and counterfeit ecstatic speech learned from the experience of the pagans, Paul covers 3 basic issues with regard to speaking in languages by the gift of the Holy Spirit: 1) its position, inferior to prophecy (vv. 1–19); 2) its purpose, a sign to unbelievers not believers (vv. 20–25); and 3) its procedure, systematic, limited, and orderly (vv. 26–40).
14:2 he who speaks in a tongue. This is singular (see previous note; cf. vv. 4, 13, 14, 19, 27), indicating that it refers to the false gibberish of the counterfeit pagan ecstatic speech. The singular is used because gibberish can’t be plural; there are not various kinds of non-language. There are, however, various languages; hence when speaking of the true gift of language, Paul uses the plural to make the distinction (vv. 6, 18, 22, 23, 29). The only exception is in vv. 13, 27, 28 (see note there), where it refers to a single person speaking a single genuine language. does not speak to men but to God. This is better translated, “to a god.” The Gr. text has no definite article (see similar translation in Acts 17:23, “an unknown god”). Their gibberish was worship of pagan deities. The Bible records no incident of any believer ever speaking to God in any other than normal human language. no one understands him;…in the spirit he speaks mysteries. The carnal Corinthians using the counterfeit ecstatic speech of paganism were not interested in being understood, but in making a dramatic display. The spirit by which they spoke was not the Holy Spirit, but their own human spirit or some demon; and the mysteries they declared were the type associated with the pagan mystery religions, which was espoused to be the depths that only the initiated few were privileged to know and understand. Those mysteries were totally unlike the ones mentioned in Scripture (e.g., Matt. 13:11; Eph. 3:9), which are divine revelations of truths previously hidden (see notes on 12:7; Eph. 3:4–6).
14:3 prophesies. In dramatic contrast to the bedlam of counterfeit tongues was the gift of genuine prophecy or preaching of the truth (see note on 12:10). It produced the building up in truth, the encouragement to obedience, and the comfort in trouble that God desired for His church. Spiritual gifts are always for the benefit of others, never self.
14:4 a tongue. Again (as in v. 2), Paul uses the singular to refer to the pagan counterfeit gibberish and sarcastically (cf. v. 16; 4:8–10 for other sarcasm) marks its selfishness as some kind of self-edification. This illicit building up of self comes from pride-induced emotion which only produces more pride. edifies the church. See note on 12:7.
14:5 all spoke with tongues…that you prophesied. Here the plural, “tongues,” appears as Paul was referring to the real gift of languages (see note on v. 2). Obviously this was not Paul’s true desire, even for the true gift, since the very idea was impossible and contrary to God’s sovereign distribution of gifts (12:11, 30). He was simply suggesting hypothetically that, if they insisted on clamoring after gifts they did not possess, they at least should seek the one that was more enduring and more valuable for the church. The only purpose tongues renders to the church is when it is interpreted (the normal Gr. word for translation). Wherever God gave the gift of languages, He also gave the gift for translation, so that the sign would also be edifying. Never was the gift to be used without such translation (v. 28), so that the church would always be edified.
14:6 if I come to you…what shall I profit? Even an apostle who spoke in tongues did not spiritually benefit a congregation unless, throu
gh interpretation, his utterance was clarified so that the revelation and knowledge could be understandably preached and taught. Any private use of this gift is excluded for several reasons: 1) it is a sign to unbelievers (v. 22); 2) it must have a translator to have any meaning, even to the speaker (v. 2); and 3) it must edify the church (v. 6).
14:7–9 Here, Paul illustrates his previous point about the uselessness of even the true gift apart from translation for the church to understand. If even inanimate musical instruments are expected to make sensible sounds, how much more should human speech make sense, especially when it deals with the things of God? See note on v. 23.
14:10, 11 Paul simply points up the obvious: the purpose of every language is to communicate, not to impress and certainly not to confuse, as the Corinthians had been doing with their counterfeits. That was clearly the point in the first instance of tongues: Each heard the apostles speak in his own language (Acts 2:6, cf. v. 8). This section makes an undeniable case for the fact that the true gift of tongues was never some unintelligible gibberish, but was human language that was to be translated (v. 13).
14:12 Again Paul returned to the issue of edification, central to all gifts (12:7).
14:14–17 Paul continued to speak sarcastically (cf. v. 16; 4:8–10) about counterfeit tongues, so he used the singular “tongue” (see note on vv. 2–39), which refers to the fake gift. He was speaking hypothetically to illustrate the foolishness and pointlessness of speaking in ecstatic gibberish. The speaker could not understand, and what virtue is there in praying to God or praising God without understanding? No one can “Amen” such nonsense.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 583