KJV: He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
YLT: he who is speaking in an unknown tongue, himself doth edify, and he who is prophesying, an assembly doth edify;
Darby: He that speaks with a tongue edifies himself; but he that prophesies edifies the assembly.
ASV: He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
| ὁ | The [one] |
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Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| λαλῶν | speaking |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ἀπολαλέω Sense: to utter a voice or emit a sound. |
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| γλώσσῃ | in a tongue |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular Root: γλῶσσα Sense: the tongue, a member of the body, an organ of speech. 2 a tongue. |
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| ἑαυτὸν | himself |
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Parse: Reflexive Pronoun, Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular Root: ἑαυτοῦ Sense: himself, herself, itself, themselves. |
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| οἰκοδομεῖ | edifies |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: οἰκοδομέω Sense: to build a house, erect a building. |
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| δὲ | however |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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| προφητεύων | prophesying |
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Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: προφητεύω Sense: to prophesy, to be a prophet, speak forth by divine inspirations, to predict. |
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| ἐκκλησίαν | [the] church |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ἐκκλησία Sense: a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly. |
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Greek Commentary for 1 Corinthians 14:4
No article, literally, “a church” (local use). Not η εκκλησια hē ekklēsia f0). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 1 Corinthians 14:4
Present active participle, speaking, for they kept it up. With tongues (γλωσσαις glōssais). Instrumental case as in Acts 2:4, Acts 2:11 which see. The fuller statement there makes it clear that here it was new and strange tongues also as in Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 14:4-19. This sudden manifestation of the Holy Spirit‘s power on uncircumcised Gentiles was probably necessary to convince Peter and the six brethren of the circumcision that God had opened the door wide to Gentiles. It was proof that a Gentile Pentecost had come and Peter used it effectively in his defence in Jerusalem (Acts 11:15). [source]
Instrumental case as in Acts 2:4, Acts 2:11 which see. The fuller statement there makes it clear that here it was new and strange tongues also as in Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 14:4-19. This sudden manifestation of the Holy Spirit‘s power on uncircumcised Gentiles was probably necessary to convince Peter and the six brethren of the circumcision that God had opened the door wide to Gentiles. It was proof that a Gentile Pentecost had come and Peter used it effectively in his defence in Jerusalem (Acts 11:15). [source]
Honest is originally honorable, and so here. Compare Wyclif's version of 1 Corinthians 12:23: “And the members that be unhonest have more honesty; for our honest members have need of none.” From εὐ well σχῆμα fashionSee on Matthew 17:2. Hence becomingly. Compare 1 Corinthians 14:40; 1 Thessalonians 4:12. The word refers more particularly to the outward life, and thus accords with walk, and in the day the time of observation. [source]
Paul is fond of the metaphor “walk” (περιπατεω peripateō), 33 times though not in the Pastoral Epistles. This old adverb (from ευσχημων euschēmōn graceful) occurs also in 1 Thessalonians 4:12; 1 Corinthians 14:40. The English word “honest” means honourable (Latin honor) and so decent. Wycliffe translates 1 Corinthians 12:23 by “unhonest,” “honesty,” “honest” for “less honourable, honour, honourable.” [source]
The verb rendered tinkling, alalazo originally meant to repeat the cry alala, as in battle. It is used by Mark (Mark 6:38) of the wailings of hired mourners. Hence, generally, to ring or clang. Rev., clanging. Κύμβαλον cymbalis derived from κύμβος ahollow or a cup. The cymbal consisted of two half-globes of metal, which were struck together. In middle-age Latin, cymbalum was the term for a church or convent-bell. Ducange defines: “a bell by which the monks are called to meals, and which is hung in the cloister.” The comparison is between the unmeaning clash of metal, and music; between ecstatic utterances which are jargon, and utterances inspired by love, which, though unintelligible to the hearers, may carry a meaning to the speaker himself and to God, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:7. [source]
I. Passages Relating to the Gift of Tongues. Mark 16:17; Acts href="/desk/?q=ac+10:46&sr=1">Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Corinthians 13:1; 14. Possibly Ephesians 5:18; 1 Peter 4:11. II. Terms Employed. New tongues (Mark 16:17): other or different tongues ( ἕτεραι , Acts 2:4): kinds ( γένη ) of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10): simply tongues or tongue ( γλῶσσαι γλῶσσα , Acts href="/desk/?q=ac+2:4&sr=1">Acts 2:4; Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6; 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:13, 1 Corinthians 14:14, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:27): to pray in a tongue ( προσεύχεσθαι γλώσσῃ , 1 Corinthians 14:14, 1 Corinthians 14:15), equivalent to praying in the spirit as distinguished from praying with the understanding: tongues of men and angels (1 Corinthians 13:1). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- III. Recorded Facts in the New Testament. (1.) The first recorded bestowment of the gift was at Pentecost (Acts href="/desk/?q=ac+10:44-46&sr=1">Acts 10:44-46. (3.) Certain disciples at Ephesus, who received the Holy Spirit in the laying on of Paul's hands, spake with tongues and prophesied, Acts 19:6. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- IV. Meaning of the Term “Tongue.” The various explanations are: the tongue alone, inarticulately: rare, provincial, poetic, or archaic words: language or dialect. The last is the correct definition. It does not necessarily mean any of the known languages of men, but may mean the speaker's own tongue, shaped in a peculiar manner by the Spirit's influence; or an entirely new spiritual language. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- V. Nature of the Gift in the Corinthian Church. (1.) The gift itself was identical with that at Pentecost, at Caesarea, and at Ephesus, but differed in its manifestations, in that it required an interpreter. 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Corinthians 12:30; 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:13, 1 Corinthians 14:26, 1 Corinthians 14:27. (2.) It was closely connected with prophesying: 1 Corinthians 14:1-6, 1 Corinthians 14:22, 1 Corinthians 14:25; Acts 2:16-18; Acts 19:6. Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:19, 1 Thessalonians 5:20. It was distinguished from prophesying as an inferior gift, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:5; and as consisting in expressions of praise or devotion rather than of exhortation, warning, or prediction, 1 Corinthians 14:14-16. (3.) It was an ecstatic utterance, unintelligible to the hearers, and requiring interpretation, or a corresponding ecstatic condition on the part of the hearer in order to understand it. It was not for the edification of the hearer but of the speaker, and even the speaker did not always understand it, 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:19. It therefore impressed unchristian bystanders as a barbarous utterance, the effect of madness or drunkenness, Acts 2:13, Acts 2:15; 1 Corinthians 14:11, 1 Corinthians 14:23. Hence it is distinguished from the utterance of the understanding, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:14-16, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:27. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- VI. Paul's Estimate of the Gift. He himself was a master of the gift (1 Corinthians 14:18), but he assigned it an inferior position (1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:5), and distinctly gave prophesying and speaking with the understanding the preference (1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:3, 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:22). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- VII. Results and Permanence. Being recognized distinctly as a gift of the Spirit, it must be inferred that it contributed in some way to the edification of the Church; but it led to occasional disorderly outbreaks (1 Corinthians 14:9, 1 Corinthians 14:11, 1 Corinthians 14:17, 1 Corinthians 14:20-23, 1 Corinthians 14:26-28, 1 Corinthians 14:33, 1 Corinthians 14:40). As a fact it soon passed away from the Church. It is not mentioned in the Catholic or Pastoral Epistles. A few allusions to it occur in the writings of the fathers of the second century. Ecstatic conditions and manifestations marked the Montanists at the close of the second century, and an account of such a case, in which a woman was the subject, is given by Tertullian. Similar phenomena have emerged at intervals in various sects, at times of great religious excitement, as among the Camisards in France, the early Quakers and Methodists, and especially the Irvingites. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
Late word from προπητης prophētēs and προπημι prophēmi to speak forth. Common in papyri. This gift Paul will praise most (chapter 1 Corinthians 14). Not always prediction, but a speaking forth of God‘s message under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Discernings of spirits (διακρισεις πνευματων diakriseis pneumatōn). Διακρισις Diakrisis is old word from διακρινω diakrinō (see note on 1 Corinthians 11:29) and in N.T. only here; Romans 14:1; Hebrews 5:14. A most needed gift to tell whether the gifts were really of the Holy Spirit and supernatural (cf. so-called “gifts” today) or merely strange though natural or even diabolical (1 Timothy 4:1; 1 John 4:1.). Divers kinds of tongues No word for “divers” in the Greek. There has arisen a great deal of confusion concerning the gift of tongues as found in Corinth. They prided themselves chiefly on this gift which had become a source of confusion and disorder. There were varieties (kinds, γενη genē) in this gift, but the gift was essentially an ecstatic utterance of highly wrought emotion that edified the speaker (1 Corinthians 14:4) and was intelligible to God (1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:28). It was not always true that the speaker in tongues could make clear what he had said to those who did not know the tongue (1 Corinthians 14:13): It was not mere gibberish or jargon like the modern “tongues,” but in a real language that could be understood by one familiar with that tongue as was seen on the great Day of Pentecost when people who spoke different languages were present. In Corinth, where no such variety of people existed, it required an interpreter to explain the tongue to those who knew it not. Hence Paul placed this gift lowest of all. It created wonder, but did little real good. This is the error of the Irvingites and others who have tried to reproduce this early gift of the Holy Spirit which was clearly for a special emergency and which was not designed to help spread the gospel among men. See notes on Acts 2:13-21; notes on Acts Acts 10:44-46; and note on Acts 19:6. The interpretation of tongues (ερμηνεια γλωσσων hermēneia glōssōn). Old word, here only and 1 Corinthians 14:26 in N.T., from ερμηνευω hermēneuō from ερμης Hermēs (the god of speech). Cf. on διερμηνευω diermēneuō in Luke 24:27; Acts 9:36. In case there was no one present who understood the particular tongue it required a special gift of the Spirit to some one to interpret it if any one was to receive benefit from it. [source]
No word for “divers” in the Greek. There has arisen a great deal of confusion concerning the gift of tongues as found in Corinth. They prided themselves chiefly on this gift which had become a source of confusion and disorder. There were varieties (kinds, γενη genē) in this gift, but the gift was essentially an ecstatic utterance of highly wrought emotion that edified the speaker (1 Corinthians 14:4) and was intelligible to God (1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:28). It was not always true that the speaker in tongues could make clear what he had said to those who did not know the tongue (1 Corinthians 14:13): It was not mere gibberish or jargon like the modern “tongues,” but in a real language that could be understood by one familiar with that tongue as was seen on the great Day of Pentecost when people who spoke different languages were present. In Corinth, where no such variety of people existed, it required an interpreter to explain the tongue to those who knew it not. Hence Paul placed this gift lowest of all. It created wonder, but did little real good. This is the error of the Irvingites and others who have tried to reproduce this early gift of the Holy Spirit which was clearly for a special emergency and which was not designed to help spread the gospel among men. See notes on Acts 2:13-21; notes on Acts Acts 10:44-46; and note on Acts 19:6. The interpretation of tongues (ερμηνεια γλωσσων hermēneia glōssōn). Old word, here only and 1 Corinthians 14:26 in N.T., from ερμηνευω hermēneuō from ερμης Hermēs (the god of speech). Cf. on διερμηνευω diermēneuō in Luke 24:27; Acts 9:36. In case there was no one present who understood the particular tongue it required a special gift of the Spirit to some one to interpret it if any one was to receive benefit from it. [source]
Lit. build up. See on Acts 20:32. The metaphorical sense habitually in Paul. See 1 Corinthians 8:1, 1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:23; 1 Corinthians 14:4; Ephesians 2:20. In O.T. mostly in the literal sense. See however lxx, Rth 4:11 ; 88:2; Jeremiah href="/desk/?q=jer+31:4&sr=1">Jeremiah 31:4. [source]
PoBetter, seemly. From εὐ welland σχῆμα figureor fashion. The literal sense is suggested by the familiar phrase in good form. The contrast appears in ἀτάκτως disorderly 2 Thessalonians 3:6. Paul has in view the impression to be made by his readers on those outside of the church. See on Romans 13:13, and comp. 1 Corinthians 14:40. [source]