and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
Parallel Translations
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and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
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To another power to do myracles. To another prophesie? To another iudgement of spretes. To another divers tonges. To another the interpretacion of toges.
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And to another the operations of great workes: and to another, prophecie: and to another, the discerning of spirits: and to another, diuersities of tongues: and to another, the interpretation of tongues.
Cross-references (35)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 12:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 14:39 Therefore, brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking with other languages.
- 1 John 4:1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- Mark 16:17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
- 1 Corinthians 12:28-30 God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all miracle workers? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with various languages? Do all interpret?
- Joel 2:28 “It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.
- 1 Corinthians 14:31-32 For you all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be exhorted. The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets,
- Mark 16:20 They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
- 1 Corinthians 14:26-29 What is it then, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has another language, or has an interpretation. Let all things be done to build each other up. If any man speaks in another language, let it be two, or at the most three, and in turn; and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the assembly, and let him speak to himself, and to God. Let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the others discern.
- Galatians 3:5 He therefore who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?
- 1 Corinthians 14:1-5 Follow after love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in another language speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands; but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, exhortation, and consolation. He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly. Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but rather that you would prophesy. For he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the assembly may be built up.
- 1 Corinthians 14:23-24 If therefore the whole assembly is assembled together and all speak with other languages, and unlearned or unbelieving people come in, won’t they say that you are crazy? But if all prophesy, and someone unbelieving or unlearned comes in, he is reproved by all, and he is judged by all.
- 2 Peter 1:20-21 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.
- Revelation 2:2 “I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false.
- Numbers 11:25-29 Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the Spirit rested on them. They were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!” Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them!” Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all Yahweh’s people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!”
- 1 Samuel 10:10-13 When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them. When all who knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said to one another, “What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” One of the same place answered, “Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.
- 1 Samuel 19:20-24 Saul sent messengers to seize David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, God’s Spirit came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” One said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then God’s Spirit came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
- 2 Samuel 23:1-2 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel: “Yahweh’s Spirit spoke by me. His word was on my tongue.
- Luke 24:49 Behold, I send out the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.”
- John 14:12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.
- John 16:13 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.
- Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
- Acts 2:17-18 ‘It will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams. Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.
- Acts 2:29-30 “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
- Acts 5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?
- Acts 11:28 One of them named Agabus stood up, and indicated by the Spirit that there should be a great famine all over the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius.
- Acts 19:6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.
- Acts 21:9-10 Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
- Romans 12:6 having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
- Romans 15:19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God’s Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;
- 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.
- 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:20 Don’t despise prophecies.
- Acts 2:4-12 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under the sky. When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and were bewildered, because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. They were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Behold, aren’t all these who speak Galileans? How do we hear, everyone in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, the parts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians: we hear them speaking in our languages the mighty works of God!” They were all amazed, and were perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
- Acts 10:46-47 For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God. Then Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.”
- Hebrews 2:4 God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Foretelling of things to come.
Foretelling of things to come.
Whereby false prophets are known from true, wherein Peter passed Philip in discovering Simon Magus, Acts 8:20.
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By operation he meaneth those great workings of God’s mighty power, which pass and excel amongst his miracles, as the delivery of his people Israel by the hand of Moses: that which he did by Elijah against the Priests of Baal, in sending down fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice: and that which he did by Peter in the matter of Ananias and Sapphira.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 10 To another the working of miracles; to another…
10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
Ver. 10. Discerning of spirits] They discerned not men’s hearts of themselves (for to God only), but by a special work of God’s Spirit discovering them to their eyes, as Peter discerned Ananias, and afterwards Simon Magus, whom Philip mistook and baptized. (Rolloc. de Vocatione.)
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain To another the working of miracles, of other sorts,…
To another the working of miracles, of other sorts, such as the inflicting punishments on sinners, casting out devils, &c.
To another prophecy, which in the general signifieth the revelation of the will of God, whether by the foretelling future contingencies, or opening the Scriptures by preaching or teaching.
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To another discerning of spirits; a power wherein God, for the further authority and credit of his gospel in the primitive times, communicated to some men something of his own prerogative to discern men’s inward thoughts and hearts, and to make up a judgment of their truth and sincerity, or contrariwise of their falsehood and hypocrisy.
To another divers kinds of tongues, that is, a power to discourse with men in their several languages, as we read in Act 2:8.
To another the interpretation of tongues: this is made a diverse gift from an ability to speak with divers tongues; possibly some of those that spake with divers tongues could not interpret what they said.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain To another the working of miracles,.... Or "powers": mighty…
To another the working of miracles,.... Or "powers": mighty deeds, wonderful works, such as are apparently above, and out of the reach of nature, and beyond the compass of human power and skill; such as raising the dead, causing the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the lame to walk, and the like; of which, see some instances in Act 3:6. Though others understand by these the extraordinary powers the apostles had of punishing offenders; of which the striking Ananias and Sapphira dead, by Peter, the smiting Elymas the sorcerer with blindness, by Paul, and the delivering the incestuous person, and Hymenaeus, and Alexander, to Satan, by the same apostle, are instances.
To another prophecy: either foretelling of future events, as was given to Agabus, and the four daughters of Philip, and others, Act 11:27 or a gift of understanding the prophecies of the Old Testament, and of preaching the Gospel, which is in this epistle frequently called "prophesying", particularly in the two following chapters; and those endowed with it are called prophets, Act 13:1.
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To another discerning of spirits; by which gift such that were possessed of it could, in some measure, discern the hearts of men, their thoughts, purposes, and designs, their secret dissimulation and hypocrisy; as Peter, by this gift, discerned the dissimulation and lying of Ananias and Sapphira; and by it they could also tell whether a man that made a profession of religion had the truth of grace in him, or not; so Peter knew hereby that Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, notwithstanding his specious pretences to faith and holiness, whereby he imposed upon Philip the evangelist, who might not have this gift of discerning spirits; by which also they could distinguish the Spirit of God from the lying spirits in men; of which there is an instance, Act 15:17.
To another divers kinds of tongues; whereby such could speak all manner of languages, which they had never learned, understood, and been used to: this Christ promised his disciples, when he sent them into all the world to preach the Gospel, Mar 16:16 and so anticipates an objection they otherwise might have made, how they should be able to preach it to all, so as to be understood, when they were not acquainted with the languages of all nations; an instance of which we have in the apostles on the day of Pentecost, Act 2:4 and which continued many years after with them, and other persons in the churches; see Co1 13:2.
To another the interpretation of tongues; one that had this gift, when a discourse was delivered in an unknown tongue, used to stand up and interpret it to the people, without which it could be of no use to them; and sometimes a person was gifted to speak in an unknown tongue, and yet was not capable of interpreting his discourse truly and distinctly in that the people understood: see Co1 14:13. The rules to be observed in such cases, and by such persons, see in Co1 14:27.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The working of other miracles. Prophecy - Foretelling things…
The working of other miracles. Prophecy - Foretelling things to come. The discerning - Whether men be of an upright spirit or no; whether they have natural or supernatural gifts for offices in the church; and whether they who profess to speak by inspiration speak from a divine, a natural, or a diabolical spirit.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Co 12:10-11. To another, the working of miracles —…
1Co 12:10-11. To another, the working of miracles — That is, miracles of a different kind; such as taking up serpents, drinking any deadly draught without hurt, and especially casting out devils. But it may not be improper to observe here, that the original expression, ενεργηματα δυναμεων, here rendered the working of miracles, is translated by Dr. Macknight, the inworkings of powers, the former word being derived from ενεργεω, signifying not to work simply, but to work in another. And he thinks it is here intended to express the power which the apostles had of conferring the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost on those on whom they laid their hands: a power which was peculiar to the apostles, by which they were raised above all the other spiritual men, and by which they spread the gospel everywhere with the greatest success. To another, prophecy — The foretelling of things to come. To another, the discerning of spirits — That is, ability to discern whether professors of Christianity were of an upright spirit, or not; whether they had natural or supernatural gifts for offices in the church; and whether they who professed to speak by inspiration spoke from a divine, a natural, or diabolical spirit; and consequently to distinguish, with certainty, true doctrine from false. For, as there appeared very early among the professed disciples of Christ, false teachers, who, to gain credit to their errors, pretended to deliver them by inspiration, a gift of this kind was very necessary for preventing the faithful from being led away by them, especially in the first age, before the writings of the apostles and evangelists were generally spread abroad. Hence the caution, 1Jn 4:1, Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are from God, because many false prophets are gone forth into the world. Again, the gift of discerning spirits was bestowed on some, to enable them, on certain occasions, to discover what passed in the minds of their enemies, that they might make it known for the benefit of the church; 1Co 14:25. Thus Peter knew the fraudulent purpose of Ananias and Sapphira, and Paul the malice of Elymas. But here it is to be observed, that neither the knowledge of what passed in the minds of enemies, nor the knowledge of the characters of private Christians, or of the qualifications of those who aspired after sacred offices, was bestowed as a habit. On most occasions, it seems, the rulers were left in these matters to guide themselves by their own sagacity, or by that ordinary illumination which they received from the Spirit of wisdom.
To another, divers kinds of tongues — Ability to speak languages which they had not learned. This gift was one of the primary causes of the rapid growth of Christianity. For by it the preachers of the gospel were able, immediately on their coming into any country, to declare the wonderful things of God, without waiting till, in the ordinary course, they learned the language of the country. The persons who were endowed with this faculty, had not the knowledge of all languages communicated to them, but of such only as they had occasion for. This appears from 1Co 14:18, where the apostle told the Corinthians that he spake more foreign tongues than they all did. And even the languages which were given them, may not have been communicated to them all at once, but only as they had occasion for them. To another, the interpretation of tongues — Ability to interpret into a language known, suppose into the common language of the place, that which others, suppose foreigners, or those to whom a language was given by inspiration, delivered in a tongue with which the hearers were not acquainted. From this being mentioned as a distinct gift from that of speaking foreign languages, Macknight infers, that not every one who understood the foreign language, in which an inspired teacher spake, was allowed to interpret what he spake. The only person, he thinks, permitted to do this, was the interpreter, endowed with an especial inspiration for that end. Because, “the doctrines of the gospel, being entirely different from all the ideas which the heathen had been accustomed to entertain on religious subjects, any interpretation of what was delivered by the Spirit in a foreign language, made without a supernatural direction, might have led the church into errror. Further, the faculty of interpreting foreign languages by inspiration was, in another respect, a gift very necessary in the first age; for the books of the Old Testament being written in Hebrew, a language not then understood by the vulgar, even in Judea, and the writings of the apostles and evangelists being all in the Greek tongue, on account of its emphasis and precision; and that tongue being nowhere spoken by the common people, except in Greece and some cities of the Lesser Asia, if there had not been in every church inspired interpreters, who could translate these divinely-inspired writings into the common language, they would have been, in a great measure, useless; especially at the beginning, when the knowledge of them was most wanted. Whereas every church having inspired interpreters of foreign languages commonly present in their religious assemblies, to translate the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures into the language of the country, the common people, everywhere, had an opportunity of deriving from these writings all the knowledge and comfort they are fitted to yield. Such were the supernatural gifts with which the first preachers and ministers of the gospel were endowed; and by which they effectually and speedily established the gospel in the most populous and civilized provinces of the Roman empire.” And all these — Diversities of gifts, the apostle adds, worketh that one and the self-same Spirit — They all flow from one and the same fountain; dividing to every man severally, καθως βουλεται, as he willeth — An expression which does not so much imply arbitrary pleasure, as a determination founded on wise counsel.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain To another the working of miracles - Commentators have…
To another the working of miracles - Commentators have felt some perplexity in distinguishing this from what is mentioned in 1Co 12:9, of the gift of healing. it is evident that the apostle there refers to the power of working miracles in healing inveterate and violent diseases. The expression used here, “working of miracles” (ἐνεργήματα δυναμέων energēmata dunameōn) refers probably to the more “extraordinary” and “unusual” kinds of miracles; to those which were regarded as in advance of the power of healing diseases. It is possible that it may denote what the Saviour had reference to in Mar 16:18, where he said they should take up serpents, and if they drank any deadly thing it should not hurt them; and possibly also to the power of raising up the dead. That this power was possessed by the apostles is well known; and it is possible that it was possessed by others also of the early Christians. It is clear from all this that there was a difference even among those who had the power of working miracles, and that this power was conferred in a more eminent degree on some than on others. Indeed, the “extraordinary” endowments conferred on the apostles and the early Christians, seem to have been regulated to a remarkable degree in accordance with the rule by which “ordinary” endowments are conferred upon people. Though all people have understanding, memory, imagination, bodily strength, etc., yet one has these in a more eminent degree than others; and one is characterized for the possession of one of those qualities more than for another. Yet all are bestowed by the same God. So it was in regard to the extraordinary endowments conferred on the early Christians; compare 1 Cor. 14, especially 1Co 14:32.
To another prophecy; - See the note at Rom 12:6.
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To another discerning of spirits - compare 1Jo 4:1. This must refer to some power of searching into the secrets of the heart; of knowing what were a man’s purposes. views, and feelings. It may relate either to the power of determining by what spirit a man spoke who pretended to be inspired, whether he was truly inspired or whether he was an impostor; or it may refer to the power of seeing whether a man was sincere or not in his Christian profession That the apostles had this power, is apparent from the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Act 5:1-10, and from the case of Elymas, Act 13:9-11. It is evident that where the gift of prophecy and inspiration was possessed, and where it would confer such advantages on those who possessed it, there would be many pretenders to it; and that it would be of vast importance to the infant church, in order to prevent imposition, that there should be a power in the church of detecting the imposture.
To another divers kinds of tongues - The power of speaking various languages; see Act 2:4, Act 2:7-11. This passage also seems to imply that the extraordinary endowments of the Holy Spirit were not conferred on all alike.
To another the interpretation of tongues - The power of interpreting foreign languages; or of interpreting the language which might be used by the “prophets” in their communications; see the note at 1Co 14:27. This was evidently a faculty different from the power of speaking a foreign language; and yet it might be equally useful. It would appear possible that some might have had the power of speaking foreign languages who were not themselves apprized of the meaning, and that interpreters were needful in order to express the sense to the hearers. Or it may have been that in a promiscuous assembly, or in an assembly made up of those who spoke different languages, a part might have understood what was uttered, and it was needful that an interpreter should explain it to the other portion; see the notes on 1Co 14:28.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain working of miracles--As "healings" are miracles, those here meant…
working of miracles--As "healings" are miracles, those here meant must refer to miracles of special and extraordinary POWER (so the Greek for "miracles" means); for example, healings might be effected by human skill in course of time; but the raising of the dead, the infliction of death by a word, the innocuous use of poisons, &c., are miracles of special power. Compare Mar 6:5; Act 19:11.
prophecy--Here, probably, not in the wider sense of public teaching by the Spirit (Co1 11:4-5; Co1 14:1-5, 1Co. 14:22-39); but, as its position between "miracles" and a "discerning of spirits" implies, the inspired disclosure of the future (Act 11:27-28; Act 21:11; Ti1 1:18), [HENDERSON]. It depends on "faith" (Co1 12:9; Rom 12:6). The prophets ranked next to the apostles (Co1 12:28; Eph 3:5; Eph 4:11). As prophecy is part of the whole scheme of redemption, an inspired insight into the obscurer parts of the existing Scriptures, was the necessary preparation for the miraculous foresight of the future.
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discerning of spirits--discerning between the operation of God's Spirit, and the evil spirit, or unaided human spirit (Co1 14:29; compare Ti1 4:1; Jo1 4:1).
kinds of tongues--the power of speaking various languages: also a spiritual language unknown to man, uttered in ecstasy (Co1 14:2-12). This is marked as a distinct genus in the Greek, "To another and a different class."
interpretation of tongues-- (Co1 14:13, Co1 14:26-27).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Working of miracles—Literally, the in-working (by God in…
10. Working of miracles—Literally, the in-working (by God in the man) of powers, that is, supernatural or miraculous powers.
Prophecy—Inspired preaching; either predicting the future, unfolding mysterious truth, or searching the secrets of men’s hearts and characters, 1Co_14:24-25.
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Discerning of spirits—The power of detecting the hypocrite, as Peter did Ananias; of distinguishing true and false gifts; of recognising genuine inspiration. Traces of this power, more or less active, by spiritual sympathy with true inspiration pervading the body of the Church, enabled it to select the right books for the New Testament canon. The pretensions of modern criticism to decide whether one or another book belongs to the canon are often arrogant. On the original pentecostal miracle of tongues, see our note Act_2:4. In that primal miracle we suppose every individual heard the self-same word each in his own language. But later, as indicated in that note, by decline, only those understanding the one language miraculously spoken took the meaning; later still, a specially inspired interpreter was necessary; and finally, perhaps, the utterance lost all language form, was unintelligible to the utterer himself, being only the emotional vocal outflow of fervent religious emotion. See notes on 1Co_14:1-19. Thus there were various kinds of tongues.
Interpretation of tongues. See notes 1Co_14:27.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. the working of miracles] Literally, effects produced by…
10. the working of miracles] Literally, effects produced by the active exercise of powers, as in Act_5:1-11; Act_9:40; Act_13:11; Act_16:18.
prophecy] See note on ch. 1Co_14:1.
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discerning of spirits] Wiclif, knowynge. Tyndale, judgement. This word is derived from the verb translated discern in ch. 1Co_11:29, where see note. Here it signifies the faculty of forming a correct judgment on the utterances of spirits. Cf. 1Jn_4:1. The word only occurs here and in Rom_14:1 and Heb_5:14. In the former place, it is rendered by an adjective, ‘doubtful’; literally, discerning of disputations; in the latter by a verb.
divers kinds of tongues] These were either (1) outpourings of prayer and praise in a language unknown to the speaker or (2) (as Dean Alford in loc.) in a language not ordinarily intelligible to any man. The gift of tongues may possibly have included both (see notes on ch. 14). But it is impossible—with Act_2:9-11 before us, and bearing in mind the fact adduced by Bishop Wordsworth in his commentary on that passage, that we never hear of any one of the Apostles sitting down to learn a foreign language, whereas with all other missionaries this is generally the first thing of which we are told—to exclude the idea of foreign languages here. “Qui multis gentibus annunciaturus erat, multarum linguarum acceperat gratiam.”—Jerome.
to another the interpretation of tongues] See ch. 1Co_14:5; 1Co_14:13; 1Co_14:26-27.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) Prophecy.—Not in its modern and limited sense of…
(10) Prophecy.—Not in its modern and limited sense of foretelling the future, but forthtelling truth generally.
Discerning of spirits—i.e., the power to distinguish between the workings of the Holy Spirit and of evil and misleading spirits (see 1Ti_4:1; 1Jn_4:1). On the gifts of tongues and interpretations of tongues, see 1 Corinthians 14.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The working of miracles; literally, active, efficacy of powers;…
The working of miracles; literally, active, efficacy of powers; such as "the signs of an apostle," to which St. Paul himself appealed in 2Co_12:12, which included "wonders and mighty powers". (Rom_15:18) Prophecy. Not "prediction," but elevated and inspired discourse; the power of preaching to edification. Discerning of spirits; rather, discernings, or powers to discriminate between true and false spirits. It was necessary in those days of intense enthusiasm and spiritual awakenment to "test the spirits, whether they be of God". (1Jn_4:1) There were such things as "deceitful spirits" which spoke "doctrines of devils". ((1Ti_4:1; Rev_2:1, Rev_2:2; see 1Co_14:29) Divers kinds of tongues. There is no need for the word "divers." The particular variety of the ecstatic, and often entirely unintelligible, utterance known as "the tongue" differed with the individuality or temperament of the speaker. Recent lines of research, by that historical method which can alone furnish correct results, have led to the conclusion that, whatever may be thought of the "tongues" on the day of Pentecost (which is a separate question), the "tongue" spoken of (for the most part with relative disparagement) by St. Paul as a charism of the Spirit was closely analogous to that wild, rapt, unconscious, uncontrollable utterance which, with varying details, has always occurred in the religious movements which stir the human soul to its utmost depths. The attempts to explain the word "tongues" as meaning "foreign languages," or "the primeval language," or "poetic and unusual phraseology," etc., are baseless and exploded. The notion that by this gift the early Christians knew languages which they had never acquired, is not only opposed to the entire analogy of God"s dealings, but to every allusion in the New Testament (except a prima facie but untenable view of the meaning of Act_2:4) and to every tradition and statement of early Christian history. The apostles (so far as we have any record of their missionary work in the New Testament) had not the slightest need to acquire foreign languages. Since Palestine was at this epoch bilingual, they could all speak Aramaic and Greek, and therefore could address Jews and Gentiles throughout the civilized world. Every single allusion which St. Paul makes to this subject excludes the possibility of the supposition of a miracle so utterly useless and meaningless, so subversive of every psychological consideration, and so alien from the analogy of all God"s methods, as the talking in unacquired foreign languages by persons who did not understand them. The interpretation of tongues. Sometimes, but not always, (1Co_14:13) the speaker, on relapsing from his ecstasy, was able to express his outburst of unintelligible soliloquy in the form of reasoned thought When he was unable to do so, St. Paul ordains that another should convey in ordinary language the impressions left by the inspired rhapsody. (1Co_14:27-29)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 10. To another, prophecy. The prophet was one who,…
10. To another, prophecy. The prophet was one who, under divine impulse, spoke words given by the Holy Spirit. To another, discerning of spirits. The power of reading hearts and determining whether men spoke by the divine spirit, or some other impulse. To another, divers kinds of tongues. He who spoke with tongues, spoke languages that he had never learned. See Acts 2:6–8. Sometimes their utterances were not understood by the audience. Hence another gift was the interpretation of tongues, the ability to explain the meaning of those who spoke with tongues. There are named here nine gifts, all supernatural, imparted by the same spirit, which distributes them according to its own will.
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.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 10. This gift, in E.V. translated “the working of…
THE OPERATIONS OF DYNAMITES
10. This gift, in E.V. translated “the working of miracles,” is energeemata, which means “inward workings,” i. e., the mighty works of God in the human spirit, hidden from mortal vision by the fleshy veil. Hence it means the inward workings, operations, manipulations, wrought by the Holy Ghost in the invisible human spirit. The word translated “miracles” in E.V. is dunameoon, the genitive plural of dunamis, “dynamite,” so frequently used by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. It is the definition of “gospel” (Rom 1:16). Hence instead of meaning the working of physical miracles, as one might think, it means the inward operations of the real gospel work wrought by the Holy Ghost alone. Then in what sense can I have this wonderful gift? Why, it means that I can be in such attitude toward the Holy Ghost that He will use me as an efficient instrument in His own mighty works. Both of these nouns are in the plural number, i. e., the inward “workings of dynamites,” setting forth the fact that there is a diversity of these operations according to the end in view, and a corresponding diversity of execution. Dynamite is in the plural number because there is a dynamite of conviction, exploding the impenitent sinner and filling him with intolerable agony; and a dynamite of regeneration, blowing away from the heart-broken penitent all the mountains of guilt which are dragging him into Hell, and giving him a cloudless sky; also a dynamite of sanctification, disrupting all the deep old strata of inbred sin, and blowing them out of the heart, giving you complete victory in Jesus and glorious triumph in God. Now, of course, there is a diversity of these inward workings, e. g., using the gospel drills to perforate the deep interior of the heart, and put down the dynamite of conviction in the impenitent, regeneration in the penitent, and sanctification in the believer. Oh, the infinite value of this truth of spiritual gift! It is what you need to give you power of melting exhortation, calculated to reach the impenitent and bring them down at the altar. It is the very thing you need to make you a red-hot altar worker, and give you real efficiency in leading souls to the Savior, whether for pardon or unity. It is God’s glorious remedy for indifferentism in all lines and in all environments. It puts you where the Holy Ghost can use you efficiently in His mighty works. This gift abounded in the apostolic age and the following centuries so long as martyr’s blood and fire kept the Church true. But when the accession of Constantine suddenly promoted the poor persecuted Church from the lion’s mouth and the burning stake to Caesar’s palace, this wonderful gift, with the other members of the immortal Nine, evanesced away, and was relegated to the age of miracles. Praise the Lord! We live in the age of miracles, for Jesus is the miracle worker, and He says: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Mat 28:20). However, this gift has not been without its exemplars in all the bygone centuries. Doctor Finney was a wonderful exemplar of this gift. This was the secret of whole congregations falling under his preaching, and losing the power to stand on their feet or walk away. On one occasion, going into a cotton mill, entering the loom-room, the dynamite flashing from his countenance before he said a word, so confused the spinning girls that losing the threads they got into such a confusion that the boss had to be called in. Behold! He got his eyes on the face of God’s prophet, the lightning of conviction darting through him like a thunderbolt, and rendering him like the girls incompetent to regulate the confusion in the looms. Then he ordered the engineer to shut off the steam and all the machinery to stop, and all the mill hands to come, saying outright: “It is no time to run a cotton mill, but it is time for salvation, and I must have it.” So there the. man of God found himself surrounded by an audience of seven hundred, already convicted and crying for mercy before he had spoken a word. The memory of the wonderful Cain Ridge revivals in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1800 and 1801 is still rife in all that country, memorable for the people having the jerks, falling, losing their power to get away, and really most miraculous physical phenomena. I give you a brief sketch by memory from the life of James B. Finley, a celebrated pioneer preacher in Ohio. The news of these wonders having pervaded the Ohio Valley far and wide, startling the people by the paradoxical reports of God’s mighty works in the Cain Ridge camp-meeting, this man, a stalwart youth, awfully wicked, boasting of his bullyhood, swore that they couldn’t knock him down. Mounting his horse, he rides a hundred miles defying the power of God, of which he had so many startling reports. Reaching the ground, he looks out upon an audience of five thousand people, the pioneers, like himself, moved by curiosity, having gathered from every point of the compass; the little auditorium originally prepared for the camp- meeting overrun and lost sight of. He sees twenty preachers at the same time standing in different parts of the vast multitude, on rocks, stumps and logs, preaching with a power and demonstration such as he had never seen before; people falling on all sides, lying like they were dead; others leaping into the air with tremendous shouts; many jerking as if they would be torn to pieces; women with long, disheveled hair cracking like wagon whips amid the contortions. A strange trembling takes hold of the Satanic champion; realizing that he is bound to fall, he runs away. Then he soliloquizes: “I have boasted to all my comrades that I am more than a match for that knock-down power; I will go back, and, by the help of the devil, will show them there is one man they can’t knock down.” He returns to the paradoxical scene. Behold! The power has increased, and it is wonderfully intensified. The multitudes are moved as by the mighty and irresistible waves of the sea. The same strange feeling comes on him more potently than the first time. His knees are already knocking together; he realizes that he will fall immediately if he does not get away from there. So he runs again, this time going away a mile to a tavern, and getting some brandy, which he thought would help his trembling nerves. Again he assumes the defiant: “I will show all the people that there is one young man they can’t knock down.” So the third time he returns to the scene of conflict, only to see the tide ostensibly much higher and stronger than ever.
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Looking out, he sees a group of five hundred people fall simultaneously, as suddenly as if a battery of a thousand cannons had been turned upon them at once; meanwhile on all sides he sees the fallen lying prostrate as if they were dead, jerking with terrific contortions, and others leaping into the air like angels. On all sides cries, shrieks, groans and moans commingle with uproarious shouts of victory. The same paralyzing power comes on him; he trembles from head to foot, his teeth chattering and his knees knocking together; he feels that he can not possibly stand on his feet; so he runs away once more. With difficulty mounting his horse and holding on to keep from falling, he rides a dozen miles homeward bound, and falls from his horse like a dead man. The neighbors gather around him, afraid to draw nigh lest he may have some dangerous disease. An old Dutchman, who had been to the camp-meeting and understood the phenomena, taking command of the scene, reconciling his neighbors, prevails on them to help him carry him to his house, where he spends the night praying for him and instructing him, the morning light proving the glorious dawn of Heaven’s daybreak into his soul. So he mounts his horse, and goes on his way rejoicing to tell the glorious news to his home folks and neighbors that he is wonderfully saved and called to preach. So he became one of the mighty men whom God honored in pioneer Methodism. We have grand manifestations of this spiritual gift in many instances at the present day. I have repeatedly attended meetings in the great South which were like Heaven in the fact that “congregations ne’er break up.” Numbers of people were physically unable to get away, hence they remained all night, some of the saints staying with them for their comfort. I have seen this in my own ministry on hundreds of occasions. We have it now in certain localities. We need not relegate this paradoxical work of the Spirit to the apostolic age. Our Lord is still with us, moving Heaven, earth and Hell by His mighty works. Oh, what a glorious privilege thus to be armed with Heaven’s dynamite I do praise the Lord for permitting me in my pilgrimage to witness so many of His mighty works.
PROPHECY
10. We read (Ch. 1Co 14:3) God’s infallible definition of this gift, “He that prophesieth, speaketh unto new edification, exhortation and comfort.” The world is to be saved through the instrumentality of human speech, as the wicked will not read the Bible, and when they read it they do not understand it. The Bible is not addressed to the wicked in a single book, but always to God’s people, while it is incumbent on us to proclaim it to the lost. Prophecy, which means to bubble up and boil over like an artesian well, is God’s gift to qualify us to preach to an audience of one or one thousand. Among the sad phenomena of the great apostasy, precedent to the Tribulation, is the departure of the churches from God’s plan, i. e., “to preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” To depend on a collegiate education is all right if sanctified by the Holy Ghost, but an actual hindrance if not. Our fathers in all of these evangelical churches, who had no collegiate learning, were more mighty than we because they depended on the Holy Ghost. This spiritual gift, i. e., prophecy, as you will see in the Pauline elaboration, is actually put at the top of all the immortal Nine, from the very fact of its signification, as it is the qualification of preaching the Word, which is God’s method of saving the world. The New Testament says little about preacher’s, but much about prophets. No one is a preacher, in the New Testament sense, without the gift of prophecy.
Consequently the great masses of our pulpit contemporaries are not preachers at all in the New Testament sense, as they are strangers to the gift of prophecy, which alone can qualify any person to preach the gospel, the grandest achievements of collegiate learning notwithstanding. Many an old colored woman ignorant of her alphabet has enjoyed this gift, and God has used her humble instrumentality. You must remember that one of our Savior’s greatest sermons was preached to lonely Nicodemus, and it has been ringing around the world ever since, bringing millions to God.
Another was preached to a lonely fallen woman at the city of Sychar, Samaria. She got saved and became a mighty preacher, stirring the whole city with a cyclone revival. Note well, God cares infinitely more for quality than quantity. Many an one utterly unknown in the clerical catalogues will wear a starry crown in glory, for bringing dozens, scores and hundreds to God. The effect of this gift, i. e., “prophecy,” is to make you an everlasting talker for Jesus, at home, abroad, on land, on sea; indiscriminately your tongue is loose at both ends, split in twain, both prongs on fire, the one to preach Hell fire to sinners to keep them out of it, and the other to preach Heavenly fire to Christians to sanctify them for Heaven, while all the other gifts are invaluable and indispensable, and many of them much more demonstrative than this. I do not wonder that Paul gives it the preeminence which he does so emphatically, from the fact that this world is to be saved by “speaking to them edification, exhortation and comfort.” So you see this is the summary of our life-work, i. e., to preach unto people The way of the Lord, exhort them to walk in it, and comfort those who are walking in the highways of justification and the holy way of sanctification. I do hope that you will especially appreciate Paul’s tremendous emphasis on this gift, and be sure that you appropriate it. You need not doubt. The case is beyond the defalcation and absolutely indubitable. God wants all of this poor lost world saved. He has not only certified over and over, but augmented His affirmations by the tremendous solemnity of His oath:
“As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his evil way and live; turn you, O turn you, for why will you die?” (Eze 33:11).
Could you only look through the pearly gates as they stand ajar awaiting your coming, and see the crowns, diadems, scepters and harps awaiting soul-winner’s, you would all go for this gift with burning enthusiasm, crying to God night and day to put on you the spirit of prophecy, which He is certain to do responsive to humiliation, consecration, faith and obedience. O reader, does not your heart burn to be a prophet of the Lord? The door is wide open; walk in, a thousand blessings on you.
DISCERNMENTS OF SPIRITS
10. Our Savior commands us not to cast our pearls before swine. The Holiness people have wasted car loads of ammunition, preaching sanctification in the dead churches, where in many instances not a person in the audience was on sanctifiable ground. The few who had been converted had backslidden, the pastor (as I have known in many instances) being one of the latter. The result is an awful hubbub. Preachers and members are mad, and the sanctified evangelist locked out of the house. A prominent Bible word for sanctification, Hebrew tamaim, and Latin sine cera, means “strained honey.” In regeneration you find a beehive; in sanctification all the wax, trash and dead bees are strained out, leaving nothing but the pure, delicious honey of Canaan. But hornets, yellow-jackets and wasps do not love honey. Give it to them, and they will get mad and sting you. If you offer the honey of sanctification to the Lord’s bees, they devour it with delight; if to the devil’s hornets, you are very apt to get stung, while they will not eat your honey. Oh! how indispensable this gift of spiritual discernment, to impart the illumination requisite to discriminate the character of your audience, whether one or a multitude, and to enable you to determine whether to preach the Sinai gospel for the conviction of the impenitent, the Calvary gospel for the confession of the broken-hearted, or the Pentecost gospel for the sanctification of the regenerated, who have been so illuminated by the Holy Ghost as to see their inbred depravity, truly loathe it and get in position to have it sanctified away. You need this gift to qualify you to read people like you read books. I praise the Lord for the wonderful manner in which He has permitted me to enjoy that gift!
Enabling me these thirty years to look an audience in the face, take my sermon from them and give it back to them. Oh! how I wasted my ammunition the first fifteen years of my ministry, overshooting my congregation and putting the fodder too high for the sheep! This gift has been exceedingly vivid in my experience and prominent in my ministry since the Lord sanctified me. Frequently rising before an audience and looking them in the face, I see that the sermon under contemplation does not suit them; under the leadership of the Spirit I change and proceed at once. I once arrived at a camp-meeting on Saturday, the encampment pitching about Wednesday. I hear my first sermon Saturday night, a good, sanctified preacher having arrived at the opening and preached constantly on Christian Perfection. The crowd was very large, but the real interest quite meager. Responsive to the invitation of the preacher to say a word in conclusion, rising, I introspect the congregation. That very moment I am flooded with spiritual discernment, reading them as I read this Greek, the Spirit so potently possessing my mind and spirit as to constrain me to proceed as I did, lest I might grieve Him. I say to them: “You people are not prepared to seek sanctification, as that grace is for Christians only. The people who are hanging over Hell by the brittle thread of life need salvation first of all.” I proceeded, in a terrifically plain and burning exhortation to repent in sackcloth and ashes and flee the wrath to come. Of course, in the subsequent work, I expounded the Scriptures to God’s people during the day, but soon all of the night preaching devolving on me, taking Mt. Sinai for my pulpit, the Holy Ghost furnishing plenty of thunderbolts and earthquakes, I preached constantly and directly to impenitent sinners, whether dead church members or outsiders. I immediately found an awful state of opposition to Holiness among the churches in the neighborhood, the Methodist pastor even sending all of the Methodist preachers in the campground an order to depart without delay. I received a letter signed “Ku Kluck,” ordering me to leave at once or my neck would be stretched before another day. Curiosity, perhaps, brought us large audiences, a few sincere people getting saved and sanctified. Still that vivid illumination was on me, in which I read those people without hope and without God in the world, as doubtless nearly all who had known the Lord had backslidden by resisting the Holy Sanctifier, after the coming of the Holiness Movement into the community. On the second Sunday I preached morning and afternoon to a great crowd, feeling all day that a cyclone had left Heaven and was traveling toward that camp. At night the audience is tremendous, it being the last meeting of the program; beginning before sunset, we have spent about an hour and a half in prayer and testimony. I stand up to preach, feeling that a wonderful crisis is on us. I had perhaps announced my text, when that heavenly cyclone struck the multitude. Hitherto the altar attendance had been meager and tardy. Instantly cries and moans were heard on all sides, and the people, uninvited, as I had not spoken a minute, rushed in to the altar, piling it to overflowing. Multitudes, making for the altar, fall in the aisles and in all parts of the tabernacle; a scene of two solid hours follows which no mortal tongue can describe. Human order was impossible, yet the order was perfect, i. e., that of the Holy Ghost. Every sanctified person moved out as on the day of Pentecost, exhorting, preaching, praying, working with all their might; groups in all directions down on their knees and prostrate crying to God, the saints doing their utmost to help them. While they are singing in one place they are praying in another, shouting in another, and crying in another, and to human eyes the most heterogeneous confusion; meanwhile souls are leaping into life, fording the Jordan, and shouting down the walls of Jericho, with a brilliancy and demonstration reminding us of Heaven. I saw a large, stout man about the age of forty, amid the first great landslide, rush down the aisle toward the altar, which by that time was overcrowded. Falling in the aisle, he roared aloud; I sought to help him, but my voice was drowned and he seemed to recognize no one, but his eyes appeared as if he was looking at something a million of miles beyond the blue sky. The agony continues about a half-hour, when he leaped into the air shouting vociferously. Soon recognizing me, he grabbed me, tossing me like an infant, and slightly alarming me lest he throw me up and let me fall and break my neck. Meanwhile he exclaimed: “Last Sunday I cursed you, calling you a stumbling-block in this meeting, telling the people that some good might have been done if you had stayed away, but you had spoiled it all. Sure enough, you proved the stumbling-block to me, over which I stumbled in my Hellward-bound career, and I am so glad of it, for, glory to God! I am saved.” Though the meeting was to close that night, the tide was too high to stop; it ran on another week. It is really imperative that you have this gift of spiritual discernment.
TO ANOTHER, KINDS OF TONGUES
10. The Greek word for tongues is simply “languages.” Since the confusion of Babel the people on the earth have spoken a vast diversity of languages. The Holy Ghost in the apostolic age often conferred on his saints the power to speak in the foreign language used by the nationality to whom He sent them; e. g., on the day of Pentecost. Bishop Taylor certifies that his missionaries nowadays frequently receive this gift. Brother Leonard, an ex-missionary of the Baptist Church from Sweden, told me that he received the gift of the Swedish language. The present age is by no means without witnesses to the gift of tongues. I have it in the Greek and a number of other foreign languages. “But did you not study these languages in college?” Certainly, and so did thousands of others who can not now read them on sight and use them to profit. It is because they have not honored the Holy Ghost. While others have to study out the Greek with their dictionaries, I read it readily at a glance. Glory to God for His unspeakable gifts! When Paul said that he spoke many languages he did not mean to supersede his education. God had sanctified that as well as the languages. “But I never expect to be a foreign missionary.” If you live and die in America, where you need nothing but English, that is not a reason why you do not need the “gift of language.” The English language, the most voluminous in the world, which I verily believe God is preparing for universal utterance during the Millennium, contains a hundred and fifty thousand words. Great scholars only use eight to ten thousand, and the ordinary people only three or four hundred. You need a copious flow of your own language to preach with, whether privately or publicly. Hence the importance that you receive this “gift of tongues,” so you will have plenty of words and never run out. Praise the Lord! I have it not only in Greek, but in English, so that I never run out of words. The more I speak the more I have on hand. Do you not realize a deficiency in language necessary to speak the word of the Lord to every one you meet, as the Spirit may lead and give you opportunity? So, go to the Holy Ghost for needed language. He will supply you with an ample vocabulary for the work He has given you to do.
INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES
10. This gift is the necessary counterpart of the preceding. You need it to enable you to understand the Bible and the good books which explain the Bible, and everything you hear as well as read. You need the “gift of interpretation” to enable you to comprehend the spiritual meaning; e. g., I have that gift in the Greek language so that in my daily teaching I use not only the language, but the interpretation. I look at it, and, instead of speaking it to people who would not understand it, I translate it, serving them as an interpreter. The reason why it is so difficult to interest the wicked in a gospel sermon is because, in the first place, they do not understand the language of Canaan, and, in the second place, they are incompetent to interpret it. Consequently the glorious gospel is a bore to them, affecting them as if you were speaking to them in a foreign language. That is the great reason why the preacher’s yield to the temptation to fill up their little sermons with temporal matter’s so they may reach and edify the unspiritual; but suppose they do reach them, they will never get them saved in that way. The true spiritual gospel is a riddle to worldly people, which they can not understand. Hence we are to convict them by prayer and convert them by exhortation:
“And the church was multiplied by the exhortation of the Holy Ghost” (Act 9:31).
The word of God is for His people, to feed, arm and equip them. Then we pray a knockdown conviction on the wicked, and exhort them in a plain, simple way till we get them converted. If you would intelligently take in the Bible and good books and the edifying utterances of God’s people, you must have this gift of interpretation. It is perfectly wonderful how illiterate Ethiopians and other poor people, when filled with the Holy Ghost, can understand God’s truth. In 1849 Bishop Kavanaugh, preaching in the first camp-meeting in California, as related by Bishop Fitzgerald, an eye- witness, got off one of the happiest efforts of his life; for two solid hours his impressive countenance literally illuminated with the Holy Ghost, the multitude spellbound on all sides, the silence only broken by weeping and shouting. Meanwhile an old Indian chief, who did not know a word the preacher said, but knew the Lord, became a conspicuous figure in the congregation, his eyes sparkling, his face radiating with supernatural brilliancy, while he leaped and shouted aloud. When the people asked the Bishop to explain it, as the Indian did not know a word he said, he observed: “The Holy Ghost revealed it to him.” This I verily believe; and so will He, to your happy astonishment, become the Revelator of His own precious truth.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain and to another workings of miracles; and to another…
and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits: to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues:
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain The N.T. prophet is not ordinarily a foreteller, but…
prophecy
The N.T. prophet is not ordinarily a foreteller, but rather a forth-teller, one whose gift enabled him to speak "to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" 1Co 14:3.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:10 The ability to prophesy does not refer primarily…
12:10 The ability to prophesy does not refer primarily to predicting the future, but to speaking a special message directly from God (see 11:4-5; 13:2, 8; 14:1-25, 29-33; 1 Thes 5:20; cp. Acts 13:1-2; 21:4, 10-11). • The ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit is a necessary gift for any Christian community that is open to hearing a word directly from God (see 1 Cor 14:29; 1 Thes 5:19-21; cp. Acts 16:16-18; 1 Jn 4:1-3). • For Paul, the ability to speak in unknown languages here refers to spiritual language that requires the spiritual gift of interpretation in order to be understood. By placing this gift near the bottom of the list (both here and in 1 Cor 12:28), Paul shows the lesser priority to be attached to the gift of tongues, with which the Corinthian church had become over-enamored (cp. 13:1, 8; 14:1-25, 27). • The ability to interpret does not refer to natural intellectual ability to translate, but to a spiritual ability to understand the meaning of the Spirit’s message communicated through the gift of tongues (see 14:5, 13, 26-28).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.