So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the building up of the assembly.
Parallel Translations
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So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the building up of the assembly.
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Even so ye (for as moche as ye covet spretuall giftes) seke that ye maye have plentye vnto the edifyinge of the congregacion.
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Euen so, forasmuch as ye couet spirituall giftes, seeke that ye may excell vnto the edifying of the Church.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 14:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 14:26 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.
- 1 Corinthians 12:31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. Moreover, I show a most excellent way to you.
- 1 Corinthians 14:3-4 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.
- 1 Corinthians 14:1 Follow after love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
- 1 Corinthians 12:7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.
- Titus 2:14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (19 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 12. Since you are in pursuit of spiritual gifts…
12. Since you are in pursuit of spiritual gifts Paul concludes that the gift of tongues has not been conferred with the view of giving occasion of boasting to a few, without yielding advantage to the Church. “If spiritual gifts,” says he, “delight you, let the end be edification. Then only may you reckon, that you have attained an excellence that is true and praiseworthy — when the Church receives advantage from you. Paul, however, does not hereby give permission to any one to cherish an ambition to excel, even to the benefit of the Church, but by correcting the fault, he shows how far short they come of what they are in pursuit of, and at the same time lets them know who they are that should be most highly esteemed. He would have a man to be held in higher estimation, in proportion as he devotes himself with eagerness to promote edification. In the meantime, it is our part to have this one object in view — that the Lord may be exalted, and that his kingdom may be, from day to day, enlarged.
The term spirits, he employs here, by metonymy, to denote spiritual gifts, as the spirit of doctrine, or of understanding, or of judgment, is employed to denote spiritual doctrine, or understanding, or judgment. Otherwise we must keep in view what he stated previously, that it is one and the same Spirit, who distributeth to every man various gifts according to his will. (1 Corinthians 12:11.)
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The conclusion: if they will excel in those spiritual…
The conclusion: if they will excel in those spiritual gifts, as it is meet, they must seek the profit of the Church, and therefore they must not use gift of tongues, unless there is an interpreter to expound the strange and unknown tongue, whether it be himself that speaketh, or another interpreter.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous…
12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
Ver. 12. To the edifying of the Church] Clouds when full pour down, and the presses overflow, and the aromatic trees sweat out their precious and sovereign oils; and every learned scribe must bring out his treasure for the Church’s behoof and benefit.
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 This proves that the members of the church of…
This proves that the members of the church of Corinth were very ambitious of
spiritual gifts. The particle ουτω, which our translation here renders so, plainly signifies therefore in this place. In the Greek it is, because, or
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forasmuch as ye are zealous of spirits; the efficient is put for the effect, the Spirit, which is the author of those gifts, for the gifts themselves.
Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church; seek that ye may excel in them, and that will be, if you most desire those which tend to the edifying the church, and use those with which God hath blessed you in the best order and manner for that end. From whence it is observable, that the improvement of the people to whom we preach in the knowledge of God, and in faith and obedience, is the great end which we ought to propose to ourselves in the discharge of our office, and in the use of our gifts.
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 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of…
Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts,.... Gr. "of spirits"; that is, "of the gifts of the Spirit", as the Syriac version renders it; and we rightly, "spiritual gifts"; the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, for which the apostle does not blame them; these being what he had before exhorted them to covet earnestly, and zealously affect and desire: but then he further advises,
seek that ye may excel, to the edifying of the church: above all, be desirous of such gifts, and of excelling in them, and abounding in the exercise of them, which may be most profitable and edifying to the members of the church; and what these were, and in what manner to be used, he had before signified: the Alexandrian copy reads, seek that ye may prophesy.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. For as much as ye are zealous]…
Verse 12. For as much as ye are zealous] Seeing ye affect so much to have spiritual gifts, seek that ye may get those by which ye may excel in edifying the Church.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Even so ye - Since you desire spiritual gifts,…
Even so ye - Since you desire spiritual gifts, I may urge it upon you to seek to he able to speak in a clear and intelligible manner, that you may edify the church. This is one of the most valuable endowments of the Spirit; and this should be earnestly desired.
Forasmuch as ye are zealous - Since you earnestly desire; See the note at 1Co 12:31.
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Spiritual gifts - The endowments conferred by the Holy Spirit; See the note at 1Co 12:1.
Seek that ye may excel ... - Seek that you may be able to convey truth in a clear and plain manner; seek to be distinguished for that. It is one of the most rare and valuable endowments of the Holy Spirit.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Of spirits. Of spiritual gifts. (Challoner)
Of spirits. Of spiritual gifts. (Challoner)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain zealous--emulously desirous.
zealous--emulously desirous.
spiritual gifts--literally, "spirits"; that is, emanations from the one Spirit.
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seek that ye may excel to--Translate, "Seek them, that ye may abound in them to the edifying," &c.
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 12. Edifying—Be not by your tongue a barbarian to…
12. Edifying—Be not by your tongue a barbarian to the Church, but an edifier, an upbuilder of it.
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 12. spiritual gifts] Literally, as margin, spirits, a word…
12. spiritual gifts] Literally, as margin, spirits, a word obviously standing here for the gifts of the Spirit.
seek that ye may excel] i.e. by prayer, see next verse. Excel should rather be translated abound. Be plenteous, Wiclif. Have plenty, Tyndale.
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 (12) Even so ye.—Here follows the practical application of…
(12) Even so ye.—Here follows the practical application of the previous teaching and illustration. The “ye” of 1Co_14:9 was addressed to them as human beings generally; but here the Apostle returns to the immediate subject in hand, viz., the exaltation of particular spiritual gifts in the Corinthian Church. He passes now from the contrast between prophecy and tongues to give practical instruction (1Co_14:12-19) as to how they should seek to use the gift of tongues. The word for “spiritual gifts” is, in the Greek, literally spirits, but is evidently meant to imply the gifts, and especially that one under consideration—the gift of tongues.
Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.—Better, seek, then, to the edifying of the Church, that ye may abound. The point cannot be that they were to seek to excel in spiritual gifts, that so they might edify the Church, for the next verse explains how the gift is to be sought so that it may edify others; but the force of the passage here is as given above—they are to seek this gift for the benefit of others, and so they will themselves, by serving others, abound yet more and more (1Co_8:7; 1Th_4:1).
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 Even so ye. A general form of conclusion from…
Even so ye. A general form of conclusion from the previous remarks. Of spiritual gifts; literally, since ye are zealots of spirits. That ye may excel to the edifying of the Church; rather, seek them to the edifying of the Church, that ye may abound. The same word is used in; Mat_5:20 ("exceed 1Co_8:8 ("are we the better
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain As ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that…
1Co_14:12-14
As ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church.
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Edification
consists both in building up from first principles to their practical application, and of fitting each member of the society into the proper places which the growth and rise of the old building require. It is development, not only in the sense of unfolding new truth, but of unfolding all the resources contained in the existing institution or body. Hence the stress laid on the excellence of prophesying as the special gift by which men were led to know themselves (1Co_14:24-25), and by which (as through the prophets of the older dispensations) higher and more spiritual views of life were gradually revealed. Hence the repeated injunctions that all the gifts should have their proper honour (1Co_12:20-30); that those gifts should be most honoured by which not a few, but all, should benefit (1Co_14:1-23); that all who had the gift of prophecy should have the opportunity of exercising that gift (1Co_14:29-31); that all might have an equal chance of instruction and comfort for their own special cases (1Co_14:40). (Dean Stanley.)
Doing ones best at the best thing
I. In doing our best we must have the best thing to work at. Industry, concentration, perseverance, etc., should not be wasted on inferior aims. Steel may be sharpened into tools for making tables and chairs, and into weapons of war.
1. Rivalry is condemned by the very illustration. When rivalry comes in at the door, Christianity flies out at the window. There can be no rivalry between the man who shapes the stones and him who makes them into a wall; no rivalry between him who works in stone and him who works in wood.
2. But absence of rivalry is not enough. Co-operation must be added. A house can only be built by several men each working according to his own particular handicraft. He who comprehends that his powers were given him in order to make his contribution to a far larger whole, is the man who will find all things marvellously working together with him. Lubricating influences pour in from everywhere. Friction diminishes.
3. The method of successful co-operation pointed out. It is not a Tower of Babel which we work at; but the Chinch of Christ, an institution which is for the highest good of everybody in the world. What can be more dreadful than that a Christian should use his place in the Christian company for self-aggrandisement? Some of the Christians in Corinth were acting as if a man employed to put up the walls of a building in which he and all the other workmen should afterwards dwell and be fed and clothed at the employers expense were to take the stones away and try to put up a little private and unsocial house of his own. If we try to use Christ for worldly ends we are bound to fail; if we try rather to use the world for Christ we are bound to succeed. Let the perishing praise the perishing; we work, however obscurely, at a building that will endure when all Babel fabrics are in ruins.
II. Having the best thing to work at, we must do our best. That Jesus who condemns rivalry, equally condemns indifference to excellence. That is a poor sort of contentment which has not some noble and elevating element mixed up with it. We are bound to be as good as we can be. We must not creep and loiter in the way of holy service. Gods building goes on so slowly, and seems as yet so little more than a neighbourhood of fragments, just because the building is crowded up from age to age with loiterers and ornamental people. Their names are down in the list of workmen, but they do little or nothing. Indeed who is there that does anything like what he ought to do? (D. Young, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 12–17. Seek that ye may excel to the edifying…
12–17. Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. If you seek for spiritual gifts, seek rather those that will build up the church, such as prophesying and teaching.
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 12. “Since ye are zealots of spirits.” This clause…
12. “Since ye are zealots of spirits.” This clause shows that the Corinthian Christians were literally on fire with enthusiasm to command and utilize all of these spiritual gifts. The English “zealous” is zelootai (a noun), and means zealots. Now, a zealot is a violent, impetuous, red-hot advocate of some favorite theme or enterprise. We see many of them in the political arena about the polls at the times of the regular elections. Hence we see that the Corinthian saints were full of fire and zeal, running after, utilizing and appreciating those nine spiritual gifts. All this Paul highly commends. Good Lord, help thy people to be “zealots” of these spiritual gifts. And at the same time he exhorts them, “Seek that ye may abound unto the edification of the church.” Hence you see this thrilling commandment that everything is to be done for edification. If people actually heard the gospel intelligently, whether in sermon, exhortation, private appeal, prayer, testimony or song, it would have its effect on them. God’s lightning would not long play around them, without striking them dead. The trouble is they get no lightning. It is left out by the unintelligibility of the service. They only hear the thunder of human voices and instruments. The thunder never kills anything, hence the devil does not care how much thunder you give the people, just so you give them no lightning. These sad facts account for the rapid heathenization of the Christian nations. We are in the midst of multiplied thousands living in practical heathenism, ignorant of the gospel alphabet. The proportion of non-churchgoing people in Europe and America is rapidly on the increase, and I trust destined so to continue, fearfully foreboding the awful end to which we hasten while this old, wicked world fast ripens for destruction. The Romanists, with their two hundred and fifty millions of members, have already defiantly locked up their church service in a dead language, thus taking it utterly out of the reach of the people. The Protestants are fast on their track, becoming more and more numismatical, ritualistic, operatic and unintelligible. Go into a popular church. Your eyes are entertained on all sides by artistic show and your ears by senseless sounds. Hence the entire opus operatum is simply an appeal to the sensuous nature, nothing for the heart and exceedingly little even for the intellect, which might be ever so much edified without serious damage to the devil.
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 So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual…
So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound unto the edifying of the church . [If there be any place where sound without sense is apparently valuable, or profitable, argues Paul, it will be found in the use of musical instruments. But even here there are laws of cadence, modulation, harmony, etc., which form a veritable grammar of tongue-language, which, when obeyed, give to music what we may call a tone-sense, analogous to the intellectual sense embodied in language. Hence one may play an instrument so as to make it meaningless, and if he does he makes it profitless. Moreover, some instruments, such as the trumpet, because of the fixed and established laws of tone, are used to convey a language as well defined and unmistakable as that of the voice. Thus certain notes on the trumpet command a charge, others the joining of battle, and yet others the retreat, etc. Now, if the trumpet or trumpeter fails to produce this tone-language intelligibly, the army is thrown into confusion. Spiritual guidance uttered in an unknown tongue was like a blare of the trumpet which gave no order. Both disappointed the expectation of the listener. Both spoke idly into the air, instead of profitably into the ear. There are many sounds in the world, but they only become voices when they convey some form of sense. Thus we speak properly enough of the "voice of the trumpet," when it is blown, but no one speaks of the voice of the boiler when it is being riveted. Sense, meaning, signification, are the very essence of voice--the qualities which distinguish it from mere sound. If you use your voice to speak a foreign, and hence a meaningless, language, you degrade it, so that to your hearer it becomes a mere profitless sound. This you should not do. Since you earnestly seek gifts, you should seek them for practical purposes; viz.: for the abundant edification of the church.]
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the manifestations of the Spirit
the manifestations of the Spirit
"being able to do things that show that the Spirit controls you"
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try to excel in the gifts that build up the church
Paul speaks of the church as if it were a house that one could build and of the work of building the church as if it were something one could harvest. AT: "to succeed greatly in making God's people more able to serve God" (See: Metaphor)
interpret
This means to tell what someone has said in a language to others who do not understand that language. See how this is translated in 1 Corinthians 2:13.
my mind is unfruitful
The mind not understanding what is being prayed and, therefore, receiving no benefit from the prayer is spoken of as if the "mind is unfruitful." AT: "I do not understand it in my mind" or "my mind does not benefit from the prayer, because I do not understand the words I am saying" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Holy Spirit
church
tongue
pray
spirit
mind
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:12 Special abilities from the Spirit are given to…
14:12 Special abilities from the Spirit are given to strengthen the whole church (see 12:7; 14:4; cp. Eph 4:15-16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.