Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 14:12
Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual [gifts,] seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
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.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 14:12-14
As ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church.
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.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This proves that the members of the church of Corinth were very ambitious of
spiritual gifts. The particle , which our translation here renders so, plainly signifies therefore in this place. In the Greek it is, because, or
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. zealousemulouslydesirous.
spiritual giftsliterally, “spirits”; that is, emanations from theone Spirit.
seek that ye may exceltoTranslate, “Seek them, that ye may abound inthem to the edifying,” &c.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Zealous of spiritual gifts ( ). Zealots for spirits. So it looked.
That ye may abound ( ). Purpose clause with the object by prolepsis stated beforehand “for the edification of the church.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Spiritual gifts [] . Lit., spirits. Paul treats the different spiritual manifestations as if they represented a variety of spirits. To an observer of the unseemly rivalries it would appear as if not one spirit, but different spirits, were the object of their zeal.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Even so ye,” (houtos kai humeis) “Even so or just like this ye” – members of the Corinth church, and like churches in every topographical area, the letter was to be circulated.
2) “Forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts
(epei zelotai este pneumaton) “Since ye are all zealots of spiritual things;” zeal is becoming to every person, but it should be according to knowledge or intelligible zeal, Num 25:13.
3) “Seek that ye may excel” (zeteite hina perisseuete) “Seek ye in order that ye may abound, increase, or enlarge.” One should pursue zeal, seek to excel in godly profitable ways, Tit 2:14.
4) “To the edifying of the church.” (pros ten oikodomen tes ekklesias) “To or toward the edifying, enlarging, or building up of the church.” Gal 4:18; Rev 3:19. Above all that Paul desired was that the brethren use spiritual gifts to the glory of God and the edification of His church, through which He is to receive continual, eternal glory, Eph 3:21.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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, (825) 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. (1Co 12:11.)
(825) “ Les dons spirituels, il y a mot a mot, les esprits ;” — “ Spiritual gifts — it is literally, spirits. ”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(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 considerationthe 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 abovethey 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).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Edifying Be not by your tongue a barbarian to the Church, but an edifier, an upbuilder of it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may abound to the edifying of the church.’
Now he turns to apply his words directly to his hearers. He recognises that they are ‘zealous of spirits’. ‘Spirits’ must have in mind their own spirits, through whom the Spirit operates. Compare the ‘spirits of the prophets’ (1Co 14:32), Paul’s own ‘spirit’ (1Co 14:14), ‘the spirits of the prophets’ in 1Jn 4:1. Thus he must mean ‘zealous of inner spirits that are active spiritually’, presumably, in context, in the use of spiritual gifts. In that case, he says, seek to abound with a view to edifying the church. In that way they will be manifesting love and giving exhortation and instruction which benefits all.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 14:12 . Inference , which the readers have to draw from 1Co 14:10 f. “ Therefore (itaque), seeing, namely, that the unintelligible speaking is, according to 1Co 14:10 f., something so absurd, seek ye also, since ye are indeed zealous after spirits, with a view to the edification of the church therein, that ye may have abundance .” The . , which is repeated here, must be related to 1Co 14:10 f., just as the . in 1Co 14:9 is to 1Co 14:7 f., and may not therefore be made to refer to all that precedes it back as far as 1Co 14:6 (Hofmann). As the former . set forth an inference for warning , so the present one infers the requisite precept , and for both what in each case immediately precedes serves as the premis.
. . . . has the emphasis (in opposition to Hofmann). The absurdity referred to is meant to point the readers, with their zealous striving after gifts of the Spirit, to the right way, namely, that with a view to the edification of the church [6] they should seek after ever richer endowments. Consequently it is just as superfluous to isolate . as a sentence by itself ( in Theophylact, Mosheim, Flatt, Heydenreich), which, moreover, would be quite unsuitable in respect of sense, as it is to assume a suppressed inference after 1Co 14:11 (Estius, Rckert).
] you too ; for the Corinthians were in fact to form no exception from this general maxim, as in their striving after higher charismata, and especially after the gift of speaking with tongues, seemed, alas, to be the case!
.] on which account you have all the more need of the right regulative! A pointed hint for the readers, the force of which they could doubtless feel for themselve.
] the genitive of the object, to which the zealous striving relates. The plural expression is purposely chosen (comp. Hofmann) in keeping with the emulous doings at Corinth. For the specifically different manifestations, in which the manifold working of the One Spirit displayed itself, assumed indeed, in presence of such jealous seeking and striving, such an appearance to the eyes of the observer of this unseemly state of things, as though not one Spirit, but a plurality of spirits , differing in kind and importance, were the object of the rivalry. What were , and hence only different , presented themselves, as matters stood at Corinth, to the eye and pen of the apostle as . , therefore, is just as far from standing for (Beza, Piscator, Storr, Flatt, and others) as it is from denoting the glossolalia (Heydenreich, Billroth). [7] To suppose a real plurality of spirits, after the analogy of the persons possessed by a number of evil spirits (see Hilgenfeld, p. 52 f.), so that a number of divine spirits would be meant, is at variance with the N. T. generally, and at variance with 1Co 12:4 ; 1Co 12:7 ff.
.] , , , , , Chrysosto.
] sets before us the object of the striving as its design , as at 1Co 14:1 ; 1Co 4:2 .
What we are to conceive as the contents of the ( to have to the full , 1Co 8:8 ; Phi 1:9 ; Phi 4:12 , al. ) is self-evident, namely, what was previously meant by , spiritual gifts .
[6] . . . . belongs to , not to . (Grotius and many others), because Paul has not written: , . . . . That would be the correct way of putting it first with the emphasis, if it were meant to belong to ., 2Co 2:4 ; Gal 2:10 ; Act 19:4 . This also in opposition to Hofmann, who takes . . . . . as only a subordinate thought (“which then comes to be profitable for the edification of the church”) belonging to . The edification of the church is in truth just the normative test for the appreciation and right pursuit of the charismata (vv. 3, 4, 17, 26; Eph 4:12 ; Eph 4:16 ). The article before . does not denote the edification already otherwise taking place , but is simply = . . Paul might either put it or leave it out (ver. 26; Rom 15:2 ; Eph 4:29 ).
[7] The endeavour to be a speaker with tongues was rather only a particular mode, in which the , this general tendency, came into manifestation especially in Corinth.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] Application of the analogy , as in 1Co 14:9 . The is evidently meant as in 1Co 14:9 , but is rendered somewhat difficult by the change of the construction into a direct exhortation. It is best therefore to suppose an ellipsis; and give to the pregnant meaning, after the lesson conveyed by this example . Meyer’s rendering, since in such a manner (i.e. so as to be barbarians to one another) ye also are emulous , &c., is very harsh, besides making the second clause, standing as it does without a or any disjunctive particle, mean (and I do not see that it will bear any other meaning), seek this to the edifying of the Church . Thus likewise ye (i.e. after the example of people who would not wish to be barbarians to one another, avoiding the absurdity just mentioned), emulous as ye are of spiritual gifts (reff.), seek them to the edifying of the church, that ye may abound : or perhaps (but I can find no instance of thus used: ch. 1Co 4:2 is no case in point, see note there) as in E. V. ‘ seek that ye may excel (abound in them) to the edifying of the church .’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 14:12 . is parl [2063] to 1Co 14:9 ; but the application is now turned into an exhortation. P. leaves the last comparison to speak for itself, and hastens to enforce his lesson: “So also with yourselves; since you are coveters of spirits ( ), seek that you may abound (in them) with a view to the edifying of the church” or “for the edifying of the church seek (them), that you may abound (therein)”. The latter rendering, preferred by Cv [2064] , Mr [2065] , Al [2066] , Hf [2067] , Sm [2068] , is truer to the order of the words, and reproduces the emphasis of . . has its object supplied before hand in the previous clause, and ( ) bears its ordinary sense as conj. of purpose . Spiritual powers are indeed to be sought ( cf. 1Co 14:1 , 1Co 12:31 ), provided that they be sought for the religious profiting of others, with a view to abound in service to the Church. The clause is thus parl [2069] to . ( cf. 1Co 7:35 , 2Ti 3:16 ); cf. Joh 10:10 , and other parls. for . , zealots, enthusiasts after spirits (Ev [2070] ), used perhaps with a touch of irony (Hn [2071] ). The Cor [2072] have already the eagerness that P. commends in 1Co 14:1 ; but it is not prompted by the best motives, nor directed to the most useful end: this word was common amongst Greeks as describing the ardent votaries of a school or party, or those jealous for the honour of some particular master ( cf. Gal 1:14 ). differs somewhat from (1Co 14:1 ), signifying not “the (proper) spiritual” powers, but unseen forces generally (see 1Co 12:10 , , 1Jn 4:1 , and the warning of 1Co 12:3 ; cf. the notes); “the Cor [2073] sought supernatural endowments, no matter what their nature might be” (Ed [2074] ) at any rate, they thought too little of the true source and use of the charisms, but too much and too emulously of their outward impression and prestige (see , 1Co 14:32 ). Everling ( Die paul. Angel, u. Dmonologie , pp. 40 ff.) infers from this passage, along with Rev 22:6 , the conception of a number of Divine “spirits” that may possess men; but he overpresses the turn of a single phrase, in contradiction to the context, which knows only “the one and the self-same Spirit” as from God (1Co 12:11 ).
[2063] parallel.
[2064] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[2065] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).
[2066] Alford’s Greek Testament .
[2067] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).
[2068] P. Schmiedel, in Handcommentar zum N.T. (1893).
[2069] parallel.
[2070] T. S. Evans in Speaker’s Commentary .
[2071] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).
[2072] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[2073] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[2074] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Even so ye = So ye also.
zealous. Greek. zelotes. See Act 21:20.
spiritual gifts. Literally spirits. Here put for the operations of the Holy Spirit, as in 1Co 14:2. App-101.
excel = abound.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] Application of the analogy, as in 1Co 14:9. The is evidently meant as in 1Co 14:9, but is rendered somewhat difficult by the change of the construction into a direct exhortation. It is best therefore to suppose an ellipsis; and give to the pregnant meaning, after the lesson conveyed by this example. Meyers rendering, since in such a manner (i.e. so as to be barbarians to one another) ye also are emulous, &c., is very harsh, besides making the second clause, standing as it does without a or any disjunctive particle, mean (and I do not see that it will bear any other meaning), seek this to the edifying of the Church. Thus likewise ye (i.e. after the example of people who would not wish to be barbarians to one another,-avoiding the absurdity just mentioned), emulous as ye are of spiritual gifts (reff.), seek them to the edifying of the church, that ye may abound: or perhaps (but I can find no instance of thus used: ch. 1Co 4:2 is no case in point, see note there) as in E. V. seek that ye may excel (abound in them) to the edifying of the church.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 14:12. , of spirits) [of spiritual gifts]. Plural as 1Co 14:32; 1Co 12:10. As there is one sea, and many seas, so there is one spirit, and many spirits; one trumpet gives many sounds.- , to edification) that the Church may be as much as possible edified.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 14:12
1Co 14:12
So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound unto the edifying of the church.-Since they were zealous of spiritual things, let them seek above all else those who would abound to the edification of the church.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
forasmuch: 1Co 14:1, 1Co 12:7, 1Co 12:31, Tit 2:14
spiritual gifts: Gr. spirits, 1Co 14:32
seek: 1Co 14:3, 1Co 14:4, 1Co 14:26
Reciprocal: Pro 18:2 – but Act 9:31 – were edified Rom 14:19 – and 1Co 10:23 – edify 1Co 14:5 – except 2Co 8:7 – as Eph 4:12 – the edifying 1Th 5:11 – and edify
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 14:12. The desire to excel merely from the motive of rivalry over others is wrong. The word in this verse is in the intransitive form, and is defined by Thayer “to abound in.” The thought is that each member of the congregation should wish to abound in that gift that would best edify the church.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 14:12. So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts (Gr. spirits), seek that ye may abound (in them) unto the edifying of the churchnot for display.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Desire That Which Builds Up the Church
Thus, Paul urged the Corinthian brethren to desire the spiritual gifts that would be most useful. Particularly, he urged them to desire those gifts which would be good for the edification of the church. The word for “edification” originally meant “(the act of) building; building up,” according to Thayer. In the church, it came to mean, “the act of one who promotes another’s growth in Christian wisdom, piety, holiness” ( 1Co 14:12 ).
If they had the gift of tongues, Paul encouraged his readers to pray that they might be given the power to interpret them. That power could only come through the laying on of the apostles’ hands ( Act 8:15-17 ). Such a power would be needed so the listeners could be helped to understand the sense. The one praying in a foreign language could understand, in his own spirit, his prayer. But, his understanding would not profit the congregation since they could not understand ( 1Co 14:13-14 ).
Paul desired that the ones praying or singing should pray or sing as inspired by the Holy Spirit and in a language the congregation could understand. Prayers need to be prayed so that all could understand. Otherwise the congregation would not know what was said and could not affirm its truthfulness. Of course, the prayer would be a truthful one, if inspired by the Holy Spirit, yet, the congregation would not benefit if it could not understand ( 1Co 14:15-17 ).
Paul was able to speak in more languages than anyone in Corinth. Yet, when a congregation was assembled, Paul was more concerned with how much the people learned and could understand, than with the impression his ability left. McGarvey quoted Besser as saying, “Rather half of ten of the edifying sort than a thousand times ten of the other” ( 1Co 14:18-19 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Vv. 12. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of inspirations, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church.
Several have made the first three words of the verse a separate proposition: Even so ye; that is to say: Ye also would be as barbarians to one another, if ye spoke in tongues without interpretation. But the asyndeton which would follow from this construction, in relation to the following proposition, would be without good reason. The indicates the inference to be drawn from what precedes: So, since distinct language is necessary to your being understood, take care, in view of the Church’s good, to develop the spiritual gifts which you love, so as to make yourselves more and more intelligible. One cannot help feeling that there is something slightly ironical in the words: forasmuch as ye are zealous…; since ye are so eager for manifestations of this kind. There is an allusion here, as Edwards says, to the spirit of ostentation which led them to seek gifts.
The plural , spirits, has given commentators much concern. The word cannot be identified with spiritual gifts, in general; it implies something more special. It must be taken as a strong individualizing of the Holy Spirit, not in the sense of many personalities, as Hilgenfeld thinks, who makes a comparison between spirits thus understood and the evil spirits in cases of possession of which the gospel speaks; but in the sense that the one Divine principle spoken of in chap. 12 manifested itself in transient and very various breathings of inspirations in the assemblies of the Church; comp. 1Co 14:26-27. This extraordinary form of the Spirit’s influence, of which tongues were the most emphatic manifestation, was that in which the Corinthians loved above all to enjoy the presence of this Divine principle. The apostle does not absolutely combat this disposition, but he seeks to guide it: Well and good! Seek inspirations, but such as will always serve the good of the Church, and not the gratification of the curiosity of some or the vanity of others! To this end prophecy should have the preponderance, or tongues be accompanied with interpretation.
The regimen: for the edification of the Church, is placed first by inversion; it depends, of course, on the verb . The apostle is fond of this sort of construction, which sets in relief the regimen containing the principal idea; comp. 1Co 3:5, 1Co 7:17, 1Co 9:15, etc. Meyer and others prefer to connect this regimen directly with , seek, for the reason that otherwise the regimen should have been placed after this verb, immediately before , that. But this reason is not at all decisive, and the meaning is simpler in the former case: You seek inspirations; let it only be in the interest of the Church, and not in your own, that you seek to abound in this respect (see Edwards).
This general conclusion, drawn in 1Co 14:12, is expressed in 1Co 14:13-15 in a concrete and practical form.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
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.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
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. Gods 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.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 12
That ye may excel to the edifying, &c.; that ye may excel in such gifts as shall promote the edifying, &c.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
14:12 {5} Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual [gifts], seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
(5) The conclusion: if they will excel in those spiritual gifts, as it is proper, they must seek the profit of the church. And therefore they must not use the gift of tongues, unless there is an interpreter to expound the strange and unknown tongue, whether it is himself that speaks, or another interpreter.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
In view of this the Corinthians who were zealous for spiritual gifts would be better off pursuing the gifts that would enable them to build up the church. They should value these rather than the gifts that gave them some personal satisfaction when they exercised them but did not edify others. The Corinthians were zealots when it came to spirits (Gr. pneumaton). The English translators often interpreted this word as synonymous with pneumatikon (spiritual gifts, 1Co 14:1), but it is different. Probably Paul meant that they were zealous over a particular manifestation of the Spirit, what they considered the mark of a truly "spiritual" Christian, namely, the gift of tongues (cf. 1Co 14:14-15; 1Co 14:32).
"Utterances that are not understood, even if they come from the Spirit, are of no benefit, that is, edification, to the hearer. Thus, since they have such zeal for the manifestation of the Spirit, they should direct that zeal in corporate worship away from being ’foreigners’ to one another toward the edification of one another in Christ." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 666.]