1 Corinthians 14:17

For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) For thou verily givest thanks well.—It is here implied that speaking in a tongue was, as regards an individual, an acceptable mode of worship, and it is the public use of it that all throughout this passage the Apostle is dealing with.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:15-25 There can be no assent to prayers that are not understood. A truly Christian minister will seek much more to do spiritual good to men's souls, than to get the greatest applause to himself. This is proving himself the servant of Christ. Children are apt to be struck with novelty; but do not act like them. Christians should be like children, void of guile and malice; yet they should not be unskilful as to the word of righteousness, but only as to the arts of mischief. It is a proof that a people are forsaken of God, when he gives them up to the rule of those who teach them to worship in another language. They can never be benefitted by such teaching. Yet thus the preachers did who delivered their instructions in an unknown tongue. Would it not make Christianity ridiculous to a heathen, to hear the ministers pray or preach in a language which neither he nor the assembly understood? But if those who minister, plainly interpret Scripture, or preach the great truths and rules of the gospel, a heathen or unlearned person might become a convert to Christianity. His conscience might be touched, the secrets of his heart might be revealed to him, and so he might be brought to confess his guilt, and to own that God was present in the assembly. Scripture truth, plainly and duly taught, has a wonderful power to awaken the conscience and touch the heart.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For thou verily givest thanks well - That is, even if you use a foreign language. You do it with the heart; and it is accepted by God as your offering; but the other, who cannot understand it, cannot be benefited by it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. givest thanks—The prayers of the synagogue were called "eulogies," because to each prayer was joined a thanksgiving. Hence the prayers of the Christian Church also were called blessings and giving of thanks. This illustrates Col 4:2; 1Th 5:17, 18. So the Kaddisch and Keduscha, the synagogue formulæ of "hallowing" the divine "name" and of prayer for the "coming of God's kingdom," answer to the Church's Lord's Prayer, repeated often and made the foundation on which the other prayers are built [Tertullian, Prayer].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Otherwise, saith the apostle, it is possible that thou mayst give thanks well; but others get no good by it, nor can make any good and spiritual improvement of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For thou verily givest thanks well,.... In very proper words, and pertinent expressions, with great affection and devotion, suitable to the service;

but the other is not edified; the rest of the people, who do not understand the language in which thanks are given; "thy friend", as the Syriac version reads it; or thy next neighbour, he that stands by thee, receives no manner of profit by it, because he does not understand what is said.

Geneva Study Bible

For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:17. For thou indeed (by thyself considered) utterest an excellent thanksgiving-prayer. This Paul admits, and with reason, since the speaker prayed ὑπὸ τῆς θείας ἐνεργούμενος χάριτος (Theodoret).

ὁ ἕτερος] ὁ ἀναπληρῶν τὸν τόπον τοῦ ἰδιώτου, 1 Corinthians 14:16.

Expositor's Greek Testament

1 Corinthians 14:17. “For thou indeed givest thanks well”—admirably, finely (καλῶς: cf. Luke 20:39, Jam 2:19): words légèrement ironiques (Gd[2102]).—εὐχαριστεῖς = εὐλογεῖς (16: see note, also on 1 Corinthians 1:4).—ὁ ἕτερος, i.e., the ἰδιώτης of 1 Corinthians 14:16 signifies, as in 1 Corinthians 6:6, 1 Corinthians 10:29; the pron[2103] a distinct or even opposite person. P. estimates the devotions of the Church by a spiritually utilitarian standard; the abstractly beautiful is subordinated to the practically edifying: the like test is applied to a diff[2104] matter in 1 Corinthians 10:23; 1 Corinthians 10:33.

[2102] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2103]ron. pronoun.

[2104] difference, different, differently.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. thou verily givest thanks well] Well, either (1) as referring to the fact that thanks were given—it is well to give thanks—or, (2) to the manner and spirit in which that action was performed—καλῶς, nobly, honourably. Some would translate givest thanks by celebratest the Eucharist. See ch. 1 Corinthians 11:24.

the other] i.e. he who fills the layman’s place.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Well. It is good and honourable for thee to utter the voice of Eucharist; but if this be done in the unintelligible tongue, what does the Church profit? The other. The "layman" or "ungifted person." 1 Corinthians 14:17