1 Corinthians 14:1

1 Follow after charity and earnestly pursue spiritual gifts, but above all, that ye may prophesy.

1 Corinthians 14:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:1

Follow after charity
The apostle having so highly commended charity, or love, in the preceding chapter, presses here to an eager pursuit after it; that is, to an exercise of it, and after those things which make for it, and will serve to maintain and increase it: and everything he has said in praise of it before serves as an argument, or reason, to follow hard after it, with an eagerness used in hunting, and with such violence as persecutors express in pursuing and laying hold on those they seek after, to which there is an allusion in the word here used:

and desire spiritual gifts:
for though he had given charity the preference to them, he did not mean that they should despise and neglect them, or treat them with indifference, and be unconcerned about them; but, on the other hand, that they should be very zealous for them, ambitious of them, and earnestly covet them; since being rightly used and kept in their proper place, they were greatly beneficial and profitable to the churches of Christ, and the glory of God:

but rather that ye may prophesy:
of all the gifts of the Spirit, the apostle prefers prophesying, and recommends this to the Corinthians, as what they should be chiefly desirous of, and more desirous of than of speaking with tongues, which many among them were so very fond of: by which he means, not so much the gift of foretelling future events, though there was such a gift bestowed on some persons in those times, and, in certain cases, was very profitable to the churches; but a gift of preaching the word, or explaining the prophecies of the Old Testament, and of praying and singing of psalms, all which, as appears from some following parts of this chapter, were included in it; and that not in an ordinary, but in an extraordinary way; a person possessed of this gift could at once, without the use of means, or help of study, preach the word, and open the more difficult parts of Scripture; he had an extraordinary gift of prayer, which he could make use of when he pleased, and at once compose and deliver out a psalm, or hymn, in the public congregation.

1 Corinthians 14:1 In-Context

1 Follow after charity and earnestly pursue spiritual gifts, but above all, that ye may prophesy.

2 For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God, for no one understands him, even though by the Spirit he speaks mysteries.

3 But he that prophesies speaks unto men for edification and exhortation and comfort.

4 He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones}.

5 I would that ye all spoke with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied, for greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, that the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} may receive edifying.