For God is not the author of confusion
Or disorder, or "tumult", as the Syriac renders it; wherefore he
does not inspire and excite his prophets to deliver themselves in
a disorderly and tumultuous manner, so as to break in one upon
another; but when one speaks, the other is silent, or when one
has anything revealed to him, and he signifies it in a proper
manner, the other stops and gives way to him, and when he has
done another succeeds, and so the rest in order, till the whole
opportunity is filled up in an orderly and edifying manner; and
whatever is contrary to, or breaks in upon such a method, God is
not the author of: for he is the author
of peace,
harmony, unity, and concord among his prophets and teachers, and
so of order, for the former cannot be without the latter; where
there is no order in the ministry, there can be no peace among
the ministers, nor comfort in the churches; but God is the God of
peace, he calls for, requires, disposes, and approves of peace
and order among all his people:
as in all churches of the saints.
The Vulgate Latin reads, "as I teach in all" and so read some
copies, and may refer to all that is said before; and the sense
be, that all the rules he had prescribed concerning speaking with
tongues, and prophesying, were not new ones, but such as he had
directed to be observed in all churches he was concerned with,
and which consisted of holy and good men; or God is the author,
not of confusion, but of peace in all the churches; he orders and
disposes peace among them, and they attend to it: peace and
order, and not confusion and tumult, prevail in all churches that
deserve to be called churches of the saints, and therefore were
in this to be imitated by the church at Corinth.