Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Apostle began, in chapter 12, to treat of the various gifts and graces freely given, which the Holy Spirit distributes variously to various people; and so that he might remove from the Corinthians their boasting concerning these and especially concerning the gift of tongues, therefore in chapter 13 he exhorted all to charity, as the queen of all graces and gifts: but in this chapter he returns to the graces freely given, and teaches that not only charity, but also prophecy excels the gift of tongues.
He prefers prophecy to the gift of tongues, first, because prophecy is most useful for the edification of others: but tongues are not, unless someone interprets them.
Secondly, in verse 21, because prophecy is given to believers: but tongues have been given as a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers, and he proves this from chapter 28 of Isaiah.
Then, in verse 23, he hands down the rule by which they may rightly use these gifts, and prescribes the order which ought to be kept in the sacred assembly of the Church; in which, in verse 34, he commands women to be entirely silent.
Vulgate Text: 1 Corinthians 14:1-40
1. Pursue charity, be zealous for spiritual gifts: but rather that you may prophesy. 2. For he who speaks in a tongue, does not speak to men, but to God: for no one hears. But by the Spirit he speaks mysteries. 3. For he who prophesies, speaks to men for edification, exhortation, and consolation. 4. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself: but he who prophesies, edifies the Church of God. 5. Now I wish you all to speak with tongues: but rather to prophesy. For greater is he who prophesies than he who speaks with tongues: unless perhaps he interprets, that the Church may receive edification. 6. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation, or in knowledge, or in prophecy, or in doctrine? 7. Even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, unless they give a distinction of sounds, how shall it be known what is being played or what is being harped? 8. For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for battle? 9. So also you, unless you utter by the tongue plain speech, how shall what is said be known? for you will be speaking into the air. 10. There are, for example, so many kinds of tongues in this world: and nothing is without voice. 11. If therefore I do not know the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him to whom I speak, a barbarian: and he who speaks, a barbarian to me. 12. So also you, since you are zealous of spirits, seek that you may abound for the edification of the Church. 13. And therefore he who speaks in a tongue, let him pray that he may interpret. 14. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is without fruit. 15. What then is it? I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind: I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind. 16. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how shall he who fills the place of the unlearned say, Amen, to your blessing? because he does not know what you are saying; 17. for you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified. 18. I thank my God that I speak with the tongue of all of you. 19. But in the Church I prefer to speak five words with my mind, that I may instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20. Brethren, do not become children in your senses, but in malice be little ones: but in your senses be perfect. 21. In the law it is written: For in other tongues, and other lips I will speak to this people: and not even so will they hear me, says the Lord. 22. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers: but prophecies, not to unbelievers, but to believers. 23. If therefore the whole Church should come together into one place, and all should speak with tongues, and there should come in unlearned persons, or unbelievers: will they not say that you are mad? 24. But if all prophesy, and there come in any unbeliever, or unlearned person, he is convinced by all, he is judged by all: 25. the hidden things of his heart are made manifest, and so falling on his face he will adore God, declaring that God is truly in you. 26. What then, brethren? when you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation: let all things be done for edification. 27. If any speak in a tongue, let it be by two, or at most by three, and in turns, and let one interpret. 28. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the Church, and speak to himself and to God. 29. And let the prophets speak, two or three, and let the rest judge. 30. But if anything be revealed to another sitting, let the first keep silence. 31. For you may all prophesy one by one: that all may learn, and all may be exhorted; 32. and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33. For God is not the God of dissension, but of peace, as also I teach in all the Churches of the saints. 34. Let women keep silence in the Churches, for it is not permitted to them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law says. 35. But if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in the Church. 36. Or did the word of God proceed from you? or has it come to you alone? 37. If any seem to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him know that the things I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. 38. But if any ignore, he shall be ignored. 39. Therefore, brethren, be zealous to prophesy: and forbid not to speak with tongues. 40. But let all things be done decently and according to order.
Preliminary Note: The Meaning of "Prophet"
You will ask: what does the Apostle understand in this chapter by "to prophesy," by "Prophets"? for this is the chief difficulty of this chapter.
Note: A Prophet, in Greek προφήτης, is properly said to be one who, by God's instinct, foretells something before it happens. For "Propheta" is derived not from the Latin "prae" and "fari," but from the Greek πρό, that is "before," and φημί, that is "I say, I speak": not, however, as some hold, from πρό and φαίνω, so that a Prophet would be one to whom something appears before it happens. Hence Prophet in Hebrew is called נביא nabi, as it were from the root בוא bo, that is "he came," as the more learned Hebrews note, as if a nabi were one who speaks beforehand of that which is to come. This is the origin of the name: yet the name Prophet is extended by parity to signify also one who reveals the secrets of the heart or other secrets, and one who is conscious of the divine mind, namely an interpreter and intermediary of the heavenly Deity, who has perceived and announces the hidden and secret things of the divine will and intellect. So Abraham, familiar and dear to God, whom God deigned to converse with, is called a Prophet, Genesis 20:7.
And so prophecy in Scripture is said in general to be that faculty of more fully and certainly both knowing and expounding the counsels and decrees of God for the advancement of the Church, which the Holy Spirit breathes upon and inspires in certain men, who are thence called Prophets. A certain part of this is the foreknowledge and prediction of future things, or even of any hidden things, whether past or future. The other part, and indeed the more divine and principal, is the faculty of discoursing more skillfully and divinely about God, the piety of God, and His virtues, not acquired by study, but inspired by the same Spirit; for if it is acquired by study, it is knowledge and doctrine, not prophecy. And so St. Paul, who received his Gospel not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ, Galatians 1:12, taught and preached rather from continual prophecy than from doctrine.
First, therefore, those are called Prophets who speak of future or hidden things by the instinct of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, teachers — not any whatever, but those who by the instinct of the same Holy Spirit teach and exhort to piety.
Hence thirdly, those were called Prophets who were seized by a certain force of the spirit, that they might celebrate God with hymns and provoke the people to piety. Thus in 1 Kings [1 Samuel] 10, the Spirit leapt upon Saul, and he prophesied; and, as is said in chapter 19, he laid down his clothes, and naked he sang through day and night. Again, because the prophets Elijah and Elisha had their disciples, who as men more religious at certain times occupied themselves diligently above others, both in chanting psalms, praying and praising God, and in studying, meditating, and teaching the Law of the Lord, and who occasionally were seized by a singular inspiration of the Spirit, like the one who anointed Jehu as king: hence all these were called Prophets, and their sons or disciples were called sons of the Prophets, of whom frequent mention is made in book IV of Kings: especially because among them there were always some true Prophets.
Hence fourthly, the name of Prophet is extended to any singers, so that to prophesy is the same as to sing psalms and simply to sing God's praises. Thus in 1 Chronicles 25, the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Idithun are said "to prophesy with psalteries, harps, and cymbals," that is, to play these instruments and to sing psalms to God. Yet among these singers there were true Prophets, namely the chiefs of the singers, Asaph, Heman, Idithun, who by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit composed the psalms inscribed with their names, as the Hebrews hand down.
Fifthly, by catachresis the deluded are called Prophets, who from the inspiration of an evil spirit speak more insolently delirious and insane things. Thus in 1 Kings [1 Samuel] 18:9: "An evil spirit of God invaded Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of his house," that is, he raved and spoke insolent things, as if seized by enthusiasm. Whence even pagans called poets seers and prophets, because they too seemed to be driven by a certain frenzy of the Muses, like the Sibyl in composing and chanting songs. Thus Ovid, in book VI of the Fasti: "There is a God within us, with His agitation we grow warm; this impulse has the seeds of the sacred mind." Thus in Titus chapter 1:12, the poet Epimenides is called a Prophet.
Sixthly, "to prophesy" signifies to perform miracles. For this was the work of the Prophets, who were holy and divine men, and as it were organs of God and of divine wisdom and power. Thus in Ecclesiasticus chapter 48, the dead body of Elisha is said to have prophesied, because by its touch it raised a dead man, 4 Kings [2 Kings] 13:21. So also "Prophet" is taken in Luke 7:16.
Seventhly, "to prophesy" is to confirm a prophecy. Thus in Ecclesiasticus 49, the bones of Joseph are said to have prophesied after death, that is, when through the camps and with the camps of the Hebrews going out of Egypt the bones of Joseph were carried out at the same time, they tacitly bore witness and spoke that his earlier prophecy concerning this departure was true, and confirmed it.
From these things it is clear that true and properly so-called prophecy, such as was frequent before Christ and in the primitive Church, has now in great measure ceased, and is found in very few exceedingly holy men, as a testimony of their sanctity. For the frequency of those gifts, which used to come to a man as a miracle, such as speaking with tongues, prophesying, and the like, almost ended with the Apostles, namely, that those gifts are no longer given indiscriminately, as they were then given, but only to a few rare individuals. For those miracles the Lord willed to flash forth chiefly on account of unbelievers, for the search after and confirmation of the Gospel; but now, since faith is sufficiently established, and the world converted, He withdraws them, and wills the Church to be perfected and to advance by the usual method of teaching and exhorting. So Jansenius, on chapter 47 of the Concordance.
You will ask secondly: in which of these modes is the name Prophet taken by Paul in this chapter?
I respond first: Chrysostom and Theophylact take it here properly, for him who predicts future things. For so Paul took this name in chapter 12. Secondly, Theodoret takes prophecy here for the manifestation of the thoughts and other hidden things of others: verse 24 favors this.
But note that the Apostle in this chapter describes everything that was once done in the assemblies of the faithful in the Church, and comprehends them under the name of tongues and the name of prophecy. For the Holy Spirit once in the Church inspired many to sing or recite spiritual songs, prayers, hymns, orations, psalms, and other things in exotic and foreign tongues before the simple and mixed multitude, as had been done at Pentecost by the Apostles, Acts 2. This is clear from St. Dionysius, chapter 3 On the Divine Names, and Tertullian, Apology 29, and this is what the Apostle here calls "the gift of tongues," or "to speak with tongues." To others the Holy Spirit gave to expound holy Scripture, or to teach, or to discourse on divine matters, or to preach and exhort, or to sing a hymn or psalm, or to lead a notable prayer for the people in the vernacular tongue; and sometimes also, as Chrysostom and Theodoret note here, to declare the secrets of the heart and other hidden things, indeed even true prophecies. And all these things Paul here comprehends under the name of prophecy, especially preaching and doctrine, and opposes them to the gift of tongues. This is clear from verses 4, 5, 6, 31, but especially from verses 25, 26. For the ancient Prophets too not only predicted future things, but also taught and preached, and mingled psalms and prayers. Whence the Apostle here prefers this prophecy to tongues, and exhorts to it throughout the whole chapter, and ordains how and in what order it ought to be done, that is, He ordains the manner in which spiritual gatherings and conferences in the Church ought to be done, both before and after the sacred Synaxis. For in these one would explain holy Scripture, another would exhort, a third would sing a hymn, a fourth a psalm, even sometimes in a foreign tongue. So Ambrose, Anselm, and beautifully Philo, in his book On the Essenes, teaches that the Essenes thus instituted these conferences. Thus also above in chapter 11, verses 4 and 5, He took the name Prophet in this sense.
Note: Paul here does not call all those Prophets who simply explain the obscurities of the Prophets and of holy Scripture; nor all those who teach others or exhort them, as some think; but only those who do this from the inspiration of God and the proper instinct of the Holy Spirit, not however from erudition, study, and acquired labor. This is clear from verse 30: "But if anything," he says, "be revealed to another, let the first keep silence." And verse 32: "The spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets." Therefore by Prophets he here understands those who were moved by the Holy Spirit, and received from Him a revelation of doctrine, or of some exhortation or prayer: which was then frequent, as is clear from verse 26. But now, since that inspiration of the Holy Spirit has ceased, in its place have succeeded sacred reading, preaching, and psalmody before Mass, in Mass, and after Mass, as I shall say at verse 26.
Verse 1: Pursue Charity, Be Zealous for Spiritual Things
1. Pursue charity. — In Greek διώκετε, that is, "chase after" charity. It signifies the burning zeal of charity, that we may pursue her, just as the hunter pursues a wild beast.
Be zealous for spiritual gifts. — That is, as Chrysostom says, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, namely those freely given, as is the gift of tongues, the grace of healings, and others, concerning which see chapter 12 — desire them, and strive after them, especially by praying, not from a zeal to excel, that you may boast yourselves above others by these gifts, but out of charity, that you may benefit others and the Church through them.
But rather that you may prophesy — that is, that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit you may teach, speak, or sing those things which excite others to piety. For this is here "to prophesy," as I have already said.
Verse 2: He Who Speaks in a Tongue, Speaks Not to Men but to God
2. For he who speaks in a tongue (a foreign and unknown one), does not speak to men, but to God (he explains the cause and adds, saying): for no one hears. But by the Spirit he speaks mysteries — as if to say: "No one hears," that is, no one understands the one speaking in a foreign tongue, although he himself, inspired by the Spirit, sometimes speaks lofty mysteries.
Note: St. Augustine, book XII On Genesis according to the letter, chapter 8, Primasius, and Cajetan read in the nominative: "But the Spirit speaks mysteries," as if to say: The Holy Spirit in sacred Scripture speaks hidden mysteries, which cannot be understood unless some Prophet or teacher interprets them. But this sense does not fit the matter and mind of the Apostle, and it is plainly to be read in the ablative: "But by the spirit he speaks mysteries," according to the sense already given: for so generally the Greeks, Latins, and Syriac read.
Verse 3: He Who Prophesies Speaks to Men for Edification
3. For he who prophesies, speaks to men for edification and exhortation. — Behold what I said: to prophesy here is to speak those things which edify, exhort, and console others: and therefore it is better to prophesy than to speak in foreign tongues, since no one understands them, so that consequently no one can be instructed, edified, or receive any consolation by them.
Verse 5: I Wish You All to Speak with Tongues, but Rather to Prophesy
5. Now I wish (that is, I would wish, I would prefer) you all to speak with tongues, but rather to prophesy (that is, that you may rouse others to piety). 6. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either in revelation (that is, unless I speak a revelation, namely the exposition of a revelation made to me), or in knowledge (that is, those things which I know through knowledge, either infused by God, or acquired by study), or in prophecy (that is, those things which I know through prophecy both properly so called, and improperly, namely prophecy, that is, the explanation of hidden and obscure things, especially of holy Scripture), or in doctrine — namely by teaching through it and accommodating my discourse to the capacity of the hearers. So roughly Saint Thomas and Theophylact. Supply: But none of these things can I do speaking in tongues, unless I add an interpretation, that you may understand: therefore it is better to prophesy than to speak in tongues, unless someone interpret the tongue.
Secondly and better, we shall take these things otherwise. For which note: Here knowledge is referred to and is to be joined with doctrine, as revelation is to be joined with prophecy: for just as from their knowledge those who knew and were learned came to know those things which they would communicate to others through doctrine, namely by teaching them: so from revelation they perceived those things which they would announce to others through prophecy. For in this prophecy differs from doctrine, that prophecy is received through revelation, and doctrine through knowledge. For we teach that which we have attained through knowledge and the study of knowledge. The sense therefore is, as Paul would say: If I speak in foreign tongues, and neither instruct nor teach you, either through doctrine acquired by labor and knowledge, or through prophecy received by revelation, I shall profit you nothing. So Toletus and Jansenius in the place cited.
Thirdly, Cassian, Conferences 14, 8, by these four understands the four senses of holy Scripture: namely by doctrine the literal sense, by revelation the allegorical, by knowledge the tropological, by prophecy the anagogical. But this is mystical and symbolic.
Verse 7: Things without Life, Pipe or Harp
7. Yet. — In Greek ὅμως, as if to say: Even, indeed even from inanimate things this which I say can be known, namely that tongues are of no profit unless they are understood: for in like manner the harp and pipe, unless they give a distinct sound, that they may be understood, will profit no one. For no one will know what is being played or harped, and therefore no one will feed himself with them, or be delighted, or be moved to the dance, so as to leap to the rhythm. Gagneius reads ὁμοίως instead of ὅμως, that is, "likewise."
Verse 9: Unless You Utter Plain Speech
9. So also you, unless you utter by the tongue plain (εὔσημον, well-signifying, intelligible) speech, how shall what is said be known? — For the tongue is the character, image, index, and messenger of the mind. For, as Aristotle says, in book II On Interpretation, words are signs of those affections which lie hidden in the soul. Hence Socrates explored and saw through from the voice the mind and disposition of each, of what sort it was, and used to say: "Speak, young man, that I may see you." But this cannot happen unless the tongue of the speaker is known and clear to the hearer.
Verse 10: So Many Kinds of Tongues in This World
10. There are, for example, so many kinds of tongues. — "For example," that is, namely; in Greek εἰ τύχοι, as the matter brings, as it happens that one hears various tongues. So Oecumenius. But Erasmus and Vatablus translate εἰ τύχοι not literally, but with the same sense, "for example."
Of tongues. — In Greek φωνῶν, of voices, that is, of tongues, of vocal idioms.
And nothing is without voice — no nation, no speech is without voice. Others: no instrument exists, e.g. harp or pipe, but renders its own voice and sound. So Oecumenius. Others properly: nothing, that is, no thing, is without voice. For, as Ausonius sings to Paulinus: "Nature has given nothing mute: not the bird of the air, nor are the four-footed silent, the serpent has its own hisses, cymbals give sound by stroke, the platforms give sound by the leap of feet that touch them, the hollow drums resound from stretched skins." Fourthly and best: nothing, that is, no one of tongues, is without voice. For in Greek it is οὐδὲν αὐτῶν, namely φωνῶν, ἄφωνον — nothing of voices, that is, of tongues, is without voice; as if to say: many are the tongues, and each has its own voices.
Verse 11: If I Do Not Know the Meaning of the Voice
11. If therefore I do not know the meaning (that is, the force and signification) of the voice, I shall be to him, to whom I speak, a barbarian. — That is, as Ovid says: "Here I am a barbarian, because I am understood by no one."
Note: "Barbarus" was first used by the Greeks by onomatopoeia for one who spoke a language other than Greek; then by the Romans, for one who spoke another than Greek or Roman; afterwards, anyone who spoke any language different from his own native tongue was called a Barbarian, because he was not understood by his own. Whence Anacharsis the Scythian, when he was being laughed at by the Athenians as a Barbarian, aptly replied: "The Scythians are Barbarians among the Athenians, and equally the Athenians are Barbarians among the Scythians."
Verse 12: You Are Zealous of Spirits
12. You are zealous of spirits — namely, of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and of the graces, concerning which see chapter 12.
For the edification of the Church seek that you may abound, as if to say: Ask and demand from God that these gifts be abundantly given to you; but in such a way that you use them not for ostentation, but for the edification of the Church.
Verse 13: He Who Speaks in a Tongue, Let Him Pray That He May Interpret
13. He who speaks in a tongue, let him pray that he may interpret. — Note: Paul here speaks of public prayer, by which one, though a private person, inspired by the Spirit, prayed aloud before all, while the rest were listening, and praying with him, and joining their own vows, as is clear from what follows. Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Anselm interpret it differently: Let him pray, they say, that he may receive the gift of interpreting tongues, that he may be able to interpret himself and his own tongue: but "to pray" is taken otherwise in the following verse, therefore also here.
Verse 14: My Spirit Prays, but My Mind Is without Fruit
14. If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is without fruit. — "My spirit prays," that is, I am refreshed by my spirit. Secondly, Chrysostom: "My spirit," he says, that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit which is in me, "prays," that is, makes me pray and publicly pronounce the prayer. Thirdly, "spirit," that is, my voice uttered with vital and vocal breath, "prays, but my mind is without fruit," because it does not understand the meaning of the speech and prayer uttered by itself. So from St. Basil, Theophylact, and Erasmus, who translates "spirit" as breath. Whence also Primasius: "By spirit," he says, "speech is here to be understood, which sometimes prays while the mind is thinking of something else." But the first sense is the genuine one, as is clear from what follows. St. Thomas takes "spirit" here in three ways otherwise (which see if you wish), but not to the mind of the Apostle.
But my mind is without fruit. — St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Ambrose, St. Thomas, and Cajetan think that the Apostle here speaks of those who had received the gift of tongues, which however they themselves did not understand, like Balaam's ass, or at least did not penetrate the mysteries contained in the words. So also St. Augustine, in book XII On Genesis according to the letter, chapters 8 and 9, and it is gathered from verse 28. For these prayed without fruit in such tongues, because although the spirit could be fed with pious devotion to God, yet the mind was not fed with the understanding of the verbal prayers.
But I say: "Mind," in Greek νοῦς, here is the same as sense, as our [translator] renders in verse 19, and in chapter 2, last verse. Indeed Aristotle: "What," he says, "is the νοῦς of these words," what is the sense of these words: so νοῦς is also taken in Apocalypse [Revelation] 17:9, ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν, that is, as our Interpreter and others everywhere translate, "here is the sense" (of the vision of the beast) which is taught and kindled; especially since the parish priests are obliged to explain those things to the people in their sermons, as the Council of Trent prescribes, session XXII, chapter VIII. See Bellarmine, book II On the Word of God, chapter XVI.
Verse 15: I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Mind
15. What therefore (must be done by me and you)? I will pray with the spirit (so that my spirit may be fed by my prayer), and I will pray with the mind also — that is, I will pray with sense and understanding, I will pray intelligently, so that others may be able to perceive me, that is, to understand me. Paul alludes to that passage of Psalm XLVI: "Sing wisely," for which the Hebrew has משכיל maskil, that is, with understanding: which the Septuagint renders συνετῶς, that is, sing intelligently, so that you yourselves may indeed understand and savor what you sing, and so that others who hear you may understand what you sing. For this is the office of a psalmist, namely, to sing in such a way that he can be understood by others. For the word νοῦς, which Paul uses here, corresponds to the Hebrew שכל sechel or משכיל maskil and בינה bina: which are sometimes taken passively, as in Isaiah XXXIII, 19, where our Interpreter renders: "A people of deep speech, so that you cannot understand the eloquence of their tongue, in which there is no wisdom," the Hebrew has, a people stammering with their lips, in whom there is no בינה bina, that is, no understanding, who indeed are so stammering that they cannot be understood. So in Nehemiah VIII, 8, Ezra is said to have read before the people in the book of the law "distinctly and clearly to give understanding:" in Hebrew שום שכל som sechel, that is, by setting forth or imparting understanding, that is, intelligibly, so that all could understand.
And so this sense is the genuine one, and St. Basil seems to convey it in Reg. brevior., question 278.
Secondly, not improbably, Oecumenius: My mind, he says, that is, my aim and intention, is without fruit, not of the speaker, but of the hearer, whom the speaker intends to stir up to piety. For that the Apostle is speaking of the fruit of the hearers is plain from verses 14, 16, 19. So likewise Theodoret. For the Apostle is speaking of spiritual prayers and canticles, which various private persons composed by the gift of the Holy Spirit, and uttered publicly, or sang in the church at the time of spiritual conferences; and that for the consolation, instruction, or exhortation of the people: hence he wishes them to be done in the vernacular tongue, so that they may be understood by all; otherwise he asserts that they will be without fruit.
You will say: therefore the Mass and the canonical Hours must now be sung in the vernacular tongue. I answer: I deny the consequence, because the Apostle is speaking of those prayers which each private individual composed for the edification and stirring up of the people, not of the divine and public offices, which the clergy now perform with the approval, indeed by the ordination and in the name of the whole Church and people, for the worship of God and for the praising of God in Latin with a certain grave and uniform majesty. For if they were said in the vernacular tongue, first, the unlearned would badly grasp such divine matters, would misunderstand them, and would conceive errors and heresies. Secondly, the language would have to be varied for each province, indeed for almost every city. For although all the Germans speak the same common language, yet each region has a different idiom of speech; for the Westphalians have one, the Swiss another, the Hessians another, the people of Jülich another, and so on; and so if the divine office were said in the vernacular, in such a variety of idioms a schism would arise, with mockery and contempt of sacred things.
You will say secondly: The people do not understand Latin, what fruit therefore do they receive from the Latin Mass? I answer first, he is a partaker of that sacrifice, and even of the Sacrament, if he wishes. Secondly, he is a partaker of all the prayers which the priest pours forth for all, especially for those present. Thirdly, by rites and ceremonies so seemly he is stirred up to devotion and to lifting up his mind to God by private prayer.
Verse 16: He Who Supplies the Place of the Unlearned
16. Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how shall he who fills the place of the unlearned say, Amen, to your blessing? For he does not know what you are saying. — "If you bless," that is, if you praise God with your tongue and spirit. Otherwise St. Thomas: If a priest, he says, has publicly blessed the people; thus also Primasius, Haymo, and Salmeron explain it, who at length attempts to prove that the Apostle is here speaking of the sacrifice of the Mass, in which the priest blesses not so much the people as God. For the Greek words here εὐλογεῖν and εὐχαριστεῖν seem to signify this, which the Evangelists and Paul likewise use in the institution of the Eucharist, which from this is called εὐλογία, that is, blessing; and Eucharist, that is, thanksgiving. Add to this that in all the Liturgies of the Mass, those of James and Clement as well as those of Basil and Chrysostom, after the consecration of the bread and wine, the people are accustomed to acclaim Amen. It seems therefore that the Apostle here wishes that public blessings, prayers, and Masses in the Church should not be celebrated in a tongue altogether unknown and foreign; but that as among the Greeks they are celebrated in Greek, among the Hebrews in Hebrew, among the Latins in Latin. For for the most part these idioms are understood by those who are of the same language: since it cannot happen that one language should be understood by all even by diverse nations, who often hear the same Mass, it was necessary to choose one more common language, which is understood by most of the more cultivated, such as Latin is among us, so that many at the Latin Mass among us can answer Amen in the place of the unlearned: which the Apostle here requires.
But that the Apostle is not speaking of the public and solemn blessing of the Mass, but of any other one which each person, privately moved by the Spirit, dictated and recited by hymn, psalm, or prayer, is plain first from the word caeterum, for which the Greek has ἐπεὶ, that is, since; which word gives the reason why he said in the previous verse: "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind; I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind." Paul therefore is speaking of the blessing not of the Mass, but of psalms and prayers, which each person poured forth from the spirit. The Greek τὴν σὴν indicates the same thing, that is, your, namely your own and private, εὐλογία, that is, blessing. Secondly, the same thing is plain from the course of the whole chapter, and especially from the conclusion of the whole Pauline discourse, verse 26, where he speaks thus: "What is it then, brethren? When you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation: let all things be done unto edification;" therefore Paul is speaking of the blessing, psalms, and tongues, not of the priest and public minister; but of those private ones which each one was uttering from the spirit for the common edification of the faithful. Thirdly, the same thing is plain from verse 31, where he says: "You may all prophesy one by one." And verse 29: "Let the prophets, he says, speak two or three, and let the rest judge;" therefore he is speaking of the new and private prophecy and blessing of each one; for these must be examined and judged. For the common prayer and liturgy of the Church, approved and instituted by the whole Church, must not be examined and judged.
Who supplies the place of the unlearned. — Gagneius from Severianus: The idiot, he says, is a catechumen. Secondly, Primasius: an idiot, he says, is a neophyte. Thirdly, and best: an idiot is one who is unlearned, rude, ignorant of tongues. So Chrysostom, the Syriac, Theophylact, St. Thomas and others.
Note: St. Thomas, Primasius, and Haymo by this idiot understand the minister, who at the Mass and for the Collects answers Amen for the people. Hence these Fathers signify that Paul wishes that at least the minister of the Mass and of the sacred rites should understand the priest, and him who publicly prays in a tongue other than the vernacular, so that he may be able to answer Amen for the people. This counsel and instruction is good and fitting, but not absolutely necessary, nor the genuine sense of Paul's mind.
Hence I say that the idiot here does not mean the minister of sacred things, but anyone from the common people. For in Greek it is ὁ ἀναπληρῶν τὸν τόπον τοῦ ἰδιώτου, who fills, or occupies, the place of the idiot, that is, who sits among the idiots, who is an idiot (for the Prophets and Doctors sat in one place, the idiots and the people in another), as is each plebeian and the whole unlearned people. So Chrysostom and Theophylact.
For the whole people, and consequently any idiot, used in former times in the sacred assemblies to answer Amen, as is plain from Justin, Apology 2, at the end. Hence Jerome, at the end of his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians: "In the Roman Church, he says, the Amen resounds like a heavenly thunder." This now the minister does in place of the people, so that he may respond Amen to the praying priest, lest the confused voice of the people disturb the Church.
Note secondly: The Apostle speaks here, as I said, of the new and private prayer of some particular person, which was offered for the stirring up and edification of the people, and to which error could lie hidden, as is plain from verse 29. For he wishes this to be done in the vernacular tongue, so that the people may understand it, lest they should answer Amen to the prayer of someone who in the prayer he makes in a foreign tongue utters ridiculous, absurd things, errors, and heresies; the Apostle, however, does not speak of the public prayer approved and received by the Church, which is uttered not in the name of this one or that one, but in the name of the whole Church, in which it is certain that no error is contained, to which one minister answers Amen for the people; and meanwhile the people, who are partakers of this prayer, can in addition pray to God with another private prayer. Add that the Council of Trent, as I said, prescribes that these prayers be explained to the people in a sermon.
Finally, it is lawful to pray in a tongue you do not understand, when you know for certain that the prayers are good; just as the Nuns recite the Hours in Latin: and so the unlearned, while the priest prays in Latin, can pray with him and join their mind to God, and ask that God grant what the priest, for himself and for the whole people, in the name of the whole Church, asks and supplicates with the best and most useful prayer; for although they do not understand it, nor are fed by the understanding and sense of the prayers, yet they have the fruit of devotion toward God and of reverence toward the sacred prayers: indeed they merit and obtain more than those who understand them, if they pray with greater humility, piety, and fervor.
Thus St. Jordan, when asked whether these prayers of Nuns pleased God, answered fittingly: "Just as a gem in the hand of a rustic, who does not know its value, is worth as much as in the hand of a goldsmith or jeweler who knows its value: so prayers are worth as much in the mouth of an unlearned man who does not understand them, as in the mouth of a learned man who does understand;" just as a petition that is presented to the king by a rustic and an unlearned person obtains as much from the king as another would obtain that was presented by a learned and literate man. For it is written: "Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise." And: "If these (infants) shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out," Matthew 21:16. In a similar way in the Lives of the Fathers, the Abbot Pastor, when someone said to him in complaint: "Behold I pray, and there is no compunction in my heart, because I do not know the power (meaning) of the words," answered: "And yet do you go on praying, because just as a charmer, although he does not know the power of the words he says, yet the serpent hears and understands them, and submits to the charmer, and is humbled: so we also, although we do not know the power of those things we speak, yet the demons hearing them understand, are terrified, and depart." See St. Thomas and Cajetan.
It is otherwise with the Lord's Prayer, which each one must learn, say, and understand in the vernacular, so that he may distinctly know what and what kinds of things he must ask of God, as has now been established in many Synods of Bishops. From this Cajetan infers another point, namely, that it is better that organs and music be excluded from churches, so that thus the Hours and Masses may be sung intelligibly, in such a way that it can be answered Amen by the hearers. But the present usage of Christians has the contrary, that for stirring up the devotion of the people, who would equally not understand the Latin voice, they sometimes use organs and music in sacred services, and this for three reasons:
First, that just as we are constituted not only of spirit but also of body, and we praise God: so we may praise God not only with the voice, and that harmonious and most beautiful, such as music is, but also with instruments. For every spirit, every creature, every instrument ought to praise God, whom all praise befits.
Secondly, that the hearers, especially the common people, may be stirred up to devotion, just as David and Elisha were stirred up by psalmists and psalteries, and just as they used to stir up Saul and others through music to the praise of God.
Thirdly, that the beauty, solemnity, and majesty of sacred things may be greater. So Prudentius in the Apotheosis against the Jews; and the Faculty of Paris in its censure, title 19, proposition 6, explains this passage of Paul thus: "Paul, when he writes, In the Church I would rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousand words in a tongue, is treating of sermons or discourses delivered to the people, in which an abundance of words not understood is useless; not of Ecclesiastical chants, whose reason is different."
Yet levity must be avoided in these matters, as the Council of Trent prescribes. Hence St. Augustine, on Psalm XXXIII, sermon 1, says that theatrical citharas and organs were excluded from the church: namely because the Gentiles used them at that time for luxury and lust in theaters, banquets, and sacrifices. To use therefore organs in the church, and sometimes other musical instruments, if it be done soberly, piously, modestly, and gravely, by the example and exhortation of David, Psalm CL, verses 3, 4, 5, 6, is evidently pious: hence also St. John, in Apocalypse chapter V, verse 8, and chapter XIV, verse 2, in heaven, where all are perfect, heard citharas, although graver and more divine than ours.
Amen. — "Amen" (says Jerome to Marcella, epistle 137, vol. III, and at the end of the Commentaries on the epistle to the Galatians) Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodoret rendered as πεπιστωμένως, that is, faithfully, or truly; the Septuagint renders it γένοιτο, that is, let it be. "Amen" therefore signifies, truly, or also firmly: for the root אמן aman means to make firm and to establish. Hence אמת emeth, that is, firmness, truth. "Amen" therefore is not a particle of one swearing, as the common folk think; but of one affirming and confirming. It is of one affirming, when it is placed before a saying, as, Amen, amen, I say to you. And in this sense St. Augustine, tractate 41 on John, calls "amen" the oath of Christ; because Christ's oath was not properly an oath, but a simple affirmation and assertion, saying: "Amen, amen, I say to you," Matthew V, 37. "Amen" is the mark of one confirming when it is placed after a prayer. Again, when it is placed afterward, and signifies the consent of the hearer; sometimes it is of one asserting and conceding, sometimes of one wishing. It is of one conceding in Deuteronomy XXVIII, where to the blessings of the law observed, and the curses of the law violated, the people, as if accepting them, respond Amen. In a prayer, however, it is only of one wishing. So in the Lord's Prayer Amen is appended, as a seal of the prayer, and the Church everywhere seals various other prayers by Amen, as if to say: May it be true, may it truly be done what we ask in this prayer.
The Talmudists say that one Amen is perfect, another imperfect, and that this is threefold: First, the "orphan amen," when the one saying "Amen" does not understand the prayer, but like an orphan allows himself and his prayer to be directed by the one praying. Secondly, the "subreptitious," when one responds Amen before the end of the prayer. Thirdly, the "cut-off," when doing something else with the mind distracted he responds Amen.
Verse 18: I Thank My God That I Speak with the Tongue of All of You
18. I thank my God, that I speak with all your tongues. — "Of all of you." The Greek now has it somewhat differently: πάντων ὑμῶν μᾶλλον γλώσσαις λαλῶν, which the Syriac, Chrysostom, Jerome to Hedibia, and others render as: I speak with tongues more than all of you. So almost our Interpreter could be taken, when he renders, "of all of you," as if to say: All the tongues which you know, I also know, and more than you.
You will say: How does he say: "With the tongues of all of you," as the Greek has it, when in Greece, and especially at Corinth, there was only one language. Haymo answers: "With the tongues of all of you," that is, with their dialects, I speak. Secondly and better: "Of all," because indeed strangers and merchants of all nations and tongues flowed together to Corinth, as to a most celebrated emporium; just as today also at Antwerp, Paris, and Venice, the languages of the French, Italians, Spaniards, English, and other nations flourish equally with their commerce. "Of all," therefore, "of you," that is, of all the nations who dwell with you and among you, "with the tongues I speak," as if to say: I do not belittle, nor disparage the gift of tongues, for I myself use it, but not in the way you do in the Church for ostentation, but for edification.
Verse 19: But in the Church I Would Rather Speak Five Words with My Understanding
19. But in the church I will, — that is, I prefer. For this volo depends on the word quam, which follows. It is a Hebraism.
To speak five (very few) words with my understanding (that is, with the understanding by which I am understood) so that I may also instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue — a foreign one, which the hearers do not understand.
Note: "Sense" here is the same as passive understanding, by which I myself, as well as my speech, am understood: hence he adds in explanation: "That I may also instruct others." For he opposes this sense to the foreign tongue, which no one understands. See what was said on verse 14.
Otherwise Anselm: With my sense, he says, that is, with my understanding, but active, namely, by which I myself may understand the things I speak, so that I may better expound the same to others.
Thirdly, Chrysostom: In sense, he says, that is, with judgment, namely, that I may speak and teach discreetly and with judgment, in such a way that the hearers, although rude and unskilled, may be able to understand, grasp, and retain the same things. But the first sense is genuine, as is plain from what has been said.
Verse 20: Do Not Become Children in Sense, but in Malice Be Little Ones
20. Do not become children in senses, but in malice be little ones: in senses, however, be perfect. — Note: Here "sense" means something different than in the preceding verse. For here in Greek it is not νοῦς, as the preceding verse has, but φρήν, that is, as Chrysostom and the Syriac say, mind, as if to say: In mind, judgment, and reason, do not be made children, so as to display childishly your gift of tongues.
But in malice be little ones, — that is, in malice be simple, so that it may be unknown to you as to infants; for in Greek it is νηπιάζετε, that is, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, and the Syriac say, be infants in malice; and, as St. Augustine, in book LXXXIII Questions, Question LXI, reads, just as infants be without experience of malice: namely, that just as an infant is so called who cannot speak, much less know malice or anything else; and in Greek νήπιος is so called, as if νὴ εἰπεῖν, as if to say without speaking, an infant, tongueless: so also let the Christian be an infant in evil, that he may not know it, nor be able to speak or discourse about it, e.g., let him not know what envy, pollution, fornication is. So from Chrysostom Theophylact. Beautifully Tertullian, in the book Against the Valentinians, chapter II: "The Apostle, he says, bids us become children again according to God, that being infants in malice through simplicity, we may at length be wise in senses."
Which Clement of Alexandria also noted, in book I of the Paedagogus, chapter V, in these words: "But here it is fitting to attend to the appellation of this word νήπιος, which signifies infant; so that it may be understood that τὸ νήπιον is not said of the foolish: for he who is foolish is called νηπύτιος: but νήπιος is one who is νεήπιος, like ἁπαλός, who is of a gentle and soft disposition." See him beautifully disputing throughout this whole chapter what kind of children all Christians ought to be.
Verse 21: In the Law It Is Written
21. In the law. — Isaiah XXVIII, 11. For sometimes "law" is called not only the Pentateuch, but also the Prophets and the whole Old Testament. So Chrysostom.
It is written: For in other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people. — This passage is difficult, which, in order to be understood, requires that the passage of Isaiah which the Apostle here cites be explained. Thus Isaiah has, chapter XXVIII, 9: "Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand the report? them that are weaned from the milk, drawn away from the breasts. For command, command again; command, command again; expect, expect again; a little there, a little there: for with the speech of lips and another tongue he will speak to this people," as if to say: God is wont to teach knowledge and wisdom to those who, having been drawn away from childish delights and an imperfect life, as men, are capable of knowledge: but these Jews, who, as preceded in Isaiah, take pleasure in these delights of wine and drunkenness, and do not grasp heavenly and solid things, are as it were children, and consequently incapable of doctrine and true wisdom: namely because these wine-soaked Jews, mocking me Isaiah and the other Prophets, who threaten them from heaven with the punishments and torments of drunkenness and other sins, say: command, command again, in Hebrew צו לצו tsaf latsaf, command by commanding, that is, command, command again; קו לקו kaf lakaf, expect by expecting, that is, expect, expect again.
St. Jerome, Haymo, and Lyranus note that in these words there is a mimesis, or ethopoeia, which is the relation of the sayings of others with derision. For Isaiah and the Prophets often used to declare: "Thus says the Lord." Hence those given to wine in their banquets in mockery would repeat these things, saying: Command, command again, that is, command again; expect, expect again, that is, again expect. As if they were saying: The Prophets dull our ears so often repeating: "Thus says the Lord;" and they threaten or promise things that do not happen, they bid us wait a little, now here, now there, and nothing follows. So sometimes even now it happens to preachers, that the wicked laugh at, repeat, and mock their sermons and threats. Wherefore these words of Isaiah the Jews R. David, R. Abraham, and after them Vatablus, Isidorus Clarius, Pagninus, and Forerius coldly translate thus: line upon line, precept upon precept; little there, little there, as if Isaiah were saying: These like children must be taught roughly and gradually most slowly, line upon line, precept upon precept, just as children are taught the alphabet; for that these are not the words of children to be taught, but of mockers and scoffers is plain from the punishment which Isaiah threatens against their mockery in the following verse. Hence the Septuagint translates thus: tribulation upon tribulation, expect hope upon hope, yet a little, yet a little, because of the mockery of the lips, and another tongue, because they will speak to this people, saying to them: This is the rest for the hungry, and this is the contrition, and they would not hear.
Where note: The Septuagint instead of צו tsaf, that is, command, they read צר tsar, that is, tribulation: for vav and resh are letters close to each other in Hebrew. Hence he adds "The speech of the lip," Hebrew בלעגי שפה belaagei sapha, that is, as Lyranus, Forerius, Pagninus, into the stammering of the lip; Arias, into the lispings of the lip, as those mocking are accustomed to speak with the gesture of tongue and lips composed for stammering. Which Our Translator renders as the speech of the lip. For lispers and stammerers seem to speak almost only with their lips, and to babble: hence clearly the Septuagint and others render, in mockery, or in derision of the lip. For the Hebrew לעג laag properly applies to stammerers, lispers, and mockers; and perhaps Isaiah alludes to the Ephraimites, who were lispers: hence Judges XII, 6, instead of shibbolet, they would say lispingly sibbolet: so here instead of tsaf, that is, command, the Jewish mockers would lispingly say saf. St. Paul renders these words of Isaiah not according to the letter, but according to the sense, saying: "In other lips," because he adapts the passage of Isaiah to the gift of tongues given to the Apostles, who spoke in other tongues not for mockery, but for edification. Although Salmeron, vol. I, p. 33, thinks that in the Hebrew gimel was corrupted into the neighboring zain, and that for בלעגי belaagei, as is now read in Isaiah, should be read בלעזי belaazei, that is, in barbarous tongues, and consequently other tongues different from yours: for the Hebrew לעז loez means barbarous.
The sense therefore is, as Isaiah says, or rather God through Isaiah: My exhortation to repentance made to the Jews through Isaiah and the other Prophets seemed to you, O Jews, troublesome and ridiculous, just as if I had spoken to you with stammering lips and a barbarous tongue: hence in imitating as it were the stammering of the Prophets, and mocking lispingly and stammering, you say and repeat command, command again. Wherefore I will punish you through the Chaldeans (who seem to you stammerers and lispers) as soldiers and ministers of My justice, so that with the mockeries of their foreign Chaldean tongue they may rebuke and restrain you, and now mock you as conquered and captive, and may mock and reprove your Hebrew words with their Chaldean ones: and as a type, figure, and likeness of these, in the time of Christ I will send the Apostles, who with the gift of various tongues will likewise convict your unbelief, O Jews, and will seem to you stammerers, and by you and the wise of the world will be mocked as foolish preachers of the cross of Christ.
Where note, that Isaiah is speaking literally of his own time, and of the Chaldeans, who were going to overthrow Jerusalem: but allegorically of the gift of tongues given to the Apostles, which therefore the Apostle teaches is a sign not for the faithful, but for the unbelievers, namely of the curse, by which God avenges Himself on the unbelievers, not of the blessing, by which He instructs His own. That this is the sense of Isaiah is plain from this passage of the Apostle. So St. Jerome and Cyril on Isaiah XXVIII.
Note secondly: The word enim is not taken here properly, but adversatively for sed; for when he says: "For in the speech of the lip," it is just as if he were saying: "But, or, nevertheless in the speech of the lip and another tongue he will speak (God through the Chaldeans and Apostles) to this people," so that He may convict, restrain, and punish them.
Verse 22: Tongues Are for a Sign, Not to the Faithful, but to the Unbelievers
22. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to the faithful, but to the unbelievers. — From the cited passage of Isaiah, and from the punishment of the Jews through the tongues both of the Chaldeans and of the Apostles, the Apostle infers: Therefore tongues are for a sign, namely of the curse, by which the Lord avenges Himself on the unbelieving Jews (for it is to these properly that Isaiah and the Apostle are speaking, not to the Gentiles), as I have said; and therefore this sign must not be employed by you the faithful for empty boasting.
Prophecies (that is, the doctrine of the word of God, and exhortations, are a sign) not to the unbelievers, but to the faithful. — "A sign," I say, of the blessing, by which God instructs and blesses His own, that is, by which He incites and promotes them to every good. See verse 3. Therefore "sign" here is not the same as miracle: for the Chaldeans worked no miracle, when they rebuked the Jews in their own tongue; but "sign" here is a sign, or symbol and mark, of correction, instruction, and teaching. Understand the things I have said of the faithful and unbelievers as primary and principal: for secondarily, just as tongues also serve the faithful, so in turn prophecies also serve the unbelievers, as is plain from verses 23 and 25.
Verse 23: If the Whole Church Come Together and All Speak with Tongues
23. If therefore the whole Church come together into one place, and all speak with tongues (together, mixed, confused, and tumultuously); and there come in unlearned persons or unbelievers: will they not say that you are mad? 24. But if all prophesy (that is, teach the faith from the Scriptures and other testimonies, and preach about ordering life rightly; see what was said about prophecy at the beginning of the chapter), and there come in any unbeliever or unlearned person, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all, — because of course by all the Prophets, that is, the teachers and preachers, he is rebuked and reproved for his unbelief, evil morals, and vices.
Verse 25: The Hidden Things of His Heart Are Made Manifest
25. The hidden things of his heart are made manifest. — As if to say: From the gift of discernment of spirits, or by God Himself ruling the tongue of the Prophet, that is, of the preacher, the most hidden vices of his heart will be touched and convicted, so that he may think that the preacher is speaking to him prophetically, which was then frequent, as is plain from this. Hence it is clear that these Prophets, that is, teachers and preachers, were also truly and properly Prophets.
A similar example is in the Life of St. Augustine by Possidius, chapter XV, where he narrates that St. Augustine in a certain sermon, beside his intention, deflected from his subject, and inveighed against Manichaeism, and that with God turning Augustine's mind and tongue toward the conversion of a certain Manichaean perhaps then present, as St. Augustine afterwards learned by the very fact. Hence St. Augustine, in book IV of De Doctrina Christiana, chapter XV, teaches that before a sermon prayer must be made, that God may bend the mind and tongue of the preacher to suit the capacity and disposition of the hearers.
Others understand the hidden things to mean the sins, which in the unbeliever, or unlearned person lie hidden, and which he does not know to be sins, e.g., when he does not know idolatry and fornication to be a sin; this very thing he will know, when he will hear the Prophets rebuking them and accusing them of sin. But the former sense is plainer and simpler.
Verse 26: When You Come Together, Each One Has a Psalm, a Doctrine, a Revelation
26. What therefore (is to be done), brethren? When you come together (in Church), every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation: let all things be done unto edification. — The word "every one" is taken here distributively: for not one person had all the things already mentioned, but one had a psalm, another a doctrine, another something else, as if to say: Each one of you either "has a psalm," or "a doctrine," or "a revelation," or "an interpretation," or the gift of tongues, so that in a foreign tongue he may utter or sing the praises of God, prayers, and other things.
He has a psalm, — the grace of singing, by which he may compose or sing a psalm or a hymn. So Pliny writes to Trajan that the Christians were accustomed to sing pre-dawn hymns to Christ.
He has an apocalypse, — that is, a revelation and some explanation, either of some obscure passage of Sacred Scripture, or of some future or hidden thing.
From this passage of Paul note: in the primitive Church this was the rite and order of sacred things in the sacred assemblies of Christians (as is plain from Justin, Apology II to Antoninus, at the end, and Tertullian, in the Apologeticus chapter XXXIX, and others) instituted by Paul and the Apostles. First, they sang psalms, even the people. Secondly, the prophecies and sacred Scripture were read. Thirdly, the Bishop preached. Fourthly, the supper and the Sacred Mystery took place, which then consisted almost only of the oblation, consecration, communion, canon, and the Our Father, and some prayer to which the people answered Amen. Fifthly, all communicated. Sixthly, some, as if moved by the spirit, dictated and sang psalms and hymns in praise of God in various tongues: others prophesied. Seventhly, others after the manner of the Jews would interpret the sacred Scriptures, or exhort, and that two or three, especially the Prophets or spiritual men: others listened, and sometimes asked, even women (but by an abuse, which Paul here corrects), something about what was being said; and when something good and pious was beautifully said, all together cried out, Amen, Amen. Eighthly, the agape closed all things, or the banquet common to all as a symbol of charity: after which again there followed hymns and prayers. For Justin relates these things in order in the place cited a little before: "In all," he says, "the oblations which we offer, by blessing we praise" (behold the first, namely psalmody and hymnody) "the maker of all things through His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. And on the day which is called of the Sun, of all who dwell in towns or in the country, the assembly is made in the same place, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the Prophets are read." Behold the second, namely the reading of sacred Scripture.
"Then the reader being silent, the presiding person delivers a discourse, by which he instructs the people, and exhorts them to the imitation of such beautiful things." Behold the third, namely the sermon of the presiding person, or Bishop.
"After this we all rise together in common, and pour forth prayers, and, as we have related, the prayers being finished, bread is offered, and wine, and water; and the presiding person likewise, according to his powers, pours forth prayers and thanksgivings, and the people acclaim auspiciously saying, Amen." Behold the fourth, namely the oblation and consecration of the Eucharist in the Mass.
"And the distribution and communion is made of those things over which thanks have been given, to each present; and to the absent it is sent through the Deacons." Behold the fifth, namely the communion of all.
The sixth, seventh, and eighth Tertullian describes thus mingled together in the cited passage: "Our supper shows from its name the reason of itself: for it is called ἀγάπη, which among the Greeks is love. No one reclines at table before prayer to God is first tasted. After water for the hands, and lights, each one, as he is able from the holy Scriptures, or from his own ability, is called forth into the midst to sing to God: likewise prayer closes the banquet." Philo has similar things, in the book On the Essenes.
Note secondly, that these gifts and this fervor did not endure long in the Church, but vanished; yet in such a way that the Church, as much as it could, has retained the type and method of the order just mentioned. Hence to the eight things and rites just mentioned these our things have succeeded.
First, to singing and psalmody, there succeeded Matins, Lauds, and the canonical Hours.
Secondly, to the prophecies, there succeeded the readings both in the canonical Hours, with their exposition and homilies, and in the Mass the reading of the Epistle and the Gospel.
Thirdly, there succeeded the sermon after the Gospel.
Fourthly, just as of old, even now the Sacred Mystery takes place, in which after the Collects the cleric in place of the people answers, Amen.
The fifth has grown lukewarm, as also the sixth and seventh and eighth, except that hymns and the minor Hours are sung after the Mass; and that Monks in their assemblies are accustomed to converse about spiritual matters, as is plain from Cassian in the Conferences of the Fathers.
Verse 27: If Any Speak with a Tongue, Let It Be by Two, or at the Most by Three
27. If any speak with a tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and in turn, and let one interpret. — This verse depends on the one that immediately preceded, "let all things be done unto edification," as if to say: Whether one sings, or teaches, or speaks with a tongue, let all things be done unto edification, in such a way, namely, that if tongues are to be spoken, it should be done "by (that is, through) two, or at the most three," as if to say: In each assembly let only two, or at most three, speak with tongues (it is a Greek idiom); and that "in turn," that is, one after the other, lest there be confusion; "and let one interpret," so that the hearers may understand.
Verse 29: Let Two or Three Prophets Speak, and Let the Others Judge
29. Let two or three Prophets speak, — that is, prophecies, or doctrines, illuminations, admonitions inspired in them by God. See what was said at the beginning of the chapter. And let the others (not the common people, but the Prophets, as preceded) judge, — by the gift granted them, whether what the Prophet or teacher says is truly prophecy, that is, sound and useful doctrine, or not. Therefore it does not pertain to the common people and the laity to judge concerning the doctrine of religion, as the heretics would have it from this passage. For it is just as foolish and absurd that the common people should judge prophecies, Prophets, Doctors, Pastors, as if a disciple should wish to judge and reprove his teacher, a sheep its shepherd, or a soldier his commander.
Verse 30: But If Something Be Revealed to Another Sitting By, Let the First Be Silent
30. But if (something better) has been revealed to another (also seated, and listening, let him rise and speak, and) let the former (Prophet) be silent, — and sit down. "This is the tradition of the Synagogue," says Ambrose, "which Paul wishes us to follow, namely that the elders in dignity should dispute while seated on the chairs, those next in rank on the benches, the newest on the pavement upon mats; and if anything is revealed to them, he commands that place be given to them, nor are they to be despised, for they are members of the body."
Verse 31: For You Can All Prophesy One by One, That All May Learn and Be Exhorted
31. For you can all prophesy one by one (as if to say: All the Prophets in this manner can in turn, provided they keep the manner and order which I have just prescribed, exhort) that all may learn and be exhorted, — that is, may receive exhortation and consolation. For παρακαλεῖσθαι is taken passively, i.e., "let them be exhorted." There is a similar passage in 2 Cor. 1:6. Others explain it actively in this way: that all may learn when they listen, and may teach when they speak and exhort.
Verse 32: And the Spirits of the Prophets Are Subject to the Prophets
32. And the spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets, — so that the Prophets may restrain the spirit of prophecy and be silent when they wish, and give place of speaking to other Prophets. For they are not driven to words by that impetus by which the fanatical idolaters are driven. For the spirit, or gift, of prophecy, says St. Thomas, is not a habit, but is partly an instinct and impression of light and truth by which God illumines the mind of the Prophet concerning future, obscure, or divine matters; partly it is a force, or impulse, by which God touches, moves, and impels the heart to prophesy, but freely. Hence Jonah and Jeremiah resisted Him for a time, as did also Moses, Exodus 4.
Chrysostom expounds it differently, as if Paul said: The gift of prophecy which the Prophet has lies subject to the judgment and censure of the college of Prophets. But the former sense is more fitting. For here Paul gives the reason why the Prophets ought to yield to one another and be silent, namely because the prophetic spirit is subject to them.
Verse 33: For God Is Not the God of Dissension
33. For He is not the God of dissension, — so as to compel these or those to prophesy together, to make a tumult, and to disturb one another. Of dissension — ἀκαταστασίας, that is, of confusion and disordered arrangement, as is wont to be in a tumult and sedition.
Verse 34: Let the Women Keep Silence in the Churches
34. Let the women keep silence in the churches, — even the Prophetesses, because it is contrary to the order of nature and of the law, Gen. 3:16, that women, who are subject to them, should speak in the sight of men. So Ambrose, and from him Anselm. Secondly, because this very thing is for the sake of their modesty and humility. So Anselm. Thirdly, because man is of better judgment, reason, discourse, and discretion than woman. Fourthly, with right, says Anselm, woman is commanded to be silent, since when she spoke she persuaded her husband to sin, Gen. 3. Fifthly, in order that a curb may be cast upon her loquacity. For:
You would say that just as many basins, just as many bells are being struck,
when two women quarrel: which would easily happen in church, if they were permitted to teach. Concerning this silence of woman I shall say more on 1 Tim. 2:9. How then, contrary to the Apostle, contrary to all that is lawful, right, and seemly, is it, if a woman should be the head of some Church?
Tropologically, the woman is passion and concupiscence, the man is reason; let her therefore be silent, and submit herself to reason. See Chrysostom, homily 37 in the moral section.
"Woman," says Aristotle, in Book IX of On the Nature of Animals, ch. 1, "is more compassionate and more prone to tears than man: likewise more envious, and more querulous, and more given to slander, and more biting; besides, more anxious, and more despairing than the male, and more shameless and more given to lying, even easier to deceive."
Verse 35: If They Desire to Learn Anything, Let Them Ask Their Husbands at Home
35. If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home. — Hence Primasius says: Men ought to be so learned that they could teach their wives and instruct them in matters of faith; but what if they are unlearned, as often happens — by whom shall the women be instructed? Primasius answers: They have preachers, confessors, and teachers to instruct them. Secondly, it is better for them to be ignorant of certain non-necessary things than to ask and learn them in church with scandal and immodesty.
You will say: Anna the Prophetess in the temple spoke to all about Christ, Luke 2. I answer: She spoke to all, that is, to individuals privately, not in the Church, that is, in an ecclesiastical assembly, nor in the temple properly so-called: for into the temple of the Jews neither a woman nor a man could enter, but only the priests. Therefore Anna was speaking to women individually in the court of the women: for the women had a court distinct from the court of the men, as Josephus testifies.
You will say secondly: Nuns sing in their own churches. I answer: There is no Church there, that is, no assembly of the faithful people, but only a choir of Nuns. For the Apostle does not forbid women to speak or sing among women, but only forbids this to be done in the common Church, where, namely, both men and women come together. So Cajetan. Again, Paul is speaking of speech which is not public and approved, but private and personal, which is done by teaching, exhorting, and questioning.
Add that the Apostle is properly speaking only of married women; for he commands these to be silent in the Church and to be subject to their husbands, and to question them at home.
Verse 36: Did the Word of God Go Forth from You?
36. Did the word of God go forth from you? — It is a sharp rebuke concluding what was said in this and the preceding chapter, as if to say: Did not the Jewish Church, Samaria, Palestine, Cyprus, and Syria believe before you? Look therefore at the order and custom of those Churches: do they so contend about their gifts, do they so boast of their tongues, and so childishly glory in them, as you do? So Ambrose and Anselm.
Verse 37: If Anyone Seems to Be a Prophet or Spiritual, Let Him Acknowledge These Are the Lord's Commandments
37. If anyone seems to be a Prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge what I write to you, because these are the commandments of the Lord. — "Of the Lord" not directly, but through me as commanding, so that this order may be observed in your assemblies and gatherings.
Note this example of Paul on behalf of the Pontifical canons and the laws of the Church. Melanchthon answers that the Bishops cannot establish new canons, because, since all Sacred Scripture has now been written, the Bishops have the word of God full and sufficient, which they should follow; but the civil magistrate can establish new laws, because he does not have the word of God to follow.
But these things are frivolous, because the magistrate has not only the law of nature but also the most ample and full Caesarean law: therefore, if not all things are settled and defined by it, but the magistrates and princes must settle and define many things, why not the Bishops also? For not all things are settled and defined by the word of God, as is clear from what Canon law has added.
Secondly, Paul here establishes not divine laws, but human and ecclesiastical ones, as is clear from those very laws themselves; yet Paul had the word of God, not indeed written, but received by tradition or by divine revelation, Galatians 1, and that as full and perfect, indeed fuller and more perfect than what we have: therefore, if it was lawful for him to add his own laws to the word of God, the same will be lawful for the Pope and the Bishops, the successors of Paul.
Verse 38: But If Anyone Is Ignorant, He Shall Be Ignored
38. But if anyone is ignorant, he shall be ignored. — As if to say: He who will not acknowledge these laws and my authority, "shall be ignored," that is, shall be disapproved by God, who says: "I know you not." For "he who hears you, hears Me; he who despises you, despises Me." Our Interpreter reads ἀγνοήσεται, with Ambrose, Jerome, and the Syriac; others now read ἀγνοείτω, that is, "let him be ignorant." Which is just like that saying: "He who is in filth, let him be filthy still." Or, as others have it, "he who is ignorant, let him be ignorant," that is, he who is ignorant, let him acknowledge it and bear himself as one ignorant, and not thrust himself forward to judge those things and those persons whom he does not know; but rather let him follow others who are leaders in prophecy and teaching. But the former reading of our Interpreter, as it is plainer, so also is it truer and more common.
Verse 40: Let All Things Be Done Decently and According to Order
40. Let all things be done decently and according to order. — It was a great concern to Paul, as also to St. Ignatius in his epistles to the Philippians, the Tarsians, and others, that there be εὐταξία, or good order, in the Church, even in indifferent matters: both because this order is in itself beautiful and seemly; and because it excludes confusion and disturbance; and because it greatly edifies others, even unbelievers. See what was said on Colossians 2:5.