William Burkitt on 1 Corinthians 14:21
Expository Notes on the New Testament. Browse this work.
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1 Corinthians14:21
Observe here, How the apostle, to take the Corinthians off from their fond admiration of the gift of tongues, tells them, That in the law, that is, in the writings of the Old Testament, particularly in Isa 28:11 it is declared, that because the people of Judah would cause them to be spoken to in an unknown language; namely, by outlandishing enemies and armies, whose language they should not understand: from whence he infers, that strange tongues were not given for a sign of any good to believers, but they were given as a token rather of God's displeasure to unbelievers; insomuch that, by the just judgment of God, their ignorance by this means would be the more increased: but the gift of prophecy serveth not only for the conversion of unbelievers, but for the edification of believers also; therefore prophecy, or preaching intelligibly, is to be preferred in the church before speaking with tongues.
William Burkitt, Expository Notes on the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 14:21. Public domain.
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