John Gill

Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

“Now ye are the body of Christ,.... Not his natural body, which his Father prepared for him, in which he bore our sins on the tree, and which was offered up once for all; nor his sacramental body, or the bread in the supper, which…”

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?

“Are all apostles?.... No some are prophets, as distinct from apostles; and some are teachers, as distinct from them both, and some are neither: are all prophets?”

But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.

“But covet earnestly the best gifts,.... Which may be rendered either indicatively as an assertion, "ye do covet earnestly the best gifts": of prophesying and teaching, of doing miracles, healing diseases, speaking with, and interpreting, different tongues and languages; but I can, and do show…”

If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.

“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,.... Of which the Jews give us instances; they say (n), that R.”

but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.

“But when that which is perfect is come,.... When perfect knowledge of God, of Christ, and of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven shall take place; which will not in this life, but in that which is to come.”

Again, if the trumpet sounds a muffled call, who will prepare for battle?

“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound,.... That is not plain and manifest, so as that it cannot be known on what account it is given: who shall prepare himself to the battle?”

Assuredly, there are many different languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.

“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices,.... לשנא, "tongues", or "languages", as the Syriac version renders it; that is, as many as there are nations in the world; there may be seventy of them, as the Jews say there were at the…”

You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other one is not edified.

“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…”

It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”

“In the law it is written,.... In Isa 28:11 for the word law is not be confined to the five books of Moses, but includes all the writings of the Old Testament; and this entirely agrees with the sense of the Jews. Says R.”

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

“Wherefore tongues are for a sign,.... Of wrath and punishment inflicted on a rebellious and unbelieving people, and not of grace and kindness, as prophesying, or speaking to them by the prophets, was; and so this is an inference from what is said in the…”

But if an unbeliever or uninstructed person comes in while everyone is prophesying, he will be convicted and called to account by all,

“But if all prophecy,.... That is, all that speak publicly in the church, not together, but in their order, one after another, as is hereafter directed: and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned; an unbeliever that has only the knowledge of…”

If anyone speaks in a tongue, two, or at most three, should speak in turn, and someone must interpret.

“If any man speak in an unknown tongue,.... He begins with the gift of tongues, with speaking in an unknown tongue, as the Hebrew language, because this they were desirous of: and the rule for this he would have observed is, let it be by…”

For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

“For ye may all prophesy one by one,.... Not every member of the church, but everyone that had the gift of prophecy; so that they were not confined to two or three prophets at a meeting, but as many as would, or as had anything…”

Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?

“What? came the word of God out from you?.... That you must give laws to other churches, and introduce new customs and practices never known or used before?”

By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

“By which also ye are saved,.... It was the means of their salvation, and had been made the power of God unto salvation to them.”

that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

“And that he was buried,.... That is, according to the Scriptures; for as he died and rose again according to the Scriptures, he was buried according to them; which speak of his being in hell, in "sheol", in the grave, and of his making his…”

and that He appeared to Cephas and then to the Twelve.

“And that he was seen of Cephas,.... Or Simon Peter; for Cephas was a name given him by Christ, Joh 1:42.”

After that, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

“After that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once,.... Not at, or near Jerusalem, for the number of the disciples that were together there, made but about an hundred and twenty, Act 1:15 but in Galilee, where Christ, in the days of…”

Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

“After that he was seen of James,.... Not James the son of Zebedee, and brother of John, though he was seen by him with other disciples, Joh 20:19 who was now dead when the apostle wrote this, having been killed by Herod many years ago…”

And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.

“And last of all he was seen of me also,.... Either when the apostle was caught up into the third heaven; or when he was in a trance in the temple at Jerusalem; or rather at the time of his conversion, when he not only…”

Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

“Therefore whether it were I or they,.... By whom Christ was seen first or last, we were all eyewitnesses of him; or whether I am the least, and others the chief of the apostles; or whether I have laboured more abundantly than they all, this…”

For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.

“For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. This is a repetition of the argument in 1Co 15:13 made partly to show the importance of it, and partly to observe other absurdities, following upon the conclusion of it.”

If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?

“Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead,.... The apostle here returns to his subject, and makes use of new arguments to prove the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and reasons for it from the baptism of some persons; but…”

Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

“Be not deceived,.... By such as deny the doctrine of the resurrection, and by their reasonings about it; or by such libertines who go into the denial of it, and argue from thence in favour of their licentious course of life: evil communications corrupt good…”

There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one degree, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is of another.

“There are also celestial bodies,.... Or bodies in the heavens, as the sun, moon, and stars: and bodies terrestrial; or bodies on earth, animate and inanimate, men, beasts, trees, minerals, &c.”