Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all powers?
[Are] all apostles? [are] all prophets? [are] all teachers? [are] all [in possession of] miraculous powers?
1 Corinthians — A pastoral letter answering a long list of questions and problems — unity, ethics, worship, and the resurrection — written to a gifted but divided church.
Voices4
Then when he says, Are all apostles? he clarifies the distinction among these ministries, saying, Are all in the Church apostles? As if to say: No! Are all teachers? This shows the variety of these ministries: "In the fullness of his knowledge the Lord distinguished …
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? no; some are apostles, above them, and some are teachers, inferior to them; and but very few there were who had that peculiar character and gift: are all teachers? no; the far greater part of the members of churches are hearers, or persons that are taught in the word; are neither in the office of teaching, nor have they the qualifications for it.
John Gill· Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)reformed
Are all apostles? ... - These questions imply, with strong emphasis, that it could not be, and ought not to be, that there should be perfect equality of endowment. It was not a matter of fact that all were equal, or that all were qualified for the offices which others sustained.
Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical
Only of pride cometh contention. These contests in the church of Corinth sprang from this original. It was a quarrel about precedency (as most quarrels among Christians are, with whatever pretences they are gilded over); and it is no wonder that a quarrel about precedence should extinguish charity.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches4
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.
If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.
