SEV Biblia, Chapter 14:16
Porque si bendijeres con el espíritu, el que ocupa lugar de ignorante ¿cmo dir amn a tu accin de gracias? Pues no sabe lo que has dicho.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Corinthians 14:16
Verse 16. He that occupieth the room of the unlearned] One who is not acquainted with the language in which you speak, sing, or pray. Say Amen] Give his assent and ratification to what he does not understand. It was very frequent in primitive times to express their approbation in the public assemblies by Amen. This practice, soberly and piously conducted, might still be of great use in the Church of Christ.
This response was of the highest authority and merit among the Jews; they even promised the remission of all sins, the annihilation of the sentence of damnation, and the opening of the gates of paradise, to those who fervently say Amen. And it is one of their maxims that "greater is he who says Amen than he who prays." See many testimonies of this kind in Schoettgen. Now, allowing that this was of so much consequence in tho time of St. Paul, it was a very serious matter for a person to be in a congregation where prayer was offered, who could not say Amen, because the prayers were in a language which he did not understand.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 16. Else when thou shall bless with the spirit , etc.] Which must be understood of giving thanks to God, not in a private way, in the family and at meals, but in a public manner before the whole congregation, for mercies temporal and spiritual, especially the latter; and that not with the breath, or voice only; nor with the affections of the heart, with the soul, and all that is within it, though that is what should be; nor with the common assistance of the Spirit, and under the influence of his grace, which excites to true gratitude; but with the extraordinary gift of the Spirit, pronouncing the blessing, or expressing the thanksgiving with divers tongues, or in an unknown language: when this part of divine service, which by the way is distinct from singing, is performed in this manner, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned ; idiwtou , idiot.
The word jwydh , idiot, is often used by the Jewish writers, and signifies a plebeian, one of the common people; and is sometimes indeed distinguished from a wise man, or a learned man; but frequently signifies a private person, whether learned or unlearned, that is not in so high a post as others; hence we read twjwydh ynyyd , of private judges, which were not of the great sanhedrim, and of private men, as distinguished from kings f290 ; there are three kings, and four twjwydh , private men, (the Jews say,) that have no part in the world to come; the three kings are Jeroboam, Ahab, and Manasseh; the four private persons are Balsam, Doeg, Ahithophel, and Gehazi: here a private man is distinguished from the public minister that blesses, or gives thanks in the name of the people; and not to be understood of a single person, whose place and office it was to say Amen, at the ministers giving of thanks, and who stood in some particular place for that purpose; but of the whole body of the people, who, in distinction from the minister, were in the condition of private men, and all joined, as will be seen hereafter, in saying Amen; now the apostles question is, that if thou who art a public minister, givest blessing and praise, or returnest thanks to God in an unknown tongue, how shall the common people, or anyone that is in a private capacity, say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest ? It was usual to say Amen at blessing, or giving of thanks privately at meals, by those that were present, concerning which are the following rules f291 ; he that breaks the bread, might not break it until the Amen was finished out of the mouth of those that answered; Rab Chasdai says out of the mouth of the major part of those that answer: and elsewhere it is said, they answer Amen after an Israelite has blessed, but they do not answer Amen after a Cuthite (a Samaritan, or any Gentile, or Christian) hath blessed, unless the whole blessing is heard: but of this kind of blessing the apostle speaks not, but of blessing in public: upon which all the people, and not a single person only, as with one united voice, said Amen; (see 1 Chronicles 16:36 Nehemiah 8:6) to this practice the apostle refers; concerning which the rule is; that the congregation may not answer Amen, until the blessing is finished out of the mouth of the priests; and the priests may not begin the other blessing, until the Amen is finished out of the mouth of the congregation. There were different sorts of Amen, or rather different pronunciations of it; of which the Jews say f294 , they may not answer with a fatherless Amen; nor with a sudden or violent Amen; (pronounced quick and in haste;) nor with an Amen cut off, or asunder (the last letter of it not pronounced): says Ben Azzai, whoever answers with a fatherless Amen, his children shall be fatherless; with a quick Amen, his days will be short; with an Amen cut off, his days shall be cut off; and whoever prolongs Amen, his days and years shall be prolonged.
Now, hmwty ma , a fatherless Amen, was when a person answered, and he did not know what he answered to; and such an Amen, in the case here, must a private man answer with, at the giving of thanks in an unknown tongue; and to answer Amen to what was said in a language not understood, was not allowed of; so the woman suspected of adultery was to be sworn and examined by the priest in a language she understood; and was to say Amen, Amen, to what was said, in a language known to her f296 ; for if she did not understand it, how could she say Amen? which is the apostles reasoning here: but was this an affair of such importance, to be instanced in and argued upon in this manner? with the Jews it was, who say f297 , that greater is he that answers Amen, than he that blesses: and indeed they bestow very extravagant encomiums on those who say it in a proper manner; there is nothing greater (they say f298 ) in the sight of the blessed God, than the Amen the Israelite answers with; says R. Joden, whoever answers Amen in this world, is worthy to answer Amen in the world to come; again f299 , says R. Joshua ben Levi, whoever answers Amen, his hame shall be great and blessed for ever and ever; says R. Simeon ben Lakish, whoever answers Amen with all his strength, the gates of paradise will be opened for him, according to ( Isaiah 26:2). Moreover, it was a practice of the primitive Christians at the Lords supper, at the close of it, to say with a loud voice Amen; the account Justin Martyr gives of it is this f300 ; that when the minister had finished the prayers, and the thanksgiving, all the people present, with a joyful acclamation, said Amen; which word, he observes, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies so be it: and this custom might obtain in the Corinthian church at this time, to which the apostle is thought by some learned men to refer.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 15-25 - There can be no assent to prayers that are not understood. A trul Christian minister will seek much more to do spiritual good to men' souls, than to get the greatest applause to himself. This is provin himself the servant of Christ. Children are apt to be struck with novelty; but do not act like them. Christians should be like children void of guile and malice; yet they should not be unskilful as to the word of righteousness, but only as to the arts of mischief. It is proof that a people are forsaken of God, when he gives them up to the rule of those who teach them to worship in another language. They can never be benefitted by such teaching. Yet thus the preachers did wh delivered their instructions in an unknown tongue. Would it not make Christianity ridiculous to a heathen, to hear the ministers pray of preach in a language which neither he nor the assembly understood? But if those who minister, plainly interpret Scripture, or preach the grea truths and rules of the gospel, a heathen or unlearned person migh become a convert to Christianity. His conscience might be touched, the secrets of his heart might be revealed to him, and so he might be brought to confess his guilt, and to own that God was present in the assembly. Scripture truth, plainly and duly taught, has a wonderfu power to awaken the conscience and touch the heart.
Greek Textus Receptus
επει 1893 CONJ εαν 1437 COND ευλογησης 2127 5661 V-AAS-2S τω 3588 T-DSN πνευματι 4151 N-DSN ο 3588 T-NSM αναπληρων 378 5723 V-PAP-NSM τον 3588 T-ASM τοπον 5117 N-ASM του 3588 T-GSM ιδιωτου 2399 N-GSM πως 4459 ADV-I ερει 2046 5692 V-FAI-3S το 3588 T-ASN αμην 281 HEB επι 1909 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF ση 4674 S-2DSF ευχαριστια 2169 N-DSF επειδη 1894 CONJ τι 5101 I-ASN λεγεις 3004 5719 V-PAI-2S ουκ 3756 PRT-N οιδεν 1492 5758 V-RAI-3S
Vincent's NT Word Studies
16. The place (ton topon). Some explain of a particular seat in the assembly. Rather it expresses the condition of those who are unintelligent as regards the utterance in an unknown tongue.The unlearned (idiwtou). Only once outside of the Corinthian Epistles: Acts iv. 13 (see note). In the Septuagint it does not occur, but its kindred words are limited to the sense of private, personal. Trench ("Synonyms") illustrates the fact that in classical Greek there lies habitually in the word "a negative of the particular skill, knowledge, profession, or standing, over against which it is antithetically set; and not of any other except that alone." As over against the physician, for instance, he is ijdiwthv in being unskilled in medicine. This is plainly the case here - the man who is unlearned as respects the gift of tongues. From the original meaning of a private individual, the word came to denote one who was unfit for public life, and therefore uneducated, and finally, one whose mental powers were deficient. Hence our idiot. Idiot, however, in earlier English, was used in the milder sense of an uneducated person. Thus "Christ was received of idiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort" (Blount). "What, wenest thou make an idiot of our dame?" (Chaucer, 5893). "This plain and idiotical style of Scripture." "Pictures are the scripture of idiots and simple persons" (Jeremy Taylor).
Amen. Rev., correctly, the Amen. The customary response of the congregation, adopted from the synagogue worship. See Deuteronomy xxvii. 15 sqq.; Neh. viii. 6. The Rabbins have numerous sayings about the Amen. "Greater is he who responds Amen than he who blesses."
"Whoever answers Amen, his name shall be great and blessed, and the decree of his damnation is utterly done away." "To him who answers Amen the gates of Paradise are open." An ill-considered Amen was styled "an orphan Amen." "Whoever says an orphan Amen, his children shall be orphans." The custom was perpetuated in Christian worship, and this response enters into all the ancient liturgies. Jerome says that the united voice of the people in the Amen sounded like the fall of water or the sound of thunder.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
14:16 {Else if thou bless with the spirit} (epei ean eulogeis en pneumati). Third class condition. He means that, if one is praying and praising God (#10:16) in an ecstatic prayer, the one who does not understand the ecstasy will be at a loss when to say "amen" at the close of the prayer. In the synagogues the Jews used responsive amens at the close of prayers (#Neh 5:13; 8:6; 1Ch 16:36; Ps 106:48). {He that filleth the place of the unlearned} (ho anaplerwn ton topon tou idiwtou). Not a special part of the room, but the position of the idiwtou (from idios, one's own), common from Herodotus for private person (#Ac 4:13), unskilled (#2Co 11:6), uninitiated (unlearned) in the gift of tongues as here and verses #23f. {At thy giving of thanks} (epi tei sei eucaristiai). Just the prayer, not the Eucharist or the Lord's Supper, as is plain from verse #17.
