I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all:
All Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 14:18 Go To 1 Corinthians 14
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all. The Latin rendering Isaiah , "I speak with the tongues of you all," which suggests the question, What could be S. Paul"s meaning in this, since there was but one tongue in Greece, and at Corinth in particular, viz, Greek? Haymo"s answer is that he refers to the different dialects of Greek. A better answer would be, that foreigners and merchants of all nations flocked to Corinth as a great emporium, just as to-day, at Antwerp, Venice, or Paris, we find the commerce and language of the French, Italians, and English, and other nations, and that S. Paul is therefore referring to the different languages to be heard in the streets of Corinth, But Ephrem, Chrysostom, Jerome (ad Hedibiam), and others support the rendering of the text. All the tongues that you speak and more I speak: I do not extol, I do not condemn the gift of tongues, for I use it myself, but I do not use it, as you do, for ostentation, but to edification.
