1Cor 12:10 | TNotes | STEP | 12:10 The ability to prophesy does not refer primarily to predicting the future, but to speaking a special message directly from God (see 11:4-5 ; 13:2 , 8 ; 14:1-25 , 29-33 ; 1 Thes 5:20 ; cp. Acts 13:1-2 ; 21:4 , 10-11 ). • The ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit is a necessary gift for any Christian community that is open to hearing a word directly from God (see 1 Cor 14:29 ; 1 Thes 5:19-21 ; cp. Acts 16:16-18 ; 1 Jn 4:1-3 ). • For Paul, the ability to speak in unknown languages here refers to spiritual language that requires the spiritual gift of interpretation in order to be understood. By placing this gift near the bottom of the list (both here and in 1 Cor 12:28 ), Paul shows the lesser priority to be attached to the gift of tongues, with which the Corinthian church had become over-enamored (cp. 13:1 , 8 ; 14:1-25 , 27 ). • The ability to interpret does not refer to natural intellectual ability to translate, but to a spiritual ability to understand the meaning of the Spirit’s message communicated through the gift of tongues (see 14:5 , 13 , 26-28 ).

12:10 ^a The ability to prophesy does not refer primarily to predicting the future, but to speaking a special message directly from God (see 11:4-5 ^b; 13:2 ^c, 8 ^d; 14:1-25 ^e, 29-33 ^f; 1 Thes 5:20 ^g; cp. Acts 13:1-2 ^h; 21:4 ⁱ, 10-11 ^j).

• The ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit is a necessary gift for any Christian community that is open to hearing a word directly from God (see 1 Cor 14:29 ^k; 1 Thes 5:19-21 ^l; cp. Acts 16:16-18 ^m; 1 Jn 4:1-3 ⁿ).

• For Paul, the ability to speak in unknown languages here refers to spiritual language that requires the spiritual gift of interpretation in order to be understood. By placing this gift near the bottom of the list (both here and in 1 Cor 12:28 ^o), Paul shows the lesser priority to be attached to the gift of tongues, with which the Corinthian church had become over-enamored (cp. 13:1 ^p, 8 ^q; 14:1-25 ^r, 27 ^s).

• The ability to interpret does not refer to natural intellectual ability to translate, but to a spiritual ability to understand the meaning of the Spirit’s message communicated through the gift of tongues (see 14:5 ^t, 13 ^u, 26-28 ^v).