[B-Greek] Not just lalein--I Cor 14:5

Dave Smith dave at musicsmythe.com
Sat May 13 20:01:41 EDT 2006


Friends,

One can not just look at the present infinitive of LALEIN, you must look at the whole phrase and paragraph. Everything is a present tense until LABH in verse five. Now if Paul wants everyone to speak in tongues all the time, why does he follow with the list of the three "shut-ups" (SIGATO v.s 28, 30, 34). There was confusion in Corinth, many were speaking in tongues, all at once, singing all at once, prophesying all at once, but the Paul says in the assembly, folks are only to speak one at a time, in a certain sequence, and there is to be no background chatter (v.34). It is also clear that everyone does not have every gift, and when referring to tongues, Paul says, "All are not apostles, are they" All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All do not work miracles, do they? All are not having (ECOUSIN) healing gifts, do they? All are not speaking (LALOUSIN) with tongues, are they? All are not interpreting, are they?" It is clear that the use of the present with the gifts is an idiom, that is, when the gifts were exercised from time to time. It is comparable to a tree bearing fruit. It happens seasonally, not all the time, and not every minute of the day, or every week. This usage is clear in Matthew 3:10 MH POIOUN KARPON, "the one [tree] that is not bearing fruit [in season]". Trees do not produce fruit everyday.This is either a customary present or an iterative present (Dana and Mantey, 183-184). I suggest that we be careful to view the whole context, for the Apostle also uses the aorist in reference to speaking in tongues v. 6, saying speaking in tongues [at any time] is only useful in combination with one of the other gifts, such as prophecy, revelation, teaching, or the word of knowledge. It is a median of communication that demands an accompanying gift to function properly.

This is my first post folks. Have patience with me if I have done something improper.

Dave Smith
Hudson, NC 


More information about the B-Greek mailing list