1 Corinthians 14:29 Commentary and Bible Study

Verse 29, ‘Let the prophets speak two or three [at most], and let the other judge.’ The Greek is interesting, ‘judge’. We could translate the Greek word as dissect – let the other dissect, or assess, and prove. So there are two, three, four, maybe, prophets, maybe a fifth; only three will contribute. But whoever is sitting on that platform who is a prophet, also has the capacity and the qualification to intervene if anything seems wrong. If the prophet should get carried away, what then?Now we have the Word of God; it is complete. We are not any more in the days when one man can say one thing, one man can say another; who knows what is right? There was that possibility during the period of the inspiration of the New Testament, when the local churches depended on their prophets. There was a possibility they could be wrong. Ah, but here was the safeguard – God evidently inspired more than one prophet with the same understanding. And somebody could say, pulling his coattails, ‘Brother, that is not quite right.’ And then the man on his feet would desist, as the person sitting next to him on the platform would gently intervene. And that is what the word means, verse 29, ‘Let the other judge’.If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by [that either is not in accordance with what the prophet has said, or which is additional; and the first prophet is speaking a little too long], let the first hold his peace.’ They had some way of indicating this to each other.