1 Corinthians 14:31 Commentary and Bible Study

There you are, there is two of the departments of preaching – learning (doctrine) and comfort, as mentioned earlier.‘And the spirits of the prophets [verse 32] are subject to the prophets’, which means two things – that a prophet could control himself. Prophetic inspiration was not of such a nature that the prophet couldn’t stop. He couldn’t make it an excuse, and say, ‘O but the Lord has inspired me. I cannot give way to you, I cannot stop.’ ‘The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.’And it means this also, in the context – that each prophet must submit to being checked upon by the next prophet, and endorsed. So, it was a kind of plural ministry as a precaution, lest anyone should let their imagination run away with them, and go off track. Well, this is history, because it isn’t like this anymore. But it is an insight, and a wonderful insight into the order of the times.