1 Corinthians 12:10 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Prophesy.— This plainly signifies, foretelling the future fortunes of the church, to the comfort and edification of the assembly, as St. Paul expresses it, ch. 1 Corinthians 14:3 and the effects generally attending the act of prophesy in a little time assumed its name. But the proper sense of prophesy, and that in which it is here to be understood, is the foretelling things to come. See on Romans 12:6. The next gift is the discerning of Spirits. The reputation attending the exercise of these extraordinary endowments would be a strong temptation to impostors to mimic and bely their powers, as we see it was in the case of Simon the magician. It graciously pleased the HolySpirit, therefore, amid the bounty of these gifts, to bestow one, whose property it was to bring all the others to the test, by the virtue which the possessor of it had of distinguishing between true and false inspiration, where accidental ambiguity, or designed imposture, had made the matter doubtful or suspected. See Barrington, Benson, and on ch. 1 Corinthians 14:28.