Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
Ver. 19. In an unknown tongue] A Parisian doctor tells us that though the apostle would have God's service to be celebrated in a known tongue, yet the Church for various weighty reasons hath otherwise ordered and appointed it. (Benedict.) The Mahometans read their Koran (which they supposed were profaned if it were translated into common tongues) and perform their public devotions in the Arabic tongue, which is their learned language. (Montan. in 1Co 14:1-40)