is the Christian revelation and experi- ence; apart from the living Lord it is neither conceivable nor practicable (cf. R. H. Hutton’s Modern Guides of English Thought, pp. 122 f.).
Ver. 20. As εὐχαριστεῖν was a special function of the prophets in early Chris- tian worship (cf. Did. x. 7), the transition is natural. The local abuses of ecstatic prophecy in prediction (2 Thess. ii. 2) or what seem to be exaggerated counsels of perfection (ver. 16 f.) must not be al- lowed to provoke any reaction which would depreciate and extinguish this vital gift or function of the faith. Paul, with characteristic sanity, holds the balance even. Such enthusiastic outbursts are neither to be despised as silly vapouring nor to be accepted blindly as infallible revelations. The true criticism of προ- φητεία comes (ver. 21) from the Christian conscience which is sensitive to the καλόν, the συμφέρον, the οἰκοδομή, or the ἀναλογία τῆς πίστεως (cf. Weizsacker’s Apost. Age, ii. 270 f.). But this criticism must be positive. In applying the stand- ard of spiritual discernment, it must sift, not for the mere pleasure of rejecting the erroneous but with the object of retaining what is genuine.
Vcr. 22. A further general precept, added to bring out the negative side of κατέχετε, κ.τ.λ.---πονηροῦ neut. abstract = “of wickedness,” as Gen. ii. 9 (τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ) .--- παντὸς κ.τ.λ., perhaps an allusion to the maniiold ways of going wrong (Arist., Nik. Eth., ii. 6 14, τὸ μὲν ἁμαρτάνειν πολλαχῶς ἐστίν. .. τὸ δὲ κατορθοῦν μοναχῶς).
Ver. 23. εἰρήνης, with a special allu- sion to the breaches of harmony and charity produced by vice (cf. connection of ili. 12, 13 and iv. 3 f.), indolence, im- patience of authority or of defects in one
18—28.