For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up.
The apostle here sums up the argument hitherto, and, I. Directs them how they should sing and pray in public (Co1 14:15): What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, etc.
Commenting on 1 Corinthians 14:15-20
For thou verily givest thanks well,.... In very proper words, and pertinent expressions, with great affection and devotion, suitable to the service; but the other is not edified; the rest of the people, who do not understand the language in which thanks are given; "thy friend", as the Syriac version reads it; or thy next neighbour, he that stands by thee, receives no manner of...
Verse 17. For thou verily givest thanks well. That is, even if you use a foreign language. You do it with the heart; and it is accepted by God as your offering; but the other, who cannot understand it, cannot be benefited by it.