John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 14:37

"If any man thinketh himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him take knowledge of the things which I write unto you, that they are the commandment of the Lord." — 1 Corinthians 14:37 (ASV)

If any one thinks himself. Mark here the judgment, which he had previously assigned to the Prophets—that they should receive what they recognized as being from God. He does not, however, desire them to inquire about his doctrine, as though it were a doubtful matter, but to receive it as the sure word of God, since they will recognize it as the word of God, if they judge rightly. Furthermore, it is by virtue of apostolic authority that he takes it upon himself to prescribe to them the judgment they ought to make.

There is still greater confidence in what he immediately adds—He that is ignorant, let him be ignorant. This, it is true, was permissible for Paul, who was fully assured of the revelation he had received from God, and he should also have been well known to the Corinthians, so that they should have viewed him in no other way than as an Apostle of the Lord.

It is not, however, for everyone to make such a claim for himself, or if he does, he will, by his boasting, expose himself to deserved ridicule, for then only is there ground for such confidence, when what is affirmed with the mouth is also evident in reality. Paul truthfully affirmed that his precepts were those of the Lord.

Many will be prepared to pretend the same thing on false grounds. His main goal is this: that it may be clearly perceived that the one who does not submit to proper order speaks as from the Holy Spirit, not from his own mind. That man, therefore, who is nothing other than a pure instrument of the Holy Spirit, will have the courage to declare fearlessly with Paul that those who reject his doctrine are not Prophets or spiritual persons; and this he will do by virtue of a right that belongs to him, consistent with what was stated at the beginning of the Epistle—he that is spiritual, judgeth all things (1 Corinthians 2:15).

But it may be asked here, how is it that Paul declares those things to be commandments of the Lord about which no statement is found in the Scriptures? Besides this, another difficulty also arises: if they are the commandments of the Lord, they must be observed and they bind the conscience, and yet they are rites connected with church order, for whose observance no such necessity exists.

Paul, however, merely says that he enjoins nothing except what is in accordance with the will of God. Now God endowed him with wisdom so that he might recommend this order in external things at Corinth and in other places—not that it might be an inviolable law, like those that relate to the spiritual worship of God, but that it might be a useful guideline for all the sons of God, and by no means to be despised.