Ambrosiaster : The Spirit is said to be subject so that he may facilitate the good efforts which he prompts. — COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES John Chrysostom : "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets." Seest thou how he put him to shame earnestly and fearfully? For that the man might not strive nor be factious, he signifies that the gift itself was under subjection. For by "spirit" here, he means its actual working. But if the spirit be subject, much more thou its possessor canst not justly be contentious. — Homily on 1 Corinthians 36 Oecumenius : If the gift is subject to the prophets, how can it not also be subject to you, so that you may keep quiet when you are meant to? — PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH Shepherd of Hermas : Walk in them, and exhort your hearers that their repentance may be pure during the remainder of their life. Fulfil carefully this ministry which I now entrust to you, and you will accomplish much. — Shepherd of Hermas, Commandment 12 Tertullian : To be sure, an amender of that Gospel, which had been all topsy-turvy from the days of Tiberius to those of Antoninus, first presented himself in Marcion alone-so long looked for by Christ, who was all along regretting that he had been in so great a hurry to send out his apostles without the support of Marcion! But for all that, heresy, which is for ever mending the Gospels, and corrupting them in the act, is an affair of man's audacity, not of God's authority; and if Marcion be even a disciple, he is yet not "above his master; " if Marcion be an apostle, still as Paul says, "Whether it be I or they, so we preach; " if Marcion be a prophet, even "the spirits of the prophets will be subject to the prophets," for they are not the authors of confusion, but of peace; or if Marcion be actually an angel, he must rather be designated "as anathema than as a preacher of the gospel," because it is a strange gospel which he has preached. — Against Marcion Book IV