This verse, like other details in the section, presupposes a church situation in which worship is accompanied by teaching. Different verbs for “giving thanks” are used here and in the following verse, but in both verses the ideas of praising God and thanking him are closely linked.
With the spirit: see the comment on “spirit” in verse 14. New International Version‘s “your spirit” makes it clear that the human spirit is meant.
Translators may add the word “only” as Good News Bible has done, since the content of verses 14-15 implies this addition.
An outsider (Good News Bible‘s “ordinary persons”) is rendered quite differently in different translations: New International Version text “one who finds himself among those who do not understand”; New International Version footnote “among the inquirers”; New Jerusalem Bible text “the uninitiated person”; New Jerusalem Bible explanatory footnote “one who is not granted similar gifts”; Revised English Bible “an ordinary person.” The basic problem is that of deciding whether “ordinary people” were members of the Christian community or not. Outside the Bible the Greek word is used of “nonexperts,” particularly of nonmembers who nevertheless took part in pagan sacrifices. This fits the present context well. In verse 23 the same word is used of people associated but not identified with unbelievers, but both groups had access to plenary meetings of the Christian community in Corinth (see comments on verse 23). It is probably best to think of the “ordinary persons” as those who do not have the gift of understanding and interpreting strange tongues. In any case outsider in English often means someone excluded from some select group, and such negative associations are clearly out of place here.
Position almost certainly means “status”; it does not refer to a particular area or location.
Most languages borrow the Hebrew term Amen, a word used at the end of prayers to show that the hearers agreed with the content of the prayer. In languages where this is not the case, it may be possible to translate “how can an uninstructed person be able to respond to your prayer of thanksgiving?” or “… say ‘I agree’ to your prayer of thanksgiving?”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .