Translation
Moreover, [the] spirits of [the] prophets is obedient
Go to footnote numberto [the]
Go to footnote numberprophets.
Paraphrase
Moreover, even when one who has the spiritual gift of exhortation is moved by the Holy Spirit to speak, he can and should control himself; he can keep his comments short and allow opportunity for other prophets to speak also. He is even capable of shutting down quickly if the Holy Spirit moves on someone else to speak.
Footnotes
1: "obedient”:
This word often means “subject to, in submission to,” but in the middle/passive voice, which is used here, the meaning is “obedient to”.
2
The lack of articles in this verse probably means that the nouns are considered in a general sense, not a specific sense, i.e. prophets in general, with no certain ones in mind.
THE PROPHET MUST CONTROL HIMSELF AND UTILIZE HIS SPIRITUAL GIFT PROPERLY
It appears that another abuse going on in Corinth was that someone would start exhorting the congregation and go on and on for a very long time while claiming that “the Holy Spirit made me do it and I cannot resist the Holy Spirit.” They claimed that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and commands you to speak, you lose all control, and you cannot resist the Spirit’s flow. To the contrary, Paul lays down the rule that all gifts, spiritual and otherwise, must be exercised under the control of one’s will, for the Holy Spirit does not take that away from us. We are expected to exercise spiritual gifts by being very sensitive to the Spirit. We can say “yes,” or “no” to the Spirit’s urgings. We must choose. We can even start by following His lead and then take over and speak thoughts that are ours instead of His.
Here are a couple good quotes about the verse above. “A holy self-restraint must characterize the Christian” even when using the gracious gifts of the Spirit (From the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges). “An unruly prophet is therefore no genuine prophet; he lacks one of the necessary marks of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling (From the Expositor’s Greek Testament).
AS A HORSE IS GUIDED BY THE REINS OF A RIDER
The best illustration I can think of for this issue is that of a horse being guided by the reins in the hands of a rider. The horse can choose to obey or disobey the commands of the rider, although there will be punishment if it disobeys. The rider appears to be in control; he is telling the horse what to do. But the horse still has the use of its will, so the control of the rider is not 100%. When things go well, the rider’s control looks like 100% control, but anyone who has ridden a cantankerous, head-strong, obstinate horse knows that sometimes the control of the rider is close to zero! What kind of horse are you?