1 Thessalonians 5:19
Quench not the spirit (to pneuma mh sbennute). Mh with the present imperative means to stop doing it or not to have the habit of doing it. It is a bold figure. Some of them were trying to put out the fire of the Holy Spirit, probably the special gifts of the Holy Spirit as verse I Thessalonians 5:20 means. But even so the exercise of these special gifts (1Co. 12-14; II Corinthians 12:2-4; Romans 12:6-9) was to be decently (eusxhmonwv, I Thessalonians 4:12) and in order (kata tacin, I Corinthians 14:40) and for edification (prov oikodomhn, I Corinthians 14:26). Today, as then, there are two extremes about spiritual gifts (cold indifference or wild excess). It is not hard to put out the fire of spiritual fervor and power.
