The Interpretation of Tongues in the Bible

The interpretation of tongues is one of the spiritual gifts listed by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:10, where the Spirit gives "to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues." It is the God-given ability to render an utterance spoken in an unknown tongue into a language the gathered church can understand, so that what is spoken edifies the whole congregation rather than the speaker alone. Paul devotes much of 1 Corinthians 14 to ordering this gift in public worship. His governing concern is edification: "Let all things be done unto edifying" (1 Corinthians 14:26). Because a tongue spoken without interpretation leaves the hearers unbuilt, Paul instructs, "let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret" (1 Corinthians 14:13). Without interpretation the gift profits no one in the assembly, so the rule is firm: "if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church" (1 Corinthians 14:28). Paul also sets clear limits on order. "If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret" (1 Corinthians 14:27). The gift is never meant to produce confusion or competition, but to serve the body decently and in order. This is why Paul ranks prophecy above uninterpreted tongues: "greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying" (1 Corinthians 14:5). The interpretation supplies what the bare tongue lacks—understanding. Whatever one's conviction about the continuation of these gifts, the abiding principle is plain: in the worship of God, love seeks the building up of others, and everything must be intelligible, orderly, and aimed at the good of the whole church.