Interpretation

The umbrella covers two strands — the interpretation of dreams (treated under Dreams) and the interpretation of foreign tongues. The direct material here concerns the second: Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 14 that unintelligible speech without interpretation does not edify the assembly.

Speech That Can Be Understood

Paul's premise is communicative: sound without sense fails its purpose. "So also you⁺, unless you⁺ utter by the tongue speech easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you⁺ will be speaking into the air" (1Co 14:9). He generalizes the point — "There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and no [kind] is without significance" (1Co 14:10) — and then returns to its application: "If then I don't know the meaning of the voice, I will be to him who speaks a barbarian, and he who speaks will be a barbarian to me" (1Co 14:11). Without shared meaning, the speakers stand on opposite sides of a language barrier even within the same room.

Pray That He May Interpret

The corrective Paul gives the Corinthian assembly is to pursue gifts that build up the church: "So also you⁺, since you⁺ are zealous of spiritual [gifts], seek that you⁺ may abound to the edifying of the church" (1Co 14:12). For the tongues-speaker specifically: "Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret" (1Co 14:13). The prayer for interpretation is part of the gift's proper exercise, not an optional add-on.

He sets the stakes for the speaker himself in personal terms: "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful" (1Co 14:14). The remedy is to pair both: "What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also" (1Co 14:15).

The Hearer Who Cannot Say Amen

Paul shifts to the position of the listener. "Or else if you bless in the spirit, how will he who fills the place of the unlearned say the Amen at your giving of thanks, seeing he doesn't know what you say?" (1Co 14:16). The thanksgiving may be genuine — "For you truly give thanks well" — yet "the other is not edified" (1Co 14:17). Without interpretation the hearer cannot affirm what is being said.

Paul closes the section by setting his own practice against his preference for the assembly: "I thank God, I speak with tongues more than all of you⁺: nevertheless in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (1Co 14:18-19). Quantity in the unintelligible tongue is dwarfed by a few intelligible words. Interpretation is the bridge that turns the gift into instruction.

For dream interpretation, see Dreams. For the gift of tongues itself, see Tongues.