FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT – XXIV
THE INTERPRETATION
OF TONGUES
1 Corinthians 12:10 …to another the
interpretation of tongues…
Before
we discuss this ninth and last-listed gift of the Spirit; I wanted to make one
thing perfectly clear regarding the gift of speaking in tongues.
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow
them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues;
There
are many believers who have either a disdain for or a nonchalant disregard for
the gift of speaking in tongues. Perhaps
it is due to all the “negative press” it has received through the years. Disciples of Yahushua Messiah, however, are
NOT men pleasers; nor are we concerned about what anyone other than our Master
and our Elohim think of us.
Consequently, we must consider the implications and ramifications of
this verse in Mark 16; and ask ourselves, “Am I a believer?” If the answer to that question is “Yes,” and
you do not “speak with new tongues,” you MUST ask yourself, “Why don’t I?”
If
the purpose of your life is obedience to the will of IAUE, and your heart is
open to anything and everything that IAUE wants for your life regardless what
your friends, family or even your pastor might think, or even what your own
doctrinal beliefs might prescribe or limit for you; all you need to do is
present yourself to IAUE to receive what He desires all believers to receive;
and you will find that you will speak with new tongues. It is a weapon and a tool that IAUE has
provided as necessary equipment for all believers.
__________
We
now come to the one gift of the Spirit that has been given exclusively to make
another gift of the Spirit more beneficial to the assembly of disciples.
1 Corinthians
14:5
I would that ye all spake with
tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that
prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret,
that the church may receive edifying.
All
of the gifts of the Spirit have as their foremost objective the edifying of the
body of Messiah. Because it is unknown
what is said, speaking/praying in tongues offers absolutely no edification to
the Body. As Paul says, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth,
but my understanding is unfruitful.” (1 Corinthians 14:14) So, one who
speaks in tongues may edify himself (1 Corinthians 14:4); but he does not edify
the church unless what he says is interpreted.
The
gift of interpretation of tongues is absolutely dependent upon the exercise of
the gift of speaking in tongues. Without
tongues, there is nothing to be interpreted.
Consider, in the light of my opening comments, if IAUE has provided for
EVERYONE to be able to speak in tongues; then EVERYONE has the ability to bring
something to the assembly. No one in the
Body of Messiah is without something to offer.
1 Corinthians
14:26
How is it then, brethren? When ye come
together, every one of you
hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done
unto edifying.
The
limitation on the use of the gift of tongues in the assembly is the presence,
or lack thereof, of one with the gift of interpretation of tongues. Thus the interpreter is an enabler. He/she enables the assembly to receive more
edification within the meeting; because his/her presence frees up the use of
the gift of speaking in tongues in the assembly. (Remember my illustration last week of the
pastor who felt lead by the Spirit to speak in tongues in his Sunday morning
service? When he looked up and saw me,
he knew that an interpreter of tongues was present. It enabled him to speak in tongues, knowing
that IAUE had provided for order in the assembly, by having provided an
interpreter.)
1 Corinthians
14:28
But if there be no interpreter,
let him (the one who speaks in tongues) keep silence in the church; and
let him speak to himself, and to IAUE.
Many
assemblies are aware of those in their number who have the gift of interpretation
of tongues; and their presence (or absence) in the meeting determines whether
or not the gift of speaking in tongues is “on the table” for use in the
assembly.
I
remember taking one of my brothers with me to the Sunday morning service of a “charismatic”
fellowship. My brother was not yet
filled with the Spirit and had no experience or understanding of the gifts of
the Spirit. He came with me with
reservations, but he was confident of the legitimacy of my own experience and
he trusted that I would not take him somewhere that he was not going to be “safe”. At one point in the service, a man stood up
and spoke in tongues for about 20 seconds.
When he finished speaking and sat down; I leaned over to my brother and
whispered, “If they get it right, they will mention this, and this…and this.” Then another man stood up and provided the
interpretation of tongues; and he said, “this, and this…and this.” My brother was astonished and knew it was no
coincidence. It confirmed for him that
the Holy Spirit was indeed in manifestation.
Because
the gift of speaking in tongues is so prolific in the church, in order to
facilitate the usefulness of the gift, Paul says:
1 Corinthians
14:13
Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
This
is not a suggestion. It is the
instruction of the apostle, speaking under the influence of the Holy
Spirit. If you speak in tongues; you
should pray that IAUE enable you to interpret your tongues. (Note
that in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul uses “speaking” and “praying” in tongues
interchangeably. The experience of
praying in tongues is ultimately no different than speaking in tongues in the
assembly. The only real difference is
who can hear you when you speak.) This prayer, when answered, will enable you
not only to be the interpreter present in an assembly that frees up the gift of
speaking in tongues to that assembly’s meetings; but it will also enable your
mind to be fruitful when you are able to interpret your own prayer in the
spirit.
1 Corinthians
14:27
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.
Here,
Paul provides a limitation on the use of the gift of speaking in tongues in the
meetings of the assembly. There are some
practical reasons for this. The actual
speaking in tongues is not edifying; but it is time consuming. Between the speaking in tongues, and the interpretation
of tongues, two people could have prophesied.
The simple math of it is one message that edifies the Body (that takes
twice as much time) versus two messages that edify the Body (in the same span
of time). If edifying the Body is what
is important, we can understand why Paul preferred prophecy to speaking in
tongues in the assembly.
One
very important element we have not yet discussed about this gift is that it is
called the “interpretation” of tongues; not the “translation” of tongues. The word for “interpretation” literally means
“to explain.” I have sat next to people
who witnessed someone speak in tongues for 15 seconds, then heard the
interpreter speak for a minute; or just the opposite, the utterance in tongues
was a minute long, and the interpretation was 10-15 seconds long. The time comparison is of no
consequence. The interpretation is only
necessary to take as much time as is needed in order to explain what has been
said in tongues. It is not a
word-for-word translation of tongues.
You
will recall the illustration I provided in our study of the gift of speaking in
tongues, where the woman came into the meeting just to show off and look
spiritual. She spoke in tongues at a
time when it was not the leading of the Holy Spirit. I gently reprimanded the woman, then in a sentence
or two, I explained to the assembly the basic content of what she had said,
using very general terms. I could have
been more explicit with my interpretation; but it was not originally intended
for the assembly; so I only provided an explanation that was sufficient for the
assembly to be edified.
How
does this gift work? For me, when I hear
someone speaking in tongues in an assembly, my mind is instructed upon the
content as though I were hearing them speak in English (my native language). To
my ears, it is gibberish, just as it is to everyone else who hears it; but I
know what they are saying. Unlike the
more common experience with a word of wisdom or word of knowledge or word of
prophecy, where words tend to come in a flow as I speak them; interpretation of
tongues comes as an explanation, enabling me to explain to others what has been
said. There are so few people who really
move in this gift that I have not had the privilege of discussing how it operates
in other believers. Though I have no
reason to believe my experience is universal; I suspect it is common, since we
are not translating tongues; we are explaining content.
Because
of the erroneous training within the church over the past 20-30 years, many
believers have been lead to think of tongues with interpretation being the same
thing as prophecy. This leads to two
more errors. One is the false notion that IAUE has dedicated two gifts (tongues and
interpretation of tongues) to accomplish the exact same thing as a third gift (prophecy). Also, it leads
people into expecting the interpretation of tongues to sound like a prophetic
utterance. The consequence of that is a
lot of “made up” prophecies and a lot of uninterpreted tongues.
When
one prays or speaks in an unknown tongue, Paul says he prays/speaks to IAUE,
not to men. When one prophecies, one
speaks to man, not to IAUE. If you
interpret tongues correctly; it will not be a message to the assembly. It will be a declaration to IAUE. I have been in many assemblies where a person
believed that they had “a word” to speak to the congregation. Instead of prophesying, they spoke in tongues
for a while, then gave the appearance of interpreting their tongues. This is a very common practice; and it flows
from immaturity in the Spirit. Many
believers want to speak in tongues aloud in the assembly just to be heard; and
they use the appearance of speaking a message in tongues as an excuse. (Just to be clear, there is no such thing as a
“message in tongues.” That is a concept
that originates from the false belief that tongues with interpretation is equal
to a prophetic utterance.) People also think that if they speak in tongues before
they speak what’s on their mind, as though they were exercising the gift of
interpretation of tongues, it will give more credibility to their words; or,
more selfishly, it will make others think of them as very spiritually gifted
because they just used two gifts in the meeting.
Sadly,
this gift is abused as much if not more than the gift of speaking in
tongues. The church has yet to
understand how it is to be used; and false ideas and false teachings have
created a form of spiritual “pressure” to conform the exercise of this gift to
church doctrine. This has cost the
church the edification of actually having tongues interpreted, and has
subjected the church to an abundance of false prophetic utterances.
We
will close our study on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit with this post. If you should have any questions that remain
regarding any aspect of this study, please email me at kaprion@gmail.com. I will be glad to respond to your questions.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
