1 Corinthians 14:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And how this can be, he explains further: "Therefore," he says, "let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also" (1 Cor 14:13-15). Here the Apostle shows that it depends on them to receive the gift. "Let him pray," he says. That is, let him add what lies within his power. If you ask earnestly, you will receive. Therefore ask that you may have not only the gift of tongues, but also the gift of interpretation. Then you will be useful to all and will not shut the gift up within yourself alone.

He shows the way to make this gift useful for many. He says: let the one who speaks in tongues pray that he may also receive the gift of interpretation. Therefore they themselves are at fault for not receiving the gift of interpretation, because they do not ask it from God.

Therefore let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that what he says in a foreign language may be interpreted in the Greek language of the Hellenes. The gifts of the Spirit were of this kind: to one were given kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. Thus one needed the other: the speaker needed the interpreter, and the Church needed both.

Ask, says the Apostle, the One who gave you the gift of tongues to add also the gift of interpretation, so that you may be able to benefit the Church.

The prophetic gift serves as a good and living bond between the speaker and the Church. But the gift of tongues, when abused, only separates its possessor from the faithful. "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful" (1 Cor 14:14). By "spirit" the Apostle means the gift, and by "mind" the explanation of what is said (Theodoret). "For if you bless with the spirit, how will the one who occupies the place of the layman say Amen at your thanksgiving?" (1 Cor 14:16). That is, he neither hears nor understands the final words, "unto ages of ages." This suggests that those guilty of the irrational use of the gift of tongues were the presidents themselves. They had been entrusted with edifying and guarding the faithful.

Persuading the Corinthians who possessed the gift of tongues to care also for the gift of interpretation, the Apostle Paul commands them to pray for this to the Lord, the one Distributor of all gifts. At the same time, he teaches them to pray not in a foreign tongue, but in one intelligible to all. Otherwise, the one praying does not take part in the prayer with his whole soul, but only in part. Others, the less instructed laypeople, cannot take part at all. They cannot even respond to the exclamation of the prayer with the brief prayerful word, Amen, that is, truly, so be it. It is evident that some of the church presidents were using the gift of tongues without profit, even in public prayer.

“Let him pray that he may interpret.” Let him pray to receive also the gift of interpreting what he says in a foreign language. “Ask,” says the Apostle, “the One who gave you the gift of tongues to add the gift of interpretation, so that you may be able to benefit the Church” (Theodoret). “The Apostle shows that it depends on them to receive the gift. ‘Let him pray,’ he says, meaning: let him add what lies in his power. For if you ask earnestly, you will receive. Therefore ask to have not only the gift of tongues, but also the gift of interpretation. Then you will be useful to all, and will not confine the gift within yourself alone” (Saint Chrysostom).