1 Corinthians 14:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

How then, you will say, does this apply to us? It applies especially to you. Therefore he adds: "So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will what is spoken be known? For you will speak into the air" (1 Cor 14:9).

That is, you will say nothing. You will speak for no one. Everywhere he proves the uselessness of the gift of tongues.

But you will say: if it is useless, why was it given? It was given so that it might be useful to the one who received it. For it to be useful to others as well, interpretation had to be joined to it.

The Apostle says all this because he wishes to unite them with one another. The man who lacks the gift of interpretation should call to his aid another who has that gift. Through him he should make his own gift useful.

Lest they say, "What relation do the examples of the pipe and the trumpet have to us?" he says this. If you also do not utter intelligible words by the gift of tongues, that is, clear words, then you speak in vain and to the air, because no one understands.

The whole power of the gift lies in its being useful. For what purpose, then, was it given? Was it so that only the one who received it might profit? If he wished it to benefit others as well, then he had either to pray to God and, through a pure life, receive the gift of interpretation, or else turn to one who could explain.

Paul says this in order to unite them with one another. He does not want them to think themselves sufficient for themselves. Rather, they should receive those who can interpret, for then the gift will be more useful.

So also you, if you speak some word in a tongue foreign to your Greek speech, will thereby be as those speaking into the air, and not to men.

What ordered measure is for the harp, and a military signal for the trumpet, interpretation is for tongues. For when those present do not understand, the words are poured out vainly into the air.

“So also you.” The Apostle strives to teach the proper use of the gift of tongues. For this he takes as an example the use of musical instruments, which can be pleasant and useful only when they produce definite sounds familiar to the hearers. The gift of tongues can be useful to hearers only when the hearers understand what is being said.

The uselessness, for those present in church, of speaking in unfamiliar tongues, even by inspiration from the Spirit, may be compared with the discordant and confused sounds of different instruments instead of pleasant music. Or it may be compared with the uncertain sound of a military trumpet instead of signals intelligible to soldiers (1 Cor 14:7-8). Or again, it will be speaking into the air (1 Cor 14:9), or speaking as a foreigner to another such foreigner (1 Cor 14:11).

So as not to grieve any of those who were abusing the gift of tongues, the Apostle says it would not be good if, for example, he himself came and began speaking among them in an unintelligible language. They knew well, of course, that this could not and did not happen.

Then, persuading them not to abuse the gift of tongues, the Apostle shows that even inanimate things used to express human thoughts and feelings give intelligible sounds. Such are the pipe, the harp, and the trumpet.

How much more does the human throat express an infinite multitude of concepts in articulate sounds and words. How, then, can an organ of the Spirit of God, possessing the gift of tongues, fail to care about the ability to explain what is uttered by them, for the fuller benefit of the Church?

"Not an intelligible word," μη ευσημον, means a word that has no clear meaning and is not understood. If, he says, you speak with such words, who will understand you? You will speak into the air.

"For when those present do not understand, the words are poured out into the air in vain" (Theodoret). "That is, you will say nothing. You will speak for no one" (Saint Chrysostom).

If a military trumpet gives an indistinct sound, its sound passes into the air, and none of the soldiers moves from his place. So too are your words when they are spoken in a foreign tongue and are not understood.

It is as though he hints at this: do you want the trumpet of your word, uttered in a foreign tongue, not to sound into the air? Join it with interpretation, either your own or through another.