Interpretation of tongues is one of the spiritual gifts listed in the New Testament. It is the miraculous ability to understand and translate foreign tongues that the hearer has never learned. Some debate whether the gift continues today and whether it means a direct translation or a rough interpretation.
The main body of text that informs the understanding of the interpretation of tongues is 1 Corinthians 12-14. However, this gift is not mentioned as much as the companion gift of tongues. This may be because Paul's focus in his letter to the Corinthians was not to emphasise tongues but on love.
How do we receive an interpretation of tongues?
Scholars agree that the gift of interpretation was miraculous and accompanied some believers. However, no passages instruct believers on how to receive this gift (see my article on spiritual gifts).
The only thing that the apostle Paul reveals in his first letter to the Corinthians is that the gift of interpretation is given to believers by the Holy Spirit:
to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12:10 ESV
The church's historical teaching is that this gift ceased in the first century. Only recently, in the 1900s, the gift became repopularised through the growing Pentecostal movement.
What was the purpose of the interpretation of tongues?
In the fourteenth chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes that believers praying in tongues should also pray that they receive interpretation. He also says that speaking in tongues is a lesser gift than prophecy unless accompanied by the gift of interpretation. Finally, he writes towards the end of the chapter that if nobody has the gift of interpretation, then the speaker should not use their gift of tongues.
The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
1 Corinthians 14:5 ESV
Interpretation of tongues is a companion gift to speaking in tongues. So, it follows that the interpretation of tongues was useful for the same ministry as speaking tongues: communicating the gospel message to unbelievers that they will reject God, even when they witness miraculous signs and wonders.
Does it mean translation or interpretation?
Some debate whether the gift of interpretation refers to translation or interpretation. However, this debate is one-sided. The Greek word for interpretation in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 is herméneia. This is the noun that is closely related to several other words:
herméneuó - this verb refers to translation and is often used when the New Testament authors translate word-for-word the meaning of a Hebrew or Aramaic phrase into Greek.
metherméneuó - this verb likewise refers to a word-for-word translation.
dierméneuó - this verb refers to a thorough interpretation.
dierméneutés - this noun refers to a thorough interpreter.
duserméneutos - this adjective refers to something hard to interpret.
All of these words share an origin with Hermes, the god of languages and messenger in Ancient Greece. The plainest interpretation of this verb and noun would be somebody who translates a message from one language to another. This resonates well with the idea that tongues were human languages instead of angelic languages.
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