There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of undistinguishable sound.
Paul is arguing about unknown languages in the church at Corinth. He grants that every language means something to someone, but asks a sharper question: does it mean anything to the listener?
Older versions read "voices" here where the ESV reads "languages." One writer explains the difference between hearing the words and hearing the voice.
It is clear, then, that we may hear the words and miss the voice. In 1 Corinthians 14:10 we read there are "so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without meaning." The voice, then, is the true meaning of the words — the message that the words contain.
The tongues at Corinth were not gibberish. Each one was a real language, spoken somewhere in the world.
Verses 10 and 11 show that whatever tongue God gave a man, it was a genuine language. There were many kinds of language in the world, and each meant something to someone, but not to everyone. For if one did not know the meaning of my voice, I would be a barbarian to him, and he to me. There is no fellowship, because there is no understanding.
One dictionary traces that word "barbarian" back to Roman usage.
The word means "foreigner, alien." The Romans used it for any people who did not understand Latin or Greek.
Paul now presses the point on the speaker himself.
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So also you with a tongue, he says. Unless you give a distinct word — a word your hearers can grasp and know the meaning of — how will anyone know what you said? You are just speaking, he says, into the air. There is not a voice God has given in the world that does not have its meaning! If tongues are only a sound, the one who speaks is a foreigner to others, and those who listen are foreigners to him.
Fine content does not rescue speech no one can follow. What belongs in the gathering is what builds others up.
To be understood, then, is essential to edification. However excellent the content of the unknown language, it has no claim to a place in the assembly unless someone properly interprets it. It is foreign there, even more out of place than a conversation with a foreigner… Why did they not seek to build one another up? That would be divine love, not vain display, but worthy of Christ and His saints. It is flesh that likes distinction for itself, not the service of the Lord for the good of others.
The same test applies to ordinary preaching and teaching.
Obscurity is not spirituality… Every voice in nature has a special meaning, and so words have a special meaning. If we use words that convey no meaning to the hearers, we are in effect foreigners speaking in some strange jargon.
Another writer applies this to preachers who speak above their hearers.
This is a rebuke too to those who like to use university language when speaking to ordinary people. They choose unusual words and tangled sentences. Such a person might as well be silent unless he explains simply what he means.
One writer follows an older reading of the second half: "nothing is without voice."
"There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and nothing is without voice" (1 Cor. 14:10, Revised Version margin). Nothing is without voice to us if we have ears to hear. "Does not even nature itself teach you?" he also says in another connection to the same people (1 Cor. 11:14), showing that "nothing is without voice" is a fact for Christian people to take into account.
- Voice — a voice is the meaning inside the words, not the noise. You can hear the words and still miss it.
- Meaning — every language in the world carries meaning to someone, but not to everyone.
- Foreigner — when the hearer misses the meaning, speaker and hearer are foreigners to each other. Fellowship stops because understanding stopped.
- Building up — however good the content, speech no one can follow has no place in the assembly unless someone interprets it.
- Plainness — the same rule judges unclear preaching today. Obscurity is not spirituality, and speaking into the air helps no one.
If therefore I do not know the power of the sound, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks a barbarian for me.
At Corinth, people were speaking in languages the rest of the room could not follow. Verse 11 is Paul's test case, and it raises the question behind the whole chapter: what is speech for among God's people?
Older versions render Paul's word here as "barbarian." It marked a person by language:
The word barbaros means "foreigner, alien." The Romans used it for any people who did not understand Latin or Greek. In Romans 1:14 such people stand in contrast to the Greeks. In 1 Corinthians 14:11, a person hears another speak in a language he does not understand. He would count that speaker a foreigner, and be counted one himself.
Paul's test is whether the hearer knows the meaning. Older translations use "voice" where the ESV has "language," and one writer explains what that "voice" is:
It is clear that we may hear the words and miss the voice. Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:10 we read that there are so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without meaning. The voice, then, is the true meaning of the words — the message that the words contain.
The loss runs both ways. Neither side gains, and what goes missing is more than information:
Verses 10 and 11 show that whatever tongue God gifted a man with, it was a genuine language. There were many kinds of language in the world, and all of them meant something to someone, but not to everyone. For if one did not know the meaning of my voice, I should be to him like a foreigner, and he to me. There is no fellowship, because there is no understanding.
The worth of what is said is not the issue. The question is whether the room can take it in — and what drives the speaker:
To be understood, then, is essential to edification. The content carried by the unknown language may be excellent. Even so, it has no claim to be spoken in the assembly unless someone interprets it properly. It is foreign there, even more out of place than a conversation with a foreigner. If they were really in earnest about the power of the Spirit among them, why did they not seek to abound in building one another up? That would be divine love, not empty display, and worthy of Christ and His saints. It is the flesh that likes distinction for itself, not the service of the Lord for the good of others.
The many languages of the world go back to God's judgment at Babel. The gift of tongues crossed that divide:
At Babel, man had once had one speech and one language. There God confounded their pride, and men were shut up in a divided condition. God used that for His own purposes, but it set up barriers that prevented common communication... When Christianity came in, power was not yet going to set the world right. But grace was overstepping these barriers. The overflowing love of God was greeting the nations where they were, in their darkness and misery, without forcing them to bend their necks under the harsh yoke of Judaism. What could express this better than speaking to every one of them in his own language?
Used inside the assembly without interpretation, the gift rebuilt the very wall it was given to cross.
The test does not only apply to foreign languages. A man can speak your own language and still leave you a foreigner:
The immediate point of these verses is that mere vocal sounds are of no value. What is spoken must have some meaning to those who listen. It must be intelligible. Is that only important in connection with the gift of tongues? Not at all. It applies everywhere. In our meetings it will not be enough that the speaker talks in English. He may be tempted into a display of his learning. He may use crowds of long, uncommon words that leave his hearers' minds a complete blank as to his meaning. Or he may speak so fast, or so obscurely, as to be unintelligible. In all such cases people merely "speak into the air," and there is no profit.
- Foreigner. Paul's word meant an outsider by language, and in verse 11 each man becomes that to the other. The barrier is meaning itself.
- Voice. You can catch every word and still miss the voice, because the voice is the message the words carry.
- Fellowship. Where understanding fails, fellowship fails with it. Sound without sense joins nobody to anybody.
- Edification. Being understood is the condition of building others up. Content no one can follow has no claim on the meeting. The appetite for display is flesh, not love.
- Reach. The gift was grace stepping over the barriers Babel raised. Used where no one can follow, it rebuilds them. The same test falls on long words, fast speech, and obscure preaching today.