Q: Does there have to be an interpreter when someone speaks in tongues?

A: As you read in I Corinthians 12:28 "And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, gifts of healings helps, governments and diversities of tongues...." If it says diversities there must be more than one type of praying in tongues. Actually there are 4 different flows or manifestations of praying in other tongues spoken of in the scriptures.

#1 - Tongues for personal edification - This is the supernatural prayer language each of us receives when we are filled with the Holy Ghost. Jude 20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. I Corinthians 14: 2-4 For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

Tongues for personal edification is the most basic foundational operation of God, because it is designed by God to do for you what no preacher or teacher can do. It edifies you by building into your spirit godly traits such as love, divine insight into God's Word, and wisdom to know right from wrong and truth from falsehood. In this edification process, the Holy Spirit prays through our spirit for needs in our lives that we aren't even aware of. You see, God knows what lies in the deepest recesses of our being, and He through the Holy Spirit prays for us. Isn't that awesome! We have the God of this universe praying for us. Tongues for personal edification does nothing but enhance the working of the Word on the inside of us, causing us to receive and walk in more of God's power as we become more yielded to Him. It also develops our character, which is of utmost importance.

#2 - Tongues for interpretation - This manifestation of tongues is normally presented in a public assembly, accompanied by interpretation by the same or another person. The Word of God states in I Corinthians 14:27-28 "If any man speaks in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God."
Then again in, I 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.

Tongues for interpretation occur when a message is given in an unknown tongue and then interpreted in our native language as a divine message to the church body. We cannot operate in tongues for interpretation anytime we choose.

We cannot operate in interpretation just because we want to. I can pray and ask God that I might interpret, but that doesn't mean I will always be able to do it.

#3 - Tongues of deep intercessional groanings - This diversification of tongues empowers the believer to stand in the gap for their own lives, their families, their church, their city, their nation, etc. God may also call on them to intercede for someone or for some situation that is totally unknown to them.

Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Again, it cannot be generated by our own will. We can pray in our understanding and intercede for those we know. For example, if I know that one of my sons is going to a job interview, I can pray in my understanding for favor and wisdom as he meets his prospective employer and answers his questions.

However, if the devil has laid plans to take his life by having a semi-truck flatten his small car on the way to the interview, I have no foreknowledge of that. It is during a time like this that the Holy Spirit will draw me into intercession with deep groanings. I don't know how to pray, but He does.

If we are yielded to God, the Holy Spirit will lead us into intercession for those in our family, in our circle of friends and even for those we may have never met.

God has called us to be people who will ask for bread on behalf of another. In Luke 11: 5-8, Jesus has just finished teaching His disciples the Lord's Prayer. In this passage of scripture, He continues to teach without changing the subject of prayer. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

In intercession, we become the man in the middle asking bread for a friend. We are the one who stands in the gap. We aren't asking for ourselves. If the friend hadn't come to our home, we would be asleep because we had no needs. We are a go-between for the needs of our friend. This by definition is an intercessor.

The Holy Spirit is faithful, and He knows what to pray for even when we don't! What a priceless gift from the Father.

#4 - Tongues as a sign to the unbeliever - This is the phenomenon that took place on the Day of Pentecost. It occurs when the Holy Spirit transcends the intellect and all language barriers by empowering a believer to preach, teach, or testify about Christ in some language of men of which the believer himself has no knowledge.

Acts 2: 4-8 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were con-founded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

The rules that govern the operation of tongues for personal edification are as different as night and day from the rules that govern tongues for interpretation. For that matter, the rules governing the deep intercessional groanings of the Spirit are completely different from either one of the other two manifestations of tongues. And the diversity of tongues that presents itself as a sign to the unbeliever has very different rules from the other three!

Of these four different manifestations of tongues, two are designed to be used in the individual prayer life of a believer: tongues for personal edification and tongues that extend into the deep intercessional groanings of the Holy Spirit. The other two, tongues for interpretation and tongues as a sign to the unbeliever, are normally for use in public assembly. As a believer begins to understand and yield to these four different manifestations of the diversities of tongues, it will completely transform his life.

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