1 CORINTHIANS 14:11 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.”
If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me — Paul personalizes the principle: mutual incomprehension creates alienation (bárbaros, barbarian—etymologically one who speaks unintelligibly). Even uninterpreted tongues in corporate worship create stranger-dynamics rather than koinónia.
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 14:11
“If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian.” “For suppose not,” says he, “that this happens only in our case; rather in all one may see this taking place: so that I do not say this to disparage the voice, but to signify that to me it is useless, as long as it is not intelligible.” Next, that he may not render the accusation unpalatable, he makes his charge alike for the two, saying, “He shall be unto me a barbarian, and I to him.”…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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