Speaking WithTongues Without Interpretation

It's okay to speak with tongues in public without interpreting it, in many circumstances.

For example, during times of congregational singing, there's no harm done if you sing in tongues in a manner that doesn't attract any attention away from the proceedings of the meeting.

Or during a prayer-meeting, there's no harm done if you pray with tongues to yourself and to God in a manner that doesn't distract attention from the proceedings of the meeting.

Or if you're in a meeting where everyone has agreed together to sing or pray in unison with tongues - that's fine if you are all doing it - even when there is no interpretation.

Or when you're hanging-out informally with friends, there's no harm done if you say something with tongues, so long as you don't expect everyone else to drop whatever they're doing and listen to you - so long as you're not interrupting the overall flow of the occassion. It's okay!

Sometimes, to speak with tongues, is the overall flow of the occassion. It's okay to speak with tongues without an interpreter during a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit - and it doesn't have to be limited to two or three speakers either.

In Acts chapter two, 120 people spoke with tongues all at once. Later, at Ephesus, twelve people were baptized in water and were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues and prophesied - and there is no record that anyone interpreted the tongues.

In those cases, it wasn't distracting to the proceedings of the meeting, nor did it attract undue attention to the speaker of tongues - it was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit - everyone was speaking with tongues at the same time - no individual was holding the floor demanding undivided attention while he spoke - and there was no interpretation, as far as we know.

Those are totally different scenarios to what Paul was addressing at Corinth. In I Corinthians chapter 14, Paul was talking about a scenario where individual after individual was standing up in a congregation, holding the floor, demanding the entire congregation's undivided attention, and rattling-off ten thousand words in an unknown tongue, without interpretation. The only thing it was achieving was that it showed the congregation that the speaker was able to speak witb tongues - but it didn't benefit anyone else. Obviously if the church persisted in doing that, visitors would rightly think they were mad.

But there are many other circumstances in which it isn't unreasonable to speak with tongues without an interpreter - and it's okay because it doesn't demand anyone else's attention - it doesn't distract attention away from any other proceedings that are going on at that time and place. That's totally fine. It has absolutely nothing to do with the type of scenario Paul was addressing!

"I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all," said Paul.

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