1 Corinthians 14:11

“If then I know not the meaning of the voice” (τὴν δύναμιν τῆς φωνῆς, vim or virtutem vocis) for every voice has a meaning (1 Corinthians 14:10 b); on this very possible hypothesis, “I shall be a barbarian to the speaker, and the speaker a barbarian in relation to me” (ἐν ἐμοί, cf. Matthew 21:42, and perhaps 1 Corinthians 2:6 above), or “in my ear”. By this illustration of the futility of the uninterpreted Tongues, Paul implicitly distinguishes them from natural foreign languages; there is a μετάβασις εἰς ἄλλο γένος in the comparison, just as in the previous comparison with harp and trumpet; one does not compare things identical. The second figure goes beyond the first; since the foreign speech, like the mysterious γλῶσσαι (1 Corinthians 14:2), may hide a precious meaning, and is the more provoking on that account, as the repeated βάρβαρος intimates.