1. The spiritual gift of languages (tongues) is perhaps the most controversial gift. There is much disagreement over the gift, it’s continuation or not, and what it looks like in practice.
2. The Greek word commonly rendered as tongues is glōssa which may be translated in one of two ways, either the physical tongue as an organ in the body or as a distinct language. The issue comes with the latter as in, what is it? Is it the speaking of known languages or is it the speaking of a heavenly, angelic language?
3. Scripture gives both episodic accounts of the gift of languages (tongues) in the book of Acts and didactic (teaching) from Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 concerning the practice.
4. The three episodic accounts recorded in Scripture are all from the book of Acts.
a. Acts chapter 2 describes the day of Pentecost, foretold by Jesus prior to His Ascension in Acts 1:8, when the Holy Spirit was poured out as prophesied by the prophet Joel. This was the founding of the Church. On that day, there was a sound “like a mighty rushing wind” and “divided tongues as of fire appeared and rested on each one of them.” (v. 2-3) Luke records that, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages (tongues) as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (v. 4) Jews from all over the empire were present and observing this happen saying, “we hear them telling in our languages (tongues) the mighty works of God.” (v. 11)
b. Acts chapter 10 records the first preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles as Peter preaches to Cornelius the centurion and his entire household. As Peter preached, “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word,” and they were amazed that God had saved these Gentiles, “for they were hearing them speaking in languages (tongues) and extolling God.” (v. 44-46)
c. Acts chapter 19 records Paul preaching the Gospel to Ephesian disciples who had not heard the entirety of the message, particularly concerning the Holy Spirit. Paul laid his hand and them and, “the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in languages (tongues) and prophesying.” (v. 6)
d. These three accounts seem to describe the same phenomenon. Proper hermeneutics dictates that we interpret the less clear passages from the clearest. Here, the account in Acts 2 of Pentecost is the clearest. Common to all three is the presence of the Holy Spirit, coming upon people, being poured out, during a significant spiritual event in a public setting. Acts 2 records the speaking of known languages that others could hear and understand. Cornelius’ household was likely a multi-cultural home with different languages spoken, so it is probably, even likely, that the languages (tongues) were similar to Pentecost, as in, known languages. Similarly, Ephesus was a multi-cultural city, and it is very possible that the presence of different languages indicates actual spoken languages with this event. Lastly, the first two events record that with the languages the disciples spoke about “the mighty works of God”, that they were “extolling God”. The last episode in Ephesus does not explicitly state this, but as it says they were prophesying, that is certainly highly likely, that they too were speaking in a similar way about God.
e. These three events describe a phenomenon whereby people, as the Holy Spirit comes upon them, speak of the mighty works of God, audibly, in known languages that they themselves do not understand.
e. There is nothing that definitively states that these three events must record the practice of speaking in languages (tongues) that Paul teaches about in his first letter to the Corinthians. However, these are the only instances in Scripture that could possibly describe the practice.
5. That the gift of languages (tongues) is a gift of the Holy Spirit is not in question. Paul includes it twice in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, both times referring to “various kinds of languages (tongues)” along with the ability to interpret such languages (tongues). (v. 10 and 28) “Various kinds,” comes from the Greek word genos from where we get the word for genre as in kind. There is nothing in chapter 12 which would lead anyone to believe that Paul is using glōssa in any way other than its general usage of known language. Unfortunately, the King James translation erroneously inserts the word “unknown” before the word for languages (tongues) when it is not present in the Greek, clouding the issue. (1 Corinthians 14:2, 4)
6. 1 Corinthians 14 contains the only didactic commentary on the practice. For context, the entirety of chapter 14 is Paul’s teaching concerning public worship. He does not address private worship or prayer. Some thoughts from chapter 14:
a. As a reminder, the purpose of spiritual gifts is for “the common good”, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry”, building up the body of Christ, to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 12:7, Ephesians 4:12) To that end, we ought to desire spiritual gifts, particularly to prophesy. Prophecy is superior to tongues in that prophesy builds up the church while uninterpreted languages (tongues) only builds up the speaker. (v. 4)
b. To speak in languages (tongues) is to speak to God, uttering “mysteries in the Spirit.” (v. 2) They are mysteries because no one can them understand absent interpretation.
c. It is only the presence of interpretation that renders the exercise of languages (tongues) useful in building up the church. (v. 5) Paul tells believers to pray that they may interpret. (v. 13) If they pray in a language (tongue), they pray with the spirit, but not the mind. (v. 14) And if they pray in this way, how can an outsider say “Amen” in affirmation if they don’t know what is being said. (v. 16) As he reminds us, “the other person is not being built up.” (v. 17) Paul would rather speak five words with his mind than ten thousand in a language (tongue). (v. 19) Therefore, in the public worship setting that Paul is addressing in chapter 14, he insists that order must be maintained. “God is not a God of confusion.” (v. 33) At most two or three, in turn, may speak in a language, “but if there is no one to interpret, let each of the keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.” (v. 27-28)
d. Absent interpretation, Paul even discourages the practice. He proclaims for himself, “I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also (meaning NOT in a language (tongue)); I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also (NOT in a language (tongue)).” (v. 15) In other words, absent proper interpretation, I will not pray, speak, or even sing in a language (tongue). It is not useful in building up the church.
e. So far, we haven’t said anything about the nature of the practice as described by Paul. Is the gift of languages (tongues) known languages or an unknown, angelic language?
f. Nothing in the text indicates a shift in the use of the word glōssa at this point from its normal usage as a known language.
g. Verses 7 through 11 hold the key to firmly ascertaining the nature of the gift. Here, Paul compares the gift to a flute or a harp, which he calls lifeless instruments. If they produce a sound phōnē but there is not distinction in the tones, no phthongos, how will anyone know what is being played. If the bugler plays a sound phōnē with no distinct notes, no phthongos, how could anyone understand and get ready for battle. It is the presence of phthongos or phonics that generates sounds that people may understand and thus respond to appropriately. Verse 9 serves as the fulcrum for the analogy. In the same way, if you utter speech with your tongue glōssa (here, the literal sense of the organ of the mouth is used), no one can understand and thus respond. In verses 10 and 11, Paul wraps us his analogy by shifting the use of the word phōnē from the sounds or tones of instruments to the sounds or tones of humans, i.e. voices or even languages, a perfectly acceptable usage of the word, synonymous here with glōssa for the sake of driving home the analogy. The various and distinct sounds of human voices with phthongos or phonics as in languages convey meaning, but if I don’t know the meaning of the language, then it is useless to me so 1) don’t speak in languages (tongues) without an interpreter and 2) it would seem that languages (tongues) are in fact, known languages.
h. Paul’s reference to Isaiah in verse 21 hammers home this point. When God raised up Assyria in judgement against His people, they had ignored the voices of the prophets, who spoke to them in their native language of Hebrew. Isaiah speaks God’s judgement against them, “For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people.” (Isaiah 28:11) The Assyrians spoke a language the people did not understand, and it was a sign of judgement against Israel. Paul’s quote of Isaiah 28:1 in verse 21 is a further indication that languages (tongues) are spoken, human languages.
i. It is known that ecstatic utterances during pagan worship predated Christianity. Corinth was home to the temple of Apollo where it was likely that the practice existed and even possible that some had been redeemed from the cult of Apollo and were tempted to bring the practice into the church. As Paul is addressing the conduct of public worship and the necessity of order, it is highly possible that Paul has out-of-order Corinthians in mind in addressing the gift of languages (tongues) in first, clarifying that the languages (tongues) are NOT the ecstatic utterances you’ve sought to emulate from your pagan worship of Apollo and if there is no interpretation, keep quiet altogether.
7. Harmonizing the descriptive and the didactic, we arrive at a reasonable description of the gift of languages (tongues). This gift is a phenomenon whereby believers, under the power of the Holy Spirit, offer prayers and praises to God in known languages, not understood by them, for the express purpose of Gospel proclamation, that is, the building up of the church.
8. The key to understanding the gift of languages (tongues) is to consider the gift in its redemptive-historical context. Prior to Genesis chapter 11, the entire world spoke a single language. After the events at Babel, “the LORD confused the language of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:9) Language became a barrier to communication. Genesis 12 records the initiation of the Abrahamic covenant whereby God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. (v. 2) Unspoken, but understood, is that this nation would have its own distinct language.
The prophet Zephaniah prophesies, “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord.” (Zephaniah 3:9) We see this prophecy come to ultimate fulfillment in Heaven, where John saw “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs o our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10) People from all different languages worshiping, ostensibly, in a single language. Surely, they all speak a singular language in Heaven as they worship.
We live in the age between Genesis 11 and the 2nd coming of Christ, when Revelation 7 will be ultimately fulfilled. In this age, language is an issue, a barrier to communicating the Gospel. The Gospel message is “the power of God for salvation.” (Romans 1:16) As Paul later asks, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14) To this, I’ll add, how are they to hear without someone preaching in their language? As Paul later adds, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (v. 17)
It would seem logical that God would give the gift of languages (tongues) to enable believers to proclaim Christ despite language barriers. It is interesting that throughout the book of Acts, as the Gospel spreads to the nations, Luke never notes that language is ever a barrier. Now, an argument from silence is frequently inconclusive. However, it may strengthen conclusions established via other means. And as the Gospel spreads to the tribes and nations, as we develop greater abilities to communicate across cultures and languages, it would also make sense that the gift of languages (tongues) would be less and less necessary and thus would dwindle away or peter out as described in 1 Corinthians 13:8 until the 2nd coming of Christ when it is no longer needed at all.
9. We have not yet addressed what has become known as a private prayer language whereby some believers subscribe to praying to God in an angelic language in private. Three passages are generally used to support the practice.
a. In 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul talks about praying in a tongue (language). Recall the context of chapter 14, public worship. Paul is in no way addressing how believers ought to pray in private. However, in verse 18, he thanks God that he speaks in languages (tongues) more than all of them (the Corinthians). So, Paul definitely spoke in languages (tongues). He then says, “Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak fie words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” (v. 19) The emphasis on public worship is that uninterpreted languages (tongues) are of no use however, it also could show a contrast between Paul’s private practice of speaking in languages (tongues) and his public discouragement of the practice absent interpretation. Nowhere is Paul’s public practice of the gift noted so, if he spoke more than others, it must’ve been done in private.
Additionally, he writes, “But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.” (v. 28) Again, the emphasis is on discouraging uninterpreted languages (tongues) in the public setting. However, again, it could be interpreted that they ought not to speak out loud in uninterpreted languages (tongues) but to speak quietly to themselves in a language (tongue) is acceptable. The focus of these passages is on the public practice, but grammatically, they could indicate that Paul spoke privately in languages (tongues) and that in public, it’s acceptable to pray quietly to yourself in languages (tongues). This understanding is not required by the verbiage, but it would be an acceptable rendering.
b. In the previous chapter (1 Corinthians 13), Paul opens with, “If I speak in the tongues (languages, glōssa) of man and of angels” making a point with hyperbole concerning the primacy of love. It doesn’t matter what language (tongue) you speak in, even in the language of angels, assuming that there is one, if you don’t love, it’s meaningless. This is not a command or even an authorization to speak in the language of angels. For all we know, they speak English or Swahili or something, but the point of the passage is the primacy of love. It does not rule out the literal existence of an angelic language.
c. Lastly, some point to Romans 8 and the “groaning too deep for words” as indication of a heavenly language. (Romans 8:26) However, nothing indicates that these “groanings” are any kind of language other than an appeal to God when you just don’t know what to pray. It is the Spirit that intercedes for us, that prays on our behalf when we are rendered speechless by the sin of the world and the associated affliction.
To be sure, the Bible does not prohibit someone from praying privately in an angelic language. It may even describe it, but it also may not. We are, however, given extensive instruction on how to pray in private by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and nowhere does He mention an angelic language, or tongues per se. As one who does not practice this, I wonder, what’s the point? However, as believers have a relationship with the Lord Jesus, we’ll leave their private prayer life between them and God. I love this quote from Tom Ascol, “But I would sooner rejoice that a brother is praying in private than to castigate him for doing so in a way that is unintelligible.”
10. The Regulative principle of worship guides the corporate worship of the church stating that God commands that He be worshiped in specific ways. These include the reading of the Bible, prayer, preaching, singing in worship, the sacraments of communion and baptism. These are the ways that are prescribed for us to worship corporately.
11. Though we cannot be entirely dogmatic on the issue, and I’ll concede that there is certainly room in Scripture for an angelic language. However, we can never make judgements from the experiential, though experience seems to confirm what we’ve ascertained from Scripture.
a. I’ve observed tongues, that is, the practice of speaking in what would be described as an unknown or angelic language, the ecstatic utterances we’ve previously described. I’ve never observed it practice in accordance with Scripture. I’ve never seen interpretation, though I acknowledge that I have friends who say they have.
b. I’ve never seen anyone claim to have the gift of interpretation. You would think this gift would be as common as the gift of tongues, but you just don’t see people sitting around waiting to interpret, absent someone speaking in tongues. You see the opposite, many people speaking in tongues with no interpretation.
c. People have described the practice of the gift of languages (tongues), missionaries being supernaturally enabled to communicate in a language they do not know and things of this nature.
