Tongues Part One
Introduction: Most of the verses used by Charismatics to support their practice of tongues-speaking are taken from I Corinthians. The Corinthian church is the only church mentioned in the Epistles that practised tongues-speaking. Therefore, the Corinthian church is the model-church for Charismatic churches. However, it is a poor choice for a role-model because it is probably the worst church in the Bible. In fact, I Corinthians is mainly a letter of rebuke from Paul against its many shameful practices. Paul rebukes them for their: divisions (1: 10-11), pride (4:6-8). incest (5:1-2), suing each other (6: 1), deliberate stumbling of young Christians (8:9), eating of food offered to idols (10:2 1), allowing women to rule the church (11:8-9), drunkenness during the Lord's Supper (11:21-22), blasphemous utterances during trances (12:3), envy (12:17), lack of love (13: 1), showing-off in the church (14:26), disorderliness in church (14:40), heresy (15:14), and materialism (15:19).
Biblical definitions of tongues - The Greek word that is translated as "tongues" in the English Bible is "glossa." This Greek word "glossa" appears 50 times in the New Testament - 16 times it refers to the tongue as an organ of the body; once it refers to the tongue-like fires that appeared at Pentecost; 33 times it refers to a language or dialect. On no occasion was it used to mean babble or gibberish (le, a string of meaningless sounds). The English word "glossary" means an alphabetical list of words.
Tongues-speaking is not babbling!: Biblical "tongues-speaking" is first mentioned in ACT 2. In ACT 2:1-12, "tongues" is clearly defined as (a) the gift to speak a language without having learned it previously, (b) in the presence of someone who understands that language. ACT 2:6 states "every man heard them speak in his own language" (the Greek word for "language" is "dialektos," ie. dialect). ACT 2:8 states "And how hear we evety man in our own tongue" (the Greek word for "tongue" is not "glossa" but "dialektos"). The word that is translated as "tongue" in the English Bible is "dialektos," ie, an existing human language. Sixteen different languages/dialects are mentioned in this passage to emphasize that the "tongues-speaking" was not babbling or "angelic languages." The people who heard the words understood them (ACT 2:6,8) and said "we do hear
them speak in our tongrues the wonderful works of God (ACT 2:11).
However, the "tongues-speaking" that is practised in Charismatic churches is usually babbling rather than speaking a language. Language has characteristics that are distinguishable even by those who are untrained in linguistics. For example, if we were at the airport and heard someone speak a foreign language for the first time, we would probably recognize it as a language. However, if someone tried to pretend to speak that language we would probably sense that it was babbling rather than the real language - largely because of the monotonous repeated "string" of sounds that the pretender utters. While it takes great effort and talent to speak a foreign language, it takes little effort to babble. The biblical gift of "tongues" is indeed a supernatural gift from the Holy Spirit, but the ability to babble is not.
Pagan priests/mediums often babble unintelligibly when they are in a trance. They claim that they are speaking in the language of the spirit-world and are able to communicate with the spirits (ie, demons) Religious-babbling as an attempt to communicate with the "gods" is very much a part of most pagan -religions. One of the main advantages of Christianity over other religions is that, we can speak to our God in our own native language (instead of some special chosen language), because He is omniscient and understands all languages.
Can the gift of tongues-speaking include angelic tongues?: Most Charismatics readily admit that they are not speaking in human languages. They claim that their babbling is really an angelic language. They use ICO 13: 1, where Paul says "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels," to substantiate their claim. In doing so, they are taking this verse out of its context. The theme of I CO 13 is not tongues but love. In this chapter, Paul was not claiming that he spoke in the "tongues of angels" nor teaching about "tongues-speaking" but hyperbolically saying "Even if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am nothing" (I CO 13:1-2).
The fact that Paul is speaking hyperbolically is obvious because he did not "understand all mysteries, and have all knowledge" - if he did he would be omniscient like God! Paul was speaking hyperbolically to emphasize the importance of love, i.e, that even if he had everything including the ability to speak all the tongues of men and of angels) and had not love, it was useless.
In the Bible, angels always spoke in human languages to men, and men always spoke to them in human languages. Angels are God's messengers to men. They are not our messengers to God and we are forbidden to pray to them.
Are there two types of tongues in the Bible?: Some Charismatics argue that the tongues they speak today are not "known" tongues (ie, foreign languages) as those that were spoken in ACT 2 , but "unknown" ones (le, ecstatic utterances, angelic tongues) as found in 1CO 14:2,4, etc. The word "unknown" in italics in the King James Bible because not found in the original Greek autograph but was added by the English translators. In other words, there is not another category of "unknown" tongues in the Bible. The translators added the word "unknown" hoping to make the meaning of "tongues" more understandable but inadvertently added confusion to the matter (and giving a proof text for Charismatic utterances). The word "unknown" was added by the translators because the language was previously unknown (and unlearned) to the Spirit-gifted speaker, and also unknown to many of the hearers. For the hearers to benefit, the gift of interpretation is required. ICO 14:27,28 says, "If any man speak in an unknown tongue .... let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church...'
A Charismatic may claim that his tongues is a heavenly language because "in the spirit he speaketh mysteries" (I CO 14:2). He claims that only God can understand his mysterious language and that he is communicating directly with God. Such claims of communicating with God in a mysterious language are made by pagan priests who convince their followers that they are able to communicate with the "gods" through these mysterious languages, and that any one wanting to communicate with the "gods" should come through them, le, with them acting as mediums.
The "mysteries" of the Bible are meant to be understood. Biblical mysteries are simply God's truths which were hidden in time past and which were unknowable by human discovery, but which are now revealed by God. Jesus said, "it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (MAT 13:11). Repeatedly, the Apostles in their epistles reveal and explain the mysteries of the kingdom in terms which all can understand (ROM 11: 25,16:25, 1 CO 2:7,4:1,15:5 1, EPH 1: 9,3:3, 4,6:19,COL 1:26-27).