SpeakingTongues

Here are some questions we must face to get to the truth of what God tells us about the controversial topic of speaking in tongues:

1] What does the Bible mean when it says one of the spiritual gifts is tongues?
2] Does this gift have a time limit, in other words, has its use ceased to exist?
3] Do demons speak in tongues, too? If so, how can Christians tell what is from God and what is from the devil?
4] Why did God give this gift? What did God intend tongues to accomplish?

We must use God’s Word to give us these answers. The Bible will answer itself, therefore we must learn to let God use the whole Bible to explain to us what He is talking about. Anytime we isolate sentences or short phrases out of their context we can make the Bible, or any other book for that matter, or any person to say what we want.

QUESTION 1]

What does the Bible mean when it says one of the spiritual gifts is tongues?

Let’s start with Isaiah 8 –
Isaiah 8:19-20 (NKJV)
19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

When people tried to direct God’s people away from Him they would try to deceive them with mediums and wizards of magic. They offered a different way of life with messages from the dead and occultic gods.

Isaiah the prophet warns that these occultic practices from the prince of darkness are nothing more than attempts to deceive God’s people with mysterious utterances, secret messages as they “whisper and mutter“.

whisper – Hebrew = tsaphaph: also means coo, chatter, peep
mutter – Hebrew = hagah: also means mourn, mutter, speak, utter

The false priests and demonic prophets tried to convince people of their power with strange tongues of mysterious messages from the gods that only they could translate for the people. Their coos, peeping, and muttering sounded other worldly and like great secrets of the gods.

But the true God had a different way with His people. He spoke clearly and revealed His message for all the people to hear and understand. He sent His prophets to speak to everyone and His truth was easy to understand.

Again Isaiah says, in 66:18 (NKJV):
“For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.

Notice the word tongues is connected with nations, meaning that He will reveal Himself to all people, no matter what earthly language they speak, and He will make it plain and simple. His presence, His glory would clearly be seen by all people. And that is exactly what happened…

In the New Testament time, Jesus revealed God’s glory all over the nation of Israel. He healed the sick, raised the dead, fed thousands, and so many other things that the eye witness John said, “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” John 21:25 (NLT)

Well after Jesus was crucified, buried and risen He left earth and gave His Holy Spirit to His church.

God reveals His promise of Isaiah again in Acts 2:4 (NKJV), when the supernatural Holy Spirit falls upon the narrow road followers of Jesus, it says…
“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

You must see, when God began the process of spreading His clear Good News to all the people of the world He showed His glory by miraculously giving new human languages to people who did not learn them.

in Greek and Hebrew, tongues simple means = languages

And in the New Testament, the word translated utterance in Greek = to enunciate plainly, declare, say, and speak forth

ANSWER:
Point 1: Tongues must be understood to be plainly enunciated language. Tongues is not spoken noises, sounds, or muttered syllables, which is demonic delusion as we already discovered in Isaiah 8.

Point 2: The church began with God filling His narrow road disciples with the Holy Spirit, which had immediate physical evidence. Visible fire was seen over the heads of the crowd of believers, a sound of a hurricane force storm was literally heard throughout Jerusalem, and the disciples spoke out loud plainly and understandable about the great things of God in various known human languages.

Here is the account in Acts 2:6-12 (NKJV)
6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?

(Galilee was an area inside Israel… 50-60 miles north of Jerusalem. The multitude of Jews had gathered in Jerusalem for the great feast of Pentecost and came from all over the Roman Empire.)

So we find here, the visiting Jews who were not followers of Jesus followed the howling wind noise, found no storm, and became amazed and confused. They wondered how they could hear a strong wind storm without experiencing a storm, but more shocking was the fact they heard the Jesus followers publicly exclaiming the GOOD NEWS of Christ’s resurrection and offer of eternal life in their native languages

8 “And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?
9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
10 “Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
11 “Cretans and Arabs– we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”
12 “So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?”

Point 3: The Greek word construction makes it plain the disciples continued with the ability to speak these languages. Without language education the disciples were able to speak a new different human language. This is truly a spiritual gift from God, not natural education or learning.

The issue also includes the fact that they did not just speak their new language that one moment to never repeat it again, but that they continued from that time forward to have the ability to speak their new language. This point is made by the Greek verbs used and is technical to the language.

Point 4: When we move further in time after the church grew and spread across the Roman Empire we see the Holy Spirit continued to miraculously give some believers this gift of speaking a language previously unknown to them, even in the city Corinth in Greece. And Paul the apostle explains in his first Corinthian letter that another way the Holy Spirit worked was by giving some the ability to understand the language they newly spoke, not just speaking words that they could not comprehend. Here’s how he explains it…

1 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV)
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:
8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

manifestation in Greek = exhibition, expression

If you go to an art exhibit the artist shows his art creations. In the same way, the Holy Spirit shows His powerful and creative “art” through people in various ways also. But remember, there are thieves and counterfeiters in the art world, and from the world of darkness led by Satan, there are both, thieves and counterfeiters also. I will deal with more of this later. But here is a basic warning…

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.
(The worship and deception of false gods and wizards that we saw in Isaiah 8 never ceased, and the Roman Empire was still full of powerful evil and lies. So Paul continues and says)
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Point 5: According to 1 Corinthians 12:10, various languages are given according to God’s will, “to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.” (NKJV)

This is illustrated in Acts 2 where 17 groups of people are listed as various languages were supernaturally given to the Christians. BUT not every Galilean disciple of Israel received a new and different language from what they already spoke, because one group listed in Acts, the Judeans, which were also from Israel, are included as hearing the Good News in their language also. Some spoke the language they already were fluent in and were just as filled with the Holy Spirit as the rest of the saints. The point is, ALL PEOPLE were able to clearly hear the truth from God Almighty.

divers or different in Greek = some or any object or person, a kind of [something], certain [things]
kinds in Greek = born, country[man], diversity, generation, kind[red], nation, offspring, stock

So Paul makes it plain and says in 1 Corinthians 12:11 (NKJV)…
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

Conclusion: If anyone says they are speaking in God’s giftedness of tongues, but cannot verify that it is a spoken human language, then it is not the Acts 2, Holy Spirit filled language gift. It is either a mental invention or satanic spirits deceiving the person.

Well time is up for this lesson, so go back over the scripture, read it carefully and when ready go on to part 2 where we will tackle

QUESTION 2]

Are supernatural languages a gift that is no longer being given by God?

The reason we need to deal with this question is because there is a lot of argument over this. Many obviously say yes and claim they are practicing tongues and experiencing the Holy Spirit. But many others say the need for tongues is over for various reasons including we now have the New Testament in written form and this gift is no longer needed.

I have seen a lot of squeezing or stretching of this portion of I Corinthians, and I mean to the point of extreme word games, that try to force tongues to not be valid for today’s Christians. But on the other hand, let me also say I only speak English, nothing else, so I am not trying to push a viewpoint here.

Let’s just let scripture speak for itself.

Here is the scripture often used to try and prove there was an end of the spiritual gift for our day… Let’s read 1 Cor 13:8-12 (HCSB)

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

Notice Paul says love, the prevailing will and interest of God will never cease to exist and rule in God’s Kingdom, for his church now and eternally in heaven. But three temporary and earthly gifts to His church: prophecy, languages and knowledge will not be permanently given or needed for the saints.

The phrase “when the perfect comes” means when earth ends and the eternal new heaven and earth begins this gifts will end. Perfect is the Greek word used to describe the finish of building a new thing, like a house. When the contractor finished the house, it was perfect, you know completed.

11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 For now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

As I said, some want to use this scripture to say no one can supernaturally be given the language of say, Chinese if they were only taught English. But did you notice the words, “now we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.” The present is contrasted with the future in heaven with God face to face. In heaven face to face with Jesus all our faith and truth becomes complete and finished [perfect]. Then there is no need for glimpses of the future of heaven with Christ, so the Bible declares “then I will know fully, as I am fully known” but today Paul explains God’s Spirit chooses if, when, and who He gives gifts to glorify God in His will.

Also if you actually read 1 Corinthians you find this church was full of spiritually immature “children” that went wild and caused hurt, confusion, and disorder like any group of unsupervised wild kids do today. Their selfish, childlike behavior did the very opposite of what God intended His spiritual gifts to accomplish.

So Paul tells them plainly to stop their crazy actions and thinking. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.” They needed to put aside their unloving selfishness and immaturity.

So there is no formula for God’s distribution of His supernatural manifestations, simply God’s divine will  must be trusted when He distributes His gifts. Remember 1 Corinthians 12:11 states, “It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.” (NLT).

When the Spirit of God decides to reveal His mighty power to the lost people in a certain time and place He does. And when He thinks it is best to hide and hold off His gifts to a different time He does. Remember the Lord was quiet for hundreds of years in Israel, then when it was the right time in His will, he broke forth releasing His glory and sent angels to visit people, impregnated Mary miraculously and brought His only begotten Son into the world.

And you must understand two things, all of these gifts are rarer than many would like. Everyone did not see angels only a few.

Read Acts and you see as time ticked on, less and less miracles and miraculous events are mentioned. This does not mean they ceased forever, but they may have become rare so that God’s power would be easily seen and not taken for granted. If everyone has a 1000 diamonds in their house, they would not be valuable anymore. If the lost world got used to miracles in their lives they would blindly go into eternity without Christ.

Also remember Jesus warns in Matthew 7:21-23 that many sincere believers, like Judas Iscariot, will be stunned and rejected, while explaining to the Lord Jesus that they should enter heaven because they could perform miracles and had spiritual gifts, but these things can be duplicated by the devil. I will address this in the next section, part 3. Again I encourage you to go back carefully through the scripture and study it to make sure you understand the Word.

QUESTION 3]

Do demons speak in tongues too? If so, how can we tell the difference between demon trickery and Holy Spirit giftedness?

Leviticus 17:7 (NKJV)
“They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.”‘

1 Corinthians 10:19-21 (NKJV)
19 What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or what is offered to idols is anything?
20 Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.

Luke 4:33-35 (NKJV)
33 Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice,
34 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are– the Holy One of God!”
35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

Luke 8:29-31 (NKJV)
29 For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.
30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.
31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.

ANSWER:

Point 1: Demons spoke out of people in Israel in the human languages the people understood. Therefore they speak in tongues. They have possessed people for thousands of years and therefore know many languages. In the pagan priests and mediums the demons mystified everyone with muttering and unclear noises making it sound like a secret language.

Point 2: One way Christians are protected from deception is the word of God. If the translation of the message through a qualified language expert is against the Lord Jesus it obviously is not from God. “To the law and testimony” means God’s Word is the standard to protect us against Satan’s traps. Also, “no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed” will obviously prove the Holy Spirit is not behind the spiritual manifestation in a person whether they claim they are of God or not.

Isaiah 8:19-20 (NKJV)
19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 (NKJV)
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Modern Example: Bill [not real name] a resident of Michigan and from my local church, was a student in a college in the late 1960’s and traveled home on the weekends to attend church with his family. One Sunday evening he drove past a “Pentecostal” church and had never been in a service of that type before.

Curious, he pulled in and slipped in the back and observed. To his surprise a woman jumped up and began to speak in “tongues” with the whole congregation enjoying God’s presence and manifestation. The problem was Bill recognized the “tongues” as French. He was an advanced French student and understood the woman cursing and blaspheming Christ. It scared him and he slipped out the back door and left without a word to anyone there. All seemed convinced they were worshiping Christ, and not even aware of cursing Him.

QUESTION 4]

What did God plan speaking in tongues for?

1 Corinthians 14:21-22 (NKJV)
21 In the law it is written: “With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord.
22 Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers;

but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

1 Peter 4:10 (NKJV)
10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

ANSWER:

Point 1: Paul spends a lot of time explaining to the church at Corinth that the most important thing to God is self-sacrificing love to one another not using selfish religious practices to build themselves up. So he gives a long explanation of what agape love is [1 Corinthians 13], and then applies love to spiritual gifts [1 Corinthians 14].

In a local church of people with all the same language, a gift of tongues could only be used in a selfish manner. Once he got this point established, he then makes this clear statement, “Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; …”

This statement kills the theory that speaking in tongues is for personal, spiritual building of self. Tongues is for one purpose, to minister to the lost unbelievers. This is exactly what God used tongues for in Acts 2. Spiritual gifts are never designed for selfish use, “minister it to one another,” is obviously to serve someone else.

Point 2: In a local area with mostly the same language spoken, the only way tongues could be used to serve and minister to others would be through an interpreter. Without an interpreter love is not being expressed to anyone.

1 Corinthians 14:26-28 (NKJV)
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret.
28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.

1 Corinthians 14:6-11 (NKJV)
6 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching?
7 Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played?
8 For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?
9 So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.
10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without significance.
11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me.

1 Corinthians 14:12-19 (NKJV)
12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.
13 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.
14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.
16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say?
17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all;
19 yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Point 3: There is no evidence or statement given in the Bible for the commonly practiced private prayer language theory. Paul stated he spoke in tongues more than all the Christians in the Corinthian church. But, not in a church gathering, and not in private because he is the one who said it was to be used for a sign to the lost.

The only way he could have spoken “with tongues more than you all” as a sign to the lost would be while he traveled the world preaching in the tongues of the lost that lived all over the Roman empire. Again this would be a sign to the unbelievers matching the historical experience of Pentecost.

Point 4: In a local church setting like the church of Corinth illustrates, when believers misuse a gift from God it only brings division in the body and confusion to unsaved guests who are also of the same language in the local city. “Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? [14:23]

Conclusion:

Point 1: God does not need a spiritual gift exercised to Himself, nor does He gives gifts for believers to secretly, and  without understanding pray to Him. There is no need to speak in tongues to God, He knows all languages and looks at a man’s heart and knows our thoughts.

Point 2: the Bible says that He gave spiritual gifts for Christians to minister to other people. There is no need to speak in tongues in a local church full of people of the same language, unless there is a language interpretation, but Paul teaches this also, and  plainly explains, “yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

Point 3: The only clearly Bible stated truth left is what Paul also says, “Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; .” But, how could unsubstantiated unknown messages from languages that no one understands, be a sign from God?

1 Corinthians 14:23-25 (NKJV)
23  Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

Only the Acts 2 experience explains how new tongues could be a sign to unbelievers! Even the lost could clearly UNDERSTAND that language and God’s message.

If you receive a supernatural gift of speaking Russian, Chinese, or Spanish STOP using it in your local church, because you are “speaking into the air”, no one understands it. Instead be like Paul and go find people who understand you and “prophesy”, yes, “preach” the gospel to them just like Paul and the rest of the first century church did.

The Bible answers itself, and Acts 2 proves it.

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