‘Recently I permitted two people to pray for me to receive the gift of speaking in tongues . . . They prayed for me and I really appreciated it, because first they prayed about everything else. I found that to be a blessing. Finally they prayed for the gift of speaking in tongues for me . . .’

The above is a quotation from an address. The speaker would love to be able to speak in tongues. He would like to worship God and to laud and praise him in that special ‘heavenly’ language. He wants it so much that he permitted others to pray for that gift for him.

He is not the only one. Many people have the same desire. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Spirit controlled you in such a way that you began to speak about things that exceeded your understanding. If only you could reach a state of ecstasy about God that you uttered things that you don’t understand yourself. Then you would surely be very close to him and be completely filled with the Spirit. To experience such a pure ‘spiritual enthusiasm’ would be unprecedented and wonderful. To speak in tongues has to be the ultimate experience!

Fortunately for them, the Bible does not prohibit striving for this experience. Paul says, ‘do not forbid speaking in tongues’ (1 Cor 14:39). He even says, ‘I would like every one of you to speak in tongues’ (1 Cor 14:5). That is probably the reason why the Alpha course strongly promotes praying for the gift of speaking in tongues.

But it is important that we ask a few questions. Not to temper your enthusiasm; not to minimize the feeling of joy that you may have as a Christian; and not to curb your desire to worship God. On the contrary. All Christians experience times when they want to magnify their God and to praise their Redeemer, Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit. But the question is whether the Bible and we mean the same thing when we use the expression, ‘speaking in tongues’.

What does that expression mean in the Bible? And what should be its role in the life of the Christian?

1. What Sign and for Whom?⤒🔗

Heavenly language, or Hungarian?←↰⤒🔗

Under the influence of some sectors of the Pentecostal movement and various charismatic groups, we tend to think about ‘speaking in tongues’ as the utterance of strange, unintelligible sounds. Thus, they are sounds that are unrelated to any known human language, a series of strange sounds that are entirely different from normal language. Is that correct?

The Greek word is glossa. It can mean both ‘tongue’ and ‘language’. So its correct translation is ‘speaking in tongues’, or ‘speaking in languages’. And while this may seem strange to you, ‘speaking in tongues’ thus simply means speaking in a language other than your own. Consequently, for you it means speaking in Hungarian or a language other than English. Therefore, do not let anyone mislead you about the meaning of the expression, ‘speaking in tongues’.

Pentecost←↰⤒🔗

For the origin of the concept of speaking in a foreign language, we must turn to Acts 2, the chapter that describes the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. What happened on Pentecost? The apostles and other members of the church received the Holy Spirit. And then they began to speak in other tongues, ‘as the Spirit enabled them’ (Acts 2:4). All foreigners in Jerusalem heard it and they were utterly amazed: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language?’ (vv. 7, 8). And a little further on: ‘. . . we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues. (v. 11).

So what happened is that the Holy Spirit enabled the members of Christ’s young church suddenly to speak on foreign languages. The gospel was no longer being proclaimed exclusively in the language of the Jews. And it was no longer meant solely for the Jews. It was now aimed at all peoples and therefore it was proclaimed in the language of those peoples.

In Mark 16:17 Jesus says: ‘And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues . . .’ The word ‘tongues’ is again a translation of the Greek glossa and so you can simply translate it as ‘languages’.

The believers will speak in new, foreign languages. That is necessary for the task of spreading the gospel to all peoples. For only just before this text Jesus commissioned his disciples with these words: ‘Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation’ (v. 15).

A wall blown down←↰⤒🔗

Israel had always been God’s chosen people. God had given his promises to them and to no one else. So the Jews imagined that there was a massive wall between them and the heathen nations. But what happened on Pentecost? On that day the gospel burst through that massive wall into the outside world. Suddenly people begin to speak about God’s mighty deeds in all known languages. And suddenly people begin to praise the Lord in all known languages. God himself blew that thick wall down.

That is the meaning of speaking in tongues in Acts 2. It is a sign of the amazing fact that the gospel has broken through the boundary of the Jewish nation and that it now reaches all peoples.

And so it is first of all a sign for the Jews themselves. For them it is a tremendous shock. Suddenly the Gentiles gain free access to the God who had always been their God. The Jews could hardly understand that. Many could not accept it. But it was real and that’s the reason for the speaking in tongues.

‘. . . because each one heard them speaking in his own language . . .’←↰⤒🔗

This is very clear from Acts 10 and 11, which speaks about the conversion of the non-Jew, Cornelius, and Peter’s defence of Cornelius’ baptism. In Acts 10:45-46 we read: ‘The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.’ The Jewish Christians – the circumcised believers – could hardly believe that the gospel was now given also to the Gentiles and was believed by them. But the fact that the Gentiles spoke in tongues overcame their doubt, ‘For they heard them speaking in tongues . . .’

In chapter 11 Peter defends the baptism of the heathen Cornelius to the Jewish-Christian congregation at Jerusalem. How does he do that? He says, ‘As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning’ (v. 15). And he concludes his defense by saying, ‘So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?’ (v. 17).

Thus, speaking in foreign languages was an important tool to convince the Jews that the boundary between them and the Gentiles had been erased. The concerned Jewish Christians in Jerusalem did indeed allow themselves to be convinced, as verse 18 attests: ‘When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”’

It is likely that speaking in foreign languages already fulfilled that role in Acts 8:4-25. That passage describes how the gospel reached the Samaritans, archenemies of the Jews. When they believed, they received the Holy Spirit after Peter and John placed their hands on them. For it was very obvious to the observer, Simon the Sorcerer: ‘When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands . . .’ (v. 18).

Acts 8:26-39 further describes how the Ethiopian eunuch believed after speaking with Philip. But it is remarkable that here we do not read anything about speaking in foreign languages. Why? Because no Jews that needed to be convinced were present. And so the transitional sign was not necessary either. Another proof of that is the fact that speaking in tongues was only a sign for the Jews! At the important Council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) Peter had to pull out all the stops to convince a number of Pharisees who had become Christians that the Jewish-Gentile division had indeed been abolished. He did that by reminding them that the Gentiles also received the Holy Spirit, ‘just as he did to us’ (vv. 8b, 9a). We find the same or a similar expression in verse 11 (Cf. Acts 11:17). In speaking that way, Peter undoubtedly refers to the signs that accompanied the pouring out of the Spirit, such as speaking in tongues.

The distinction between Jews and Gentiles has been erased. The dividing wall that caused the division has been destroyed (Eph 2:14). Jew and Greek are one in Christ (Gal 3:28). People from all nations are welcome and no distinction is made based on country of origin or skin colour. That was difficult for the Jews to accept. Paul had to remind them constantly (cf. Rom 3:27-29; 9:23-24; 10:12; 1 Cor 1:22-25; 12:12-13; Col 3:11). The Jews in Corinth found this particularly difficult to embrace.

2. Corinth: Do You Edify Yourself, or the Church?←⤒🔗

The same sign←↰⤒🔗

Paul laboured for one-and-a-half years in Corinth (Acts 18). Many Jews lived there and Paul experienced much resistance and animosity from them. Finally the Jews dragged him before a judge and harassed him until he left. They offered a gigantic resistance to the gospel of Christ that is intended for all peoples. That is probably the reason why, especially in Corinth, the Lord gave the gift of speaking in tongues so liberally. It was a sign to the unbelieving Jews!

In 1 Corinthians 14:22 Paul says that tongues are a sign for ‘unbelievers’. More specifically, those are the unbelieving Jews. Paul makes that clear in verse 21 by a quotation from Isaiah 28:11: ‘In the Law it is written: “Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me”, says the Lord’. ‘This people’ are the Jews.

In our opinion, 1 Corinthians 14 – for many people the chapter about speaking in tongues – deals with the same king of transitional sign as that in Acts 2. In other words, it deals with speaking in foreign languages, not about producing unintelligible sounds, or gibberish. That is why some translations use the expression ‘foreign language’ in 1 Corinthians 14:21.

When Paul says that no one is edified when someone speaks in tongues unless he interprets what he says (v. 5), he is not speaking about an unintelligible secret language. The word ‘interprets’ here simply means ‘translates’. Here too, the Greek word simply means ‘interpret’ or ‘translate’.

Why was an interpreter necessary in Corinth, but not in Jerusalem (Acts 2)? The reason is simple: In Jerusalem people who belonged to the nations whose languages the disciples spoke were present. They heard the disciples speak in their own language, as it says in Acts 2:9-11. So there was no need for an interpreter.

A memory aid←↰⤒🔗

Suppose that you enter a room and you hear one person speaking Portuguese. Would you say, the man is speaking gibberish? Probably not. You may not understand him, but it is not gibberish.

But suppose that you hear 20 people speaking in various languages. One speaks Portuguese, another Russian, and so on. Would you say, what kind of chaos is this; it sounds like gibberish? That is more likely than if you just hear one foreign speaker.

Compare this to 1 Corinthians 14:23: ‘So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?’ Paul emphasizes that not all must speak in foreign languages at the same time, because that would sound like gibberish to anyone who enters the room.

Apparently it was different if only person spoke a foreign language. That would not sound like gibberish to a visitor.

The latter proves that Paul is indeed speaking about an ordinary language. For an ecstatic utterance of unintelligible sounds is quite different from speaking a foreign language, even when that is spoken ecstatically by one person.

Putting things into perspective←↰⤒🔗

Was speaking in foreign languages wrong? No. Paul himself said: ‘do not forbid speaking in tongues’ (1 Cor 14:39). It was a beautiful transitional sign that was a gift of the Holy Spirit. And that sign aided the spread of the gospel on Pentecost and thereafter.

But something went wrong in Corinth. The Corinthians allowed the gift to lead an independent existence that did not agree with its original intention. They turned a sign into an experience. They had come to love it and regarded it as God’s most beautiful and desirable gift. For it was really something if you could suddenly speak in another language. So it became a gift that people flaunted: ‘Listen to me . . . !And that’s why they began to speak in foreign tongues all the time, even in church services, where it did not edify anyone.

Paul reacts to this error by putting the significance of the gift into perspective. His most important argument is that a gift of the Holy Spirit must be used for the edification of the church and not for your own edification or greater glory. This is a very important principle.

For the edification of the church←↰⤒🔗

Paul already introduces this important principle in chapter 12. In verse 28 he assigns a hierarchy to the gifts of the Spirit: first, second, third, etc. He assigns the lowest rank to ‘speaking in different kinds of tongues’. He did the same thing earlier in the chapter when he gave a list of gifts. Again, speaking in tongues comes at the end (vv. 8-10). And Paul adds that his hearers should ‘eagerly desire the greater gifts’ (v. 31). That does not include speaking in tongues and in chapter 14 he makes clear why that is so.

The main thread in this chapter is this: are you focused on yourself, or on the church? Are you the only one that is edified, or do others benefit too? Paul clearly prefers those gifts by which you edify others.

This is apparent already at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 14: ‘For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit’ (v. 2). In other words, only God can understand speaking in another tongue and so you edify only yourself. Besides, you say things that are unintelligible and mysterious to yourself. For by the Spirit you speak in foreign languages that you don’t understand. You have no concept of what you are saying and so you can’t interpret it to others either. In verse 4 Paul says, ‘He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself . . .’, or literally ‘builds himself up’. But that is not the purpose of the gift. The Spirit gave the gifts for the edification of the church, not for your own edification. That is why verse 4 continues, ‘. . . but he who prophesies edifies the church’. Thus, if speaking in tongues has the effect of building up only yourself, you have missed the goal of the gift, which is the upbuilding of the church.

Nicky Gumbel is a strong proponent of speaking in an ecstatic, mysterious language. He even writes: ‘The desire to pray in tongues is not egotistic. “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (1 Cor 14:4), but this can have great indirect consequences for others’ (Een kwestie van leven, p. 149 [Questions of Life]). While Paul in this text makes a clear distinction between being focused on oneself or on someone else and thus speaks in a negative sense about speaking in tongues, Gumbel turns it into something positive. The text also says a lot about speaking in an inner room for your own edification. And so Gumbel misses the point, because it is a sign for the benefit of others.

Paul continues in this line a little further on when he speaks about praying in a strange language. Verse 14 says: ‘For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful’. In other words, if Paul prays in a foreign tongue he doesn’t understand what he is saying. Consequently, he is unable to convey the content of his prayer to another person and the other person is unable to agree with the content. The same applies to praising God and giving thanks in a strange tongue. Verse 16 says: ‘. . . how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?’ And so the other person is not being edified.

Paul emphasizes this constantly in his letters. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11 he writes, ‘. . . build each other up . . .’ And 1 Corinthians is full of such admonitions. For example, 10:23-24 says: ‘“Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive.Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others’. In 12:7 Paul says that the gifts of the Spirit serve the common good! The Spirit has given us the gifts so that we can form one body and can care for each other and serve each other. That is why Paul inserted chapter 13, the well-known song about love, at this point. Verse 5 of that chapter says that love is not self-seeking! And then in chapter 14, in more than ten verses, Paul repeatedly hammers home the importance of building up other persons or the church (vv. 3-8, 12, 17, 19, 26, 31).

This is a very important guideline for the gifts of the Spirit: they must be used for the upbuilding of the church. That does not happen when you speak in a foreign language and don’t provide a translation. Thus, if you speak foreign languages, others will not benefit if there is no translator, and therefore you must remain silent (1 Cor. 14:28).

It would be better to call 1 Corinthians 14 the chapter about prophecy, or the chapter that puts speaking of tongues in perspective.

Is it not something to strive for?←↰⤒🔗

But why then does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 14:5: ‘I would like every one of you to speak in tongues . . .’? Doesn’t this text really mean that the norm for the whole church is that all the members should strive to speak in foreign languages?

No, not at all. Elsewhere Paul uses the same expression when he says that he wishes all were the same as he, that is, unmarried (1 Cor 7:7). That also does not mean that everyone should strive to remain unmarried. Paul means only that the unmarried state has certain advantages. Similarly, there were advantages for the church at Corinth if the members could speak in foreign languages. This would be so especially in their confrontation with the Jews that lived in Corinth, and also when speaking to others, such as sailors who visited Corinth from all parts of the known world.

But within the church Paul much prefers prophecy. That is why he says that he would rather have the members prophesy, because that edifies the church (1 Cor 14:5). Prophecy in understandable language benefits other members of the church. And so Paul says in verse 25 that if a visitor attends the service while members are prophesying, he will worship God and confess that God is really among them. That does not happen when a visitor attends a service and everyone speaks in tongues (v. 23). Take it to heart!

Edifying yourself←↰⤒🔗

In the Pentecostal movement speaking in tongues (in the sense of speaking some mysterious exotic language) does not function as a sign for unbelievers, but only for the believer himself. Adherents regard it as a clear sign and proof of baptism with the Holy Spirit. So it is a kind of self-affirmation that gives the believer the certainty that he has the Spirit. He edifies himself; he benefits from it. But others are just onlookers, or become overawed and desire the same gift. But it is not the Biblical speaking in a foreign language. Indeed, the ecstasy may not be the work of the Holy Spirit, but of other spirits. It is an acquired technique, or a form of hypnosis that is found also in heathen religions, in the worship services of Hindus and Muslims, and in the occult. Paul also warns about the possibility that an ecstatic utterance may have more to do with demon possession than with a gift of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:1-3)!

NB: The Pentecostal movement in South Africa does not accept the proposition that tongues (in the sense of ecstatic sounds) are proof of the Holy Spirit. They know full well the extent to which this phenomenon is part of pagan syncretism. Often, it is pure paganism.

3. The Present: What Is the Point of the Foreign Languages?←⤒🔗

Does it still happen?←↰⤒🔗

Does speaking in tongues still happen today?

This is not such a strange question. For example, 1 Corinthians 12:28 calls the apostles the first gift of the Spirit. But they have not been with us for a long time. They were there only during the first, transitional period. Could that apply also to the other gifts of the Spirit, for example to the transitional sign of speaking in tongues?

Of course, the Holy Spirit can impart something special to whom he wishes, also today. We cannot at all dictate what he can and cannot do, whether on the mission field, or anywhere else. But nonetheless, we may, as a matter of common sense, conclude that he has not imparted this gift of speaking in tongues for centuries. And the probable reason is that it was a transitional sign that is no longer necessary.

Should he find it necessary, he will surely do it. But don’t count on it. Don’t pray for it or wait for it. Our missionaries should not just go into the jungle and hope that the Spirit will cause them to speak in other languages. They must first study the indigenous languages. And they should pray to God for strength and competence to carry out their language studies.

Does it still happen? Perhaps a different question is better: do we still need foreign tongues? Do we still need to learn that non-Jews also belong in the church? Speaking in foreign languages was a tool to impress on people (the Jews) that the Jew-Gentile boundary had been breached. Meanwhile, that has been clearly demonstrated. And so we really no longer need this sign. So why should we strive to attain it? Isn’t it a waste of time and effort? We could use our energy better by spreading the gospel among all peoples.

In 1 Corinthians 13:8 Paul says: ‘ . . . where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away’. Paul does not tell us when that will happen. The context leaves open the possibility that this will take place before Christ returns. By itself that is not a problem, because the greatest gift, love, remains!

What is it all about?←⤒🔗

What it is all about is the same as it was when people first spoke in foreign languages at Pentecost. The gospel must be spread in all languages and to all peoples. In the church of Christ, a person’s country of origin and skin colour is irrelevant.

The following are in the line of speaking in foreign languages today:

• Speak freely to your fellow citizens and others about Jesus Christ as the Saviour and Redeemer of the world.
• Financially and by prayer, support the work of mission and evangelization here and in foreign lands, among Muslims and Jews, so that today they too may hear non-Jews testify of the Messiah Jesus in a foreign language.
• Financially and by prayer, support the work of domestic and international Bible societies and Bible translators, so that all peoples may be able to read God’s words in the language they speak today.
• Last but not least, reject all racism as the work of the devil. Whether you are a Jew, a Moroccan, or an Indian makes no difference to your place in the church. For speaking in foreign languages is a sign of the unity of the church out of all peoples.

In that way what we read in Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 is being continued. The Word of God does not stop at the border of a country or of a language. It is greatly moving when you hear people say and sing the same thing as you, but in another language! The wind blows where it pleases (John 3:8), that is, the Spirit is sovereign. He speaks in all languages and causes Christians to understand each other.

Questions for Discussion←⤒🔗

1. For us the discovery that speaking in tongues is the same as speaking in foreign languages was a surprise. For you too?
2. Can you imagine a little bit how amazed the Jews were when they discovered that they no longer occupied a special position with God compared to the Gentiles? But should they have been so amazed about what happened on Pentecost? (See, e.g., Gen 12:1-3.)
3. What would you rather experience, someone who stands up in a church service and begins to praise God in a strange tongue that no one understands, or someone who goes to visit a lonely elderly person after the service?
4. Do you think that racism also happens among Christians?