SPIRITUAL GIFTS – Part Ten

The Sign Gifts – Part B

Speaking in Tongues

By Michael K. Farrar

God’s Breath Publications

 

In this and following segments of this series I begin to cover the spiritual gifts of speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. Both are somewhat controversial, especially the gift of speaking in tongues, because they are to some followers of Christ, a very personal private way in which they both speak to God as well as edify themselves in their faith. While I do not agree that this is the true definition of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues because I believe all true spiritual gifts are for the edification of the church not oneself, I do respect my fellow brothers and sisters dedication to their belief. My intent is not to attack their beliefs, nor to degrade what they practice in their personal spiritual lives, but simply to share my own beliefs and thoughts from my research and study. I must be true to my own convictions that come from study of God’s Word and reliance upon how I am convicted by the Holy Spirit. One of my spiritual gifts is teaching and I feel led to share the results of my study of the Bible with others to help them grow in the Lord as well as expand their understanding of what the Bible teaches. I do understand that many practice what they believe to be the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues and are edified by it. But my belief is that the true use of these biblical spiritual gifts that are spoken of in scripture as practiced in the early church was for specific purposes of validating the apostles, communicating God’s judgment on unbelieving Jews and edification of the body of Christ if it was interpreted by someone who has the true gift of interpretation of tongues. I personally do not believe that the Bible teaches that speaking in tongues is for personal edification. I hope to make this clear in this and other segments of this series.

 

SPEAKING IN TONGUES or LANGUAGES (Greek = “gene glosson”)

 

1 Corinthians 12:28-29

“And God has appointed in the church … various kinds of tongues.”

 

The spiritual gift of speaking in tongues is a gift that is given through the agency of the Holy Spirit to those that God the Father has determined should receive it. This gift was given by the will and actions of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. As with all spiritual gifts, it was given for the edification of the church as a whole and not meant for self-edification as the believers in Corinth thought and practiced. The Corinthian believers expression of the spiritual gift of tongues was influenced by their past history of living in a pagan society, the continued influence of the pagan society around them and their own desire to be unique and self-edifying in their spiritual experiences. These influences and experiences distorted their perception of how this gift was to be used. It is true that many in Corinth were expressing the spiritual gift of tongues in an appropriate manner, but it is apparent that many more were not, and it was disrupting not only church services, but also the personal spiritual lives of many of those who worshipped in the Corinthian churches.

 

Paul recognized that they were not lacking in any of the spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 1:4-9), but he also chastised them for being carnal in their Christian lifestyle and failure to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit in an accurate and loving manner. Because the Corinthian church was basically carnal in their spiritual life, Paul was writing to them to set them straight and get them back on the straight and narrow path of obedience to the teachings of Jesus. The followers of Christ at Corinth illustrate to us today, that while you can have numerous spiritual gifts, you can also be carnal in your spiritual life. Later I will share the numerous problems that plagued the church in Corinth because of their lack of obedience to the teachings of the Apostles, the failure to walk in step with the Spirit and their desire to attempt to live a lifestyle that blended Christianity with pagan beliefs.

 

The mature spiritual life of a church fellowship will reflect the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) because followers of Christ are letting the Word of Christ dwell in their hearts and minds (Colossians 3:16) and are filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). That is one of the key ways to avoid a spiritual life of carnality, by letting the Holy Word permeate your heart and mind and therefore providing the fertile ground for the Holy Spirit to fill you. We quench the Spirit when we drift from the guidance of the Bible and we begin to follow carnal paths of thought, actions and experiences that serve our own interests. Scripture states that spiritual gifts were given, not for our own edification, but for the edification of others and to serve the common good of other followers of Christ with which we fellowship (1 Corinthians 12:7, Romans 15:2, 1 Corinthians 14:5, 12, 1 Peter 4:8-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 3:13-14, 10:23-25).

 

1 Corinthians 12:7-11

“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…to another various kinds of tongues.”

 

As we seek to discover the true definition and godly use of spiritual gifts we must be cautious in how we approach the letters of 1 and 2 Corinthians. These were letters of both chastisement and encouragement from Paul to a carnal church that had many problems and issues of disunity, selfishness and improper association with the pagan culture in which they lived. So let’s look into the scripture and learn some things about the gift of speaking in tongues.

 

The first occurrence in the New Testament of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues is found in the following scripture passage.

 

Acts 2:1-4

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”

 

I should mention that the phrase, “noise like a violent rushing wind,” indicates that there was a sensation or experience of those present “LIKE” a violent rushing wind. Their experience and observations does not mean that the Holy Spirit was or is a rushing wind. Another observation is the phrase, “tongues as of fire.” This phrase does not mean that there were actual flames of fire upon the Apostles and disciples of Christ, only that there were what seemed to be flames of fire. There were over 120 individuals present at this coming of the Holy Spirit, not just the Apostles.

 

The word “other tongues” means that the languages they spoke in were different than any human language they knew. In other words, the human languages that they miraculously spoke at this time were due to the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and were not any languages with which they had any experience or knowledge. Ray Stedman elaborates on this point as follows;

 

“…on the first occasion where we have the manifestation of tongues in the New Testament (that is, on the day of Pentecost) this is clearly evident. They did not speak in any unknown tongues on the day of Pentecost, that is, unknown in the sense that no one on earth ever knew that language. The word “unknown” that you find in Chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians does not belong in the text. It is an italicized word in the King James Version, and the revisers have very wisely left it out. So it is clear from this…that the “gift of tongues” really should be called the “gift of languages,” because that is what it is. It is not uttering some ecstatic utterance which makes no sense, it is not gibberish, it is not a jargon, it is a known language that is spoken somewhere on earth and can be reduced to writing. It is a know language, that is the point. As you read the account in Acts 2, there is no question about this, because there were sixteen languages mentioned there and people who spoke those languages were present.”

Ray Stedman

 

We will see later that Ray Stedman’s viewpoint, that the tongues spoken at Pentecost were known human languages, is also held by other highly qualified theologians and pastors.

 

The scripture passage continues.

 

Acts 2:5-9

“Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?”And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?”

 

We see here that the sound of the rushing wind and the speaking of all these human languages unknown to the speakers caused those Jews present to take notice. Those listening to the languages being spoken were made up of Jewish individuals from “every nation under heaven.” The fact that they were all Jews is an important point to remember as we discuss the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. I’ll speak to this later. Below is a list of the nations that were represented in this passage.

 

Acts 2:9-11

“Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs”

 

Later in this passage we see the response of all these Jewish individuals from the corners of the known world.

 

Acts 2:11-13

“…we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

 

Here we see that those followers of Christ who were speaking in known human languages that they did not personally know were “speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” They were praising and honoring God in languages unknown to them as they were enabled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Jews who were present gave the translation of what was being spoken in such a miraculous way, not because they had the gift of interpretation of tongues, but because they understood the language that was being spoken. It must have been quite a miraculous event and very impressive to the Jews who were present hearing such words spoken in their own languages. But some present were more critical, because while they heard these praises in their own language, they also heard the same praises in numerous other languages that they didn’t know. Those confused and critical suggested the followers of Christ were drunk with wine. The question you might ask is why did the Holy Spirit come upon these followers of Christ in this manner? What purpose could it serve? The answer lies in the fact that God was fulfilling a prophecy. Peter explained later in a sermon he gave afterward, as described by Luke in the following passage. The purpose of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues was for judgment on the nation of Israel for their unbelief in Jesus Christ the Messiah.

 

Acts 2:14-17

“But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.”For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, ‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY,”

 

Paul also explains in even more detail about this fulfilled prophecy in the following passage from 1 Corinthians.

 

1 Corinthians 14:20-22

“Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “BY MEN OF STRANGE TONGUES AND BY THE LIPS OF STRANGERS I WILL SPEAK TO THIS PEOPLE, AND EVEN SO THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO ME,” says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers;”

 

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit empowered followers of Christ to speak in human languages that they did not know as a judgment on the Jewish people. Peter in Acts states that the Holy Spirit is being poured out because Jesus Christ stated that when He left the earth the Helper, Holy Spirit, would come (John 14:16, 26, 15:26). Paul in 1 Corinthians is stating that this spiritual gift will be manifested in believers as a sign to unbelieving Jews to convict them of the truth of Gospel of Jesus Christ. At Pentecost, Peter is attempting to explain why such a manifestation of this spiritual gift is taking place. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church he is trying to clarify the true purpose of the gift of speaking in tongues because the Corinthian believers are so carnal in their Christian lifestyle and misusing their spiritual gifts for selfish reasons. The true spiritual gift of speaking in tongues is speaking praises to God of His mighty deeds. It is a form of worship to God and meant to give Him honor and glory for who He is as Lord of our lives. When translated for those who do not know the human language it is spoken in with the spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues, it can bring edification to followers of Christ while at the same time bringing judgment upon those Jewish unbelievers who refuse to acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior and the Jewish Messiah.

 

So regarding the definition and description of the spiritual gift of Speaking in Tongues, it is the ability to speak in a foreign human language without any previous knowledge of that language.

 

1 Corinthians 12:28-29

“And God has appointed in the church … various kinds of tongues.”

 

Notice that the name of this spiritual gift is in the plural, “kinds of tongues.” This gift refers to speaking any one of a multitude of various kinds of human tongues or languages that is spoken on the earth.

 

The scripture references that discuss the gift of speaking in tongues are as follows.

 

Mark 16:17

 

Acts 19:6-7

 

1 Corinthians 12:7-10, 28-30, Acts 2:3-4, 11,

 

1 Corinthians 13:1-2, 8, Acts 10:46

 

1 Corinthians 14:2-7, 9-14, 18-19, 22-23, 26-27, 39

 

We see in the following passage in Mark that the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues was manifested in the lives of followers of Christ to testify as a sign that they were followers of Christ. But the miracle of casting out demons of possessed individuals was also a sign as well.

 

Mark 16:17

“These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;”

 

“New” in this scripture verse does NOT mean “new” in regards to a standpoint of time, but “new” in the sense of the experience of the person who possesses the gift. In other words they were speaking in a human language that was “new” to them because it was “unknown to them” before this situation.

 

So we have seen from Mark 16:17 that the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues by some, but not all, followers of Christ was to verify the Apostles and other believers who served the Lord. We also have seen from 1 Corinthians 14:20-22 that tongues was a sign to the unbelieving Jews. But God also wished to use it to bring in other races and groups of people into His holy church family. The following scripture passage reveals God’s broad plan.

 

Acts 1:8

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

 

Acts 1:8 tells us here that God wished to open the doors to His church family to all people living in Judea, Samaria and the ENTIRE world. Our Heavenly Father wished to have Jews come to know His Son as Lord and Savior so He used the gift of speaking in tongues at Pentecost to convict them in a miraculous way. We will see He continued His mission as the Apostles spread the good news to Samaria and beyond. We will see in the following scriptures that God will fulfill Acts 1:8, by not only bringing in Jewish people, but also Samaritans and Gentiles as well, in the presence of Jewish witnesses.

 

The Samaritan Believers (Samaria)

 

Acts 8:9-19

“Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

 

In this scripture passage we see Philip the evangelist has preached the gospel in Samaria and many believers accepted Christ as their Savior. When the apostles heard that individuals in Samaria had received the gospel they sent Peter and John. Peter and John arrived and laid hands on these believers in order that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Here we see how the fulfillment of Acts 1:8 was taking place and the activities must be taken in context of the historical situation. Samaritans and Jews had been at odds with one another for centuries. They worshiped separately and were in no way unified in their practice of religion. There was an intense mutual disrespect between these two groups of individuals. It is believed that when the apostles heard of the conversion of the Samaritans there was concern that this age-old schism would continue on in the Christian faith. For this reason it is believed that Peter and John were sent to confirm and approve the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon these believers. It is also believed that while it is recorded as a secondary baptism experience from conversion, the historical situation warranted such a process and helped the transition of the gospel amongst these two different cultural groups of individuals (Jews and Samaritans). Peter and John being authorized Apostles appointed by Jesus Christ gave credibility to the profession of faith by the Samaritans, otherwise controversy might have arisen as to the validity of Samaritans coming into the Christian faith. While not expressly stating that there was an expression of the gift of tongues, it does say that Simon witnessed something extraordinary that happened, very likely the gift of tongues being expressed, and he was so stricken with a desire to have this power and ability of the Apostles that he offered to pay the Apostles for a special anointing to be able to do such miraculous activities. Peter and John chastised him for this and he repented and asked for mercy (Acts 8:20-24).

 

The Gentile House of Cornelius

 

In the following scripture passage we see that God continues to use the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in tongues to establish and verify the early church believers and to again fulfill the Old Testament prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14:20-22 that the Jews will witness people speaking praises to God in foreign languages as a conviction of the Jewish hardness of heart towards Jesus the Messiah. Cornelius was a Roman centurion, a gentile, who loved and feared the Jewish God but who had not taken the steps to observe the Jewish lifestyle and rituals (circumcision for example). We see in the following passage God using the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues to verify the acceptance of Gentiles, those in the household of Cornelius, into the Christian faith.

 

Acts 10:44-46

“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God.”

 

Here we see “circumcised” Jewish believers witnessing this expression of the spiritual gift of tongues as a judgment on the Jewish nation for their unbelief. It must have been a relief to the Jewish Christians present that they had repented and accepted Christ as Savior. Very likely when they witnessed such events, they were convicted to tell their Jewish brothers and sisters of such a miracle. The miraculous expression of this spiritual gift of speaking in tongues among Samaritans and even gentiles must have been convicting for Jewish individuals. God used the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues to judge the Jewish people for their hardness of heart and their rejection of Jesus. He also chose to allow other nations and groups of people to enter into the family of God.

 

The Ephesian Disciples

 

In Acts 19 we see yet another example of Jewish people who speak in tongues when they accept the full extent of the gospel.

  

Acts 19:1-7 “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.”

 

Here we have the apostle Paul who had just begun his third missionary journey and had arrived in Ephesus. We see that he meets a dozen men that are described as “disciples.” There is question as to what might be implied by them being identified in scripture as “disciples.” When you read the account it is apparent that Paul questions them about their faith, probably because he wishes to know if they base their faith on Jesus Christ. We learn from Paul’s questions that they have received John’s baptism of repentance, but had heard nothing of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Paul witnesses to them; they receive the gospel, and are baptized. When Paul lays hands on them they receive the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues and prophesied. This was a special event that brought those who were disciples of John the Baptist into Christ’s church and solidified their inclusion with other followers of Christ.

 

We see here that in the transitional period as God was working through the Apostles to start the church of God it was important to validate groups of people who formerly were not allowed within the family of God. Jesus Christ broke down all barriers between races with His Gospel of Salvation. While many Jewish men and women were accepting Christ as Savior, most Jews were rejecting Him as the Messiah. The gift of speaking in tongues was used in the early period of the church to validate true believers and their commitment to God the Father, Son and Spirit. The spiritual gift of speaking in tongues manifested first at Pentecost and then there followed repeated situations where it was manifested with Samaritans and Gentiles as well as disciples of John the Baptist speaking in tongues when their conversions were established. It must have been amazing to hear new believers speaking praises and worship to God in new tongues they had never spoken before. During the early growth of the church this spiritual gift of speaking in tongues was used by God to both judge the Jewish people and evangelize them in order to bring them into the Christian church. The spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues was given so that those who did not know the human language being spoken in tongues could be edified by the worship and praises that were expressed by those Christians expressing their spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.

 

Below is a chart from David Hocking’s study book, “Spiritual Gifts” listing the scripture, the people involved and the place where the spiritual gift of tongues was used.

 

So you can see that the spiritual gift of “Speaking in Tongues” was a sign gift expressed to both validate the early church apostles, a sign of judgment on the Jewish people for their failure to recognize Jesus the Messiah and a validation of the unification of other peoples and nations into the Christian faith at their conversion. It also facilitated evangelism as people were moved and convicted of this special sign gift.

 

Below we see several other scriptures that speak about the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues and how it was a sign to the unbelieving Jewish individuals. These scriptures state that Jews who fail to believe in Jesus Christ expect signs to in order to come to faith in Christ, but even with true signs from God they still fail to follower Jesus Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 1:22-24 “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,”

 

John 4:48 “So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”

 

1 Corinthians 14:22 “So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.”

 

In the next segment of this series I will continue my teaching on the sign gift of speaking in tongues.