Speaking in “Tongues”

by Jim Deason
via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15, No. 1, January 2015

Anyone who has “surfed” the 666 channels on your cable network or has talked with your neighbor across your backyard fence has heard people claim the special and direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. Many of these people believe that the first evidence of that miraculous operation is the ability to speak in tongues. Beginning with William Seymour's Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, CA, in 1906, the Pentecostal movement has spread throughout the country and the world, encompassing people from every educational, economic, cultural, and denominational background.

The two main identifying marks of this movement are the claims to miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of healing, and the ability to speak in tongues, often called glossolalia. As used in this article, glossolalia is simply unintelligible speech. It involves using speech-like syllables that sound rhythmically and have no readily comprehensible meaning, i.e., ecstatic utterances.

I intend to examine the question: Is the modern glossolalia claimed today really the same gift as the ability to speak in tongues that we read about in the New Testament church (Acts 2:4)? Let’s compare it to the “then versus now” comparison.

The NATURE of the Two Are Different

In the New Testament, tongues were recognizable human languages. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles spoke in tongues. Those who heard heard “them speak in his own language” (Acts 2:6). The hearers knew they were “speaking of the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:12), something impossible if all they were hearing was the unintelligible gibberish that many hear today.

The RECEPTION of the Two Is Different

In the New Testament, tongues were received miraculously. Some received tongues by a direct outpouring of the Holy Spirit from God, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, of which there were only two cases (Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-48). Others received tongues through the laying on of the apostles' hands (Acts 19:1-6). Since there is only one baptism today (Ephesians 4:4), that being water baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), no one receives the gift of tongues by Holy Spirit baptism today. There are no apostles to impart miraculous gifts today; hence, there is no tongue speaking. Today, glossolalia is a learned practice. Therefore, modern glossolalia is not the tongue-speaking of the Bible.

The RECIPIENTS of the Two are Different

In the New Testament, the recipients of the gift of tongues were Christians. The only exception was Cornelius, who immediately became a Christian upon hearing the gospel (Acts 10, 11). Today, not all those who speak glossolalia are Christians. Ecstatic utterances are found in the practice of modern Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims. There are glossolalia-speaking homosexuals. Even many false teachers lay claim to the same practice of glossolalia (for example, Oneness Pentecostals versus Trinitarian churches of God, both of whom can't be right). Is the Holy Spirit gifting all of these who teach and practice contradictory doctrines? Certainly not! And none of these are practicing the “gift of tongues” you read about in the Bible.

The PURPOSES of the Two Are Different

In the New Testament, the gift of tongues was a tool to reveal, confirm, and establish God's will (Mark 16:17, 20; Hebrews 2:3-4; I Corinthians 14:22). Modern glossolalia cannot be used to establish truth because people who teach contradictory doctrines share it. Imagine a charismatic Catholic trying to confirm the doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope to a charismatic Baptist by his glossolalia — it is impossible because they both lay claim to the same gift (neither of which is the New Testament gift of tongues).

The REGULATION of the Two Is Different

One passage in the New Testament regulated the exercise of the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues: I Corinthians 14:26-40. Several regulations are mentioned here.

1. All things had to be done for the edification of the whole church (I Corinthians 14:26; cf. 12:7).
2. In any given assembly, the tongue speaking was to be limited to two, or at the most, three (I Corinthians 14:27).
3. These tongue-speakers were to address the assembly one at a time (I Corinthians 14:27).
4. The tongues were always to be interpreted, or else the tongue-speaker was to remain silent (I Corinthians 14:28).
5. Women were to remain silent (I Corinthians 14:34-35).
6. All things were to be “done properly and in an orderly manner” (I Corinthians 14:40).

I have been witness to several assemblies wherein modern glossolalia was practiced. In my recollection, I have never seen even one of these regulations mentioned above observed. Not everything was done for the common good because the glossolalia was not interpreted. Instead of only two or three and one at a time, many spoke glossolalia and virtually simultaneously. This unintelligible gibberish had no interpreter (primarily because there was nothing to interpret). In plain violation of I Corinthians 14:34-35, in most cases, most of the glossolalia was being spoken by women instead of being silent. There was no observable “orderly manner” about the assembly. You might describe it as controlled chaos.

This, in my judgment, shows beyond doubt that the glossolalia practiced today is not even “a 32nd cousin” to what we read about in the New Testament church.

The FOCUS of the Two Is Different

Please take careful note that the practice of miraculous spiritual gifts in the New Testament, including the gift of tongues, was for the edification of the entire body. “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (I Corinthians 12:7). Again, “When you assemble.... Let all things be done for edification” (I Corinthians 14:26). In the New Testament, the focus of the interpreted tongue being spoken was the edification of other people (I Corinthians 14:4-6, 12-13, 19,).

Today, the speaking of glossolalia is all about the subjective feelings of the one doing the speaking. It is not uncommon for the glossolalia speaker to talk about what that ability has done for them, how wonderful the practice is, or how empty their spiritual life had been before they learned “to speak in tongues.” Others are encouraged to try it to get that same blessed feeling. Again, the focus of the gift of tongues in the New Testament, claimed by glossolalia speakers today, is diametrically opposed to each other.

The EMPHASES of the Two Are Different

Among the spiritual gifts God set in the church, as listed in I Corinthians 12:10, 28, and 30, the gift of tongues was among the last mentioned. In fact, not every Christian spoke in tongues in the New Testament (I Corinthians 12:29-30). Paul even said that the gift of prophecy was to be desired above the ability to speak in other languages (I Corinthians 14:1-5, 12, 18-19, 39). However, the emphasis placed upon this gift differs among modern glossolalia speakers. Pentecostals and other charismatics teach and act like the ability to speak glossolalia is among the most important gifts. They would have us believe that “tongues” are for all Christians. Some believe that the modern “gift of tongues” signifies one’s salvation.

The DURATION of the Two Is Different

In the New Testament, spiritual gifts, of which the ability to miraculously speak in another language was one, were for the revelation and confirmation of the word of God — they confirmed both the message and the messenger. The Scriptures plainly teach that those first-century miraculous gifts ceased when revelation was complete (I Corinthians 13:8-13). Revelation is complete (Jude 3); thus, the gifts used to reveal the word of God and confirm it have ceased. By way of illustration, one could liken spiritual gifts to the scaffolding used to construct a building. When the structure is complete, the scaffolding is removed. With revelation complete and unalterable, there is no more need for miraculous spiritual gifts since their purpose was served.

It is interesting to note from a historical perspective that from the pen of early Christian writers such as Augustine (354-430 AD)[1] and Chrysostom (347-407 AD)[2], there are references to the cessation of miraculous gifts. It has been my experience that Pentecostal debaters have acknowledged this historical evidence but errantly attribute what they claim to be the outpouring of the miraculous today to be a part of a “latter rain” (misusing James 5:7) of the Holy Spirit. This “latter rain,” they claim, began with the Azusa Street Revival in 1906, which I mentioned earlier. Their claims, notwithstanding, from both a historical and biblical perspective, it is easy to see that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were intended to be temporary and, in fact, recognized by most, ceased within the first century.

Conclusion

It is the work of Satan to blind the minds of the unbelieving (I Corinthians 4:4). People who do not receive a love of the truth are often deluded into believing lies (II Thessalonians 2:10-12). I do not say this to question people's sincerity, only their understanding of Scripture and their misunderstanding of their personal experiences. It ought to be abundantly clear that today's glossolalia movement is not the same as the gift of tongues we read about in the New Testament. Sadly, being guided by subjectivism and blinded by deception, many have fallen into the devil’s snare.

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (I John 4:1).

Footnotes

1. Schaff, Philip, ed. St. Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies. Vol. 7. New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888. Print. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series, 497.
2. Schaff, Philip, ed. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. Vol. 12. New York: Christian Literature Company, 1889. Print. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series, 168.