“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues.” (Acts 2:4)
One topic most Christians find highly controversial is speaking in tongues. Many believe it is a heavenly or angelic language that edifies God and proves one’s salvation, while others contend it is simply gibberish. Proponents often point to Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13 for proof.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Cor 13:1)
They also point to 1 Corinthians 14:2, where Paul seems to indicate that he can speak an angelic language meant for God, and men cannot understand it because “he speaks mysteries.”
“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit, he speaks mysteries.”
A third common Scripture proponents use is also in 1 Corinthians 14.
“Therefore, let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.” (v13)
This verse seems to indicate that speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift that others can interpret. Further on in chapter fourteen, Paul says, “Therefore, tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers,” which many people understand to say that speaking in tongues is a sign of one’s salvation.
Many charismatic churches teach and emphatically defend these Scriptures to mean that speaking in tongues, i.e., speaking an angelic language, is a spiritual gift that one should not squander but use to enhance their worship of God, prove their salvation, and act as God’s messenger by interpreting it for others. Moreover, it is a permanent gift and is still valid and powerful today, just as it was in the time of the apostles.
Surely, they argue, Paul taught that speaking in tongues is a true gift from God. The only problem is that it is not what Paul was trying to say in his letter to the Corinthian church.
A Struggling Church
When reading the Scriptures, rule number one is always to read them in context. Read the author’s introduction to the book (if there is one) and the verses (and perhaps chapters) before and after the selected passage. And, if possible, research the culture of the time.
Concerning the recently established Corinthian church in 55 A.D., the congregation had great difficulty breaking from its culturally Greek past. It did not help that the Jewish leaders arrested Paul for violating the Torah after only eighteen months of ministry. The Roman proconsul dismissed the case, but the incident caused Paul to leave Corinth and return to Israel (Acts 18:1-23), leaving his fellow missionary, Apollos, to take over the ministry.
The church soon developed factions. Some were loyal to Apollos, others to Paul, some to Peter, and some to Jesus alone (1 Cor 1:10-13; 3:1-9). The lack of unity split the church, many reverting to their pagan roots, prompting Paul’s letter to correct their behavior. He also encouraged the remaining faithful to break fellowship with the unrepentant others and put them out of the church (5:9-13).
Speaking in tongues became one part of the church’s slide back into its immoral and pagan ways. Other issues included sexual sin, divorce, taking the Lord’s Supper, the church’s spiritual identity, and idol worship. Paul attempted to guide the church back to the foundational truth of God’s word and a correct understanding and exercise of godly love. Genuine love in Christ directs the proper use of one’s spiritual gifts.
Paul does not explain what these spiritual gifts are God in his letter to the Corinthian church, but he does list them in his letter to the church in Galatia.
Gift of Tongues?
Paul’s letter to the Galatian church concerns countering false teachers who spread the heresy that one is not justified by faith alone. Most especially, he confronts the importance of walking in the (Holy) Spirit.
The flesh wants to work against the Spirit. It manifests itself in acts of adultery, idolatry, hatred, jealousy, anger, selfishness, drunkenness, murder, fighting, and more. Such behavior is outright rebellion against God, so Paul lists the gifts and evidence of walking in the Spirit.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control.” (Gal 5:22)
Fruits/Gifts of the Spirit are apparent evidence of one’s genuine love for Christ. Pursuing these gifts sets believers apart from the world and fulfills the Greatest Commandment, the law of love (Matt 22:37-39). But note that speaking in tongues is not on the list.
Tongues as a Sign
As Paul established each New Testament church, it was common practice for God to baptize the people spiritually as a sign of their entrance into the body of Christ. The first baptism occurred on Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit sat on the heads of each person in the form of small flames, and everyone spoke in a different language.
“Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:3-4)
On that day, the Holy Spirit allowed everyone present to speak a foreign human language they never learned so that others could understand them.
“And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?” (Acts 2:8)
The miraculous event proved the power of the Holy Spirit.
The same event happened in Acts 8:14-17 to the Samaritans, Acts 10:44-46 when Peter visited Cornelius, and Acts 19:5-6 when Paul visited the early Ephesian church. Each time, the people had not heard about the events at Pentecost. They only knew John the Baptist’s message of baptism by repentance in anticipation of the Messiah. However, upon hearing about Pentecost, they all received the same experience as in Acts 2. Note that the people’s experience did not occur because the apostles laid their hands on them but because of the effectual power of the Holy Spirit.
In no way was speaking in tongues an indication of one’s salvation, but rather a supernatural method to baptize unbelievers into the early, unified church. However, once the apostles and their protégées established the early church and laid its foundation, baptism in the Holy Spirit ceased.
Still, many people believe speaking in tongues is a sign of one’s salvation based on 1 Corinthians 14:22, but that is a misinterpretation of God’s intent. One can only make a public profession of faith by confessing Christ Jesus alone (Eph 2:8-9) and a subsequent water baptism (Jn 3:5).
Voices of Judgment
Originally, God meant speaking in tongues as a sign to unbelieving Israel. Isaiah 28:11-12 predicted that God would send men from other nations, speaking unknown languages (“other tongues”), to deliver His messages of blessing, judgment, and authority.
“With men of other tongues and other lips, I will speak to this people. And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me.”
Eventually, Israel heard Assyrian voices and, later, Babylonian voices, all conveying God’s judgment. The apostles remembered these terrible events at Pentecost when the people again spoke foreign languages, prompting Peter to preach the gospel immediately. He knew that it indicated another impending judgment for Israel’s continuing rejection of Christ, which God fulfilled seventy years later.
However, the Corinthian church remained rooted in Greek culture and had a free-flowing structure. It lacked any sense of order, which included people randomly “speaking in tongues” outside of baptismal events, among other issues. Paul points out the confusion it caused for unbelievers.
“Will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (1 Cor 14:23)
The same occurs today. Speaking in tongues has no purpose in today’s church since everyone already believes. It was meant only as a sign to unbelievers during their baptism into the early church. Therefore, God ceased the gift of speaking in tongues. He now speaks to us only through the Holy Spirit directly to our hearts and not through men.
Tongues and Self-edification
Another reason God no longer grants the gift is because pagans at that time often pretended to speak in tongues to seem more spiritual. The practice only edified themselves and not God. Paul reminds us of this in 1 Corinthians 14:4.
“He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.”
Paul’s words should not be taken in the positive. His instruction is that it is only for one’s self-glory. Still, some would argue that Paul states in that same passage that speaking in tongues is genuinely for God.
“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.” (v2)
Many modern versions of the Bible mistranslate this sentence. The original Greek lacks a definite article in the construction, so the better translation is “to a god,” little G. In other words, Paul referred to pagans who mimicked Christians and spoke gibberish during their pagan worship.
It is why Paul later warned in 1 Corinthians 14:23 about unbelievers erroneously concluding the church had lost their minds and engaged in pagan worship because they spoke in tongues. The unfortunate result is that the church would lose its witness for Christ.
God’s Messengers
Nevertheless, some modern believers continue the practice. They contend that speaking a heavenly language strengthens one’s prayer life and brings them closer to God.
While those may be personally beneficial, Paul said that speaking in tongues was primarily meant to bless others through its interpretation. God designed it to be a temporary method of conveying a message to the church, which was that He had not left them or forsaken them.
Speaking in tongues was a physical manifestation of God’s love and faithfulness to the early church. And because unbelievers in Corinth were mainly skeptical and unrepentant Jews, the language spoken had to be in a known human language that someone could interpret. Otherwise, the Jews would conclude that the church members had lost their senses. It is why the Bible does not record any occasion of a believer speaking to God or on His behalf in anything other than a human language.
One might argue that God still uses angels to relay messages, and He does. After all, the Hebrew word for angel is malach, meaning “messenger.” Sometimes, God will send angels to relay a message, but when He does, it is always in a human language, not a heavenly one (see Gen 18:2; Dan 10:10-21; Lk 1:11-17, 26-37). Even as the angels stand around God’s throne in multiple moments of worship in the book of Revelation, they speak a human language that John understands.
His Gifts are for the Church
The edification of the church is the sole objective of all spiritual gifts. Speaking in tongues was not different.
God designed it solely to baptize unbelievers into the early church to build it up, but not in perpetuity. Its purpose only existed until the church was fully established. Now that it is, the gift no longer exists, and interpretation is no longer necessary (similar to the extinction of the offices of prophets and apostles).
Believers are now baptized only through the power of the Holy Spirit, rendering speaking in tongues a selfish endeavor. Proof of salvation is found only in practicing the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 out of one’s love for Christ (1 Cor 13). He conveys His messages through the Holy Spirit or angels. And if one desires to be closer to God, they only need to spend more time with Him. Speaking in tongues no longer accomplishes any of these things.
[READ MORE: What the Bible Says About Speaking in Tongues]
