Randall Wilson asks: Is speaking in tongues being used correctly in our day?

Hi Randall,

When speaking of tongues, it is crucial to understand that there is only one gift of tongues. Not two different kinds or types of this gift.

According to scripture, this gift of tongues was the ability to speak foreign languages (as the Holy Spirit enabled them). This is clearly communicated in Acts 2:6-8 - "When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? "

With this being said, there are many religions and cults that practice what is known as ecstatic tongues (gibberish-uttering sounds with no meaning). These types of tongues are completely absent from the Bible. In some Christian circles, these ecstatic tongues are defended in two ways.

The first defense is that these ecstatic tongues can be found in the Cornelius account, since the account does not specify that actual languages were being spoken (as found in Acts 2). This assumption could not be further from the truth. When Peter re-tells his experience, he tells his listeners "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning" (Acts 11:15). In the beginning, believers were given languages, therefore the context doesn't change in this account.

The second defense rests on a misunderstanding of a hyperbole (exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally). This hyperbole is found in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 -"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

Here, Paul is using a hyperbole to give readers the understanding that if you have no love, everything you do would be in vain (the hyperbole here, is the fact that nobody can speak every language, nobody knows all mysteries, nobody has all the knowledge, only God). If this verse is understood as a hyperbole (as claimed by scholars), then, this notion of speaking angelical tongues/holy language is simply not backed by any biblical content.

Last but not least, while many might disagree, the Apostle Paul puts an end to all arguments. Paul leaves us with the proper instructions on how this gift is to be used in church. 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God"

Therefore, to answer your question, if you go a church and these instructions are followed, then tongues are being used correctly (No more than three, one at a time, and someone must interpret).

If you go to a church and everyone is speaking tongues, all at once, and no interpretation is being given, then tongues are not being used correctly.

Remember, Paul did not want the church to be seen as if they were crazy (not our words)."So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and inquirers or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind?" (1 Corinthians 14:23).

(Archaeological note: In the Greco-Roman world, speaking ecstatic tongues were generally feared as a mark of a magic ritual or as a message from a god. Oracles were typically delivered by a priestess in a trance, and the incoherent speech was then interpreted by a priest or preistess. These type of ecstatic tongues were practiced long before Christianity. It was and still is practiced by Haitian Voodoo, the Zar cult in Ethiopia, African tribal religions, Kundalini, Hinduism, Mithra, and many others alike. The differing point that separated Christianity from these cults and religions, was the fact that biblical tongues were actual languages. These languages were confirmed by the non-believers who heard their own language being spoken in the book of Acts without previous knowledge of the language (thus, the reason Paul stated that tongues were a sign for unbelievers and not for the believers 1 Corinthians 14:22). These ecstatic tongues later entered the Protestant church through the Pentecostal movement followed by the Charismatic Movement. However, it is important to note that Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 14 eliminated any possibility of errors, while also not hindering people who might have had a message. According to Paul, uninterpreted tongues are for private devotion, not public setting (1 Corinthians 14:19,28).

Comments:

Jessy Olsen: To me, speaking in tongues is a way to pray and bypass the Devil since he can't understand.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: Hi Jessy, well according to scripture, the main purpose of this gift was to have the ability to spread the Gospel to everyone regardless of Language. This is made clear in 1 Corinthians 14:22, as its states that tongues are "a sign for non-believers and not for believers" (in essence, a non-believer would be totally convinced that a message is from God, if the message was miraculously delivered in someone's native language by a speaker who doesn't know the language to begin with). What verses do you have that back what you are saying?

Jessy Olsen: I'll look them up and get back to you.

Olga Alvarez: In my church we speak in tongues and while you can claim that we are speaking ecstatic tongues, it's how we've always done it. No need to put the Spirit in a box. If the Spirit gave us the utterance we shouldn't need to follow Paul exact instructions.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: Hi Olga, we are not putting the Spirit in any box. You can blame Paul for that if you want to, but again, do we have more authority than Paul? Also, your statement completely contradicts the very words of Paul when he says that if anyone thinks they are "gifted by the Spirit, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command" (1 Corinthians 14:37). Are you an exception to this?

Olga Alvarez: Well no, hadn't read that yet. Well also, many of our members don't need interpretation because there are classes to learn tongues. The ones you call ecstatic. Is that not biblical?

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: There is nothing in the entire Bible where people are being taught classes on speaking ecstatic tongues. While we don't believe in ecstatic tongues (Due to the archeology behind it), if there were such thing, scripture states "as the Spirit enabled them".

Olga Alvarez: Well I'm going to speak to my leaders. If they cannot provide any verses, Do you guys know of a better church in Tampa? I know you all are here in Fl.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: In Tampa we know of two well balanced churches that we have personally visited, send us a dm, and we can give you the address and phone numbers.

Olga Alvarez: Thanks and God bless you.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: God bless you too Olga.

Tom Osborne: Do you guys know the terms used in the bible glossolalia and xenolalia? Glossolalia, which refers to tongues that are from the Spirit, and Xenolalia which refers to foreign languages.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: Yes, we are familiar with the terms. However, when the Bible was written, the term used for tongues was glōssai, and the term for speak was lalein. Glossolalia and Xenolalia, are terms that did not exist at the time. Those terms were made in the 19th century, and were made in order to describe the difference between foreign languages and ecstatic tongues used in the churches. The Terms were made in 1879 by F. W. Farrar. So, again, they were not used in the Bible to describe differences between tongues as languages nor tongues as ecstatic sounds.

Tom Osborne: I will need to research this. That's not what I was taught.

BRC Hosts Joey and Chris: Yes, self research is definitely the way to go. Be blessed!

Acts 2:6

"When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken".