What Is Tongues?

What is tongues?

Estatic language?

Prayer language ?

Biblical  worship?

Can you teach it?

Is it necessary for the Christian experience

There is a Biblical Tongue

Jesus never spoke in tongues nor required it

Not one of the Gospels writers requires it

Not one writer of any NT book requires it

Not one writer of any NT book says you can teach it

Even though the gift of interpretation is mentioned by Paul there is not even one Biblical example of its use. Ever

The actual act of speaking in tongues is only recorded 3 times in all of the NT.

All in ACTS; 2, 10, 19

Same author, same book. They must all be the same thing contextually speaking

So what was speaking in tongues

Act 2 first occurrence – 3 times in Acts 2 the people said that they heard the disciples speaking in their own native language. The Bible lists all the different language groups there that day

The Bible is crystal clear in this matter. It is indisputable

Peter and the disciples were more than likely simply speaking the native Aramaic but the people heard them in their own various language. A miracle of speaking and hearing that day

Why did this miracle occur on that day

1. So the disciples would KNOW that the Holy Spirit had come. This miracle could not be faked or taught as the modern manifestations can be today

2. So that later when Gentiles were being saved the Jewish disciples would know that they were really being saved by God. They would experience the same Pentecost gift

3. So that the Gospel of Jesus would immediately begin to spread ot the Roman Empire. Language would be no barrier

What happened in Acts 10

Peter shares Jesus with Cornelius. He was a Gentile, a Roman, and a soldier. Peter did not want to share salvation with him at first and he told him so. But when Cornelius and his whole house heard and believed and then spoke in other languages – known languages of the world – Peter was convinced that they were really saved. In Acts 11 when the church at Jerusalem is mad a Peter for sharing Jesus with Gentiles Peter defends himself by sharing that they had received the same gift we received in the beginning (Acts 2) Acts 11:18

ACTS 19

Paul encounters Ephesian disciples who had never responded to the Gospel of Jesus by baptism. They too spoke in other languages of the world – declaring the wonders of God. Paul knew that they had truly been saved

Those are the only 3 times in all the Bible when someone actually spoke in tongues

Out of 14 books that Paul wrote he deals with tongues as an issue only once. I Corinthians 14

The Corinthian Church was plagues with problems. Sexual immorality, Factions, Expelling of a member False teaching etc

It had another problem – fake tongues – like “modern” Charismatics

Paul chastises them for this activity and lays down strict rules

Always have an interpretation.  To determine if it is a known language of the world and not an “utterance”

No more than 2 or 3 at the most should speak in a tongue. One at a time. In order.

The women were never to speak in a tongue  I Corinthians 14:34

Almost everyone of these rules is violated by the modern Charismatic movement. Every time

There is not one historical record of anything you see today happening in the first century church

So what is a Biblical tongue

It is the supernatural gift of God for a speaker to speak and/or a hearer to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the wonders of God in a known language of the world but previously unknown to the speaker

It is not an ecstatic “utterance”, a “prayer” language or a “worship” language

It cannot be “worked up” “taught” “instructed” “earned” “learned”

It is not required  I Corinthians 12:30 “Not all speak in a tongue do they”

It is not necessarily a sign of Christian maturity  I Corinthians 14:20 “Stop thinking like children” in regards to tongues     I Corinthians 14:23

How dare we ask God for a new tongue when we so often don’t use the tongue we have to praise His name or share Jesus with our neighbors