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Tongues Enigma within the Church
Preliminary Remarks to Any Unbelievers
This study is primary for the Christian, but even those who are unbelievers may gain insight from it. But just in case you the reader have never personally trusted in Christ for your eternal salvation, please consider the following. The Bible clearly states that you have come short of God’s standard and therefore you are a sinner in God’s sight and are faced with an eternal and damnable future unless you avail yourself of God’s grace-gift of salvation. This grace-gift of salvation, which is available to every human being, is based solely upon the deaths, both spiritual and physical, of Jesus Christ, the incarnate (God in human form) Son of God, on Calvary’s cross some two centuries ago. On that cross, Jesus Christ took and became your sins in order to pay the penalty-price for your sins, which payment God requires for violation of His holy standard. Christ paid the price, in your place and as your substitute, with spiritual death, i.e., He became separated spiritually from the Father until the payment was made, and subsequently allowed His body to succumb to physical death. He was buried but He arose back to life in 3 days to ascend as the God-man to heaven and is now seated at the Father’s right hand. To obtain eternal life (salvation), you only need to mentally acknowledge these facts and place your total trust (faith—confidence) in Jesus Christ and what He did for you on the cross, instead of anything you can do (good works, attitude, adherence to religious tenants, etc.)—this is faith alone in Christ alone. To do this requires a truthful decision made within your will; but once the decision is made, God then assures you that you possess eternal life, never to be retracted.
The Tongues Enigma
The evidence and use of “tongues” by the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement is to a vast majority in the Church (Body of Christ) a puzzle, if not a veiled hindrance to true spiritual growth.
Within this study, the term “tongue” and “tongues,” (1) as used by those within the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement, refers to an esoteric, ecstatic, and unknown (by man) “heavenly” language, but (2) when used from text within the Bible, as will be proven from a linguistic and hermeneutical framework, refers to an extant (existing) earthly language either known or unknown.
This study is contingent upon the following cornerstone-criteria:
With these principles in place the reader is advised to prayerfully consider the following arguments regarding the doctrine and use of tongues, perspectives that are presented in order with the writer’s evaluation of priority from least to most significant, with the possibility of number two being more prominent than number three. These points of view are categorized as (1) secular-historical, (2) biblical-historical, (3) linguistic-exegetical and (4) theological-exegetical.
Secular-historical Argument
From secular-history there is a dearth of evidence that “speaking in tongues,” as demonstrated by the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement of today, existed within the Church during the three centuries following the apostolic era. Historically, there is simply no mention of any genuine cases of glossolalia. A review of secular history indicates that “speaking in tongues,” whatever it was, apparently had ceased by the end of the first century.
The phenomenon of “speaking in tongues” experienced resurgence on the final evening of the nineteenth century during an unusual Watch Night service at Bethel Bible Institute in Topeka, Kansas. The founder of the institute, Charles Parham, had instructed his students that the power to live the Christian life and to evangelize the world would come as a gracious gift after salvation. He identified this gift as the baptism of the Holy Spirit and asserted that receiving the gift would be accompanied by speaking in tongues. Near midnight an emotionally charged thirty-year-old woman (Agnes Ozman), one of Parham’s students, began to speak unintelligibly, and all present presumed she was experiencing a revival of the biblical gift of tongues. This incident spawned the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement that has captivated millions throughout the world and infiltrated almost every denomination.
This being said, there is historical indication that the “tongues” of today’s Pentecostal-Charismatic movement have their origin in the mystery cults of ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, which employed speaking in tongues and were practiced by unbelievers
Biblical-historical Argument
(Note: The writer/author of this study is indebted to one of the most astute theologians of today, Robert B. Thieme, Jr., of the Berachah Church in Houston, Texas, for the following account of historical data pertaining to the subject at hand. A more detailed presentation of this argument may be found in his book entitled Tongues, which may be ordered from his website without charge or obligation, www.rbthieme.org.)
To achieve an intelligent understanding of the Bible’s use of tongues (foreign languages) as recorded in the New Testament, the student of God’s Word must consider Isaiah’s prophetic remarks concerning the issue that he made some 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. He foretold of the presence of a foreign language that Israel would one day hear and which would be spoken by armies invading the land of Israel as a sign of their national punishment. This was not only an unmistakable warning to the Jews of their spiritual failure in Isaiah’s day, but was also the foreshadowing of another occurrence of foreign language—this time as the spiritual gift of glossolalia—after the ascension of Jesus Christ and which would be for the same purpose. Glossolalia, is a term used in this study to designate “speaking in tongues,” which is theological nomenclature formed from a combination of the Greek noun glossa (tongues) and the Greek verb laleo (to speak).
The book of Isaiah, one of the major sources of eschatological (study of the end time) signs and miracles, each being an integral part of the overall plan of God, includes messages not only applicable to Isaiah’s generation but also to and in anticipation of future events, e.g., the first advent (virgin birth) of the Messiah (7:14), His suffering (53:3, 4), His substitutionary-spiritual-death on the cross (53:4, 5, 10-12), His burial (53:9), His exaltation and return in glory (9:6, 7), and Israel’s failure to accept Him—both among Isaiah’s contemporaries and among the Jews of future generations (5:24). Thus, Isaiah’s warning against apostasy was addressed to the Jews of his day as well as their distant progeny.
The prophet Isaiah continuously struggled to persuade the nation Israel to turn from their sin and to remind them that Bible doctrine is the strength of a nation (28:10; 33:6). Yet the nation permitted drunken religious leaders and false prophets and teachers to continue to lead it astray (8:19; 28:1, 3, 7-8). The Jews persisted in rejecting Isaiah’s message. Then suddenly, in the midst of his exhortation on the importance of Bible doctrine, the prophet interrupted his message and announced one of the most astonishing events ever to occur in history.
For with stammering lips [alien articulation] and another tongue [foreign language] He will speak to this people. (Isaiah 28:11)
This pronouncement indicated that the judgment on Israel, both near and far, would be announced in a “foreign language.”
The cataclysmic prophecy of Isaiah 28:11, predicting judgment on Israel, must be understood within the framework of God’s timetable for human history—the dispensations. The sequence of divine administrations that divide human history into consecutive eras are called dispensations and constitute the divine viewpoint and theological interpretation of history. The dispensational approach is necessary to orient us to time as well as the revelatory and eschatological events and accurately interpret the Scripture. . . . Human history may be classified into six dispensations: the Age of the Gentiles, the Age of Israel, the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, the Church Age, the Tribulation, and the Millennium. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, Jr., 2000)
In every dispensation, God has and will operate in accordance with His grace. Salvation is and will always be received in the same way—by faith alone in Christ alone. In the Old Testament dispensations the object of faith was the prophesied Messiah; in the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union (union between God and man) the object of faith was the incarnate Jesus Christ; in the Church Age and the Tribulation the object of faith is and will be the resurrected Jesus Christ; in the Millennium the object of faith will also be Jesus Christ who will then be reigning on the earth. Likewise, restoration of fellowship between man and God is the same in every dispensation—confessing (naming or taking ownership of) sins to God the Father (Psalm 32:5; 1 John 1:9).
The Age the Gentiles (Adam to Moses) was characterized by one race and one language. All evangelism was conducted in that one language; God revealed Himself and His plan through dreams, visions, angelic appearances, and theophanies (manifestations of God). Following the Flood there was a population explosion and the descendants of Noah decided to become masters of their own destiny and self-sufficient, apart from God (Genesis 11:4). They decided to unify under their one language and refused to disperse over the earth as God had instructed (Genesis 9:1). This anti-God coalition resulted in God’s judgment when He destroyed their city and their tower, confounded their language and scattered them over the earth (Genesis 11:7-9). The multiplicity of language as a result of this act generated a multitude of nations, frustrating all attempts at unification; and this proliferation of languages now called for a new method of evangelism—missionary activity.
To launch this missionary endeavor, God appointed His own representatives—Abram (later renamed Abraham), who became the father of a new racial species, the illustrious race of all races, the Jews. Regenerate Jews in the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were to be God’s chosen people (Genesis 21:12; Deuteronomy 7:6; Romans 9:6-8; Hebrews 11:18). As the race greatly increased, they became the nucleus for the first client nation in history—Israel. A “client nation” is a national entity in which the spiritually mature believers have formed a pivot sufficient to prosper the nation and through which God furthers His plan for mankind—the execution of divine mandates of evangelism, communication and custodianship of Bible doctrine.
The Age of Israel began with the Exodus from Egypt and lasted until the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. As the only theocracy (government under the direct, personal rule of God) in history, they were mandated by God to fulfill two special commissions: custodianship of divine revelation (Romans 3:1, 2) and dissemination of the Gospel to all other nations (Isaiah 43:10, 21). But they failed to evangelize other nations time and again, and due to this they often suffered divine discipline. Their failure to follow God’s plan finally culminated in their rejection of “the Holy One” of God, Jesus as Messiah at His First Advent (coming to earth). The virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), as well as the two deaths of Christ on the cross—spiritual and physical (in Isaiah 53:9 the Hebrew mavet is in the plural and should be translated “deaths”)—were signs that the nation of Israel’s punishment was forthcoming. The final sign of their impending judgment would be the spiritual gift of glossolalia.
Any study of the Bible must make the distinction between the Age of Israel and the Church Age, a contrast that is a recurring theme in the New Testament (Acts 10:45; Romans 11:25; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:11-22; Hebrews 3:5, 6). Because Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah, terminating the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, God has temporarily set Israel aside until the completion of the Church Age. Now the Church, as a new entity, is God’s official representative on earth (2 Corinthians 5:17, 18). The Church, the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), are those who are spread about in sundry locations, who are from all walks of life, and who speak many different languages; yet all share the common bond of faith alone in Christ alone (Galatians 3:26).
The Church Age is divided into two time periods. The pre-canon period of the Church Age is that period of time “before” the New Testament canon was completed in writing. It began on the Day of Pentecost, ca. A.D. 30, and ended ca. A.D. 96 with the completion of the Book of Revelation and the death of the Apostle John. The post-canon period of the Church Age began with the completion of the New Testament and will end with the Rapture of the Church. . . . Believers in the Church Age are universally indwelt and initially filled by God the Holy Spirit, a privilege never given to any previous dispensation. The “indwelling” of the Holy Spirit is a permanent relationship acquired at the moment of regeneration in which the body of every believer is transformed into a temple for the indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah Glory (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 6:16). The “filling” of the Spirit is the initial entrance into fellowship with God at salvation and is maintained through naming sins privately to God the Father (1 John 1:9). This filling of the Spirit is the provision of divine power to execute the unique spiritual life of the Church Age (Eph. 5:18). (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, Jr., 2000)
Christians, as members of the Body of Christ, are now royal priest and ambassadors for Christ. They, as Israel before, are personal representatives of God and responsible to God to witness for Jesus Christ in the proclamation of the gospel message. The entire realm of doctrine is readily available to every believer for advancement to the high ground of spiritual maturity. In the entire economy of God no dispensation, other than this present one, has presented so great a challenge for putting Bible doctrine to the test.
The seven-year Tribulation, the resumption of the Age of Israel, follows the Rapture of the Church and ends with the Second Advent of Christ (Isa. 34:1-6; Jer. 30:4-8; Ezek. 38-39; Dan. 9:24-27; 11:40-45; Rev. 6-19). With the Holy Spirit’s restraining influence removed, the Tribulation will be the most horrendous period of human history—satanic tyranny and chaos reign (2 Thess. 2:6-7). This is the time of the devil’s desperation (Rev. 12:12) in which Satan unleashes all his power in a futile attempt to destroy the Jews.
The final dispensation, which follows the Tribulation and the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, is the Millennium (Ps. 72; Isa. 11, 35, 62, 65; Zech. 14:4-9; Rev. 20). The King of kings will reign over the earth for a literal one thousand years of perfect environment. The angelic conflict will be restrained while Satan and his demons are incarcerated in the Abyss (Rev. 20:7). As victors with Christ, Church Age believers will rule with Him (Rev. 20:6). The Jews will be preeminent once more among the nations of the earth as God’s restored client nation and will receive all that God promised in the Old Testament covenants. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, Jr., 2000)
With this dispensational framework in mind, a clearer understanding of Israel’s past, present, and future is apprehended by the student of God’s Word, especially as they relate to its judgments. Through the centuries, the Jews have always received gracious warnings from God of approaching judgments. And frequently, there has been the sign of a foreign language in connection with these judgments.
Moses had earlier warned Israel that the sound of a foreign language in the Land was a portent (signal) of the judgment and destruction of the nation (Deuteronomy 28:49). And Jeremiah later declared the same message (Jeremiah 5:15). The sign of a “foreign language” was mentioned in both cases. The same was true in Isaiah’s warning.
Under the principle of the far-fulfillment of prophecy, God permitted Isaiah to look down the corridors of time to view the dismal failure of a future generation of Jews. The long-range fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy would again be national dispersion (A.D. 70), when another generation of apostate Jews would suffer horrible judgment for their obstinacy. So specific and lucid was the prophecy of tongues that the meaning was unmistakable. In that distant future God would again warn the Jews of impending national punishment by the sign of foreign languages—this time not by foreign Gentile invaders, but by fellow Jews and Gentiles wielding their spiritual gift of “glossolalia” (Acts 2:4). . . . The Jews, who had once been given the Truth, would someday be forced to hear the Truth in foreign tongues.
While this prophetic sign may not seem of great significance to us today, it was offensive and insulting to the Jews of Isaiah’s era. “Think of that!” they must have said, “Imagine Gentile languages speaking God’s Word to us! We were given the Law; we are the custodians of Scripture; we are to evangelize the world. How dare Isaiah tell ‘us’ that crude and grating Gentile languages will bring ‘us’ the message of salvation!” . . . So they haughtily ignored the prophecy of Isaiah. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, 2000)
Isaiah’s prophecy came true in time. The eternal Son of God was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) and came to dwell among men (John 1:14). On the Day of Pentecost, ten days after the ascension of Christ, the spiritual gift of foreign languages (tongues) was given. Every Jew who understood the scroll of Isaiah realized this sign announced catastrophic judgment on their nation.
On the very day the curse . . . was announced to the Jews, they were also given the Gospel—the opportunity for deliverance! Although national dispersion was imminent and the judgment would affect all the Jews (Deut. 28:64-68), God could not abandon them. The issue for them was and remains: “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Cursing is turned to blessing by the evangelism and regeneration of individual Jews. In the grace period between A.D. 30 and A.D. 70, God used a special method to communicate cursing and blessing to the Jews—“the gift of tongues, however stammering and repugnant it may have seemed, was designed to awaken them to another imminent dispersion and present Christ as their only Savior. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, 2000)
Two prophecies declared the end of the client nation of Israel and the emergence of the Church Age: (1) one addressed to the Jews—their evangelization in a foreign (Gentile) language, and (2) the other addressed to Gentiles—the prophecy by Jesus of the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). As the Church Age commenced, the two prophecies merged (Acts 2:3, 4). On the day of Pentecost (A.D. 30) the apostles received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, accompanied by glossolalia—Gentile (foreign) tongues (languages) through which the Jews were to be warned and evangelized. And glossolalia continued for forty years (A.D. 30-70) signaling the coming destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. This purpose for glossolalia is clarified by the apostle Paul as he quotes from Isaiah 28:11 some fifteen years before the catastrophic event:
In the law [Old Testament] it is written: “With men of other tongues [foreign languages] and other [Gentile] lips I will speak to this people [Jews]; and yet, for all that, they will not hear [believe] Me,” says the Lord. Therefore tongues are for a sign [a warning of impending judgment], not to those who believe [Christians] but to unbelievers [Jews] . . . (1 Corinthians 14:21, 22)
God provided an escape for the Jews as a prelude to the coming destruction of Jerusalem—the grace-gift of salvation. Those who recognized the sign of foreign languages would know what it portended and would flee to safety in accordance with divine instructions, also becoming part of the Body of Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Although the Jews remain under divine discipline for the duration of the Church Age, God never condones anti-Semitism in any form! God needs no help in administering His will toward anyone. Christians do well to remember God’s covenant to Abraham and that nations (and individuals) that offer refuge to the Jew are blessed (Genesis 12:3) and any that become anti-Semitic are subject to severe judgment.
The historic fulfillment of the prophecies of both Isaiah and Christ came true on the Day of Pentecost, the fourth of the Spring feasts in Israel. The first of these holy days was Passover, the first annual pilgrimage feast requiring all Jewish males to celebrate at the Temple in Jerusalem (Exodus 23:17; Deuteronomy 16:16). Immediately following Passover was the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the third day of that week was the Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23:9-14; cf., Numbers 28:26-31)—the Resurrection Day. Fifty days after Passover was Pentecost, the “Feast of Weeks” (Exodus 34:22)—the third annual pilgrimage feast.
On Pentecost and in obedience to Christ, “they” (the eleven apostles and Matthias—the immediate antecedent in Acts 1:26 of Acts 2:1) received the baptism of (by) the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gift of glossolalia. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was accompanied by visual “tongues as of fire.” Fire normally represents judgment in Scripture (1 Corinthians 3:13, 15; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 19:11-15; 21:8), and this sign along with the sign of glossolalia were foreboding warnings of the approaching holocaust.
The instant the Holy Spirit descended on Pentecost and bestowed the spiritual gift of tongues, the apostles were simultaneously indwelt and filled with the Holy Spirit. As evidence of this new status of spirituality, they suddenly began speaking in foreign languages. The miracle was even more amazing since these apostles were all Galileans. Why is that significant?
In those days two kinds of Jews lived in Palestine: the Judeans in southern Palestine and the Galileans in the north of the Land. Judeans were more academically accomplished and often trilingual. They conversed in Latin (the language of the Romans), Greek (the language of culture), and their native Aramaic (the language of commerce in the Middle East). Galileans, however, were typically uneducated farmers and fishermen who spoke only Aramaic with a distinctive, rural accent. These Galileans, however, were God’s chosen instruments. The monolingual apostles were suddenly transformed into gifted, multilingual Galileans proclaiming the Gospel to the Jewish pilgrims from distant lands, the far-fulfillment of Isaiah’s warning. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, 2000)
At Pentecost and in scrupulous observance of Mosaic Law, thousands of Jews from distant lands (Asia Minor, Europe, North Africa, etc.) congregated for worship in Jerusalem. Because their ancestors had been dispersed in other countries for over three hundred years, they were no longer conversant in Hebrew. But due to the spiritual gift of glossolalia, they all could understand in their own (foreign tongue/language) the gospel message.
And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them [the apostles] speak in his own [Gentile] language [Gk: dialektos]. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language [Gk: dialektos] in which we were born?” (Acts 2:6-8)
The word used here for “language” is not glossa but a synonym, dialektos. Since dialektos means “language of a nation or a region,” it follows that glossa also refers to human language (Acts 2:4). This completely excludes any notion that speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost was an angelic language or some form of ecstatic utterance. God the Holy Spirit controlled the apostle’s vocal cords to enable them to communicate the Gospel in Gentile (foreign) languages familiar to the foreign-born Jews. Consider the wide variety of languages represented:
Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. (Acts 2:9-11)
The Jews were bewildered by God’s judgment-sign of foreign languages. Just as Isaiah’s generation had rejected his message, so too this generation was negative and skeptical, even when the unmistakable sign was right before their eyes. They assumed the apostles were drunk. But in his Pentecostal sermon (Acts 2:14-40), the apostle Peter refuted the intoxication charge (Acts 2:15) and interpreted the meaning of “tongues,” in the following manner:
Thus, Isaiah’s promise of “rest” (Isaiah 28:12) materialized in the words of the disciples who proclaimed the power of God’s saving grace. But the sign of foreign languages continued on several other occasions during the time historically recorded in the Book of Acts, the period of transition from the Age of Israel (Old Testament) and of the Hypostatic Union to the Church Age (New Testament). And these occasions also exposed specific classes of people to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Today, the baptism of the Spirit is not a post-salvation occurrence. All believers after Pentecost receive the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. Only in the transition period from the Age of Israel through the Dispensation of the Hypostatic Union to the pre-canon, apostolic era of the Church Age, revealed by the Book of Acts, did four different groups of believers receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit after salvation.
1. The apostles and other believers in Jerusalem (Acts 2).
2. The Samaritan believers who received the Spirit when the apostles Peter and John laid their hands on them (Acts 8:14-17).
3. Cornelius, a Gentile believer living in Caesarea, and those with him received the Spirit as Peter preached the gospel of Christ (Acts 10-11).
4. Several disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus when Paul laid his hands on them (Acts 19:2-8).
The four groups who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation were representative of four types of believers in the transition phase. The first group (Acts 2) was all Jewish, the apostles and those believers directly associated with them. The second group, the Samaritans, a mixed race of both Jews and Gentiles, was looked down upon by orthodox Jews. Yet they too received the Holy Spirit in the same manner as those who had been present in Jerusalem on Pentecost (Acts 8). In this instance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit no Samaritans spoke in tongues. It is significant that even in the pre-canon era, the spiritual gift did not always manifest the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The third group represented Gentile believers only (Acts 10), again showing that Gentiles, held in disdain by the Jews, also received the Holy Spirit. These Gentile believers, indwelt and filled by the Holy Spirit at the same time the Holy Spirit baptized, also spoke in tongues as a warning sign to the Jews who were present. Word of these events spread rapidly throughout Judea heralding the new age.
The fourth group, the disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus, represented Old Testament believers of the Jewish dispersion (Acts 19:2-8). They too were identified with the events at Pentecost, receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit through apostolic authority. ((Apostolic authority is the delegation of divine authority by the Lord Jesus Christ to the eleven disciples and Paul in the first century A.D. In this case authority was manifested by the laying of hands on the Samaritans—Acts 8— and on the disciples in Ephesus—Acts 19—after which they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.)) Though they had been saved as Old Testament saints, they now received the Holy Spirit. They also spoke in tongues as a sign to other Jews in their periphery and to announce the Church Age. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, 2000)
In all of these instances apostate Jews were present to hear the Gospel and observe glossolalia as the sign of judgment. This was the far-fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah—the warning sign against spiritual apostasy and the offer of God’s redemption message.
This warning period for Israel extended over the first four decades of the early Church, so an entire generation of Jews could be alerted by hearing the Gospel in Gentile (foreign) languages. Still, the nation would not repent. Because they rejected the Gospel, divine judgment was inevitable. Jerusalem would be destroyed in A.D. 70 and Israel would be temporarily set aside until the Tribulation.
Remember, the Book of Acts records the transition to the Church Age. Acts 1:1-8 takes place shortly before Christ ascended to heaven, before any believer was baptized, indwelt, or filled with the Holy Spirit. There was no Church, no New Testament, there were no Christians, and the Church Age was a “mystery” (Gk: musterion). ((The Greek word “musterion,” is used in the New Testament to describe aspects of God’s plan for the human race during the Church Age which was not revealed in the Old Testament. This doctrine concerning the characteristics of the unique spiritual life of the Church Age is fully developed in the Pauline epistles—Rom. 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7.)) By the time of the completion of Acts over thirty-five years had passed, Christ had ascended and was seated at the right hand of God the Father and the Holy Spirit baptized, indwelt, and filled every believer. Miracles were rare compared to the early chapters of Acts, tens of thousands of Christians were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, and about half of the New Testament canon was written. With the apostolic era in full swing, there was no longer a need to proclaim the already well-established Church Age. As the Roman legions closed in on Jerusalem there would no longer be a need for “glossolalia” to continue announcing . . . discipline. The spiritual gift of tongues would soon cease. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, 2000)
Linguistic-exegetical Argument
An analysis of the specific words utilized in the original manuscripts of the New Testament that are translated as “tongue” or “tongues,” refer in almost every case to anything other than some form of unintelligible (esoteric, ecstatic) “angelic” or “heavenly” speech. And in any case where there may be some ambiguity regarding the matter, there is no compelling reason to believe the words refer to anything other than a real, extant (in existence) language that was able to be interpreted and understood.
The Gr. Word “glossa” (“tongue”) appears some 50 times in the NT with various usages. It is used 17 times of the speech organ of the body (e.g. Mk 7:33; Lk 1:64), once figuratively of cloven tongues of fire (Acts 2:3), and seven times in the book of the Revelation in an ethnic sense (e.g., 5:9; 7:9). The remaining 25 times it describes the phenomenon of speaking in tongues (Mk 16:17; Acts 2:4, 11; 10:46; 19:6; 1 Cor 12:10 [twice], 28, 30; 13:1, 8; 14:2, 4, 5 [twice], 6, 13, 14, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 39).
The constructions vary. It is described as “new tongues” (“glossais”. . . “kainais”, Mk 16:17), “other tongues” (“heterais glossais,” Acts 2:4), “kinds (diversities) of tongues” (“gene glosson,” 1 Cor 12:10, 28), and simply “tongue” or “tongues” (e.g., 1Cor 14:19, 22). The adjective “unknown” which appears in the KJV at 1 Cor 14:2, 4, 13, 14, 19, and 27 is not found in the original but is an interpretative addition of the translators. Most often the word is found in the singular or plural with the verb “to speak” (“laleo”) (e.g., 1 Cor 14:2, 4, 5, 6). Once it is used with the verb “to pray” (1 Cor 14:14) and once with the verb “to have” (1 Cor 14:26). (Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, Hendrickson Publishers, 2000)
The author of the book of Acts who was Luke uses the Greek words dialektos (2:8) and glossa (2:11) interchangeably. Whereas the word glossa may have a variety of meanings, e.g., an organ of the body or metaphorically as speech or language; on the other hand, the word dialektos specifically refers to a language spoken by a people, or province, ethnic language, dialect, or a peculiar idiom. That they essentially mean the same thing in the second chapter of Acts is the determination by most lexicographers and reputable Bible scholars.
Theological-exegetical Argument
(Note: Again, the writer/author wishes to acknowledge the contribution to this subject by Bible scholar Robert B. Thieme, Jr., of the Berachah Church in Houston, Texas.)
It is unfortunate that so many “doctrines” associated with the Bible are derived from interpretations taken out of context, i.e., the facts surrounding the considered passage of Scripture. This flawed process is epitomized in the heretical understanding of the gift of tongues and the resultant practice of speaking in tongues by those associated (and some who are not) with the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement.
When the gift of tongues is taken out of biblical context, misconceptions and abuses abound. Such was the case in the Corinth where speaking in tongues became an underlying cause of friction and turmoil. No other spiritual gift has had such “recognition” within the Church, then or now. So divisive had the controversy become in that church that the apostle Paul devoted three chapters in his first epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthian 12-14) to clarify the purpose and practice of the gift of tongues. And these three chapters are the definitive revelation of this gift, which ranks as last among all the gifts listed by the apostle (1 Corinthians 12:8-10; 28).
The conditions existing within the church at Corinth are best understood within the context of it surroundings, the city of Corinth. Corinth was located on the southwest end of the isthmus that joined the southern part of the Greek peninsula with the mainland to the north. The city was on an elevated plain at the foot of Acrocorinth (acropolis of Corinth), a rugged hill reaching 1,886 feet above sea level. Corinth was a maritime city that controlled the main overland trade route between the Peloponnesus and central Greece, as well as the isthmian route. Coming early to a height of prosperity, the city colonized Syracuse on Sicily and the island of Corcyra and achieved its wealth through commercial and industrial development. It was a cosmopolitan center of prosperity.
Along with its secular affluence and multi-ethnic population came the proliferation of mystery cults. Among the pagan religions that influenced the spiritually immature, Gentile believers in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:2) was the worship of Apollo, whose priests spoke in frenzied utterance when possessed by the pneuma puthonos (a spirit of divination). There was the Dionysian cult, which appealed to the Greek’s desire for salvation and a personal religious experience. According to Aristotle the initiates “did not learn anything so much as they felt certain emotions and were put into a certain frame of mind.” In secret rites the emotions of the devotees were aroused through various activities until they were mystically united with the pagan god (demon), who spoke through them in a “secret language.” The Dionysian cult, one of the most profligate of the mystery religions, flourished in a blend of pseudoecstatic utterances, drunken debaucheries, demonic healings and miracles—all evidence of supposedly being filled with the spirit of the god.
Another popular mystery religion, the Cybele-Attis cult, had been inextricably linked with the perversions of the Dionysian cult for several centuries before Christ. In this cult the priests would excite the emotions of the votaries with clashing cymbals, banging drums, and loud gongs (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1) until the worshipers finally collapsed in a state of irrational ecstasy, babbling in mysterious gibberish.
Though some of the languages used in the mystery religions were produced by an “engastrimuthos” demon, the rest were simply the outpouring of emotional frenzy. Devotees of the mystery cults believed that speaking in ecstatic utterances and emotional excitement were proof of a special relationship with the gods. When they spoke in “secret languages,” the so-called benefit was solely personal, since no one else could understand these “obscure and meaningless” orations. They believed these utterances enabled them to receive communication directly from their god in order to experience what they believed was a more meaningful spirituality. All their experience was evaluated by their emotions.
These mystery religions promoted a satanic counterfeit of the miracles of the early Church. When a new believer, who had converted from these mystery religions, brought the corrupt thinking of his pagan past into his new Christian life, he would continue to associate emotional stimulation and impressive miracles with the spiritual life. Therefore, it is easy to understand how the carnal Corinthian believers, by superimposing the same pagan, mystical concepts on the legitimate, first-century spiritual gift of tongues, disrupted and confused the local congregation. (Tongues, Robert B. Thieme, Jr., 2000)
The church in Corinth was the most confused and carnal congregation of the pre-canon, apostolic era. They were surely operating outside of sound Bible doctrine. Their list of sins was long and appalling: pride, envy, jealousy, childishness, pettiness, gossip, maligning, adultery, incest and drunkenness. As a result, the congregation fragmented according to the individual trends of their sin natures—some toward legalism and asceticism (a belief that one achieves higher levels of spirituality through self-denial), and some toward antinomianism (a belief that one is free to sin because of grace received). Paul harshly rebuked them in all their errors—their competition over water baptism (1 Corinthians 1:11-17); their rejection of both Bible doctrine and those who communicated it (1 Corinthians 3:18:22); their arrogance in many areas (1 Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1), including dragging fellow believers before unbeliever-magistrates to resolve disputes (1 Corinthians 6:1-8), and for lack of proper respect for authority by contentious men and women (1 Corinthians 11:2-16). Positionally the Corinthians were new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), but experientially they were still living spiritually in the flesh (carnality), clinging to vestiges of heathen mysteries.
Yet by God’s grace the church abounded in spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 1:7). But because of abuse, these gifts became a curse instead of a blessing. These carnal Christians overrated the sensational gifts and underrated the less sensational gifts. They used spiritual gifts to abuse authority over one another. They spoke in tongues for personal gratification. They elevated glossolalia over edifying sermons. They arrogantly promoted glossolalia as a sign of a superior spiritual life, so that worship services had deteriorated into raucous confusion. They attitudes and actions were more in concert with the heathen mystery religions than with Bible doctrine.
As stated previously, there is no warrant to interpret the tongues in 1 Corinthians 12-14 as some form of oration different than that which was evident in Acts 2, i.e., foreign languages used to communicate the gospel message as well as to serve as a sign of impending judgment for the nation of Israel. This would certainly be the case in Corinth with an eclectic population from various corners of the earth. Yet, admittedly, in light of the influence of the mystery religions on the church at Corinth, the tongues Paul addressed as some sort of unintelligible utterance is a plausible interpretation.
Nevertheless, no matter the character of the tongues as addressed by Paul, he recognized the gift of tongues as a genuine gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:5) with definite value, and he cautioned against the prohibition of its exercise (1 Corinthians 14:39). But Paul envisioned more harm than value in its practice. Paul’s discussion regarding the practice of tongues is summarized in the following list of guidelines and observations on the matter:
Paul’s instructions concerning glossolalia to the Corinthians are evidently made for all churches (1 Corinthians 14:33-34). Some interpreters see the phenomenon in certain other distinctive phrases within Scriptures (e.g., “spoke the word of God with boldness,” Acts 4:31; “the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,” Romans 8:26; “spiritual songs,” Ephesians 5:19; cf. 1 Corinthians 14:15; “let him speak as the oracles of God,” 1 Peter 4:11). Such identification, if not dubious, is at best uncertain, since no specific reference to tongues is made in each case.
Paul clearly stated that tongues would cease (1 Corinthians 13:8). And although there are several positions regarding this cessation, the evidence that tongues are no longer normally available, with the possible exception to some missionaries in various lands where they are exposed to foreign extant languages, as per the following points:
All things considered, the interpretation held by the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement regarding the gift of tongues as some sort of ecstatic heavenly speech is unquestionably incorrect. And the practice of regurgitating unintelligible utterance by those within the Movement, particularly during public worship services, is flat wrong—that is, it is a practice in contradiction to God’s clear Word. Now, can God bestow the gift of tongues today? Of course He can; He is under no limitation in the matter. But this writer believes that in almost every circumstance, He will not!
Finally, Robert B. Thieme, Jr. offers a fairly comprehensive 7-point outline of items illuminating the doctrine of spiritual gifts, which is offered for the reader’s consideration. It follows:
a. Spiritual gifts are a witness to the grace of God the Father.
b. They are a witness to salvation in the Church Age (Heb. 2:4).
a. Distribution during the Church Age is accomplished by God the Holy Spirit who gives at least one spiritual gift to every believer as a member of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:11)
b. Gifts do not depend on human ability, morality, talent or achievement, but are allotted solely by the decision of God the Holy Spirit.
a. At any point in the Church Age, each spiritual gift in every geographical area is necessary for the function of the Body of Christ in that area (1 Cor. 12:27-31).
b. All spiritual gifts function through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in and through the believer (Acts 2:4; 1 Cor. 13).
c. Spiritual gifts always function under the team concept, each as a member of the whole Body of Christ.
d. The function of spiritual gifts depends on renovating the thinking with Bible doctrine (Rom. 12:2, 3).
e. Spiritual gifts function to the maximum in spiritual adulthood.
a. Temporary gifts (pre-canon)
1) Gifts necessary for communication of mystery doctrine until the canon of Scripture was completed and circulated.
2) Gift of tongues terminated in A.D. 70 at the fall of Jerusalem (1 Cor. 13:8-10).
3) Once the Canon was completed, the gifts of apostleship, prophecy, healing and miracles were no longer necessary and were terminated in A.D. 96 (Acts 19:11, 12; cf., Phil. 2:27; 2 Tim. 4:20).
b. Permanent gifts (post-canon)
1) Permanent gifts include: pastor-teacher, evangelist, administration, helps, mercy, giving (Rom. 12:8; 1 Cor. 12:28).
2) Continue to function after the completion of the Canon and throughout the Church Age (Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:31).
a. All spiritual gifts were given after the resurrection, ascension and session of Christ (Eph. 4:8).
b. Given for the first time on the Day of Pentecost, when the Dispensation of Israel was interrupted and the Church Age began (Acts 2).
c. Except for the short transition period in the pre-canon Church Age (Acts 2; 8:14-17; 10-11; 19:2-8), each individual gift is distributed at the moment of salvation.
a. Abuse in Corinth demanded regulation of temporary gifts (1 Cor. 14).
b. Reversionism and apostasy seek to perpetuate temporary spiritual gifts, such as tongues and healing, beyond the closing of the Canon in A.D. 96.
c. Anyone today who claims to possess the first century gifts of apostleship, prophecy, knowledge, tongues, miracles, healing is apostate and reversionistic.
d. Possession of behind the scenes gifts never indicates spiritual inferiority and conspicuous gifts do not indicate superiority and must never be a source of divisiveness in the church.
a. The temporary gifts of apostle and prophet were designed for providing leadership in the pre-canon church, declaring divine will by communicating mystery doctrine, recording the New Testament in writing, founding the Church in the first century, establishing local churches and local church policy, and training pastor-teachers. These gifts were terminated in A.D. 96.
b. Permanent communication gifts are pastor-teacher and evangelist.
c. The pastor-teacher communicates the whole realm of doctrine inside the local church; the evangelist communicates the Gospel to groups of unbelievers outside the local church.
d. These gifts are bestowed to men only (1 Cor. 14:34, 35; 1 Tim. 2:12; 3:1-7).
e. Authority of these gifts is established in Hebrews 13:7, 17.
f. Purpose of these gifts is delineated in Ephesians 4:11-13.
Postscript
The experiences of this writer with those who are involved in the Pentecostal-Charismatic Movement have convinced him that most, if not all, of them grant far more significance to emotional and extra-biblical events then they do to the study, teaching and communication of Bible doctrine and to witnessing to the lost. The Movement basically boils down to a feel-good religion. Yet, many who are in and apart from it, who believe in and practice speaking in tongues, are truly born-again and evidence a genuine devotion to God.
Unfortunately, the emotional state-of-mind that spawns the conspicuous gift of speaking in tongues captivates a large number of devoted believers throughout the Christian realm, to the detriment of true spirituality centered on the assimilation of Bible doctrine. And just as young people, on the secular plain, make countless mistakes based on their emotional involvement with members of the opposite sex, so the analogy holds with those who validate their Christian belief-system with their extra-biblical emotional experiences. It would be well to remember that true Christianity begins and continues by the principle of faith, which has no dependent-connection to emotion (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Philippians 3:9; Colossians 2:6). |