The Gift of Tongues

1. The Holy Spirit was poured upon the disciples after Jesus left to heaven. (John 16:7).That helps us understand why they had to pray so they could receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8; 15- 17).

2. The Holy Spirit as we read in the book of Acts helped them spread out the message. That’s why they needed a gift, the gift of tongues so they could teach those that could not understand the Greek language. That was the case in Acts 2. At this moment we find people from different parts of Asia who probably didn’t know Greek otherwise it was not necessary for them to have that gift at that specific moment. In Acts 2, the gift of tongues or of languages was necessary to help others understand the message. At that very moment there was a diglossia problem. The language of the temple was Hebrew, and therefore the services were done in that language. Peter needed to speak in the “other tongues” (Acts 2:4), so every visitor at the feast of pentecost could understand. (Consider the word “other tongues” in Is. 28:11; Jer. 5:15; Deut 28:45-50, which refers to other languages that they would have to learn from the nations who would submit to them. For them the Greek language was an “other tongue” and therefore was not used at the services in the temple. Nevertheless the Greek language was wide spread and was the official language. In Acts 2:6 the people could “hear them speak in his own language”. From here we can see that this gift was not an “ecstatic utterance”, but it was a human language and the purpose of it was the spreading of the gospel, not just to speak to God.

3. The Holy Spirit’s work is to teach us, and remind us of the word in moments when we need to witness of Christ (Jn 14:26), to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (Jn 16:7-10), to talk to our spirit, making a link between our spirit and God, so that we could receive confirmations and messages from Him (Rom. 8:16), help us in the process of santification, grant us gifts so that the church may be edified (1 Cor. 12), etc.

4. Notice that in the list of gifts, there is no “gift of the Holy Spirit”, I mean the Holy Spirit gives the gifts “as He wills” (1 Cor. 12:11) but there is no one that can say I have the gift of possessing the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit there will be manifested gifts, not necessarily everyone needs to have the same gift, otherwise we would all be then one particular organ. Not everyone needs to be the eye or the legs, etc. Everyone receives a different gift so that in union the whole body may be edified.

5. One of the gifts mentioned in 1 Cor. 12, is the gift of “divers kinds of tongues” and the gift of “interpretation of tongues”, (verse 10) and I see that they are interrelated.

6. In 1 Cor. 13:1, Paul mentions: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and I have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” With this he is not trying to say that he speaks tongues of angels, it’s just an expression to let people understand that the gift of tongues, no matter which one or how much the person may speak them is worthless if he has no love. It is just a conditional tense, therefore is not an affirmation. He goes on in verse 2 with the comparison, naming several gifts. Besides, the gift of speaking in angelic tongues is not listed in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians, which means that this one doesn’t exist. He who possesses the gift of tongues is able to make himself understood in other languages, bringing therewith God’s message of salvation, while he who has the gift of interpretation, can in this way translate from a person who may not know a language or doesn’t have the gift of tongues.

7. (1 Cor. 14) There was a multilingual environment at Corinth, even though the official language was Greek. So we find a problem that ONLY the church at Corinth was facing. The gift of tongues and of interpretation was needed at this church.

8. The word “unknown” does not appear in the original Bible.

9. Paul, (in 1 Cor. 14), prefers that people may have the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues (v. 1), but if the message presented in another tongue was interpreted, then it was considered at the same level as the gift of prophecy, because the church was thus edified

10. 1 Cor. 14:2-4 “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands (or hears) him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophecies speaks to men for their strenghtening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.” (NIV) “Speaking in a tongue” is speaking in a language that the church cannot understand, while “prophesying” is sharing a message from God, speaking in the language of the people. That’s why he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself with the message God has given him, because for the rest of the church he is like “uttering mysteries with his spirit”. Once again I reiterate that the tongues here are not just “ecstatic utterances” because those languages could be interpreted (14:5, 13, 27)

11. (14:6) “Now, brothers, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction?” It made no sense fpr Paul to speak in tongues they did not understand, at his visit to Corinth, because they could get no profit of his visit, while if he would bring them a word of instruction or of knowledge or of revelation, then the church could learn something and take advantage of his visit. It would be just like a flute or a harp out of tune, or when there was no distinction of the notes (14:7-9)

12. Therefore in prayers, it was then necessary for the interpretation. “For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says.” (NIV) (v. 13) The spirit would be praying when somebody was praying in tongues, but the person would not understand what the other was saying (v. 14). In this verse, it’s not talking about that the person who prays in tongues does not understand what he is saying, but rather than when prayers were done in tongues, the people who were present would just pray in the spirit, meaning that they would accompany the prayer but they could not understand a word of what was being said. That’s why in verse 16, it is mentioned the importance of the hearers’ approval by saying “Amen”. In verse. 13, Paul makes an introduction to verses 14 and 15 mentioning the importance of interpretation when someone would pray in tongues. And look at verse 17 now “You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified.” Once again it is referring to the person praying in another language; he could be giving thanks but the hearers wouldn’t be edified. Look for example what versel 1 says “If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me” (NIV) and then… comes verse 12 advising to be eager to have spiritual gifts that “build up the church” and then verse 13 which begins with “For this reason….” Look at verse 18 and 19 “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue” Verse 21, is refering to Is. 28:1 l-12,When God means that not even with the lips of other people or in omer tongues tney •wuriii-ntatrn’coftrm, ‘haif ^wvddn&Tif&s. fraA. TAk,^«& ^ stiffhecked people, who would hardly be ready to obey. 12. Paul then advises them (verses 22-25) to prophesy so that others may come to worship God, but if they would all speak in tongues, they would be considered “out of mind.” Notice that the person would fall “down on his face” and worship God. It’s NEVER written that people would fall BACKWARDS.

13. When there was no interpreter, the person who spoke another language had to keep silence, otherwise whatever he said had to be interpreted (verse 27, 28)

14. From verses 26 on, Paul talks about the order during worships and he ends up the chapter with “Let all things be done decently and in order.” If you followed the context of the chapter, there is no room for “ecstatic utterances”, or disorder. There is neither the obligation that everyone should speak in tongues. The chapter is centered in the edifying of the church by receiving messages from the Lord rather than by people speaking in their own languages. Let’s not forget the historical background of the book neither the fact that Corinth had the presence of many people who did not understand the Greek language or that they could better express themselves in their own language especially when it came to spiritual things. We have to ask ourselves now, does my gift edify the church? Can anyone in the hall interpret what I’m saying? Is it really necessary that I speak in another language when everybody speaks one same language? Isn’t prophesying better than an “ecstatic utterance”?

In His Love, Gabriel Porras