Radio Sermon No. 39                          <back to table of contents>

Speaking in "Tongues"

The practice of what is called "speaking in tongues" is based on certain biblical statements and engaged in by very religious, and often very sincere people.  No such person ought to shy from an examination by the Bible to determine the validity of their practices.   If "tongue speaking" as practiced today is valid and if it is based on the Bible, the Bible should provide us with a means of testing or "trying" these "spirits." All Bible believers have a solemn charge -- "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I John 4:1).  So, we really have no choice and the "tongue speaker" ought to welcome with open arms any biblical test, for if he is really speaking in tongues as a gift from God there is no way he can fail.

The tongue speakers today ought to welcome such a test as this for personal reasons.  To pass a test right out of the Bible would be the most solid basis available anywhere for such a practice.   Those of you who believe God has granted you some special dispensation enabling you to speak this "heavenly language" should really not have any fears when you are examined by the divinely inspired record of God's revelation to mankind.  Surely, if you have such a gift in fact, and believe the Bible is the truth, you would jump at the opportunity to "prove" your own spirit.  And you have that duty, for Paul wrote, "Try your own selves, whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves.  Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? unless ye be reprobate?" (II Corinthians 13:5).  So, take this little test.  It comes from plain old book, chapter, and verse.

The Biblical Criterion for Tongue Speaking

1.  A tongue must be some language known and used somewhere on earth.  The original word for tongues is "GLOSSA." In the Greek edition of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, this word appears some thirty times.  Without variance it is used of a language, usually known by those to whom remarks about tongues were being made.  In the New Testament it is used of a language known by some, but unknown by the speaker.  When the word does not mean the tongue literally, it is used as a metaphor to mean speech.

Acts 2:3-4 illustrates this.  "And there appeared to them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Notice carefully, they spoke -- they spoke tongues -- tongues were spoken -- thus the tongues they spoke were the basic blocks of a language. That they were "other tongues" means not their own tongue.  They spoke foreign languages by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The audience heard these men speaking these "other tongues" and understood what was being said.  Verse 7, "And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all these that speak Galileans?" What was so amazing to this audience? Luke says it was because Galileans were speaking the "other tongues." Now, what were the "other tongues?" Verse 8, "And how hear we, every man, in our own language wherein we were born." The "other tongues" to the speaker were the native languages of the audience.  So, a tongue must first be a language spoken somewhere on earth.

Do those who speak in tongues today speak a language known on earth? Studies have been made for years of example after example of modern day tongues and the evidence is overwhelmingly.  Not one known language can be extracted from the utterances and sounds coming forth from modern day tongues.  Pentecostals have taken exception to this.  They ask how is it possible for linguists to know all of the more than three thousands languages in use in the world.  Good question.   If linguists do not know all languages, the one they do not know may be the one the tongue speakers use.

Some time ago, in Christianity Today, William E. Welmers, professor of African Languages at U.C.L.A.  wrote, "We do know something about representative languages of every known language family in the world.  I am, by no means, unique among descriptive linguists in having had direct, personal contact with well over a hundred languages representing a majority of the world's language families, and in having studied descriptions of languages of virtually every reported type.   If a glossolaliac (tongue speaker, DRS) were speaking in any of the thousand languages of Africa, there is about a 90% chance that I would recognize it in a minute." (Christianity Today, November 8, 1963, page 127).

The previous point is easy to grasp.  You may be unable to converse in French, but when you hear French spoken, you recognize it as the mother tongue of France.  The same is true with Chinese or Spanish.  But listen to the sounds of the tongues being spoken under the charismatic influences in Pentecostal churches around the world.  One or two sounds dominate the utterances.  Some sounds similar to the Hebrew Elohim or Adonijah are persistently uttered.   Those who practice in foreign lands consistently reflect their linguistic peculiarities in the sounds they make while "speaking in tongues."  A German, for example, speaking in tongues will have heavy guttural sounds in his utterance.  The same is true with other lands.  The fact is, no tongue speaker can prove that he is speaking any kind of language, of this earth or any other.

It is only reasonable to demand that one who makes sounds that are strange to our ears prove them to be what he claims.  He claims the sounds are some language like the Bible's "other tongues." Who knows for sure? If he does, let him prove it.  Until there is proof the claim is empty, and he fails point one in the test.

2.  In the assembly of saints the tongue is to be a sign to unbelievers.  Paul wrote, "Wherefore, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to the unbelievers..." (I Corinthians 14:22).  Do those who practice tongue speaking today use the gift as a sign to unbelievers that God is real, the gospel is true, Christ is the Son of God and that His blood will save them? To answer this question for yourself, just attend an assembly in some Pentecostal group where they speak in tongues and judge for yourself.  All of them fail this point in the test completely.

3.  Tongues can only be spoken when interpretation is possible and practiced.  I Corinthians 14:28 reads, "but if there be no interpreter, let him (the tongue speaker) keep silence in the church (the assembly), and let him speak to himself and to God." Have you ever attended a tongue speaking session anywhere where before the tongue speaker began to utter his "tongue" he asked, "Is there an interpreter present?"

It is more than certain that nothing like that ever happens anywhere.  But that is the Bible way, is it not?  Also, have you ever been present when someone went through what they imagined was tongue speaking and there was no interpretation at all?  And, if someone did "interpret," did you understand the necessity for the tongues?  As an example, this writer was present at a meeting when someone uttered what was allegedly a tongue.  Across the building someone interpreted the tongue, but in the archaic King James English with the "thee," "thou," and "thy" vernacular and it went something like this.  "I will bless you and keep you and make my face shine on you if you will love me and love my people."  Quite honestly, neither the tongue nor the interpretation served any purpose at all in that exercise.   Tongue speakers and interpreters both fail here.

4.  Only men are allowed to exercise the gift of tongue speaking.  Paul wrote, "As in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silent in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection as also saith the law" (I Corinthians 14:34-35).  The women were to be silent in the same assemblies where tongues were spoken.   Just as the man who had the gift was to be silent in the absence of an interpreter, the woman was to be silent in the assemblies.   The silence of the tongue speaker was not speaking.  The silence of the woman was also not speaking.  The man could speak in tongues if an interpreter was present but the woman could not speak at all.  Go to a Pentecostal meeting and see if they obey this? Some of these groups even have women "Pastors." They fail this test.

5.  Tongue speaking was limited to no more than three speaking and they were to speak one at a time.  Paul wrote, "If any man speaketh in a tongue, let it be by two, or at the most three, and that in turn, and let one interpret" (I Corinthians 14:27).  If you ever find a Pentecostal group that comes anywhere near this rule you will find something unique.   Most of these groups engage in simultaneous speaking, men, women, boys, and girls, all chattering away in some gibberish.  They miserably fail this test.  By the way, if the text of I Corinthians is followed, only one interpretation is allowed.

The evidence against modern day tongue speaking is overwhelming.  There is nothing other than pure human testimony to which to appeal to defend the practice.  And what is even more serious is the scripture twisting that is done to justify it today.  Most of those who use (actually misuse) I Corinthians 14 to prove that the Lord still gives the gift of tongues to His church ought to stop and think a moment.  Have they ever considered that the only so-called "tongue speaking church" in the New Testament was one of the worst examples of division, carnality, idolatry, superstition, and abuse ever recorded in the word of God?  That was Corinth.  Pentecostals who try to imitate Corinth in tongues and other charismatic exercises will fail miserably.

The Biblical Duration of Tongues

Paul mentioned nine gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12.   Among them he included tongues and the interpretation of tongues.  In chapter 13, he wrote: "Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away" (I Corinthians 13:8).  The tongues that Paul said would cease are the same tongues mentioned in chapter 12, given by the Spirit.   Notice next that he says when they will cease.  "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away" (verses 9-10).  The partial refers to partial revelation.  It was their only means of knowing the will of God.

Paul's argument is that knowledge of God's will now is partial in that it comes at various intervals and from various Spirit guided persons.  When the perfect was come the knowledge would be full, not partial.  Thus, when God's revealed will was complete the prophecies, the tongues, and the spirit given knowledge would be taken away.

One might compare this to the construction of a building.   When a building is under construction scaffolds are erected to assist the builders.  When the building is complete, the scaffolding is removed.  As the New Testament Church was being built through the preaching of God's revealed will, the gifts of the Spirit such as tongue speaking were needed.  The ability to speak a language unknown to the speaker expedited the rapid spread of the gospel of Christ.  But when the New Testament revelation was complete, like the scaffolding, tongues were removed.

If you have any question at all about this topic, or if you would like extra study materials on it, contact us.