Tongues – Overview, compiled by David Brewer
• An Actual Human Language. Tongues-speaking should be an actual human language. This can be very easily verified with a recording of the speaking and a qualified linguist.
• Edification not selfish. The function of all spiritual gifts is the mutual advancement and edification of the body, and not the advancement of self.
• Importance of Love. The pinnacle of growth is love (relationships), not experience nor knowledge — thus, both charismatics and cessationists can gain more balance in these matters.
• Can the biblical gift of tongues be learned and should we pursue this gift? It is incorrect that the biblical gift of tongues can be acquired through practice and learning, so we should encourage believers to keep trying to do it until they can. Our spiritual gifts do develop as we exercise them, but it is unbiblical to say we can “acquire” a gift by pursuing it. In 1 Cor 12:11 Paul clearly teaches that it is the Holy Spirit that distributes the gifts according to His will, not ours. 1 Cor 12:30 makes it clear that not everybody has the gift of tongues.
• Tongues is a clear indication of genuine spirituality? This particular error automatically causes division in the body of Christ. The purpose of all of the spiritual gifts is to encourage and unite, not discourage and divide (see 1 Cor 12:1-3).
• Tongues is the least important of all the gifts. According to 1 Cor 12:30, the gift of tongues and it is the least important of all the gifts (it is last on Paul’s list). Plus, it’s important to realize that not once does the NT expand on the gift of tongues apart from 1 Corinthians 12-14 and the only reason why Paul mentioned it here was to correct the Corinthians’ misuse of tongues.
• Prophecy vs. Tongues. Paul is not encouraging the use of tongues in 1 Cor 14. In this chapter Paul very clearly shows that the gift of prophecy was superior to the gift of tongues. Edification of others was more important than tongues. Paul states that the gift of tongues was inferior to prophecy because it did not edify the church (1 Cor 14:1-19), it did not edify the believer (1 Cor 14:20-21), and it did not win the lost (1 Cor 14:22-25). Any practice that occurs in a congregation must edify the body of Christ or else it must be eliminated (vv. 4, 5, 12, 17, 19, 26). Clearly all modern-day expressions of tongues that do not include orderliness, translation, and careful explanation in the assembly are categorically unbiblical.
• Tongues a special prayer language? 1 Cor 14:2 doesn’t teach a special prayer language. In this verse, Paul is comparing tongues to prophecy so that when he says that such a person speaks to God what he means is that in contrast to prophecy which all can understand (14:3, 12), nobody can understand tongues except God; he might as well be speaking to God. Second, tongues were never originally intended as a personal prayer language, but was meant for the edification of the body (this is Paul’s point in 1 Cor 12). That is why Paul requires that there be an interpreter (14:12-13, 28). If an interpreter is not present, tongues are not to be exercised.
• Does Paul in 1 Cor 14:4 argue for a private, devotional use of tongues outside of the assembly? The function of tongues in a public assembly should be for the mutual advancement of the body, not the edifying of the self. Paul acknowledges that a type of self-edification occurs during tongue speaking in private, but this is not helpful for the assembly. The prophetic ministry is preferred in the assembly since it seeks the good of others and edifies the assembled believers.
• Significance of uninterpreted tongues. Uninterpreted tongues were a sign to unbelievers of God’s displeasure and impending judgment (14:21-22a).
• The importance of order. All things must be done in order, and tongues are especially regulated.
• Purpose of Tongues in Acts.
o The presence of tongues may have had some revelatory, evangelistic, or possibly devotional secondary benefit, but its main purpose in human history was to warn Jews of God’s impending judgment on Israel (see 1 Cor 14:21-22, from Isaiah 28:11-12).
o In Acts 2, the stunning fact was that Gentile languages were heard in the Temple precinct, a clear sign of judgment for the unbelieving Jewish people who were there celebrating the feast of Pentecost. They would have remembered Isaiah’s warning in chapter 28. The gift of languages in Acts 2:1-13 aroused their attention and interest, but it did not convict their hearts. It was the content of Peter’s message (Acts 2:14ff.) in Hebrew or Aramaic that clearly communicated the gospel and brought the gathered people to a place of conviction and conversion.
o In Acts 10:46, tongues were evidence to the believing Jews that the Spirit had also come upon the Gentiles. Afterward Peter preached to the ones gathered at Cornelius’ house that the Gentiles were objects of God’s salvation as well as the Jews (Acts 10:34-35, 43).
o In Acts 19:6, God gave evidence through tongues that the twelve Ephesian men had received the Spirit.
• Conclusion (from Robert Dean, Jr.) “Since the purpose for the gift of tongues was to confirm God’s judgment on the nation Israel as prophesied in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 18, it was no longer necessary after AD 70. Once Judea was decimated, the Temple in ruins, and Judaism judged, the Church could achieve its own separate identity and carry out the Great Commission. With a complete canon it had sufficient knowledge to face any and all situations, and all that God deemed necessary to grow and mature.”
Sources Used
http://www.bible.org/qa.asp?topic_id=68&qa_id=272
http://www.bible.org/qa.asp?topic_id=68&qa_id=271
Dean, Robert, Jr. “Three Arguments for the Cessation of Tongues.” Conservative Theological Journal 9:26 (March 2005): 62-86.
Oster, Richard. 1 Corinthians. The College Press NIV Commentary. Joplin: MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1995.
Snoeberger, Mark A. “Tongues – Are They For Today? “An Introductory Illustration and Apology.” Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal 14 (2009): 3-21.
Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary. Volume 1. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996. Print.
Sources Consulted
Grudem, Wayne. “1 Corinthians 14:20-25: Prophecy and Tongues As Signs of God’s Attitude.
House, H. Wayne. “Tongues and the Mystery Religions of Corinth.”