New Testament Tongues

By Thomas Overmiller | May 29, 2018

The Meaning of Speaking in Tongues

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit enabled a group of believers to speak with “other tongues” (Acts 2:4). This was the first time that “speaking in tongues” occurred in the New Testament. People have offered various interpretations about the nature of what Luke meant by “other tongues.” First, to understand this occurrence, you should know that the word tongues in Scripture refers to “languages,” whether spoken or written, which people use to communicate with one another. Second, to understand what other meant, you must read Luke’s immediate explanation. God-fearing men from other nations had gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5). When they heard believers speaking in “tongues,” they were confused and amazed because they heard them speaking in the languages of the foreign visitors (Acts 2:6-12). This clearly indicates that “speaking in tongues” was a spontaneous ability given by the Holy Spirit to speak “the works of God” in other human, foreign languages, though previously unlearned (Acts 2:11).

Other References to Speaking in Tongues

Christ foretold that this would happen (Mark 16:17). Furthermore, Luke later records that it not only happened when Peter preached the gospel to the Jews at Pentecost, but it also happened when he preached the gospel the Gentiles in the home of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-46; 11:15). Luke also mentions that it happened when followers of John the Baptist received the Holy Spirit for themselves (Acts 19:6). Beyond these instances, the only other place where Scripture mentions “speaking in tongues” is in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

The Purpose of Speaking in Tongues

What is the purpose for speaking in tongues? This purpose arises from the Old Testament. Isaiah prophesied that God would speak to the nation of Israel “with another tongue” as a judgment on them, signifying when he would respond to their resistance of him by expanding his kingdom to all the nations of the world (Isa 28:11-12). Paul directly correlates this Old Testament prophecy with the purpose for the New Testament “tongues” phenomenon (1 Cor 14:21-22). By doing so, he taught that speaking in tongues served as a sign that marked a turning point in God’s redemptive program for the world. Furthermore, he taught this phenomenon as a sign to nonbelievers and not believers.

Requirements for Speaking in Tongues

To speak in tongues properly, Paul required another believer to be present who would be able to provide a translation into the language which the congregation naturally understood (1 Cor 14:27-28). In the absence of this condition, Paul instructed believers to refrain from speaking in tongues. As Paul describes, speaking a message to people in a language that they do not understand is a useless exercise in the church.

The Uniformity of Speaking in Tongues

Some suggest that Paul taught a kind of tongues speaking which differed from what Luke recorded in Acts. They suggest that he recognized a kind of tongues speaking which was ecstatic, featuring an unintelligible language which was heavenly or spiritual in nature, referring to Paul’s use of the phrase “tongues of angels” (1 Cor 13:1). Such an interpretation, however, misunderstands the manner in which Paul was speaking. He was speaking in hypothetical and exaggerated terms to emphasize the supreme importance of Christian love, and he continued this exaggerated language into the following verses to make his point (1 Cor 13:2-3). Apart from this unsupportive reference, Paul’s discussion of tongues in 1 Corinthians refers to the same foreign-language phenomenon which Luke details in Acts.

Tongues as a Transitional Phenomenon

Of all New Testament letters that Paul wrote, only one – 1 Corinthians – mentions speaking in tongues. In this letter, he indicates that the practice of tongues speaking was occurring at the time of his writing, but he also indicates that this would end. He said, “Tongues, they will cease” (1 Cor 13:8). This is a fascinating statement for several reasons. First, it occurs in the middle of two other statements, “prophecies, they will fail” and “knowledge, it will vanish away.” In the next sentence, he again refers to these two elements, prophecy and knowledge, but he does not refer to tongues again (1 Cor 13:9). Furthermore, he uses a different word to describe what will happen to prophecy and knowledge. He says they will “pass away,” using a word that means, “to be removed by something else.” On the other hand, regarding tongues, he says, “they will cease.” This is a different word meaning they will “fade away by themselves.” Finally, he says that knowledge and prophecy will be removed by “that which is perfect,” whenever it comes. Although good men debate the identity of “that which is perfect” and when it has or will come, this “that which is perfect” does not remove the phenomenon of speaking in tongues. It refers only to prophecy and knowledge. As Paul carefully described, the phenomenon of speaking in tongues would fade away by itself.

Well, then, when did the sign of tongues fade away? The best answer seems to be when the transition from the Old to the New Testament was complete. First, tongues speaking was not a surprising, unexpected phenomenon. The Old Testament foretold that this would occur as a divine sign to unbelieving Israel. It would signal that God was transitioning his program away from a focus on them as a nation toward a worldwide, multi-ethnic focus instead (1 Cor 14:21-22 cf. Isa 28:11-12).

Paul taught that in this transition from one era to another, God had commissioned him to appeal to the Jewish people first (Rom 6:1). He also taught that Jewish people looked for signs to authenticate a message (1 Cor 1:22). This being the case, it is intriguing to observe that Jewish people were present to witness each of the instances of tongues-speaking mentioned in Acts (Acts 2:1-21, 36-41; 10:43-48; 19:1-7). Ultimately, however, Luke ended his record of the opening stage of church history by confirming that Israel had rejected the gospel, despite the signs which God provided, marking a clear transition from a Jewish focus to a Gentile one (Acts 28:23-29). Beyond 1 Corinthians, then, which was an early epistle, neither Paul nor any other New Testament writer recognized the practice of tongues speaking again. This correlates with the observation that signs and wonders confirmed the work of Christ, happening in conjunction with the ministry of the apostles and those who had witnessed the teaching ministry of Jesus firsthand (Acts 2:22; 14:3; Rom 15:18-20; 2 Cor 12:12).

The writer of Hebrews provided an especially helpful perspective on this in his epistle written later in the first century. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” (Heb 2:3-4). According to this report, God used extraordinary signs, which would include tongues speaking, to confirm the reality of God’s transition from the Old to the New Covenant, from Israel to the church. From a grammatical standpoint, the word bearing witness specifically narrows the occurrence of miraculous gifts to the life and ministry of “those who heard” the teaching ministry of Jesus (Heb 2:4). This indicates that miraculous sign gifts were temporary phenomena that passed away as the original audience of Jesus passed away and when the prophetic, revelatory ministry of the apostles came to completion. By studying Hebrews 2:3-4, you should recognize a summary that encapsulates what Luke recorded about the preaching of the gospel and in conjunction with the presence of signs and wonders.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome in A.D. 70, no mention of tongues speaking appears. Even more fascinating is that church leaders in succeeding generations affirm in plain terms that tongues speaking no longer occurred. They refer to it as only a transitional sign. Chrysostom (A.D. 345-407) wrote the following comments about Paul’s teaching about tongues 1 Corinthians 12: “The whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer takes place” (Homilies of First Corinthians). Augustine (A.D. 354-430) wrote something similar: “These were signs adapted to the time. For there behooved to be that betokening of the Holy Spirit in all tongues to shew that the Gospel of God was to run through all tongues over the whole earth. That the things was done for a betokening, and it passed away.”

Despite the evidence of Scripture and the commentary of church leaders in history, various people and groups have emerged at various points claiming to experience the New Testament gift of speaking in tongues. In every case, these people and groups do not represent biblical Christianity, but espouse other significant doctrinal errors and unorthodox practices. In contrast to these erroneous claims, the testimony of church history corroborates the biblical teaching that tongues will “fade away by themselves,” and that conclusively (1 Cor 13:8). Beyond this, there is no biblical basis whatsoever that supports either an unbroken continuation of this phenomenon or a revival of this phenomenon at a later period in history.

For a discussion of New Testament Prophecy, see Pastor Overmiller’s companion article here.

Thomas Overmiller serves as pastor for Faith Baptist Church in Corona, NY and blogs at Shepherd Thoughts. This article first appeared at Shepherd Thoughts, used here with permission.

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