WWUTT 165 Praying In Tongues?

Speaking in Tongues as a Listener Question

Speaking in tongues is described as one of the least of the spiritual gifts, but it is without question the most controversial. Today we're taking a question from a listener about speaking in tongues and seeing what the Bible has to say about it when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know we don't. When we understand the text promotes sound doctrine while exposing the faulty. Here's your host, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you Becky. I apologize for this episode being so late yet again. This is like my third or fourth Friday in a row I've been late on the Friday episode of the program. I took on a project yesterday that I had to get done and I finally finished it at four in the morning and then today there was just so much prep work that went into this it took me a little while to get it done and post it online.

There is a transcript to this answer that I'm going to give today. We're taking a question from a listener regarding speaking in tongues and the transcript of my response is on my blog. If you go to pastorgabehughes .blogspot .com you will find it there.

This is from Neil who says, Dear Pastor Gabe, thank you for the what ministry. It has been a blessing to me and other people that I know. I have a question regarding speaking in tongues. Can we really advise that it is okay to use any spiritual gift such as speaking in tongues for private or mere personal edification?

Wouldn't this be a deviation from the rest of first Corinthians and be done in a way that is really not typical of how Paul points that kind of thing out? I'm not saying that someone should not use the gift if it is given, just that I think the biblical use of the gift would not entail speaking mysteries to the wind, so to speak.

Paul would rather speak five words that could be understood. How easy is that to do? Jesus saves all repentant sinners. It seems he's making a point here. Thank you again, Neil. Well, thank you for your email, Neil, an email that I received last year when I held more liberal beliefs than I hold now concerning the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.

A friend of mine and actually somebody in whose living room when we understand the text was brainstormed, he has since shown me the doctrinal errors in my former understanding regarding the gift of speaking in tongues.

I don't wish to try to explain what I used to believe, but if you watch, there's a pair of videos, one featuring John Piper and another featuring David Platt explaining what they believe regarding speaking in tongues.

And that's pretty close to the belief that I used to hold regarding this spiritual gift. The links to those videos are in the transcript of this answer, which again, you find in my blog. So what's the position that I hold now?

Well, the biblical one, the gift of tongues as we see it given starting in Acts two is an anointing of the Holy Spirit to testify the message of God in languages that the hearers could understand. That is its purpose and function.

Tongues in Acts 2 as Known Human Languages

So I'd like to come back to Neil's question from 2015 and answer it the right way in 2016. You're right, Neil. We should not advise that it's okay to use the gift of tongues for personal edification. Paul didn't either.

And I'd further your question and my answer by adding that the babbling that we refer to now as speaking in tongues isn't. I'm going to expound on this response by coming to the text so we can understand what speaking in tongues actually is and what it isn't, all according to what the Bible says.

So grab your Bible. But before I get to that, allow me to share my experience of something that happened this past week. Last weekend at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, some 60 ,000 people gathered at an event called The Call, also referred to as Azusa Now, because it was the 110th anniversary of what is known as the Azusa Street Outpouring.

For 15 straight hours, they prayed in tongues. But at least that's what they called it, was praying in tongues. It was actually complete gibberish. The thing was set off in part by a false prophetess, Cindy Jacobs, who said, this is that which the prophets foretold.

I'm getting ready to open up the greatest generation of young evangelists the world has ever known. Well, I can definitively say Jacobs was more full of herself than of the Holy Spirit. It was in the midst of the whole Azusa Now garbage that I made the following tweet.

I said on Twitter, there's not one verse in the Bible that encourages or gives an example of praying in tongues. Now that was preceding a what video that I was working on about praying in tongues, which I posted Wednesday.

In the 24 hours following the video, I was told that I'm not actually saved. I was called a false teacher. I was compared to being a mutt in a dumpster, that I had a rancid heart. I'm dividing the body of Christ.

I suffer from typical Baptist false doctrine and that I needed to be a man and take the video down. Now, I'm not looking for sympathy. Mere words on faceless Internet cannot even compare to the suffering that my Savior bore for my sins.

I mentioned those few comments just to make this point. The subject of speaking in tongues is a very, very touchy subject, and it really, really shouldn't be. Those who place such critical importance on speaking in tongues emphasis on critical are at least as guilty as the Corinthians were when they prompted a rebuke from the apostle Paul for the way they abused the spiritual gifts.

And I would say that those who defend the modern Western world notion of speaking in tongues with that whole, you know, gobbledygook thing that they do and claim that speaking in tongues, they're actually guilty of worse than what the Corinthians were doing for what they are defending as tongues aren't actually tongues at all.

The defense that is made regarding speaking in tongues typically begins with passages selected from First Corinthians 14. It cannot start there. An understanding of this spiritual gift has to start in Acts 2, which is where we see the gift of tongues first given.

Then when you get to First Corinthians 14, the passages there affirm its proper function and clarify its proper usage. By the way, First Corinthians 14 is the last chapter in the New Testament to even mention the gift of speaking in tongues.

It's mentioned first in Acts, then a couple of books later, it's mentioned lastly in First Corinthians 14. Now, I'm not going to quote these entire chapters word for word, but you can open up your Bible and see for yourself the context as I give it.

Pentecost and Peter's Sermon in Acts 2

Let's start in Acts chapter 2. So open up your Bible to Acts chapter 2. In the first chapter of Acts, Jesus told the disciples to go back into Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. They would receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon them, and then they would go throughout Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth preaching the gospel.

That's Acts 1. When Jesus said in John 14 .12 that his disciples would do greater works than he had done, that's what he was referring to, taking the gospel out even further by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, according to Acts 1 .15, there were 120 disciples of Jesus devoting themselves to prayer in that upper room, and then they cast lots for the 12th apostle who would replace Judas and the lot fell upon a man named Matthias.

Then at the start of chapter 2, the apostles were together in one place on the day of Pentecost which was a feast day when the Jews celebrated the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. This is extremely significant.

The day that the Jews were gathered together to celebrate the law was the day they would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ who fulfilled the law. The scriptures say that a sound came from heaven like the sound of a mighty rushing wind and divided tongues as of fire rested on each one of them.

Note, it wasn't actual fire. It's just something that looked like fire. Verse 4 says, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The Greek word for tongues here is glossaeus, 1100 in Strong's Concordance, which means language. And I'll come back to this again. Jews from every nation under heaven, Acts 2 .5, had come back to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost.

They had been scattered in the exile about 600 years before. After the exile ended, many Jews returned to rebuild Jerusalem as we read about in Nehemiah, for example, but many stayed where they were and made lives for themselves.

The generations that followed spoke mostly the languages of the people that they lived among. Still honoring their heritage, they would travel back to Jerusalem for major occasions. Jewish festivals became a hodgepodge of nationalities and languages, and this would have been the case at Pentecost as well.

So at the sound of the rushing wind and the apostles who were speaking in tongues, the multitude came together and it says they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.

The people said, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each of us in his own native language? In other words, according to the traditions of those days, there was no reason for the apostles, ordinary Galileans to have been so educated that they knew the multitude of languages that they were speaking.

That was recognized by those who observed them. How is it that these men know all of these languages? The Bible's description of this ability to speak in tongues is immediately given here at the start of Acts 2.

It is a gift of the Holy Spirit to speak in a language of man that the person speaking did not previously know. Verses 8 through 11 explain which nations were represented among them. And yet, as it says in verse 11, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.

Some were asking, what does this mean? Yet there were others who did not understand what was going on and they said they are filled with new wine. And for some stupid reason, Kenneth Hagin taught that this meant the Holy Spirit makes a person indistinguishable from an idiotic drunk.

Like Ken Hagin took this verse in Acts chapter 2 where it says, where the people are saying they're filled with new wine or they're acting drunk. And he means, Hagin interprets this as meaning that the apostles actually looked drunk.

Listen to this audio.

They heard them speak in tongues, but what did they see? For them to think they was drunk, they must have thought they was drunk. They were acting like drunks.

And it just goes on like that. People flopping around, falling out of their chairs, stumbling down in the aisles, acting like that they're drunk nincompoops. And that's not at all what was happening in Jerusalem at the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and then going out among the people and preaching the gospel.

Peter spoke up to them, those who did not understand, and he said, men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem. So Peter spoke in a language specifically for the men and women that resided in that region.

Let this be known to you, he said, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. In other words, it was only nine o 'clock, too early to be drunk yet.

Peter said what was happening was a fulfillment of Old Testament scriptures when it was said through the prophet Joel that God would pour out his spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters would prophesy.

He showed them how Jesus of Nazareth killed at the hands of lawless men, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, verse 23, fulfilled the prophecies of old and that he was known even by David, their greatest king.

This Jesus God raised up and of that we are all witnesses. Peter continued, being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

You can't say that about the audio clip that we just heard with Kenneth Hagan. He didn't say anything. He just act like a, like, like a drunken idiot. The gospel Peter preached, cut them to the heart and they asked what they needed to do.

And Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord, our God calls to himself.

The scriptures say that Peter continued to preach them many words saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. This was a long sermon, not limited to just the thousand words that we have in Acts two.

Those who were convicted and received his word, repented of their sins. And there were added that day about 3000 souls. Now understand that tens of thousands of people heard this message, 3000 were saved.

That's still really fantastic. More people were converted in one day than in Jesus's entire earthly ministry. Again, as he said to his disciples, they would do even greater works than he had done because he had given them the helper, the Holy Spirit who spoke through them.

Luke 21 15, even in languages, the apostles did not know every time this is mentioned. And every time that word tongues is used, it is describing an actual language of men. The gift of tongue specifically given to a person who does not know that language, but can speak that language so that the hearers may understand the gospel in their own language.

The people were saved because they heard the gospel. Romans 10 17 says, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. These Jews heard the word of Christ. They were saved and were baptized.

They heard the message in their own language. That's what the gift of tongues is. That's what the gift of tongues is for. Now, there are two other occasions mentioned in Acts. Only two where speaking in tongues is mentioned.

It's in Acts chapter 10 and in Acts chapter 19. In Acts 10, an angel appeared to a Roman centurion named Cornelius, who told him to seek out Peter, who had preached to the Gentiles. Peter had previously been resistant to preaching to the Gentiles, but God had shown him that God shows no partiality.

But in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. So Peter told them about the words of the prophets, Jesus' death on the cross, the forgiveness of sins through Christ and the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard it so that they would actually receive the words that Peter was speaking.

Because as we see in Romans chapter eight, without the spirit, it is not possible to please God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. How can we respond to the gospel message of Christ in a way that is pleasing to God?

Only if God's spirit has opened us up to be able to receive it. This is referred to as regeneration. And we see it spoken about also in Titus chapter three, verse five, that we're regenerated in the spirit to hear the words of God being spoken.

And this is what we see displayed among the Gentiles there in Acts chapter 10. The Jews that were among them were amazed because the Holy Spirit was given even to those who weren't Jews. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.

That's Acts 10 46. Meaning what? Meaning that the Gentiles started speaking in a language they did not know. But perhaps the Jews did. And this was an evidence to the Jews that even non-Jews would receive this gift of the spirit.

The people of God would be made up not just of Jews, but of Gentiles also. Whatever it was the Gentiles were saying doesn't clarify that just that they were extolling God in foreign tongues. The Jews understood.

They understood them to be praising the Lord. Again, the gift of tongues was given to communicate a message and that message was understood. The next occasion of speaking in tongues, the last one in the book of Acts is in Acts 19, one through seven, Paul found some disciples of John the Baptist when he was passing through Ephesus.

And he asked them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They said, no, we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit. So Paul explained to them that John baptized with a baptism of repentance, but that this was a testimony of the one who was to come after him.

And that is Jesus Christ who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Verses five through seven on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Now somebody might argue, well, hang on. Previously in chapter 10, the Holy Spirit fell on those who heard the gospel so that they would be able to receive it. But here in chapter 19, they're baptized first and then Paul lays his hands on them.

And then the Holy Spirit comes to them. Well, there's something that is being spoken about a little bit differently here in Acts chapter 19. It's not that they weren't saved until Paul laid his hands on them.

It's that that they had not received the gift of speaking in tongues until Paul had laid his hands on them. There were about 12 men in all. It says there in verse seven. And then it says in verse nine that Paul took those disciples with him.

Those 12 men became instrumental in sharing the gospel, which by the power of the Holy Spirit they were able to do in tongues that other men could understand. That's the narrative as we see it in Acts chapter 19.

Many charismatics and Pentecostals will twist these two stories in Acts 10 and 19 to make the argument that speaking in tongues is the sign of receiving the Holy Spirit. Not a sign, but the sign. If you've never spoken in tongues, they say, then you've never received the Holy Spirit.

That is a lie from the pit of hell. First of all, we do not see those who were baptized in Acts 2 speaking in tongues, nor do we see those described as receiving the Spirit in Acts 8, 19 speaking in tongues.

The Ethiopian eunuch that Stephen baptized in Acts 8, 26 through 40, he didn't come up out of the water speaking in tongues. Again, speaking in tongues is mentioned only in three places in Acts. Not one verse in the Bible says we must speak in tongues to show evidence of having received the Holy Spirit.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12, 30 that not all who received the Spirit would speak in tongues. End of story. Do not believe anyone who tells you that you must speak in tongues or else you haven't received the Holy Spirit.

They are liars teaching false doctrine. You will find many other teachings of theirs that won't line up with the Word of God. Okay, that is every occasion that we see speaking in tongues given in the book of Acts.

Tongues, Prophecy, and Love in 1 Corinthians 12–14

Once you understand what tongues are as they're spoken about in Acts, then you can better understand what Paul is referring in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. Those are the only three chapters after Acts that mention speaking in tongues.

In chapter 12, he talks about speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues being gifts of the Spirit. But, he starts by saying, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

That's chapter 12, verse 7. Gifts of the Spirit are for building up the church, not edifying the self. And it is the Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Verse 11. Tongues are listed as the least of the spiritual gifts in verse 28.

And as I've already mentioned, not everyone will speak in tongues, nor will everyone have the ability to interpret them. Though not everyone will have the higher gifts, we should all desire the higher gifts, as Paul says in verse 31.

Why? So, our desire is for the church to be edified and ultimately for God to be glorified. Paul is instructing them on the proper usage of the spiritual gifts because the Corinthians had been abusing the gifts and desiring the lesser gifts when they should be promoting the higher gifts.

We know 1 Corinthians 13 as the love chapter of the Bible. It's commonly read at weddings and quoted in lovey-dovey greeting cards. But Paul was not being romantic. He was rebuking the Corinthians. Everything that we read about love in 1 Corinthians 13, the Corinthians were doing the opposite.

When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, 1, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. He's not saying that he does speak in the tongues of angels.

He's being hyperbolic. He's telling the Corinthians that even if you were able to speak in the languages the angels speak, if it was not done in love for God and for his saints, it would mean precisely squat.

It should be noted that Paul said to the Corinthians on another occasion that he's heard and seen heavenly things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. That's 2 Corinthians 12, 4. We cannot speak heavenly or divine languages with our fleshly mouths.

Sorry. Love is the most excellent way. Not speaking in tongues, not any of the other spiritual gifts. Love is the most excellent way. Let all that we do be done in brotherly love for building up the body of Christ.

That's the point of 1 Corinthians 13, which falls right between chapters 12 and 14 describing the spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 14, 1 through 4, we read the following, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy for one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit.

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

Verse two is, I think without question, the most abused verse when it comes to mounting a defense of speaking in tongues. I did the same thing when I thought it was okay to permit the practice, but you must read verse two in light of verse one and you must read verse one in light of chapters 12 and 13 and you must read chapters 12 and 13 in light of Paul's reason for writing to the Corinthians.

And you must understand any mention of tongues in light of the gift as it's first given in Acts chapter two. In 1 Corinthians 14, 1, Paul says to pursue love as in chapter 13 and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy as in chapter chapter 12.

Why? So the lost will hear the gospel and the saints will be encouraged, which we do in the love of God poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5, 5. When Paul gets to verse two and explains that one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God for no one understands him, but he utters mystery mysteries of the spirit.

He's saying that speaking in tongues, praying in tongues does not edify the body of Christ. If a person speaks in tongues to himself, he's only edifying himself and that's not what we should desire. We should desire the spiritual gifts for the purpose of edifying the body and building up the church.

The rest of chapter 14 is a continued rebuke for the ways the Corinthians were misusing the spiritual gifts, particularly speaking in tongues while lovingly teaching them how that gift is to be used properly.

It is not in any way, shape or form giving permission to pray in tongues, nor is Paul even encouraging the practice. And it is especially not permitting or encouraging prayers in gibberish that aren't actually any language at all.

It's just gobbledygook that we call tongues, but it's really not. Not one time in the Bible, all the way up to first Corinthians 14 is tongues described as some indiscernible, mysterious, divine language.

You have to come to the text believing that qualifies as tongues and read that into the text. When Paul says in verse five, now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. He's not saying that he wants you to speak gibberish in private prayer, nor is he saying that he wants you to pray another language to yourself.

He's saying it's good for you to speak in tongues for the purpose it was intended for sharing the message of God. Paul says in verse six, now brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?

In other words, speaking in tongues in and of itself does not fulfill some purpose. It's what's being said that's purposeful. If we're praying in languages that mean nothing, then, well, it means nothing.

Now look in verse 10, there are doubtless many different languages in the world and none is without meaning. Can that be stated any more plainly? There are many languages in the world and they all have meaning again.

Speaking in tongues is not meaningless gibberish or some divine unknown language. We're talking about the actual languages of men. Paul goes on, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker of foreigner to me.

So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. That's the manifestation of the spirit working in the people of God, growing in love and harmony with one another.

There we have said again, also desire what is edifying to others that builds up the church. Verse 13, therefore one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret again. A tongue here is a language in the world and speaking tongues is not the same thing as understanding what is being said.

A person who prays in a tongue can either be given the interpretation of that tongue or the interpretation may be given to another to interpret for them. Verses 14 through 15, for if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. And again, Paul is not saying here that he prays in tongues.

He says, if I pray in a tongue and if he were to do that, even his own mind would be unfruitful to himself. So what does he desire to do? Not pray in tongues. He will pray and sing with his spirit and his mind so that he and others will be edified.

And as a kind of a side note here, we also get the instruction that our songs aren't to be merely thoughtless words that rhyme. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Paul instructed the Colossians, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God, Colossians 3 16.

Even in the songs that we sing, we are to prophesy to one another the words and the works of God. Paul says in verse 19, back in first Corinthians 14 now, Paul says here something that Neil quoted in his question in church.

I would rather speak with five words. I'd rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10 ,000 words in a tongue. Those who place such a high importance on speaking in tongues speak contrary to the ministry of the apostles whom we are told to imitate.

Paul said that in first Corinthians 11 one brothers do not be children in your thinking he goes on to say again, emphasizing that speaking in tongues is among the lesser gifts. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature in the law.

It is written by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Thus, tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers.

What is said here in first Corinthians 14 21 through 22 affirms the purpose of tongues that we saw demonstrated in the book of Acts. Tongues are a sign for unbelievers declaring the saving message of God in their own language.

It is not, nor has it ever been defined as a private prayer language. Paul quotes from Isaiah as Peter quoted from Joel to point out how the gift of tongues fulfilled Old Testament prophecy and even in the Old Testament, tongues are spoken about as declaring a message in another language.

Paul then expounds on that understanding and he goes on to talk about order. Okay, this is beginning in verse 23. If therefore the whole church becomes, comes together, sorry, let me start that again.

If therefore the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you're all out of your minds? I mean, isn't that what happened at Pentecost before Peter said to them what it was that was going on and what was being shared in these multiple languages, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all. He is called to account by all the secrets of his heart are disclosed. And so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.

Pentecostal apostolic and full gospel churches are in defiance of first Corinthians 14, 23 through 40, whether their understanding of tongues is the languages of men or they think of tongues as being gibberish, right?