Tongues, Gift of

A spiritual gift mentioned in Acts 10:44-46; 11:15; 19:6; Mark 16:17, and described in Acts 2:1-13 and at length in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, especially chapter 14. In fact, 1 Corinthians 14 contains such a full and clear account that this passage is basic. The speaker in a tongue addressed God (1 Corinthians 14:2, 14:28) in prayer (1 Corinthians 14:14), principally in the prayer of thanksgiving (1 Corinthians 14:15-17). The words so uttered were incomprehensible to the congregation (1 Corinthians 14:2, 14:5, 14:9, etc.), and even to the speaker himself (1 Corinthians 14:14). Edification, indeed, was gained by the speaker (1 Corinthians 14:4), but this was the edification of emotional experience only (1 Corinthians 14:14). The words were spoken “in the spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:2); i.e. the ordinary faculties were suspended and the divine, specifically Christian, element in the man took control, so that a condition of ecstasy was produced. This immediate (mystical) contact with the divine enabled the utterance of “mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2)—things hidden from the ordinary human understanding (see MYSTERY). In order to make the utterances comprehensible to the congregation, the services of an “interpreter” were needed. Such a man was one who had received from God a special gift as extraordinary as the gifts of miracles, healings, or the tongues themselves (1 Corinthians 12:10, 12:30); i.e. the ability to interpret did not rest at all on natural knowledge, and acquisition of it might be given in answer to prayer (1 Corinthians 14:13). Those who had this gift were known, and Paul allowed the public exercise of “tongues” only when one of the interpreters was present (1 Corinthians 14:28). As the presence of an interpreter was determined before anyone spoke, and as there was to be only one interpreter for the “two or three” speakers (1 Corinthians 14:28), any interpreter must have been competent to explain any tongue. But different interpreters did not always agree (1 Corinthians 14:26), whence the limitation to one.

These characteristics of an interpreter make it clear that “speaking in a tongue” at Corinth was not normally felt to be speaking in a foreign language. In 1 Corinthians 14:10 English Versions of the Bible are misleading with “there are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world,” which suggests that Paul is referring directly to the tongues. But tosaúta there should be rendered “very many,” “ever so many,” and the verse is as purely illustrative as is 1 Corinthians 14:7. Hence, foreign languages are to be barred out. (Still, this need not mean that foreign phrases may not occasionally have been employed by the speakers, or that at times individuals may not have made elaborate use of foreign languages. But such cases were not normative at Corinth.) Consequently, if “tongues” means “languages,” entirely new languages must be thought of. Such might have been of many kinds (1 Corinthians 12:28), have been regarded as a fit creation for the conveyance of new truths, and may even at times have been thought to be celestial languages—the “tongues of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1). On the other hand, the word for “tongue” (glṓssa) is of fairly common use in Greek to designate obsolete or incomprehensible words, and, specifically, for the obscure phrases uttered by an oracle. This use is closely parallel to the use in Corinth and may be its source, although then it would be more natural if the “ten thousand words in a tongue” of 1 Corinthians 14:19 had read “ten thousand glōssai.” In no case, however, can “tongue” mean simply the physical organ, for 1 Corinthians 14:18-19 speaks of articulated words and uses the plural “tongues” for a single speaker (compare 1 Corinthians 14:5-6).

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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia

Keywords: Tongues Gift of, Tongues, Speaking in tongues, Foreign tongue, Glossalia, Glossolalia, Glossolia, Interpreting tongue, Ecstatic language, Speaking in foreign tongues

Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.

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