A Look at Tongues #1

This passage has set the standard by which we are supposed to understand what tongues means in the rest of Scripture. What follows in 1 Corinthians is building on the foundation that has been laid in this passage.

That's really crucial and critical for you to understand and to realize. Speaking in tongues, well there's a hot topic in charismatic circles, but what does the Bible have to say about it? Pastor Don Green will show you on this edition of The Truth Pulpit, where he continues teaching God's people God's Word. I'm Bill Wright, and we're moving further into our series, The Holy Spirit Today.

Don, what can we look forward to in this part of the series? Well, you know, my friend, this topic on the issue of tongues has a particular significance to me. I remember as a young man being intimidated by those who claimed to speak in tongues. Why do they have a gift that I don't have, I thought. Was I missing something?

Maybe you felt that same way. Well, once again, we're going to turn to God's Word, and we'll find help and clarity that gives us strength against error and helps us to walk in the truth. Stay with us as we study together today on The Truth Pulpit.

Thank you, Don. And friend, let's join our teacher right now in The Truth Pulpit. Today, what we're going to look at is we're going to examine the nature of tongues in light of Scripture. Tongues in light of Scripture. First of all, what I want to do today, consider the nature of biblical tongues.

That's the first point if you want to take notes. The nature of biblical tongues, and then we're going to consider the limitation on biblical tongues, or the limits on biblical tongues. Let's look, first of all, at the foundational text for biblical speaking in tongues, and that would be found in Acts chapter 2.

Turn there in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. I had been a Christian for 30 days, and I had not yet been in a church. I had not yet been under Bible teaching.

I was just kind of finding my way and reading the Bible on my own. And through a series of providential occurrences that are not important, the details of which are not important, I found myself in a radio studio with two Pentecostal men who were talking to me and trying to teach me from the Scriptures. And they came to me and they asked me, Have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit?

And, well, you know, I mean, I'm a Christian for 30 days. I said, well, I think so. And they say, well, have you spoken in tongues? And so immediately the issue of tongues was placed at the forefront and made front and center as an urgent matter for me to consider as I was standing there talking to them. And through various things I said, I said, you know, I'm not real sure about this.

This is new to me. And they came to one of the men who opened his Bible and went to Acts chapter 2, and he read verse 4. Look at verse 4 with me. And he said, he said, They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. And he closed his Bible and kind of slapped his hands, figuratively speaking, and he said, There you go. They all spoke in tongues.

Don't you see? You need to speak in tongues if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. If you're a Christian, you will speak in tongues.

Well, that's a pretty intimidating thing to tell a new Christian who all of this is new to him. There was a great deal of fear and confusion in my mind as I drove home from that radio station in a blizzard, no less. I remember it all so well.

I wish I had a film of it all. I remember driving home and thinking, Lord, if tongues are the way it's supposed to be, I'm happy to speak in tongues. All I wanted was what the Lord wanted and what was true.

That's all that I cared about. And if tongues were true, then I wanted it. And as I'm driving home in this blizzard, and remember, I didn't even know any other Christian. I was by myself spiritually speaking at that point of time in my life. And I remember for a moment, I opened my mouth and tried to gurgle out a couple of things to see if anything would start happening. You know, you kind of prime the pump and get it started. Nothing happened, and so I'm really, really confused.

And I go home, and I get home at one in the morning, two in the morning, something like that. And all I know to do is to turn to the Word of God. That's all that I knew to do. I knew I could turn to the Word of God and get the truth straight from that. And what happened, as I looked at God's Word, we'll look at this later, but through the concordance in the back of my Bible that I had at the time, God directed my attention, providentially directed my attention to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

Look at that with me here. I am alone as a brand new Christian. People who knew more than I had said, you must speak in tongues. And all I can do is turn to the Word of God in simple faith and look for clarity in it. And what did I find in 1 Corinthians 12, beginning in verse 29? 1 Corinthians 12 verse 29 says, All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they?

The expected answer to that question is no, they do not. And in that great profound moment of my spiritual life which animates and motivates me to this very day, the simplicity of the Word of God refuted what people who had their own radio program were telling me. They told me everyone must speak in tongues and read Acts 2 to support their position. And yet here it was in plain black and white as clear as it obviously could be that not everyone speaks in tongues in the Christian life. Whatever else that meant, whatever else tongues were, whatever else the right answers were, I knew that it was not true that every Christian would speak in tongues because Scripture said the exact opposite. And in that moment of clarity, in that moment of illumination from the Holy Spirit, God gave me a clarity of mind. The Scriptures showed me that what they had said to me was not true.

And I could go to bed with a clear conscience, with a clear heart, not thinking that I was missing something because the Scriptures told me that that was not true. Acts 2 verse 1 says, When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves and they rested on each one. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Now, pause for a moment there. This critical text, these first four verses in the book of Acts, record the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had ascended into heaven a few weeks earlier.

He had promised his disciples that he would send the Helper to them. And he promised them and he told them to wait until the Spirit came. Well, how do you know when the Spirit comes?

How are they to know? And what the Spirit did in his coming was he came in a supernatural way to mark the supernatural fulfillment of the promise that the Lord had given to them. He arrived, beloved, with outward signs and with supernatural effect. And the question is, you know, you say, well, what were these tongues? What were the tongues that they were speaking?

How can we know? Was it just kind of gibberish? Were they just babbling, random syllables, end to end? Were they doing something else? Well, all you have to do is keep reading. Read it in the context to understand what they were doing.

Look at verse 5 with me. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were hearing known human languages. They were hearing actual human language being spoken that they knew beforehand and that they could understand as it was being said.

That is critical to understand. And verse 7, they were amazed and astonished, saying, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God. They recognized immediately that these uneducated Galileans were speaking fluently in languages that they had not studied before. And as native speakers, they recognized that something supernatural was taking place. And so the biblical gift of tongues, as set by this foundational text, was this. The biblical gift of tongues was the supernatural ability to speak in foreign languages that the speaker had not previously learned.

Let me say that again, because that's a mouthful. The biblical gift of tongues was the supernatural ability to speak in foreign languages that the speaker had not previously learned. And that is what happened in the book of Acts when you read the full passage in its context. Rather than, and so the way that you approach it is this, the way that we think about this is we go to the Bible, we go to a text, and we say, what does it teach us about the nature of tongues? We see here that tongues is a word for language, and we use the word tongue that way sometimes, but the word tongues here is being used to refer to known human languages as it is borne out by the fact that people from many different regions heard their own language being spoken by others who had not studied that language in the past, who had not naturally acquired that language. Now, if you've ever tried to study a foreign language, you realize that it's a lot of work, and it's a lot of practice to get vocabulary down, to get grammar down, to get syntax down, to get inflections down, to get punctuation down, and going on and on, and it takes an extended period of intense study to acquire a human language that you've never studied before.

If you've ever studied languages, you know that to be true. Well, here are people who bypass that entire process and began speaking in a language that they had never studied, that they had never known, they were speaking it with a fluency that was utterly undeniable and inexplicable apart from a sovereign supernatural act of God. That is the biblical gift of tongues, and native speakers recognize the language being spoken as legitimate.

Now, beloved, here's what you need to understand going forward. As you read through the rest of the New Testament and you find passages that address the issue of tongues, you need to understand that this passage has set the standard by which we are supposed to understand what tongues means in the rest of Scripture. What follows in 1 Corinthians, what follows elsewhere in the book of Acts, is building on the foundation that has been laid in this passage.

That's really crucial and critical for you to understand and to realize. Unless, and you know, unless Scripture came along and utterly, completely redefined it and said we mean something else by tongues, that would be different. But when tongues is used without qualification, we're to understand it in light of this foundational passage that the history that proceeded after Acts chapter 2 is using a common basis of understanding what tongues meant.

And that's really, really critical. And you can see this as it unfolds elsewhere in the book of Acts. Look at Acts chapter 10.

Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse 44. Now, when the tongues appeared in Acts chapter 2, it was a Jewish audience that was gathered together. As you know, the gospel expanded beyond the Jews. It went to Gentiles, it went to Old Testament saints. And how were the apostles supposed to know and recognize, how were the people of the early church going to recognize that these other groups had received the same salvation that they did? What was going to be the common point of manifestation that would show that the salvation received by the Gentiles and Old Testament saints was the same as the salvation and the same Holy Spirit that had been received in Acts chapter 2? Well, look at Acts chapter 10, beginning in verse 44. Peter had been preaching, and while he was still speaking these words in verse 44, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.

And watch this. All the circumcised believers, that is, all of the Jewish believers who came with Peter, were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. How did they know that it was the gift? How did they know that it was the Holy Spirit, verse 46, for this reason, because they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. In other words, they said the same phenomenon that occurred to us when we were saved, when the Holy Spirit came upon us in Acts chapter 2, it's happening here as well. When we as Jews received the Holy Spirit, we spoke in languages, known human languages that we had never studied before. Now we look at these Gentiles who were strangers to the covenant, who were outside the promises of God.

They're doing the exact same thing. And so the supernatural speaking in other languages that they were doing in Acts chapter 10 verified that they had received precisely the same Holy Spirit that the Jews had received in Acts chapter 2. It was undeniable. It was a supernatural attestation to the spiritual reality that had taken place. They couldn't see the Spirit indwelling them. The Spirit's presence in the hearts of those who had believed was invisible. So how were they to know then that these people had truly received the Spirit? God graciously, wisely, miraculously gave the Gentiles the same ability in Acts 10 that had been given to the Jewish believers in Acts chapter 2.

It had to be the same thing because they were seeing the same thing and they drew the conclusion, this is the same manifestation, therefore it must be the same Spirit, therefore they have the same salvation that we had, that we received. So the tongues in Acts chapter 10 were also known human languages because it was the same gift pointing to the same Spirit and the same salvation. Now look at Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19, beginning in verse 1.

It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus and found some disciples. He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, no, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And so it goes on and it says in verse 3, he said, into what then were you baptized? And they said, into John's baptism. These were Old Testament saints who had gotten revelation from John the Baptist but had not received the final full message of the gospel of Christ.

And so they said, you know, we've believed as far as we've been taught, but the Spirit they knew nothing about. Paul says in verse 4, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And what happened? These people coming out of the Old Testament dispensation, having received the message of John the Baptist, but having not yet received the finality of the gospel since the resurrection of Christ. What happened to them? Verse 6, when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. And there were in all about 12 men. The Spirit came upon them in the same way and manifested in the same way through the speaking in tongues the fact that the true Spirit has truly indwelt them as shown by the fact that they are manifesting the exact same gift, as had the Gentiles in Acts chapter 10, as had the Jewish believers in Acts chapter 2. A complete identity of the manifestation in order to show that God had brought everybody together in one body.

Jews and Gentiles now in one body. Old Testament saints completed in Christ now brought together in the same one body indwelt by the same one Spirit manifested by the same one gift of speaking in tongues, speaking in known languages that they had not studied before. And so, beloved, what tongues were doing in the book of Acts was showing Israel that the new covenant had come, that the Holy Spirit had come, that there is a transition taking place away from the Old Testament economy into the New Testament, the new covenant economy, where the Spirit will indwell all believers going forward.

And so we see this transition having taken place. Now, later on, tongues served in a transitional way to edify the church when they were translated. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 with me now. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And he goes on to say, for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

And so here they are. 1 Corinthians, this is important to realize, 1 Corinthians was one of the earliest letters that Paul wrote. The canon was not yet complete here. And so the Spirit is at work in the early church bringing them to maturity, helping them, leading them, but it's the same Spirit. It's the one Spirit. And as he gives them tongues at this point in the ministry of the Spirit of God, note that it also emphasizes that he's giving to them also the interpretation of tongues so that as a foreign language was being spoken, it would be interpreted for the benefit of those who were there so that they could understand the message that was being spoken. And in that way, in that transitional period, God provided for the needs of the early church to build them up in their understanding and in their spiritual growth. And that was the purpose, that was the nature of biblical tongues, recognizing that there was a transition that was taking place in the first century. Recognizing that the Old Testament economy with the temple and with the sacrifices had been established for so long, but now God was moving his people into a new era, moving them into a new dispensation, moving them under the terms of a new covenant that would be marked by in part the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's a massive change taking place.

New revelation being given to help men understand what was happening. And that was the nature of it, a supernatural gift of languages being given that was an undeniable attestation that this was a true supernatural work of God because no one can fake that. People don't do that. People don't suddenly start speaking in foreign languages that they've never studied with fluency. They don't do that. You know why?

Because they cannot do that. And therefore it took a supernatural act of God to make that happen, and God is attesting the point in tongues, again secondary to an attestation of the reality of the greater work of the Spirit that was happening in their midst. And it was undeniable.

There was no human explanation for it, which will be important as we consider some things next time. After hearing today's broadcast, you should now have a better understanding of the nature of biblical tongues. Pastor Don Green will take a look at certain limitations that the Bible puts on tongues and also what the Word says about the duration of the gift. Join us for the continuation of our series, The Holy Spirit Today. That's next time here on The Truth Pulpit.

Right now, though, Don's back here in studio with a few closing words. I just want to express my gratitude for the many friends whose generosity make this program possible. You know, if you would like to join with those who are supporting us, you can do so at our website. Here's Bill to tell you how. Just visit thetruthpulpit.com. Once again, that's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, inviting you back next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word here on The Truth Pulpit.