The Bible Nerd

The look on the guy’s face was deadly serious as he told me that if you can’t speak in tongues, then you don’t really have the Holy Spirit.  At the time I thought the guy needed a big neon sign on his head that read “Heretic”, and of course I mean that in a loving, non judgmental way.  Other people have been made to feel that they aren’t spiritual if they can’t speak in tongues.  As we finish this series of posts, we need to lay some of these issues at rest.  We will do that by looking at a few passages in Acts, and then discussing what is meant by a prayer language.

We already looked at Acts 2, where the first sign after the coming of the Holy Spirit was the gift of tongues.  Then, after you read Acts 8 and 19, I can understand why you might have more questions about the Holy Spirit and tongues.  In both chapters, we find that there are believers who haven’t “received the Holy Spirit”.  In Acts 8:12 due to Philip’s evangelism, many of the Samaritans, ” believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.”  Then Peter and John come and pray for them so “that they might receive the Holy Spirit”.

In Acts 19:2, Paul discovers disciples whom he asks, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”   After receiving, they speak in tongues and prophesy.  If you only had these passages, you might conclude that you get the Holy Spirit as a post salvation experience, and it is evidenced by tongues.  However, we must use the didactic (direct) teaching of the New Testament to interpret narrative.  Romans 8:9 and Titus 3:5 make it clear that you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon salvation.  It doesn’t come later; no Holy Spirit, and you are not a Christian!  What we must do is to define “receiving” (Greek word here is lambano which means take, receive, or claim) according to the context of Acts and the rest of the New Testament.

“Receiving” the Holy Spirit is not about getting the Holy Spirit’s indwelling as we have already clearly established.  Within the context, it seems more like the manifestation of gifts, not just tongues but also prophecy.  We can’t limit it to these two gifts either since it is a narrative and doesn’t give all examples.  Like the Ephesian disciples, many new Christians don’t know about or desire the gifts of the Spirit.  As they hear about them and want to be prayed over, they “receive” the gifts (as the Spirit decides and allots).  Therefore, speaking in tongues is not a proof of salvation, but a gift some receive when prayed over for manifestations of the Spirit.

Even though Paul was trying to bring the use of tongues under guidelines in the Corinthian’s church, he says something interesting in 1 Corinthians 14:18-19, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”  This has led many to interpret that Paul speaks in tongues outside of church, most likely at home in his personal prayer and worship of God.  They label this “prayer language” to distinguish it from the sign tongues we already looked at.  If this is the case, Paul doesn’t directly mention it anywhere else in his letters.  Some point to Ephesians 6:18 “pray in the Spirit” and Romans 8:26-27 “Spirit intercedes for us” to be this tongues prayer language.  Although this is possible, it is difficult to obtain any real detail here.

I hope that you will be challenged by all these Scriptures to really think through God’s purpose with tongues.  We don’t want to over glorify it like the Corinthians, however, we don’t want to “quench the Spirit” with doubt, fear, or skepticism.  In church, we have Paul’s clear guidelines so that tongues are used to build up others.  At home, we have the freedom to pray and ask God about tongues as a prayer language.  I can tell you what I know for sure.  There is no chance that we can reach full potential in carrying out the Great Commission without the power of the Holy Spirit.  That is enough motivation for me to push through any uncomfortable feelings or church arguments.  Next up, we move to Top Real Bible Question #2, “Are we in the end times?”.

God occasionally does stuff that we just can’t explain.  That’s the whole point of a miracle or what we call a sign.  We aren’t supposed to be able to give a rational explanation or figure it out.  If we could, then it wouldn’t be a sign or miracle, right?  It is given to build faith, illuminate, and draw people to Himself.  Part of me still feels completely unable to grasp what happened one time at a worship service at a missions campus that I worked at.  A young man from Canada was worshipping God along with everyone else.  Then suddenly, he starts speaking in tongues, except many around him felt the language sounded familiar.  You can imagine the shock when a man from South Korea standing near him realized that the Canadian was speaking Korean fluently.  The Canadian did not know (still doesn’t know) Korean, nor has he ever even BEEN to South Korea.  It was in the most simple terms, a sign from God.

I bring up this story for two reasons  First, we need to remember that though we might personally find tongues “weird”, the weird comes from it being supernatural.  People from the Western world are always complaining that they never see miracles or signs, but then they want to have nothing to do with tongues.  Second, this story highlights how tongues were first used when they manifested in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost.  We call these “sign” tongues to differentiate them from “prayer” tongues (often called a prayer language) which we will discuss later.  Sign tongues are the ones that Paul has in mind when he quotes from Isaiah 28 and talks about what tongues were meant for in the corporate worship service.

The prediction in Isaiah 28 is quite amazing when you step back and look at it.  God is in the midst of condemning the nation of Israel for it’s sin and pride, predicting the judgment of Assyria that is soon coming.  Israel has refused to learn from God, and rejected the instruction through the prophets.  At face value, verse 11 would seem like God is saying that because they wouldn’t listen to him, soon they will be listen to a foreign tongue as they will be stripped out of the land and sent away into exile.  However, Paul under the inspiration of the Spirit, says the true fulfillment of this verse is in the church age, as God uses the gift of tongues to speak to people, including the Jews.  The “strange lips” and “foreign tongue” wasn’t from the Gentiles to the Jews, it was from God’s people to the unbelievers (including Jews).

That is what happens in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit first empowers the disciples to fulfill the Great Commission.  The religious and political leaders of the Jews had, as a majority, rejected Jesus and the disciples are hiding and waiting.  During Pentecost, thousands of Jews are pouring into Jerusalem from the Diaspora, most of who speak a foreign language (other than Hebrew or Aramaic).  Though most had rejected the Gospel in Aramaic or Hebrew, God isn’t finished with these people.  He gives the disciples the gift of tongues, and thus fulfills Isaiah’s prediction to speak to them through a “foreign tongue”.  The end result and goal of sign tongues is clear in Acts 2:41, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”

Here, the disciples were speaking real languages, and no one needed interpretation as they were from that foreign nation.  In Corinthians 12 – 14, we must leave open the possibility that sign tongues may also be what we might call a “heavenly language”, meaning sounds that aren’t representative of an actual language.  No matter whether this is the case or not, Paul’s point is that there must be interpretation in the service (people could be speaking some actual remote language, but again, if no one in the church understands and can interpret, there is no point for it in the worship service).

I love that Acts includes the interpretation of what the disciples were actually saying in tongues.  “both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”  How cool is that!  As they worshipped God, the Spirit spoke through them an actual language, and in that language they spoke out the mighty works of God.  I don’t know about you, but I would love to see 3,000 people get saved at every open air meeting we have.  God and the disciples weren’t trying to just impress people, the disciples weren’t merely seeking an experience with God, the goal here was more people in heaven.  Peter was ready with a whole evangelistic sermon packed with Old Testament quotes as soon as the gift of tongues stopped.  Are we ready?  is that message in our hearts and minds?  are we open to the power of God?

I wish I could say that my wife’s first encounter with speaking in tongues was as enjoyable as mine.  She was at a Christian meeting where the speaker was teaching on the spiritual gifts.  At the end of the talk, the speaker asked for everyone who hadn’t spoken in tongues to raise their hands.  My wife wasn’t reared in a Christian home, and the church she attended wasn’t charismatic at all.  After raising her hand, she was told along with everyone else who hadn’t experienced tongues to come to the front of the room.  Then the speaker had everyone who had spoken in tongues surround them.  Trapped, and feeling more uncomfortable with every second, it could only get worse.  The speaker said that they would pray for them until they spoke in tongues.  No one was ever asked if they wanted to be prayed for.  When the prayer started, my wife felt nothing but fear and anger.  Eventually, she just muttered something that sounded like tongues so she could escape.  From that moment on, she has found it difficult to be open to the gift of tongues.

Unfortunately, I have heard many people’s stories that sound like my wife’s.  In some churches today, if you haven’t spoken in tongues, then you are told that you haven’t “received” the Holy Spirit.  Some go so far as to say that if you haven’t spoken in tongues, then you aren’t a Christian at all!  Is there a secondary experience to salvation where the Holy Spirit releases gifts like tongues?  is that what Paul means by “baptism of the Holy Spirit”?  are you a lesser Christian if you haven’t experienced it?  As we continue with this study, these are questions you need to be asking yourself.

Picking back up in 1 Corinthians, Paul is going to say in chapter 14 what the purpose of tongues is, and why he prefers prophecy in a corporate church service.  Verses 4 and 5 give his main thought, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.”  Paul’s point isn’t that prophecy is a sign that someone is more “special” or “higher”, it has to do with the effect on others.  Paul made it clear in chapter 12, that the point of the gifts in a worship service is to help and build up OTHER people, not ourselves.  Therefore, if you speak in tongues and others can’t understand you, only you are built up (unless there is translation).

What seems to be happening in Corinth is that they have reverted to pagan practices.  Speaking in tongues is well documented in Asian and Greek religion of this time.  People would “channel” the spirits or spirit of the god and speak in that heavenly language.  It was typically done in a ecstatic state and would be accompanied by loud music, dancing, and alcohol.  Women were especially known to be mediums for tongues in paganism.  It would appear that a Corinthian worship service is full of people that are praying or shouting out in tongues at the same time, with each individual showing everyone how spiritual they are and only building up themselves.  We need to keep this in mind for worship services today.  Paul’s command about tongues in public is clear in verses 27-28, “If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.”

It is not that Paul is discouraging the use of tongues, but he is limiting it in a PUBLIC service.  Paul is not talking about someone sitting at their own seat, quietly talking to themselves either.  He is talking about someone standing up and loudly speaking in tongues to the whole congregation.  Some separate this use of tongues from a private, prayer language.  We will get to that in the next post, so be patient.  Why have tongues at all in a public service then?  Paul answers this by quoting Isaiah 28:11 , “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.”  When someone speaks in tongues, it serves as a supernatural sign that pulls the unbelievers in as it did in Acts 2.  Once pulled in however, if it isn’t a real language (again like in Acts 2) or there is no interpretation, it doesn’t finish the sign with the evangelistic message that the unbeliever can understand.

Paul is not anti-tongues as he concludes in verses 38-39, “So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.” Paul IS against self-centered Christianity and out of control, experientially motivated worship times.  That doesn’t mean he is against people displaying emotion through dance and music (which is often loud), but he questions those who only are at corporate worship times to help themselves feel better.  He encourages them to strive after the spiritual gifts, but simply remember that the gifts are given to bless others.  What about using tongues for your prayer language?  Coming up next!

There were only a few people left there around the altar late that Wednesday night.  I had recently returned from a missions trip, and had gone to church to see everyone and be refreshed.  I almost ran up the aisle at the end of the service when my pastor opened up the altar for prayer.  I felt like I had so much in my heart from all the experiences of the missions trip, that I was bursting with faith and joy.  I almost didn’t realize that the pastor had made his way finally to me, and began to pray in the Spirit.  Some place in my mind, I was thinking that words weren’t enough to express how I was feeling, when suddenly I started speaking in tongues!  When Paul talks about “praising God with my spirit”, he wasn’t kidding.  Oh, if the whole issue of tongues could be as happy and as simple as my first experience.

Unfortunately, tongues has become a disputed topic in the church, even proving to be the stuff of church splits and divisions.  Let’s face it, tongues are weird.  By weird, I mean “not normal”, “not easily explained”, and “an unusual experience” (have you noticed that I tend to use parenthesis all the time in my posts??? It is like that annoying person who always does quotation marks with their fingers while they are talking…)  For our western scientific minds, tongues seem like a relic of ancient times akin to putting paint on your face and dancing around.  For Asian and African minds, tongues seem like just another part of the supernatural experience in Christianity.  In the next few posts, we will look at what the Bible has to say about tongues, mainly in the teaching of 1 Corinthians and the stories of Acts.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul has to deal with a fascination and over-emphasis on tongues in the Corinthian church.  They have lost the true reason for tongues, and seem to have fallen back into pagan mindsets about it.  The Corinthians are open and desire the spiritual gifts, which is a good thing, and Paul commends them early in the book- 1:4-7 (one of the few things he does commend them in!).   However, in chapters 12 – 14, Paul has to address how out of control and selfish their worship services have become.  After dealing with the gifts of the Spirit in chapter 12, love in chapter 13, Paul can finally zero in on tongues in chapter 14.  Unfortunately, Paul doesn’t do much definition of tongues in chapter 12.  He merely says in verse 10, that some are given “various kinds of tongues”. Not only does Paul not define tongues, he mentions there are “various kinds” and doesn’t say what those kinds are.  Thanks a lot Paul!

What Paul does say of significance is what gifts like tongues are for.  In verse 7, he says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  That means that tongues are given (at least these kinds) for the common good, which means for everyone else, not just ourselves.  Many often have the view that tongues are just a blessing for ourselves, and never consider how they can be used to bless others like the gifts in the list (like healing, prophecy, etc..).  The second thing Paul says is in verse 11, “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”  We don’t earn tongues like a scout merit badge, we don’t get them as a bonus when we hit 10 years as a Christian, it is the Spirit who gives them out individually as HE wills.

Instead of giving us more detail on tongues, Paul then launches into a huge comparison of the church to a body.  His point couldn’t be more clear; God is desiring unity in the body, and each individual has beautiful gifts that make the whole body work.  No one’s spiritual gifts are “better” than someone else’s, tongues or no tongues. If the point weren’t clear enough, he talks about love for a whole chapter.  Especially relevant for our study is 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.”  Wow! He doesn’t say what the “tongues of angels” are, but he slams the self-centered attitude of the Corinthians with how they are using tongues.  Without love, this gift might as well be the clanging of a cymbal.  Not very helpful.  Try comforting someone in pain by banging a cymbal in their ear.

In the next post, we will look at the contrast between tongues and prophecy made in chapter 14, as well as see that Isaiah the prophet predicted the gift of tongues.  For those of you who almost didn’t read this post because tongues are for snake handling TV evangelists, I hope you will be challenged to be honest with the Scriptures instead of swayed by what you may have seen in your life.  For those of you who were so excited about this post that you praised God by praying in tongues, thank you, and don’t be shy to ask God for prophetic words or visions for me while you are at it.  Just kidding…sort of.