TONGUES, SPEAKING IN

Literally speaking, the "tongue" is an organ of taste and speech within the mouth. By metaphorical extension, it is used in literature for a human language. In the N.T., the gift of being able to "speak in tongues" was one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit (Mk. 16:17; 1 Cor. 12:10). There are two major views within the community of "Christendom" relative to the nature of these "tongues." The "Pentecostals," or "Charismatics," contend that the gift of tongues constituted a "heavenly language," a series of unintelligible sounds, unrelated to normal human speech. By way of contrast, the actual biblical view is that the gift of a "tongue" was simply the divinely imposed ability to speak in a human language that had not been learned by the ordinary education process. This is demonstrated by the following points: (a) On the day of Pentecost, the phenomenon of "tongues" is identified quite clearly as human "languages" (Acts 2:3-8). (b) The "tongue" gift provided edification (1 Cor. 14:4) and instruction (14:19); mere sounds do not. (c) In a church assembly composed of various nationalities, one was not to use his "tongue" gift before an alien audience unless someone was present who could "interpret" (i.e., translate) (1 Cor. 14:13, 27-28). (d) If one spoke in a "tongue," and others did not understand the language, the speaker would sound like a "barbarian" (1 Cor. 14:11), which term signifies a foreigner, one of a different language (see Acts 28:2). This is another indication that human languages are in view. (e) Tongues were to cease with completion of the N.T. canon (1 Cor. 13:8ff). (f) Finally, there is this point. Those who profess to speak in tongues miraculously reveal a woeful inconsistency, in that they must teach their missionaries to speak in the "tongues" of those nations they seek to evangelize.