Other than acknowledging that we all use our physical
tongues to communicate while we speak verbally, you may not have given much
thought to this topic. But understand that Christians have debated this issue
for a long time. Even back in Paul’s day, the topic of Christians speaking in
tongues was a contentious one (1 Corinthians 14).
We haven’t gotten any better in our day. There is still a
lot of disagreement on this topic. Let me begin by saying that as I address
this issue I am not professing to be the foremost scholar on this topic. I also
don’t believe I understand everything there is to understand on this issue. I
am simply a student of the Word in a perpetual state of learning and growing.
The first time we see an occurrence of people speaking in
tongues is early in the second chapter of Acts. The 120 who were gathered at
the end of Acts 1 were all in one place and the Spirit of God came into that
meeting with both physical and spiritual phenomena (Acts 2:2-3). It says in Acts 2:4, “All of them were filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled
them.” (NIV)
That word translated “tongues” in this verse is the Greek
word “glossa” (pronounced glow-sah). Variants of this term occur over 50 times
in our New Testament. It is translated to refer to the tongue in a literal
sense; as a bodily organ (Revelation 16:10) or to any particular language or
people group that speak a language (1 Corinthians 13:1) or to the spiritual
gift of communicating in another language at the direction of the Spirit (1
Corinthians 14:2).
The correct translation for Acts 2:4 is the spiritual gift
of communicating in another language at the direction of the Spirit. This is
confirmed because of the context (Acts 2:6). The miraculous nature of this gift
was that it was more than ecstatic utterances or babbling or gibberish…it was
ordinary individuals speaking a known language that they had never studied or
been trained to speak.
What is practiced today in many modern church buildings
across this country is in no way an example of the gift of tongues that we see
in Acts 2. And yet, there are those in Christendom who would declare that you
are not actually a Christian if you do not practice “tongues” all the while
never actually having done so (in a biblical sense) in their own life. For most
“tongue-speaking” churches in America are merely practicing ecstatic utterances
or babbling or gibberish.
This is to say nothing of the fact that even the Apostle
Paul acknowledged that tongues is an inferior spiritual gift (1 Corinthians
14:5). Paul even emphatically states that not every Christian was given the
gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:28-31). So for any man or institution to
claim that every believer in Christ must utilize this gift are teaching the
direct opposite of what God’s Word states.
There are also many who conclude that tongues has ceased to
be used by God in the modern age. They base this off of what Paul said toward
the end of 1 Corinthians 13. In that passage Paul says:
Love never fails. But
where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will
be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part
and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When
I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a
poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in
part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:8-12,
NIV)
So Paul says that when “perfection” comes tongues will be
stilled. What is the “perfection” Paul is speaking of in this passage? The
Greek word translated perfect is the word “teleios” (pronounced te-lay-ahs).
Variants of this word occur 20 times in the New Testament.
Some would say that the “teleios” in 1 Corinthians 13 is
referring to the completed canon of Scripture. Once that came together the
church no longer needed these other minor gifts like tongues and spiritual
healing. Some would say that it is linked back to the apostles and the “laying
on of hands” to impart these kinds of spiritual gifts like tongues. Once the
apostles died, there was no one left to impart the gifts, so they just
naturally died out.
This, in my opinion, does a great disservice to the context
of 1 Corinthians. For starters, no where in the New Testament does “teleios”
ever refer to a document or an inanimate object like the canon of Scripture. It
is more than just a stretch to make that word apply in such a way, it is poor
scholarism. Second, to apply “teleios” to the laying on of the apostles hands
again makes no sense contextually.
Of the 20 uses, “teleios” is used to describe a matured
spiritual state. Jesus used it this way (Matthew 5:48; 19:21). Paul used the
term elsewhere this way (Philippians 3:12; Colossians 1:28). It is used by the
author of Hebrews to refer to Jesus (Hebrews 2:10; 5:9; 7:28).
I believe this definition of “teleios” best fits the context
of 1 Corinthians 13 as well. When you examine how Paul addresses the issue of
tongues with the church in Corinth in his first letter, it is very clear that
it was a problem in that church. The way the gift was being used (or abused)
was creating controversy and Paul goes out of his way to point out that tongues
is a lesser gift.
When we mature in Christ we do not need that kind of a
spiritual pacifier. We mature when we begin to love like Christ loved.
I do not want to say unequivocally that tongues do not
exist. I know that what is claimed as tongues in many American churches is not
a biblical practice. But I can see how God can still utilize such a gift on the
mission field. Tongues was a contentious issue in Paul’s day and it still is in
ours. Let’s simply abide in what we know…God’s Word and not anything else.
