Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
(1Co 12:4-7 NASB)
…to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
(1Co 12:10 NASB)
The Gift of Tongues
The gift of tongues; no other gift has been the source of more confusion, discussion, debates and strife. It has been misinterpreted, misunderstood, misused and abused. Some will tell you the gift no longer exists; others state that it is a sign of salvation, teaching that everyone who becomes a Christian is given this miraculous gift.
The Corinthian church placed too much emphasis on the importance of speaking in tongues and it amazes me that after 2000 years we still haven’t gotten it right. So in order to set things straight let’s see what the bible really teaches about this mysterious gift.
Proof of Salvation?
First let’s look at the teaching that all Christians are given this gift at the time of salvation as a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. The root of this belief is based on what happened on the day of Pentecost and is a complete misunderstanding of what actually took place.
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 of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 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 amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, 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, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs–we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” (Act 2:1-11 NASB)
Even a cursory reading of this text will show that what the disciples where speaking was not the ecstatic utterance that is in use today. The text clearly states that the crowd “was hearing them speak in his own language.” The disciples were speaking the languages of the Parthians, Medes, Elamites and others that were gathered together “as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” This was done for 2 reasons; 1-to enable the disciples speak the word of God to those who were gathered even though they did not speak their language, and 2-To show to those who were gathered the manifested power of the Holy Spirit so that they would know it was from God.
This is clear by their reaction, “They were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Why, 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?” They new that the disciples where Galileans and would not have known their language. At most they would have known how to speak Hebrew, Aramaic and possibly Greek.
