Amid the many rumblings of
Christendom there is much stir in many quarters over what is called "the
gift of tongues" and "the baptism of the Holy Ghost." We will
occupy ourselves largely with the former since it is supposed by many to be the
evidence or proof of the latter.

 

We are told by responsible
sources that "speaking in tongues" has found a sizeable entrance and
tolerance in many of the "main line" denominations. These include not
only the Pentecostals and such groups characterized by emotional fervor but
Southern Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and
others. Both clergy and laity are professing these new charismatic powers. So
far all may seem far afield from the fellowship and spiritual surroundings of
most of our readers, but these "tongues" enthusiasts are nearer than
we think.

 

We have learned that such
"speaking in tongues" sessions have been held by some professedly
gathered simply to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though these are among
those more liberal and open in their views, we are soberly reminded of that
holy caution that "of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse
things . . ." (Acts 20:30).

 

Let us briefly state that every
soul truly born anew and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, His atoning death,
burial, and resurrection has received the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). We know of
no scriptural requirement for a believer to demonstrate any charismatic powers
to prove he has the Holy Spirit. Yet, do we set aside such plain verses as
"forbid not to speak with tongues" (1 Cor. 14:39) and that our
heavenly Father will "give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him"
(Luke 11:13)? Other verses are given to support tongues activities and hence
merit our brief examination.

 

We are usually first referred to
Acts 2 and Peter’s messages on the day of Pentecost when, after the Holy Spirit
had baptized the believers (in answer to Lk. 11:13 above) they spoke "with
other tongues." No portion could better prove that the tongues-speaking by
the apostles was the clear repetition of Peter’s message in the various foreign
languages of the many Jews and proselytes from all over the world who had come
to Jerusalem for that great Jewish feast. (He did not speak only once, as some
suppose, and then each foreigner hears in his native dialect. That would be the
"gift of ears" in the hearers.)  It was the ignorant and unlearned
fishermen-apostles speaking in these languages they had never learned that
amazed the multitude that memorable day. Peter further declared that this is
what Joel prophesied would happen "in the last days." These
"last days" are the last days wherein Jewish prophecies would be
fulfilled in connection with the Messiah and His earthly millennial rule in
splendor, not this present day of grace. (Miraculous powers are termed
"the powers of the [age] to come" [Heb. 6:5]; and pertain to the
millennial kingdom, which God still offered to that nation if they would
receive the Lord Jesus, even though crucified and risen [Acts 3:20, 21].)  The
"last days" of this day of grace and "perilous times" of
which Paul wrote Timothy (2 Tim. 3:1) would be accompanied by apostasy and
perversion of all that is true and good, not by a renewal of the pentecostal gifts
and great blessing. In fact the present "tongues" perversion only
proves which "last days" we now witness.

Other examples in Acts, in which
the believers received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, give no cause to
think that they spoke any of the suggested mumbo-jumbo as do the "tongues
speakers" of today. In each case they simply gave testimony to all who
were there by speaking in the necessary foreign language to reach them.

 

This "glossolalia"
(speech without meaning uttered in a state of ecstasy) is further defended by
misunderstandings of 1 Corinthians. It is unfortunate that the Authorized
Version has added the word "unknown" preceding the word
"tongues" in several places in 1 Corinthians 14. There is absolutely
no such word corresponding to "unknown" in the Greek text.
Furthermore, the Greek word glossa translated tongues is not proceeded
by this word unknown in other verses of the same chapter, thus adding to
the confusion.

 

Those who give credence to
glossolalia today deduce that an "unknown tongue" is a language not
understood by any living man—an unearthly speech. To support this they cite the
one who speaks in these "unknown tongues" as "[speaking]
mysteries" (1 Cor. 14:2). To them these mysteries are mysterious things of
the unknown realm. But the truth is wonderfully different from such thoughts.
We quote the cited verse in full. "For he that speaketh in an unknown
tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God:for no man understandeth him;
howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries" (1 Cor. 14:2). The speaker of
the tongue is simply one speaking a language in the assembly where this
language is not understood by the listeners, hence the statement that he
"speaketh . . . unto God." But since edification of the hearers is
the subject of this chapter, the foreign language is out of place, unless
translated, even though the speaker talks of mysteries.

 

These "mysteries,"
better translated "secrets," do not refer to knowledge withheld as in
our ordinary every day sense. These mysteries or secrets refer to divine truths
newly revealed in the New Testament. Mysteries are not the unknowable, as the
answer to an unsolvable problem nor to the unfathomable, as in theological
circles, but refer to new truths, especially those revealed to and by the Apostle
Paul himself. These include, for example, the secret that believers, both Jew
and Gentile, are united in one body of which Christ is the living Head in
heaven. These secrets were unknown and unknowable in Old Testament times but
are brought out by revelations to Paul. We would paraphrase 1 Corinthians 14:2
to mean that if a man spoke even of these lofty heavenly secrets in a language
not understood by the hearers, he would be out of order since the hearers could
not be edified.

 

The burden and message of 1 Cor.
14 is that the hearers be edified by Spirit-led participation that they can
understand. Yet, those who run to this chapter to support their insensible
gibberish, conduct meetings where no one understands the uttered glossolalia—no,
not even the fraudulent interpreters who sometimes attempt to translate some of
it into English.

 

The Apostle insists that he
would rather speak "five words with [his] understanding . . . than ten
thousand words in an unknown tongue" (1 Cor. 14:19). Yet the current
tongues movement seems to greatly prefer the ten thousand words—and these not
even of a human language, which the apostle obviously meant.

 

When the apostle asked the
simple question, "Do all speak with tongues?" his implied answer was
an emphatic "NO!" (1 Cor. 12:30). But those sorrowfully ensnared in
these errors suggest that we cannot truly have the Holy Spirit without the
experience of speaking hi tongues. They answer "YES!"

 

We have observed that with rare
exception, people taken up with "speaking in tongues" and
"asking for the Holy Spirit" do not have settled peace with God. They
are usually in error as to the sinless humanity of Christ, deny the eternal
security of the believer based on the finished work of our Lord on the cross, and
confuse Old Testament prophecies with the Church. Although they claim to be
subject to Scripture, we find that women are greatly involved in these
movements, have a prominent place in their meetings, and participate boldly
with uncovered heads!

 

The sin of man at Babel’s tower was the cause of God confusing the speech of man. That confusion seemed an
insurmountable barrier to spreading the gospel by those given the great
commission. How could fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John ever reach
beyond the borders of Israel or preach intelligently to returned Jews from
among the dispersion without the gift of tongues? Where sin abounds since Babel’s tower, grace over abounds at Pentecost and in apostolic days by the gift of tongues
to get the message out.

 

Thus the Apostle Paul could say,
"I speak with tongues more than ye all" (1 Cor. 14:18) since he more
than any other was used of God to spread the good news of divine love to every
nation—and that in their own language! As the result of his preaching at
Thessalonica, the word of the Lord "sounded out . . . not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place . . ." (1 Thess. 1:8). From Corinth, in Achaia, he wrote to the Romans that since the word had been so widely spread
there, he had "no more place in these parts" (Rom. 15:23). One result
of his two years at Ephesus was "that all they which dwelt in Asia [Minor] heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19:10). The
gift of languages was a real asset in those early days, but we observe that it
ceased with the apostles, its purpose being accomplished.

 

Since the miraculous gifts are
not with us today, one asks then if all such glossolalia is of the devil?
Perhaps not all of it is Satan-inspired, for man has the capability of imitating
what he hears and thus contributes to the confusion.

 

Let none construe us to
"forbid … to speak with tongues." (1 Cor. 14:39). We have heard
messages in a tongue (German) by an immigrant, translated into English in
accordance with scriptural decency and order. This is in sharp contrast to what
is being pawned on the credulous as spirituality and power in these last days
by those who "chirp and mutter" (Isa. 8:19, J.N.D. trans.).

 

"God
is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the
saints" (1 Cor. 14:33).