The gift of tongues
- 4Recorded acts
- 17Gifts
What is the spiritual gift of tongues?
Tongues is speaking or praying in a language the speaker has never learnt. 1 Corinthians 12:10 names it, Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 describe things that do not obviously match, and Christians disagree both about whether it is given today and about what it was.
Why it matters
This is the gift that most visibly changes what a service looks like, which is why it is the one people argue about first. Paul does neither of the things churches usually do with it. He does not ban it and he does not let it run: his rule is that nothing happens in public which the room cannot follow, and the rest is between a person and God.
Where does the Bible name it?
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to another different kinds of languages
1 Corinthians 12:10
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and various kinds of languages
1 Corinthians 12:28
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Do all speak with various languages?
1 Corinthians 12:30
World English Bible British Edition
What does the gift of tongues look like in a church?
The translation quoted here says different kinds of languages where many others say tongues: speaking or praying in a language the speaker has never learnt. At Pentecost “everyone heard them speaking in his own language” (Acts 2:6); to Corinth Paul writes that such a speaker “speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands” (1 Corinthians 14:2). This page does not say whether those are the same thing.
In a church Paul asks for an interpretation, and where nobody interprets he tells the speaker to “keep silent in the assembly, and let him speak to himself and to God” (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). Whether something was this gift is for a church and those who lead it to say, not this page. Many Christians believe God still gives this gift today; many believe He gave it only for the time of the apostles.
Did you know?
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Luke names fifteen peoples and places in the Pentecost crowd, from Parthians to Arabians, and what astonishes them is not the noise but the comprehension: “everyone heard them speaking in his own language”.
Acts 2:6-11, World English Bible British Edition
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Paul says he speaks in other languages more than the whole Corinthian church, and then says that at church he would rather speak five words people can follow than ten thousand they cannot.
1 Corinthians 14:18-19, World English Bible British Edition
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He does not call the private use worthless: “He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly.” The whole argument is about what a gathering is for.
1 Corinthians 14:4, World English Bible British Edition
Who did this in the Bible?
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Acts 2:1-13
When the day of Pentecost had come there was a sound from the sky like the rushing of a mighty wind, tongues like fire appeared and one sat on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages as the Spirit gave them the ability; Jews from every nation, dwelling in Jerusalem, came together bewildered because everyone heard them speaking in his own language the mighty works of God, and others, mocking, said they were filled with new wine.
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Acts 10:44-46
While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, and the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God.
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Acts 19:1-7
At Ephesus Paul found certain disciples who said they had not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit and had been baptised into John’s baptism; they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands on them the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with other languages and prophesied; they were about twelve men in all.
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1 Corinthians 14:18-19
Paul thanks God that he speaks with other languages more than all of them, and says that in the church he would rather speak five words with his understanding, to instruct others, than ten thousand words in another language.
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