Speaking in Tongues

Miraculous speaking in tongues as a God-given gift was experienced for the first time by about 120 of Christ’s disciples assembled in Jerusalem during the Jewish Festival of Pentecost in 33 C.E. But was it just a spectacle to attract the curious? No, the Bible clearly shows that this was for the purpose of witnessing to foreigners visiting Jerusalem; these, too, needed to know “about the magnificent things of God.” (Acts 2:8-11; 1:15) Those “tongues” were neither gibberish nor obscenities. They were clearly understood.

This gift was a part of early Christian worship. But the apostle Paul pointed out, at 1 Corinthians 13:8: “Whether there are tongues, they will cease.” As the congregation grew and matured, these “tongues” were no longer necessary.

What about modern-day miraculous “tongues”? As shown at the outset, the content of “miraculous” speech may be anything but godly. A former Hindu priest who joined a Pentecostal church further said of worshipers that some at times “even mention the names of Hindu Gods, for example, ‘Siva, Siva, Siva,’ in their shouting.”

Of course, when a church member speaks in a foreign tongue, usually nobody knows what is being said. The apostle Paul, however, said: “Therefore let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may translate.” (1 Corinthians 14:13) Seldom is this counsel followed. The babbling certainly bears no resemblance to the orderly manifestations of God’s spirit that first-century Christians observed. It bears the earmarks of a demonic deception.

Eventually you begin to manifest God’s spirit in your life, not by means of demon-inspired trances or by speaking in tongues, but by showing true Christian qualities such as “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.”