The Truth About the Speaking In Tongues

ONE OF THE distinguishing characteristics of the so-called “charismatic movement” is the teaching that:

“all Christians need to experience the filling of the Holy Spirit,’ which usually includes ‘speaking in tongues’.” (The Charismatics: A Doctrinal Perspective by John F. MacArthur, Jr., Pub: 1978, p. 12, Emphasis Mine)

Proponents of the charismatic movement claim that “all Christians need to experience the filling of the Holy Spirit,’ which usually includes ‘speaking in tongues’.” In their argument they quickly refer to various verses from the New Testament such as Acts 2:4 and 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 and other verses of the scriptures to substantiate their claim that a true Christian is expected to receive the gift of speaking in tongues. In fact, they go so far as to claim the following:

“…we should continue to champion the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues because we remain committed to a biblical hermeneutic that sees Spirit baptism and the gifts of the Spirit as available to every believer today.

“2. Speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Therefore, a decline in tongues suggests fewer believers are being baptized in the Holy Spirit. The purpose of Spirit baptism is about more than speaking in tongues. However, as the outward visible sign of Spirit baptism, speaking in tongues remains a vital expression of the Spirit’s work in our world.”

(Reference: https://influencemagazine.com/Practice/Speaking-in-Tongues,Emphasis Mine)

The above reference asserts that the phenomenon of speaking in tongues not only constitutes the physical evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit but is also deemed essential; otherwise, one cannot be considered a true believer. Prior to further examining this claim and evaluating the relevant biblical evidence, it is important to investigate and ask: How did the practice of speaking in tongues originate, particularly in light of the lack of documented occurrences of such practices after the time of the apostles from the first-century Church Of Christ?:

THE REEMERGENCE OF TONGUE SPEAKING?

Charles Fox Parham was an American preacher and evangelist who is often called the “Father of Modern-day Pentecostalism.” He was the first to claim that speaking in tongues was proof of baptism in the Holy Spirit.^[1] Together with William J. Seymour. Seymour was a leader of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906. Seymour was a student of Parham’s and the leader of the Apostolic Faith Gospel Mission on Azusa Street.^[2] Parham was one of the two central figures in the development and initial spread of the early emergence of American Pentecostalism in the 1900s and the speaking of tongues. However, prior to Parham and Seymour, there have been several other groups who have claimed of such tongue-speaking gifts. One known as the “Irvingites,” headed by its founder Edward Irving a Scottish Minister in 1834.^[3] Then there was Mary Campbell in 1830, and her brothers James and George MacDonald of western Scotland had experiences they described as “being endowed with the Holy Spirit” and became convinced spiritual gifts had been renewed in the church.^[4]

Although Mary Campbell was the first of the group to speak in tongues, the first tongues message of modern times whose content was written down was uttered by James MacDonald on April 20, 1830. His brother George interpreted.^[4]

Prior to Mary Campbell, there were the “Shakers” in the 1700s. Shakers originated in England in the 1700s, an ecstatic offshoot of the more sedate Quakers led by a charismatic preacher known as “Mother Ann.”^[5] The Shakers were a religious group that experienced a period of intense spiritual activity and known as the Era of Manifestations.^[6] During this time, Shakers spoke and cried out in strange tongues, jerked, twitched, had visions, spoke to spirits, went into trances would dance, roll, and twirl on the ground, which they believed were all direct revelations from God. Ann Lee of Manchester who founded the Shakers in 1770 was a textile worker who claimed to have spoken to four clergymen in 72 separate tongues.^[7]

THE EARLY PENTECOSTALS BELIEF OF THE 1900s

The early Pentecostal belief in the 1900s, led and pioneered by Parham and Seymour, had a very different view and belief of the gift of speaking in tongues compared to today’s Pentecostals and Charismatic religions. Pentecostals all believed the gift of speaking in tongues consisted of the supernatural ability to speak in previously unlearned intelligible human languages (xenolalia). From 1901–1907, no Pentecostal believed that “tongues” consisted of unintelligible utterances, sometimes referred to as “heavenly language” or “tongues of angels” (in academic circles, this view of speaking in tongues is called glossolalia).^[8] Parham believed that the gift of tongues involved speaking in actual human languages and would be a necessary tool for carrying out missions activity.^[9]

In fact, a man who belonged to William J. Seymour Pentecostal church was so confident in his abilities that he could speak in many tongues supposedly gifted by the Holy Spirit, gave a demonstration to a Hindu boy who understood the Hindu language just to be ridiculed and called out for his incoherent gibberish:

“[a little Hindu Boy] told me that a colored man who belongs to Seymour’s… church came to him and told him that he could speak sixteen different languages and said one of them was Hindu. So the young Hindu said, ‘Well, I can understand that; let’s hear you.’ He went at it, and the Hindu boy laughed in his face and said, ‘That is no language.’ At this, the colored man got mad and struck the boy in the mouth with his fist.“

(Reference: The So-called Gift of Tongues in California, Published in The Rocky Mountains Pillar of Fire, Sept. 12, 1906, Emphasis Mine)

Thus the critical voices of that time identified the Pentecostal xenolalia as mere “gibberish.”

FAILED MISSIONARY TONGUES

When these early Pentecostals went on missions believing they could preach to the natives without any need to learn their languages, is an event that is significant in evaluation because the gift of tongues would be tested in an environment that the Pentecostals themselves do not control and this is what took place:

“Rev. A.G. Garr and his wife, late of the Burning Bush and now connected with the ‘Tongues’ wildfire, had arrived in India with their languages with which they were expecting to preach to the natives, and, as predicted, nobody can understand their ‘tongues’ neither do they themselves know what they are saying; so they are now praying for the gift of ‘interpretation’ in other words, their boasted gift to which they were going to outshine our real missionaries by talking directly to the natives without having learned the language is no good whatever, … In the meantime they can only preach to the English speaking people, awaiting the arrival of the ‘interpretation gift’.”

(Reference: Gar in India, Published in the Burning Bush, April 4, 1907, Emphasis Mine)

In another article, a good friend of Mr. Garr adds some more details and this is what he writes:

“Mr. Garr who ridiculed the idea of missionaries having to study the language of the heathen two years before preaching to them has found out that his Hindu is not Hindu; and they are longing for the missionaries who have studied the language, to get the power and preach to the Indians.“

(Reference: J.N. Ragsdal, The Battle Axe, Feb 20, 1907, Emphasis Mine)

Mr. Garr is not the only one who is known for this type of failure on the mission field. S.C. Todd who was a missionary from the Holiness movement, personally investigated the claims of Pentecostal missionaries. The historian Robert Mapes Anderson summarizes Todd’s findings well:

“S.C. Todd of the Bible Missionaries Society investigated 18 Pentecostals who went to Japan, China, and India ‘expecting to preach to the natives in those countries in their own tongue,’ and found that by their own admission ‘in no single instance have they been able to do so.’ As these and other missionaries returned in disappointment and failure, Pentecostals were compelled to rethink their original view of speaking in tongues’.”

(Reference: Visons Of The Disinherited by Robert Mapes Anderson, pp.90-91, Emphasis Mine)

After the initial missionary efforts failed, Pentecostals faced a significant theological dilemma. Instead of acknowledging their mistake, they chose to redefine the interpretation of “speaking in tongues,” which is a common reaction to embarrassment and cognitive dissonance associated with fanaticism.

Rather than admitting their error, early Pentecostals reinterpreted their experience and introduced a second category of tongues.

THE REDEFINITION OF TONGUES

Philip E. Blosser and Charles A. Sullivan two known experts on the history of tongue speaking, explained the timing of the redefinition:

“…the Pentecostal understanding of tongues began changing between 1906 and 1907 when their concept of ‘missionary tongues’ failed. Not long afterward, probably by around 1910, Pentecostals had concluded that xenolalia, or the speaking of foreign languages, was no longer viable as a stand-alone definition for ‘tongues’.”

(Reference: Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Vol. 1: The Modern Redefinition of Tongues by Philip E. Blosser and Charles A. Sullivan, Pub: 2022, p. 228, Emphasis Mine)

All of that leads to the shocking conclusion that the early Pentecostals needed to avoid public embarrassment, thus letting millions of other Pentecostals and Charismatics embrace a counterfeit gift.

Thus, modern tongue speakers’ practice is not the biblical gift of tongues.

After this major failure, today’s Pentecostals and Charismatics argue in their defense by redefining the meaning of I Corinthians chapter 14, which came as the result of the failed missionary tongue speaking a decade after this embarrassment. The Pentecostal magazine weekly Evangel commented on I Corinthians 14 with a changed mind and position:

“This is not a gift of different languages as some have believed, but is an emotional or heavenly language, in which the speaker speaks only to God.”

(Reference: Weekly Avangel 1916, Emphasis Mine)

This redefinition of Pentecostals after their failed experience of speaking in tongues is now being shifted to the interpretation of a “heavenly language” despite the fact that there is no biblical passage that speaks of a heavenly language that communicates directly with God.

PENTECOSTALISM AND HIGHER CRITICISM

But it gets even worse, as Blosser and Sullivan point out, Pentecostals actually relied on the writings of Higher Criticism in their efforts to redefine the gift of tongues. A few German theologians of the Protestant school of Higher Criticism came up with the term “glossolalia” and gave it a certain definition. This is the conclusion of Blosser and Sullivan’s long-term research on the redefinition of tongues:

“…‘tongues’ as something other than ordinary human languages is utterly unprecedented in Church history, completely unknown in ecclesiastical writings before the nineteenth century, when a few German theologians of the Protestant school of Higher Criticism first introduced the theory of glossolalia.”

(Reference: Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Vol. 1: The Modern Redefinition of Tongues by Philip E. Blosser and Charles A. Sullivan, Pub: 2022, p. 26, Emphasis Mine)

What these Higher Critics meant by “glossolalia”?

“Glossolalia, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as ‘ecstatic utterances,‘ is the uttering of unintelligible language–like sounds while in a state of ecstasy. Glossolalia is sometimes confused with xenoglossia, which is the biblical ‘gift of tongues.’ However, whereas glossolalia is babbling in a nonexistent language, …”

(Reference: https://www.gotquestions.org/ glossolalia.html, Emphasis Mine)

Therefore, an “ecstatic utterance” or “babbling in a nonexistent language” is counter to the biblical explanation of tongues that “No matter how many different languages there are in the world, not one of them is without meaning” (I Cor. 14:10 GOD’S WORD® Translation).

Sadly, that is how Pentecostals and charismatics rationalize the actual gift of tongues. Moreover, the modern charismatic and Pentecostal understanding of tongues is not supported before the 19th-century Christian writings.

Besides the heavy-weighted evidence presented against modern-day tongue speaking, Pentecostals and charismatics continue to insist that there is a “heavenly language” that is spoken by those who have the gift of tongues, and in their defense, they cite I Corinthians 14:2, which reads:

“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.”

(Reference: I Cor. 14:2 NIV, Emphasis Mine)

Pentecostals interpret this passage to mean that their unintelligible utterances is a heavenly language of mystery evoked by the Holy Spirit because no one understands them; thus, they speak to God and not to men. But does I Corinthians 14:2 mention anything about a heavenly language or an ecstatic unintelligible utterance? The answer is no! As mentioned earlier, there is no biblical passage that uses the words “heavenly language.” So what does I Corinthians 14:2 mean?

To unravel the true meaning of the passage, let us once again cite I Corinthians 14:2 but this time from the Remedy New Testament and the succeeding verses by Apostle Paul’s writings to clarify its true meaning:

“For anyone who speaks unclearly, or in a foreign language, does not communicate healing truth to others but is speaking to God the secrets of the heart. But those who speak clearly the truth about God communicate to others the healing Remedy to sin–for their strengthening, encouraging, and comfort. Those who speak in a foreign language benefit only themselves, but those who speak the truth about God clearly — for others to hear and understand — benefit the entire church. I would like all of you to speak multiple languages, but even more, I want you to be able to effectively present the truth about God. Those who present the truth about God effectively and accurately are more essential in spreading the healing Remedy to sin than those who speak multiple languages, unless they are the translators for those who speak the healing truth so the church can hear and understand.”

(Reference: I Cor. 14:2-5 The Remedy New Testament, Emphasis Mine)

This text highlights some important details. Firstly, it describes an event that takes place during a congregational gathering. The specific situation in verse 2 involves speaking in a language that, without interpretation, is not understandable to others in the congregation. As a result, it does not contribute to the building up or edification of the listeners. When a person speaks in a “foreign language,” the message becomes unclear to those who hear it. This is likened to a “secret” because no one understands him; he is, in essence, “speaking to God the secrets of the heart.” In some translations of the Bible, this concept is referred to as a “mystery.” (A Faithful Version), which the Easy English Bible further clarifies verse 2 in this manner, “If someone speaks in a different language, he is speaking only to God. The people who hear him do not understand his message. …” Note the keyword is “language,” and no language is without meaning (I Cor. 14:10). Secondly, when the message is spoken in a different language, it must be interpreted, or there must be a translator to interpret the message being preached; otherwise, the “church” will not understand and be edified. Thus, by this biblical context alone, we can see that what is being spoken is an actual known native language in which it can be understood and interpreted. In contrast, gibberish can not be understood and interpreted, and much less understood by the one who speaks such unintelligible utterances.

In fact, including prayers, Apostle Paul made it clear that when one prays to God, he prays with his spirit and understanding (Mind), not in some strange and unintelligible utterance or gibberish that can not be understood or even interpreted by the one who is praying. From the Greek Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament, this is what we can read:

“There are who-knows-how-many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning. …

“For this reason the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he will be able to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. What then shall I do? I will pray with my spirit but I will also pray with my understanding. …”

(Reference: I Cor. 14:10, 13-15 Mounce Reverse Interlinear New Testament, Emphasis Mine)

Hence, 1 Corinthians 14:2 does not support the Pentecostal’s interpretation of a “heavenly language” or a “private prayer language” conducted by a person or a group of people praying to God in a language only God can understand. There are no supporting verses throughout the entire Old and New Testament scriptures that read “heavenly language” or a “private prayer language” that only God understands. In fact, the setting of 1 Corinthians 14:2 is a meeting of the Corinthian church where individuals are using their spiritual gifts, and Paul is providing guidance on how to do so in a way that is beneficial to the entire body.

In truth, Pentecostalists who claim to speak in tongues, as they have allegedly invoked the Holy Spirit, admit that they utter sounds which no one has ever heard before nor understood and have no meaning to ordinary individuals (cf. The Protestant Churches of America by John A Hardon, p. 306). They themselves concede that these ecstatic utterances may have come from the devil as no one could readily distinguish which is from God or from the devil:

“Speaking in tongue is the most dramatic of the nine gifts listed by Paul, and the one whose genuineness is most readily suspect, for the gift is not difficult to simulate. Such simulation may be conscious or unconscious, and there is the further possibility, admitted by Pentecostalists, that ecstatic utterance may be of the devil as well as of God, and that one may not be readily distinguished from the other.”

(Reference: Sects And Society: A Sociological Study of Three Religious Groups in Britain by Bryan R. Wilson Pub: 1961, p. 20, Emphasis Mine)

Such a demonstration is likened by Apostle Paul to speaking into the air as if one is mentally deranged:

So it is with you, if you speak words [in an unknown tongue] that are not intelligible and clear, how will anyone understand what you are saying? You will be talking into the air [wasting your breath]!

Think about it: if the church comes together and everyone is speaking a different language, won’t those who don’t understand, and visitors, think you are incoherent and deranged?

(Reference: I Cor. 14:9 Amplified Bible; 14:23 The Remedy New Testament, Emphasis Mine)

As the early Christians were instructed, if anyone among the congregation does not understand the language spoken by the preacher during a worship service, then there should be an interpreter so the message can be understood (cf. I Cor. 14:27).

The true speaking in tongues at the time of Pentecost, which the apostles received, is the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. One of the gifts included the gift of tongues, which means “language.” It was a language that had meaning, so when the apostles of Christ spoke the message, the audience would hear and understand because what they heard was their own native language from their home country, not an ecstatic unintelligible utterance:

“When these Jews heard the noise, a large crowd of them came together in that place. As the believers spoke, each person in the crowd could hear the message in their own language. This confused them. They were very surprised and they said to each other, ‘These men who are speaking our languages are all from Galilee. But each of us can hear them speak in the language of our own home country. How can this happen? Some of us are from Parthia, Media and Elam. Some of us live in Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia. Some of us are from Pontus and Asia. Some of us are from Phrygia and Pamphylia. Some of us are from Egypt. Some of us are from the country of Libya, near the town of Cyrene. Some of us have come from Rome to visit Jerusalem. Some of us were born as Jews. Others of us are Gentiles who now obey God as the Jews do. Some of us are from Crete and some of us are from Arabia. But we all hear these people speaking in our own languages. They are speaking about all the great things that God has done’.”

(Reference: Acts 2:6-11 Easy English Bible, Emphasis Mine)

So, as we can see, the true gift of speaking in tongues is quite different from modern-day speaking in tongues claimed by the Pentecostals and the charismatic religions. The true gift of tongues was an actual human language uttered by the apostles when they spoke and was not unintelligible. Instead, the message they spoke came to the ears of the listeners as if the words were articulated in the hearer’s native language (cf. Acts 2:7-11).

Another important factor to bring forward is that a significant number of Pentecostalists and Charismatics either choose ignorance or are unaware that a prophecy was foretold that the supernatural ability to communicate―“speak in tongues” would cease completely:

“Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away.”

(Reference: I Cor. 13:8 Amplified Bible, Emphasis Mine)

We observe that Paul himself states that the gift of tongues was temporary. He clearly stated that “they will cease.” The fulfillment of this prophecy has come to pass, especially with the passing away of the disciples to whom the promise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit of this particular gift was given and the total apostasy of the first-century Church of Christ.

References

1. https://www.gotquestions.org/ Charles-Parham.html

2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ William_J._Seymour

3.https://www.britannica.com/biography/ Edward-Irving

4.https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/dailyquote/4/20

5.https://www.pbs.org/wnet/ religionandethics/2011/03/18/ september-17-2010-the-shakers/7026/

6. https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/ research-collections/history/news/ nysm-shaker-collection-highlights

7. Foner, Eric; Garraty, John A., eds. (1991). "Ann Lee". American History Companion: The Reader's Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin. p. 646

8. https://medium.com/@andreaswig et/alfred-garrs-failed-missionary-tongues-4d78da0a0232

9. https:// www.gotquestions.org/ Charles-Parham.html

10. The So-called Gift of Tongues in California, Published in The Rocky Mountains Pillar of Fire, Sept. 12, 1906

11. Gar in India, Published in the Burning Bush, April 4, 1907

12. J.N. Ragsdal, The Battle Axe, Feb 20, 1907

13. Visons Of The Disinherited by Robert Mapes Anderson, pp.90-91

14. Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Vol. 1: The Modern Redefinition of Tongues by Philip E. Blosser and Charles A. Sullivan, Pub: 2022, p. 228

15. Weekly Avangel 1916

16. Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Vol. 1: The Modern Redefinition of Tongues by Philip E. Blosser and Charles A. Sullivan, Pub: 2022, p. 26

17. https://www.gotquestions.org/ glossolalia.html

18. Sects And Society: A Sociological Study of Three Religious Groups in Britain by Bryan R. Wilson Pub: 1961, p. 20

IN CONCLUSION

1

From 1901 to 1907, no Pentecostal believed that “tongues” consisted of unintelligible utterances. They believed that the speaking of tongues was the biblical account of speaking in a human language, a language they had not known or learned before.

2

When Pentecostal missionaries went on missions, believing they could preach to the natives without learning their languages, they faced great disappointment. They admitted that they could not communicate or understand the natives’ language. A decade later, after this failed attempt, the Pentecostals redefined their interpretation of I Cor. 14 rather than admit their mistake and understanding of scripture.

3

Pentecost redefined the meaning of tongue as “Glossolalia,” a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “ecstatic utterances,'” is the uttering of unintelligible language-like sounds.

4

Many defined this type of unintelligible utterance as a “heavenly language” or a “private prayer language” conducted by a person or a group of people praying to God in a language only he can understand. The are no supporting verses throughout the whole Old and New Testament scriptures that reads “heavenly language” or a “private prayer language” that only God understands. This interpretation is entirely unbiblical.

5

Apostle Paul made it clear that when one prays to God, he must pray with his spirit and understanding (Mind). He also made it clear that if anyone among the congregation does not understand the language spoken by the preacher during a worship service, then there should be an interpreter so the message can be understood (cf. I Cor. 14:27). Therefore if one is speaking in an ecstatic unintelligible tongue how can that be interpreted when those are sounds that have no real meaning? As Apostle Pauls made clear, “if you speak words [in an unknown tongue] that are not intelligible and clear, how will anyone understand what you are saying? You will be talking into the air [wasting your breath]!”

Pentecostalists who claim to speak in tongues, as they have allegedly invoked the Holy Spirit, admit that these ecstatic utterances may have come from the devil as no one could readily distinguish which is from God or from the devil.

6

The true speaking of tongues at the time of the Pentecost was an actual human language; when the disciples preached their message, the audience each heard them speak in their own native tongue from the country they came from (Acts 2:6-11 Easy English Bible).

7

We observe that Paul himself states that the gift of tongues was temporary. He clearly stated that “they will cease.” The fulfillment of this prophecy has come to pass, especially with the passing away of the disciples to whom the promise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was given and the total apostasy of the first-century Church of Christ.

8

WE KINDLY EXTEND our visitors an invitation to explore the pristine, unadulterated teachings of Christ and His apostles as they were taught in the first-century Church Of Christ.:

Fundamental Beliefs of The "Iglesia Ni Cristo" (Church Of Christ)

WITH THE AIM of aiding others in achieving a more comprehensive understanding of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, a series of readings has been developed. These readings encompass a range of significant topics, from the nature and work of Christ to apostasy. We encourage all those who are curious or in search of truth to engage with these articles. They are designed to encapsulate the comprehensive doctrines and beliefs of the Iglesia Ni Cristo…

Reach Out

If you wish to acquire a deeper understanding of our Church Doctrines and have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We would be delighted to direct you to one of our local resident ministers in your vicinity. Kindly include any queries you may have so that we may forward your inquiry in advance. Thank you.

“Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak].”
(Eph. 4:29, Amplified Bible)

“Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured.”
(1 Corinthians 13:4-5, Amplified Bible)