Speaking In Tongues & The Law Of Love

Speaking in Tongues and the Law of Love

1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth .

Some fundamentalist Christians claim that what Pentacostals call "speaking in tongues" is only a phony caricature of the genuine manifestation recorded in the New Testament. At the other end of the spectrum, some Pentecostal Christians claim that any believer who does not speak in tongues is not "Spirit-filled", and hence deficient in faith and experience.

The heart of the "tongues" issue is not words nor outward appearance nor emotional response, but deeds and truth. Whether tongues has a place in the church today stands or falls on the answer to the following question:

Does speaking in tongues contribute to Christians' loving God and others in deeds and in truth?

Let us therefore examine tongues and true love in the New Testament church, both at Pentecost and afterwards.

Speaking in Tongues at Pentecost

Tongues at Pentecost must be understood in relation to the fundamental significance of Pentecost. Pentecost marked the birth of a completely new organism upon the earth. This organism had no antecedents, neither did it evolve from prior life forms. Instead it was spontaneously engendered -- when individuals from a primitive lower species congregated together, a supernatural Force breathed new life into them and they became a single entity. As those weak, blind, puny constituent individuals became integrated into one larger organism they did not lose their individuality -- rather, each was transformed individually, their individual senses and capabilities awakened and energized through association with the new organism.

Let us not miss the meaning of Pentecost. This was the birthday of the Body of Christ. On Pentecost, the Body spoke its first words, and these words were produced by the whole Body responding to the Holy Spirit in coordinated action. These words were the "tongues" described in Acts chapter 2.

Not everyone who heard them could understand this speech, but only those whose hearts were open and receptive. In the very same way, when the Father spoke from heaven to His Son Jesus, some heard Him speak while others heard only thunder. Again, on the road to Damascus, Paul heard Jesus speak intelligible words, while the others heard only raw noise. It seems likely that at Pentecost there were instances of two people with the same native language both listening to the disciples, one hearing praise and the other hearing only drunken babble. As any communications link involves both transmission and reception, so the divine communication mediated by tongues involved miraculous speaking AND miraculous hearing.

Neither should we assume that individual disciples at Pentecost spoke individual languages. Indeed, this seems quite unlikely -- a crowd of men all shouting simultaneously in different languages would have been unintelligible to everyone. Rather, it was the CUMULATIVE effect of their speaking which somehow diverse hearers were able to resolve into diverse languages. The Church spoke as a single Body, not as a collection of unconnected individuals.

In summary: Tongues at Pentecost attested to the birth of the Church. Tongues bore witness that the Church was One in mind and spirit, with one Head who is Jesus Christ.

Speaking in Tongues in the New Testament Church

We first need to understand that "speaking in tongues" (which could also be translated "speaking in languages") is a descriptive name for an event, just like "sunrise" is a descriptive name for an event. Though the sun appears to be rising up from the ground at sunrise, it is not actually doing so. Similarly, the person speaking in tongues appears to be expressing himself in a language--but this does not necessarily mean that he is speaking in a genuine language, either human or 'angelic'. The term "speaking in tongues" is a name and NOT a technically accurate explanation of the underlying phenomenon (the same thing could be said of the expression "filled with joy" or, for that matter, "filled with the Spirit" -- but this is a whole other topic in itself!)

The only way to thoroughly understand what "speaking in tongues" truly is, is to examine the New Testament descriptions of phenomenon which it refers to.

First, consider the outward appearance of speaking in tongues. The New Testament descriptions consistently indicate that tongues-speakers appear like drunks or madmen gibbering nonsense. Not only are the words apparently meaningless, the animated demeanor of the speakers makes them appear nuts.

Next, consider what's going on inside the tongues-speaker as he gives forth utterance. Paul provides us a detailed description in 1 Corinthians 14 of the internal state of the tongues-speaker. First, Paul says that he or she is speaking to God, and not to men. So tongues is for prayer, and not for preaching or teaching. Second, he or she is speaking mysteries in the spirit. Mysteries are hidden truths which cannot be fully expressed in human language, and cannot be fully comprehended by the human mind except through a special revelation from God. Third, Paul indicates that the speaker himself does not understand what he is saying (although some would claim otherwise, a close analysis of 1 Cor. 14:13-19 leaves no room for any other interpretation). He is speaking directly from the heart, moved by the Holy Spirit, and his speech is not processed or understood by his mind.