Tongues explained away
An apology for speaking in tongues
by J. Clements
2/15/2009
(1 Corinthians 14:2) 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.
Of those that believe the Bible, many explain away a wonderful and comforting verse.
They say that 'tongue' or 'unknown tongue' really means 'a foreign language'. They use Acts 2; and specifically in Acts 2:6 "... because that every man heard them speak in his own language." --- as proof.
Or they say that 'tongues' which were given at Pentecost and ended with the apostles. They use: 'the writing of Scripture was complete with John and there is no need for "tongues"anymore. Of course none of that is found in Scripture.
What about: (Est 1:22) For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
Side note on the error of the NKJV:
"Then he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people."
Now there is a reason for missionaries to go give every 'people group' a written language for what they speak.
Okay, back to -
Note what else is gone if that be true.
Or they may say 'tongues' are of the devil. Even the new-age people and the old witch-doctors use them.
Is the devil a fallen angel?
Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
(2 Corinthians 11:14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
What does Scripture say?
(1Co 13:1) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
Could it be that that in the Asian cultures that use "... sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." are using those to speak to "... the devil and his angels:"?
See Ps. 73:1-9,
Consider this: You throw out the 'modern versions' of the bible because they have error. They are 'of the devil'. Did not the modern versions begin in the 1850s? You keep the KJV as the complete, inspired, infallible Word of God. Starting in the early 1900s their began a greater awareness of 'tongues' and other gifts from God. Much of the awareness was due to error and misuse.
So now you throw out, cut out, tear out of the AV/KJV (1 Corinthians 14:2). Could these be because of deception by the devil?
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Ephesians 4:8)
Mark 16:14-20
(14) Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
(15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
(16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
(17) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
(18) They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
(19) So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
(20) And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
But of course there are some who believe these last 12 verses are not really in God's Word. The devil has not been changed into a new creature. He says the same thing:
(Genesis 3:1) Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Or, some say that you are not saved if you don't give evidence of 'speaking in tongues'.
There are those that say the modern 'tongues' movement, Pentalcosism and charismatics started in the early 1900's in Topeka, KS or at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, CA.
But lets take a step back to the years of the Wesley's and to Jonathan Edwards.
My summary of Wesley's writings in this abridged book is:
One cannot disprove the true working of the Holy Spirit, even of 'tongues', by the extremism, fanasism, or down right foolishness of man's actions.
http://www.letgodbetrue.com/bible/heresies/tongues-have-ceased.htm
God did not lose control of His Word. He did not lose His Word for hundreds of years.
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:29)
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; (1 Corinthians 12:9)
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:28)
Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12:30)
God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? (Hebrews 2:4)
I can see that "the falling away" in these end days started in the mid 1800's. The devil knows his days are ending.
Can anyone else see this:
1. After Jesus defeated the devil on the cross reword
The devil tried to prevent the spread of the Gospel.
He used the Roman system to kill the believers and destroy, usually by burning, the true Word of God.
2. He tried to pervert it with old Latin mistranslations and then hide it in his castle in Rome.
I don't believe that the devil knows the future, other than how it is revealed in the Bible. I don't believe that he knew that English was to be a major language in the end days.
So after the English language was, shall we say, stablized, firmed up, finilized, in the 1400 - 1600's the devil had to come up with another plan to defeat man. He could see that God was preserving His Word in the Authorized Version.
The English language was, in the 17th Century, just solidifying. It had been a fluid language, made up of elements of Danish, Old Norse, Latin, Greek, French, and many other dialects.
In about 1500, major changes in vocal pronunciation, inflection, and spelling simplified and helped solidify the language.8 This was all in preparation for the ultimate English work, the Authorized Version of 1611.
http://www.chick.com/reading/books/157/157_04.asp
3. By the mid 1800's the devil was able to persuade men to pervert the true Word of God by several means.
First by changing and perverting the Greek translations. And then using that and 'lost earlier manuscripts' to 'critically analyse' for 'new, better, easier to understand, English bibles.
4. The devil is also trying to deceive man by throwing out our talking to God. (1 Corinthians 14:2) For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God:
Remember, that the devil has no power except as we let him and as God allows.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)
(see also word search for 'roaring lion'- all words)
(see also word search for 'heaven word'- all words)
(see also word search for 'word truth'- all words)
We also have the armor of God -
As to - How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. (2 Corinthians 12:4)
(1 John 3:18) My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. (1 Corinthians 14:32)
Are we even taught 'discerning of spirits'?
Truely in the end days we will be taught of God, that is, by God.
It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. (John 6:45)
But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. (1 Thessalonians 4:9)
Joh 6:45
Taught of God (didaktoi theou). A free quotation from Isa_54:13 with this phrase in the lxx. There is here the ablative case theou with the passive verbal adjective didaktoi (Robertson, Grammar, p. 516). In 1Th_4:9 we have the compound verbal theodidaktoi. The same use of didaktos with the ablative occurs in 1Co_2:13.
And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children. (Isaiah 54:13)
Or Saul in 1 Samual 10, 18 & 19 (1 Samuel 10:11, 12; 18:10; 19:20, 21, 24; 28:6, 15; Acts 13:1;
Has anyone done research on the history of the workings of the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Holy Spirit, in particular tongues, prophecy and healings before 1900 - back to Johns revelation? And I don't mean the writings of the Roman cult.
Remember the 'shouting Methodists' and /or the 'primative Methodists'?
I have to reread Foxe's Book of Martyrs and Martyr's Mirror again to see any references. Also, somewhere Wesley refers to 'the French prophets'. There is also the Waldensens.
But don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to prove the Bible right or correct by man's writings. And I am looking to the return of the Lord Jesus
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/charismaticsouthern.htm
"Thus, it appears that this is not a small issue or one that will go away any time soon. Rankin and those supporting his position are trying to distinguish between public tongues and private, saying that while they are opposed to public tongues they believe there is a private form of tongues that one can use to edify oneself. In fact, biblical tongues are biblical tongues. The tongues of Acts are the tongues of 1 Corinthians 14. They were real languages that a believer could speak supernaturally. They were a sign to the nation Israel that God was going to send the gospel to every nation and create a new spiritual body composed of both Jews and Gentiles (1 Cor. 14:20-22, quoted Isaiah 28:11-13). Each time tongues were spoken in Acts (Acts 2, 8, 10, 19) Jews were present. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, the Jews rejected the sign and were judged. Its purpose ceased even before the events recorded in the book of Acts were completed. The last mention of tongues is in Acts 19. The sign, having been fulfilled, ceased. When John Chrysostom wrote in the 4th century about the sign gifts of 1 Corinthians 12-14, he said: "This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to, and BY THEIR CESSATION, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place" ("Homilies on 1 Corinthians," Vol. XII, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Hom. 29:2). There is no "private prayer language" in the New Testament. It is the recent invention of Pentecostals and Charismatics who, having realized that they cannot speak in real tongues that can be interpreted (one of the absolute biblical requirements), were forced either to renounce their experience or to create some sort of cockeyed defense for it. There is not one example of a prayer in the Bible that is uttered in unintelligible mutterings that "bypass the intellect." Jesus Christ did not pray that way and neither did the apostles. I have heard Charismatics speak in their "private prayer language" in churches and conferences in many parts of the world.
Consider Philip:
(Act 8:26) And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
Who was he? his background? his education? Was Philip sleeping or sitting when the angel told him to 'Arise,'? What language did Philip speak?
(See study on 'Philip'.)
For more about the charismatic movement see The Pentecostal-Charismatic Movements: History and Doctrine, which is available from Way of Life Literature.
See also "When Was the Southern Baptist Convention Rescued from Liberalism" and "Why I Am Not Southern Baptist" under the Southern Baptist section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life Literature web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/"
If this is the 'inspired', 'pure' Word of God; does one believe that the Holy Ghost would know where to put and what he means regarding the spoken words abd the written words of Scripture?
G1100 γλῶσσα glōssa
Total KJV Occurrences: 50
Of uncertain affinity; the tongue; by implication a language (specifically one naturally unacquired): - tongue.
tongues, 26 Mar_16:17, Act_2:3-4 (2), Act_2:11, Act_10:46, Act_19:6, Rom_3:13, 1Co_12:10 (2), 1Co_12:28, 1Co_12:30, 1Co_13:1, 1Co_13:8, 1Co_14:5-6 (3), 1Co_14:18, 1Co_14:22-23 (2), 1Co_14:39, Rev_7:9, Rev_10:11, Rev_11:9, Rev_13:7, Rev_16:10, Rev_17:15
tongue, 24 Mar_7:33, Mar_7:35, Luk_1:64, Luk_16:24, Act_2:26, Rom_14:11, 1Co_14:2, 1Co_14:4, 1Co_14:9, 1Co_14:13-14 (2), 1Co_14:19, 1Co_14:26-27 (2), Phi_2:11, Jam_1:26, Jam_3:5-6 (3), Jam_3:8, 1Pe_3:10, 1Jo_3:18, Rev_5:9, Rev_14:6
G1258 διάλεκτος dialektos
From G1256; a (mode of) discourse, that is, "dialect": - language, tongue.
Total KJV Occurrences: 6
tongue, 5 Act_1:19, Act_2:8, Act_21:40, Act_22:2, Act_26:14
language, 1 Act_2:6
