Article XV - Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a
Tongue as the People Understand
It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the
custom of the primitive church, to have public prayer in the church,
or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people.
It’s not what you say; it’s why you say
it.
(Nope. That wasn’t a typo.)
We are responsible for doing our best to speak the truth and to speak
that truth in love. But no matter how
carefully you select your vocabulary somebody is still going to be
indignant. That’s their problem.
Your and my responsibility most acutely rests with the heart, intent, and
internal source of the words coming out of our mouths especially, when we claim to be speaking for God. Which is why the Apostle Paul spent so much time writing about speaking in
tongues.
It’s not what you say; it’s why you say
it.
Tongues as we use the term in the church today refers to the
miraculous spiritual gift of a language the speaker does not know by birth or
training. Tongues is Holy Spirit
speech. When someone speaks in tongues
(or claims to) they profess that every sound coming out of their mouth is the
direct unfiltered language of God.
In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples spoke in a
miraculous language that sounded to every listener like the language of their
native country.
Then they were all amazed and marveled,
saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own
language in which we were born?” (Acts 2: 7-8)
As the New Testament church grew, many converts experienced
speaking in tongues as a mark of Holy Spirit conversion (Acts 10: 44-48; Acts 19: 5-6). But Scripture indicates that those later
cases didn’t manifest as a universally understood language, but rather as an
unknown tongue. This is what some
Christians today call it their “prayer language.”
For to one is given the word of wisdom
through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to
another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same
Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another
discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one
individually as He wills. (1 Corinthians 12: 8-11)
Sometimes everybody around could understand the tongues.
Sometimes they couldn’t. It
sounded strange, but it happened. Speaking
in tongues is a genuine spiritual gift, but it’s not what you say; it’s why you say it.
Speaking in tongues was a spectacular and public spiritual gift;
and as happens with things that are public and spectacular, people began
abusing and faking it. So, Paul had to remind the church that tongues, like
other spiritual gifts was not for every believer.
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all
have gifts of healings? Do all speak
with tongues? Do all interpret? (1 Corinthians 12: 29, 30)
The rhetorical answer is: Nope, not everybody.
Not every genuinely saved Christian
will speak in tongues.
It would, of course be nice if every Christian did. Then we’d have a spectacular and miraculous way
to separate true believers from church-attenders. Paul thought so, too. But he acknowledged that that just isn’t the
way God set it up.
I wish you all spoke with tongues, but
even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he
interprets, that the church may receive edification. (1 Corinthians 14: 5)
I wish you all did, but everybody doesn’t. Now let’s move on.
The 1st century Christian church in Corinth had the
same issue we have in the 21st century church in America. It wasn’t wrong that people spoke in tongues,
but sometimes they were wrong for WHY people spoke in tongues.
Hence what became the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
In the hierarchy of spiritual gifts, tongues ranks dead last. First apostles, second prophets, third
teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations,
varieties of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12: 28)
The Bible says that the
church should prefer testable gifts over speaking in tongues.
When someone prophesies time will tell if the prophesy was true or
false. When someone claims the power to
heal, it’s pretty easy to confirm or refute.
Teachers and administrators can be tested against texts and performance. But tongues
are easy to counterfeit, impossible to refute, and spectacular to perform. That’s why speaking tongues has become the
centerpiece of much public worship. That’s
why the church elevated speaking in tongues above the other, testable gifts.
It’s not what you say; it’s why you say
it.
God knows that when someone speaks in tongues, it’s impossible to
know whether the sounds come from the Holy Ghost or whether they come from the
speaker’s imagination. So unique among all the other spiritual gifts, tongues
are paired with another unction.
…he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with
tongues, unless indeed he interprets,
that the church may receive edification (1 Corinthians 14: 5)
Where there are tongues there are supposed to be interpreters.
If not, then you have to question WHY people say they’re speaking
in tongues.
But now, brethren, if I come to you
speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by
revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? (verse 6)
The Apostle continues with the analogy of a musical instrument and
a bugle sounding signals in battle. If
the sound doesn’t make sense to the listener, then what is the point of making
the sound?
So likewise you, unless you utter by
the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For
you will be speaking into the air. (verse 9)
“Speaking into the air.” Basically,
you’re saying stuff, but WHY?
It’s not what you say; it’s why you say
it.
God does not give spiritual gifts for
the anointed to impress others with how Holy Ghost powerful they are. Every spiritual gift is: for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ… (Ephesians
4: 12)
1 Corinthians 14: 11 says that tongues without interpretation creates
an insurmountable language barrier between speaker and listener. Now remember that the purpose of tongues on
Pentecost was to cross language barriers not to create one.
Though the church may be enthusiastic
(zealous) about the spectacular nature of tongues,
enthusiasm isn’t the point. Edification
and the progress of the church are the point.
Even so you, since you are zealous for
spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the
church that you seek to excel. (verse 12)
If speaking in tongues with no one to interpret doesn’t educate
(edify) the church, then WHY are you speaking in tongues without an interpreter?
How big a deal is speaking in
tongues? When no one is there to
interpret: not very.
I thank my God I speak with tongues
more than you all; yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my
understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a
tongue. (verses 18, 19)
In the church today, as in 1st
century Corinth, speaking in tongues has become part of stagecraft. Shouting out “Alabachashani!” between phrases
in a sermon is a technique for drawing out applause and shouts from the
faithful. But God didn’t give the gift
of tongues to impress believers. The Holy
Spirit gave tongues to teach (edify) believers and to be a sign (impress and
confirm) to UN-believers.
Therefore tongues are for a sign, not
to those who believe but to unbelievers (verse 22).
When a Christian manifests Holy Spirit speech and another
Christian correctly interprets the words from God, then even the most hardened
skeptic has to face the reality that something miraculous and spectacular is
going on in that church.
WHY should we say it in tongues?
To edify believers and to give unbelievers a sign.
If not for these reasons, then why do
we say what we say?
Because we just want to. I’ve
heard people say that when they speak in tongues they can’t help it. They’re so caught up in the spirit that they
have to “let it out.” Well that must be true. If it weren’t surely the Lord would have said
so.
If God didn’t want everybody shouting out in their prayer language
at once but nobody interpreting, then
the Holy Spirit would have spoken about it to the writers of the Bible. If the Lord had a problem with a dozen people
grabbing the mic because everybody had “a word from the Lord,” then there would
be a place in the Scripture where that is explicitly stated. Right?
Absolutely.
How is it then, brethren? Whenever you
come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a
revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
If anyone speaks in a tongue, let
there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret.
But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let
him speak to himself and to God.
Let two or three prophets speak, and
let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who
sits by, let the first keep silent. (1 Corinthians 14: 26-30)
It’s not what you say; it’s why you say
it.
Look. You can tell me that
you can’t help it, but I don’t matter. Tell God that you don’t want to do what
He told you to do with the gift you say He gave you.
Paul said: If anyone thinks himself to be a
prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you
are the commandments of the Lord. (verse 37)
A congregation that has the gift of tongues should absolutely exercise
and honor that gift. But, the Bible clearly requires the church to examine WHY
it exercises that gift the way it does.
Does the church nurture tongues for edification or for show?
Do tongues give skeptics a sign of God’s reality or a sign of the
church’s insanity?
Where are the interpreters, and why don’t you care?
But maybe I’m just hatin’ on the spiritually gifted. Maybe the entire 14th chapter of 1
Corinthians is irrelevant and I’m just trying to quench the spirit because I
personally prefer a dry dead worship experience; and you gone praise Him the
way you praise Him, anyhow.
Please look up 1 Corinthians 14: 38.
---Anderson T. Graves
II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry,
and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield,
Alabama; executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking
Organization (SAYNO); and director of
rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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