Article: Does Speaking in Tongues Occur Only in Known Languages?

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Did/Does Speaking in Tongues Occur Only in "Known Languages?"

By Mel C. Montgomery

Two of the major arguments presented by those who are against present-day speaking in tongues are:

Speaking in tongues was given in order to preach the Gospel to foreign countries in their own native languages.
All genuine speaking in tongues occurs only in known languages.

In the tongues debate, it is my understanding that those in favor of current day speaking in tongues, and those opposed to it, agree on the following:

On the day of Pentecost the assembled 120 believers spoke in languages that were not their native languages, and that they had not learned. This was a supernatural ability given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It was not of their own linguistic ability, and it was not the work of evil spirits.

The two camps begin to disagree from this point onward as the Scriptures give us more details.

Let's examine the first claim of the Anti-tongues argument. Namely:

Was speaking in tongues given to enable evangelists to preach to foreign countries in their native languages?

The short answer is "No."

Approximately 120 believers were present at Pentecost including: Mary the mother of Jesus, the remaining eleven Apostles, the brethren of Jesus, and various other Christians. Each spoke in at least one foreign language, and possibly in several foreign languages at Pentecost.

The Scriptures and Church history records the travels of the Apostles and leaders of the Early Church. Several did indeed go on missionary journeys to foreign lands.

Yet we have no recorded instance of any of the 120 going to a foreign land and preaching to them in other tongues.

Not one single recorded instance.

Strange that tongues were given for foreign evangelism, but none of the 120 ever used tongues for that.

Wouldn't the gift of tongues have been a wonderful tool for evangelism?

For instance, Mary the mother of Jesus could have travelled to Cairo Egypt, stood in the shadow of the pyramids and supernaturally preached the Gospel of her Son to them in Arabic--a language she did not speak or know--it would have been absolutely awesome.

Peter could have gone to Babylon, which the Bible calls "that great harlot," and in the midst of all of the city's idolatry and sin, he could have stood up and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them in their own tongue!

The rest of the remaining Apostles, and Paul, could have travelled throughout all of Asia, India, and Africa, preaching in every village in their native tongues. No matter how remote the village, no matter how obscure their dialect, language would be no barrier whatsoever. All an Apostle or Evangelist would have done was to simply exercise the Gift of Tongues and preach the Gospel with perfect pronounciation, perfect grammar, and perfect accent in the local language. There would have been no possibility of ever being misunderstood.

But the Scriptures record not one single person ever preaching in other tongues.

Church history records no such occurrance either.

Either the Apostles made a horrible mistake, by completely neglecting this wonderful Gift, or the Anti-tongues argument is wrong, and tongues were not given to preach the Gospel with.

I think the Bible and the Apostles were right, and the Anti-tongues argument is wrong. But you have to reach your own conclusion.

Some might ask, "Well, didn't they preach the Gospel in other tongues on the Day of Pentecost?"

No.

The Bible identifies specifically what the 120 said in other tongues: "...we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." (vs. 11).

Notice that the hearers did not say, "We do hear in our own tongues of the Most High God sending His only begotten Son. We hear that he bore our sins, and was crucified at a place called Calvary. We hear of a new covenant between God and man, sealed with the precious blood of His Son. We hear that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life...We repent right now and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Can we be baptized?"

NO.

They heard none of that.

We know they heard none of that because after the speaking in tongues was over with, Peter still had to stand up and preach the Gospel to them, in a lengthy sermon, in the Hebrew tongue. Acts 2:14-40.

At Pentecost, the Anti-tongues adherents picture the assembled believers as standing up, one after the other, preaching the Gospel in Arabic, Mesopotamian, in Asian languages, and so on. But no such thing took place.

The Holy Spirit came upon the believers, and they spoke with other tongues "as the Spirit gave them utterance." They spoke specifically of "the wonderful works of God." They were using other tongues simply to praise God, when passersby began to notice and recognize their native languages being spoken.

The 120 believers at Pentecost used their ability to speak in tongues in the same way Paul used his, and in the same way he instructed you and I to use ours:

"For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." I Cor. 14:14,15.

Paul--the only Apostle who gives us instructions about tongues--tells us that he himself prayed in other tongues, and he sang and worshipped God in other tongues. And he instructs us to do the same.

He never once preached or taught in other tongues. He never recommended that anyone else go to a foreign land and preach or teach in other tongues.

In fact, we have no record of the individuals at Pentecost, and no record of Paul or anyone else, ever attempting to identify the foreign language which they spoke.

Prayer and praise are the only uses the Bible gives us for speaking in tongues. Nowhere does it tell us to preach in other tongues.

Do you know why the Early Church never used speaking in tongues to preach the Gospel?

Because it is impossible to preach in other tongues.

Remember, the Gift of Tongues involves receiving the supernatural ability to speak in another language. The recepient of the Gift does not receive the ability to understand the language. For instance, Paul tells us that when he prayed or sang in other tongues, he did not understand what he was saying, "...my understanding is unfruitful." (I Cor. 14:15).

Paul and the other Early Christians spoke in other languages, but they could not understand or read those languages.

By looking at a hypothetical case, it becomes clear to us why it is impossible to preach in other tongues.

Imagine that you are an English-speaking person. You know no other language. Then the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and gives you the ability to speak in the Arabic language.

You can speak in Arabic.

But you can not understand Arabic.

And you can not read Arabic.

Not one word.

Tell me how you are going to travel to Egypt for instance, and preach the Gospel to them in your God-given ability to speak Arabic?

You obtain a visa, and buy an airline ticket to Cairo. The plane lands at Cairo International Airport. You go through security, and are stopped. The security person asks you in Arabic:

";lsdne ieihng; wooi9n wlit?"

You have no idea what he has just asked you. Not one clue. You speak Arabic, but you do not understand it.

He may have asked you:

"Do you have anything to declare?"

Or,

"How many bags did you bring with you?"

"Are you here for business or pleasure?"

Or he might have said to you,

"Hey fella, you could really use a breath mint!"

Not knowing what else to do, you take a chance and exercise your gift of speaking in the Arabic tongue.

You reply:

";liena;wshng ikon e w ihg alw ;hewih;ljjjurfri."

What did you just say to him?

Did you say,

"I have nothing to declare...

I have five bags...

I'm here for pleasure...

or...fella, I don't need a breath mint as bad as you need come deoderant!"

You have no idea what he said, or what you replied to him.

No clue.

But assume you are somehow able to get through security.

Things get no easier.

You wander from the airport, and you take a stroll through the old part of downtown Cairo.

A merchant call out to you in a frantic voice,

"lfbmeujdlhg jhjjig ooegnl kslghnrji!!!"

You have no idea what he just said.

He could have said,

"I have the finest silks in all of Egypt!"

Or,

"Get out of the way! A stone has fallen off a nearby building and will hit you in the head and kill you if you don't move!"

You try to figure out exactly where you are in this ancient city of millions of Egyptians. The street signs and billboards do you no good--they're all in Arabic! And you can't understand a word of it.

Let's say you somehow begin preaching in Arabic in the town square. How long do you preach? Twenty minutes? An hour? How do you know when your sermon is over?

Not knowing what else to do, you stop in mid sentence and motion for people to come forward who want to give their lives to Christ. Several peaople come forward, and each of them start asking you questions:

"lbfjgsdak jegjoewgj ll kn ikl m kjkeljkle;?"

"klrgli;?"

",mdjheriog vkj m,dkek?"

You don't know what they just asked you.

You can't help them.

For that matter, you don't even know what you just preached. Did you preach from the Old Testament or New Testament? Was your sermon about salvation, holiness, tithing, End-Time prophecy, or the Fall of Adam?

You are absolutely helpless.

Why?

Because you don't understand or read the language, you simply speak it.

You would quickly find that it is impossible to preach or evangelize in other tongues.

So what do you do with your "other tongue?"

The same thing the 120 and Paul did with theirs. You pray and worship God with it.

Now to examine the second claim of the Anti-tongues argument:

Does all genuine speaking in tongues occur only in known human languages?

We have already proven that speaking in tongues was never used, and can never reliably be used, for anything except prayer and praise. Since speaking in tongues is used for human-to-God communication, and God-to-human languages that require interpretation into the local language, there is no logical reason for God to limit speaking in tongues to known human languages.

Paul, the only Apostle who taught in his Epistles specifically about speaking in tongues acknowledged the possibility of speaking in non-human, angelic languages:

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels..." I Cor. 13:1.

Clearly, sometimes speaking in tongues occurred in known human languages, and sometimes it took place in angelic languages.

It helps us to note also that there is no recorded attempt of the 120, including the Apostles, and later the Apostle Paul, to identify the specific foreign language in which they spoke in other tongues. Nor did they try to ascertain whether their "tongue" was a known language, or an angelic one.

If they made no such effort, why should we?

If this was of no concern to them, why should it be to us?

It was entirely possible, then and now, to be inspired of the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues in prayer and in praise, using a language that is a known one, an ancient one no longer spoken, or in an obscure dialect spoken by only a handful of people far from you, or even one spoken by angels in Heaven.

In conclusion:

Speaking in tongues was not given for the purpose of preaching the Gospel in foreign languages.
Tongues can be spoken in known human languages, or even in heavenly angelic languages.

So go ahead. Make the Devil mad. Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Speak in tongues every day of your life. Follow the example of Paul and the Early Church by using tongues for prayer and worship.

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