Jottings(2)

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jan 1964

As I have already written a small booklet on the subject of "speaking in tongues", it might be profitable to go over the subject again briefly, seeing that many have not read the booklet referred to. This matter is referred to in Mark 16.17; Acts 2. 3,4, 11; 10.46; 19.6; 1 Corinthians 12.10, 28, 30; 14.5, 6, 18, 21, 22, 23, 89. The Greek word for tongue is glosse, which means the "tongue" and then by implication a "language". No one with common sense will deny this. But there are those who, having been deceived, suppose that what is simply babbling with sounds that they utter, the meaning of which they are ignorant, is speaking in a tongue. And some there are who think that this babbling is speaking in a tongue, in some language unknown on earth. Let us re-examine briefly these various scriptures in which this subject is referred to.

"They shall speak with new tongues" (Mark 16.17). The word "new" is from the Greek kainos, which a Greek lexicon explains as "new to the possessor". This scripture does not stand alone, and the first application and fulfilment of it is in Acts 2.4: "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance". This means that the Spirit-filled disciples in Jerusalem spoke with other (heteros, different) tongues than they, being Galilaeans, had been in the habit, naturally, of speaking. This fact amazed the Jews who were assembled at Jerusalem from lands of peoples wherein they were born, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and many others (see Acts 2.9-11). Please note carefully that the various tongues, thus given, are called languages. "Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we, every man in our own language, wherein we were born?" (Acts 2.7, 8). Thus Galilaeans spoke spontaneously by the gift of the Holy Spirit, without any previous tuition, the languages or tongues of many nations, and these languages were recognized and known by the Jews who came from these different and far-flung parts.

Not only did they know the respective languages spoken by the Galilaeans, but they said, "We do hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God" (2.11). The tongue is the vehicle by which the thoughts in the mind of one person are conveyed to another. It is like a bridge over which thoughts pass and repass, and as sure as the Jews, who heard the disciples speak, knew what they said, so also did the disciples know what they had said. With the utterance of thought goes the knowledge of the thought that is uttered.

As in the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Jews in Acts 2, so was it with the converted Gentiles of Cornelius and his household, in Acts 10.43-46. When they believed in the Lord Jesus, the Subject of Peter's message, the Holy Spirit fell on them. The Jews who accompanied Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to Gentiles. But the evidence was unmistakable, "For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God". No one can magnify God, if he is making babbling sounds of which he knows not the meaning.

The third and last incident of the gift of tongues, as given in the Acts, was in the case of the twelve disciples whom Paul found in Ephesus (Acts 19.1-6). Paul raised with them the question as to whether they had received the Holy Spirit. Paul's words are, "Ei pneuma hagion elabete pisteusantes", which literally is "if Spirit Holy ye received believing". Mr. Darby gives for the English reader as good a rendering of the passage as any, "Did ye receive [the] Holy Spirit when ye had believed". Paul, as he teaches elsewhere, did not believe in any lapse of time between believing and receiving the Holy Spirit.

(1) From Pentecost believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.5; 1 Corinthians 12.13). (2) But all believers did not speak in tongues during the miraculous period at the beginning of this dispensation (1 Corinthians 12. 28-39). (3) No woman spoke in tongues. (4) When a man spoke in a tongue (a language), he himself knew what he was saying though others did not, hence he had to speak to himself and to God if there was no interpreter (1 Corinthians 14.4, 28). (5) Tongues were a sign, not to them that believe, but to the unbelieving (1 Corinthians 14.22). (6) Both prophecies and tongues were to cease when the perfect, full revelation of God would be given (1 Corinthians 13.8).

J. Miller | Jan 1964
Jottings