Question
Greetings from Ethiopia.
Hope you recognize me very well. I have a question regarding speaking in tongues.
The first one is Acts 2;4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues’ as the Spirit enabled them.
The second , 1cor. 14:2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
Here Paul is addressing tongue speaking is vertically directed to God rather than horizontally addressed to men.The tongue speaker is speaking mysteries with his spirit.
Now what does it mean does that mean two different speaking. Please make clear me your understanding, the denomination preachers teach there are two different speaking in tongues one for men the other for God.
Answer
Keith Sharp
Dear Wubishet,
Thank you for your good question about speaking in tongues.
It is clear in Acts 2:4-12 that tongue speaking was the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) and was speaking in a human language that the speaker had not learned to speak by natural means (Acts 2:6-12, cf. 16-18). Yes, it was for the benefit of people.
The same is true in the context of First Corinthians 14:2. First Corinthians chapters 12-14 is one long context dealing with the use of miraculous spiritual gifts (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:1). The tongues could be “interpreted” (“diermneuo” – “to explain, interpret, translate” – William Mounce, Mounce’s Complete Expository of Old and New Testament Words. 1124; 1 Corinthians 14:5). They are languages that have meaning to people (1 Corinthians 14:10). The tongue speaking is done by revelation from the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3-4,7,10-11). They were to benefit the church (verses 5,12-13).
If these known characteristics of tongue speaking fit First Corinthians 14:2, there is no reason to look for another meaning except to try to justify a practice the denominational
preachers do not want to give up.
It is important to understand, for those who read from the King James Version of the English Bible, that the word “unknown” (verses 2,4,13-14,19,27) is added by the translators, as they themselves make clear by placing it in italics. The Greek word for “unknown” (“agnostos”) is not in the Greek text from which First Corinthians was translated.
Brother, if you spoke in Swahili to the congregation where I am an elder, no one would understand what you said, perhaps including you yourself, except God. You would be speaking to God alone. Unless you have learned to speak Swahili in a natural manner, you would be speaking “in the spirit,” in other words, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:43).
The whole point of verse two is not to speak in a language the audience doesn’t understand unless someone translates it into their language (verses 5-28). Thus, the meaning of tongue speaking established in both the remote and immediate contexts fits the passage perfectly.
