Welcome: Tongues 101 - Tongues for Beginners

Today I wish to study the issue of speaking in tongues, which have sort of divided the church between those that believe it and those that feel that the modern tongues is just gibberish and similar to pagan rituals thus it’s influenced by the devil.

A lot of webpages, blogs etc have referred to tongues in the scriptures as just “human understandable language” such as Kuteb, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Swahili or some other obscure language spoken by some people in distance land.

Well to me that is their opinion and I wish not to just join issues with them, rather, let’s look at the bible and see if it’s just “human understandable language” or something more than just “human understandable language”!

Questions:

Is tongues referred in the bible known as mere human language?
Was Yahshua not aware that during His time, there were pagan rituals that also spoke in tongues?
Is 1 cor 13 stating that tongues has actually ceased?

Let’s begin:

First of all, I will like to highlight some tools that I will be using as my reference for this study. This are

- Bible – KJV

- Pc-Study bible

· Strong’s Concordance

· Thayer’s Greek lexicon

· Using the Greek tenses used

It will be proper for us to start from the Master Himself, No other but the King of kings, the risen Lord, Yahshua the Christ.

Mark 16:15-19

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.

KJV

Yahshua, before He was taken to the right hand of the Father, He spoke some words to the disciples as recorded by mark in vs. 15 – 18. For the sake of our study, we are concentrating on vs. 16-17

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 … they shall speak with new tongues;

We would notice that He said that In His name, Yahshua, the disciples will SPEAK WITH NEW TONGUES… so here, we see the start of the word speaking with tongues…but what I would like us to see is the tense used for speaking, the Greek meaning of some words.

Let’s start with the word NEW, which means

NT:2537

NT:2537 kainos, kainee, kainon

new,

a. as respects form; recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn Matt 9:11

b. as respects substance; of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of

You would notice that the Master said that it is NEW meant something “of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of”. In other words, the language (glossolia) is going to be a language that is unprecedented, uncommon and unheard of.

Wow!

Question:

Now this beg for this question: if Christ, Who is all knowing, knows all the language of the world, state that an unprecedented, unheard of language He is ushering in, then some people in their belief would now say that the new tongues spoken of has a pagan origin?

Lets notice the verb tense used…

Mark 16:17

they shall speak

Greek Verb
Greek Third Person
Greek Plural
Future
Greek Active
Greek Indicative

From the tenses above, means that the Speak is certainly futuristic which

the disciples will speak. Therefore it means that the new language Christ will

be ushering on the day of Pentecost was never spoken of in the past or when

He was around.

Matt 6:7

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

KJV

This verse has been used to refer to speaking in tongues and hence to equate it to pagan mode of prayer? But let’s reason, since Christ knew the religions of His time that pray such prayers, would He be giving such to His disciples? No He won’t.

OBJECTION:

The modern tongue spoken of is not similar to the one Yahshua gave because Paul referred that new tongues will cease when love is full… 1 cor 13. Really? we will address 1 cor 13 later.

So it therefore means that the NEW TONGUES, Yahshua was bringing into existence was and still is, something that is “of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of”. Thus implying that no pagan cult had such a NEW language except the anti-tongues want us to believe that they are calling their Master a liar! God forbid!

NEW CREATURE AND NEW TONGUES

Let’s consider another scripture that shows the same usage of the word NEW..

2 Cor 5:17

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

KJV

Now, you would notice that the word NEW used is “of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of”. Thus implying that the creature is “of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of”

Now combining mark 16:15-17 and 2 cor 5:17, if anyone that believes and is baptized will be saved and the saved person is referred to as a creature that is of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of and who is able to speak the tongues that is of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of!

Thus we can safely conclude that the pagan cult cannot be New creatures since they don’t believe in Christ and hence what they were/are babbling “presumed by some as tongues” cannot be same as the new language He has brought into existence!

Therefore we are in agreement with scripture that the New tongues which Christ instituted, cannot be pagan babbling which was ushered in after the Acts 2.

Now with the background above, let us understand the New tongue that the disciples spoke on the day of Pentecost.

Acts 2:3-16

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

KJV

Now look at v3-4

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

I would want us to understand some words in the context to fully understand the verse and the use of the word tongues.

Other tongue: The word “other” in Greek is heteros means different. Thayer on the other hand, further gave the meaning of heteros as

to quality; another i.e. one not of the same nature, form, class, kind; different

Wow!

So in other words, the word “other” tongues means that it’s a tongue not of the same nature, form, class, kind. Thus the language the disciples spoke on the day of Pentecost, cannot be of the same nature, form, class, kind like human language but something that is beyond spoken human language.

OBJECTION!

But some will jump and say NO, but the multitude that came around heard their language! Agreed! But before then, we agree that the tongues spoken by the disciples was the same tongues that Yahshua promised them in mark 16, that it will be “of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of”.

FOOD THOUGHT:

So how can the new [other] tongues be “of a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of, one not of the same nature, form, class, kind” as human language and at the same time be same as the tongues (language) that is common and heard language of men?!

In addition, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

When you look at the two verbs use Gave and Utterance, it gives light to what was happening on that blessed day of Pentecost.

First of all, word, Gave, means :

NT: 1325

- of one's own accord [Spirit] to give one [disciples] something, to his [disciples] advantage;

- to give to one's [disciples] care, entrust, commit.

- something to be administered; universally:

- to give or commit to someone [disciples] something to be religiously observed:

Note: [Spirit], [disciples] is implied!

Hope we are seeing the unfolding of the truth that the new tongues via the Spirit is

i. To our advantage not the other way round.

ii. Universally, it means it’s not for early believers but all.

iii. Religiously, we are to observe this new tongue.

The other word is utterance which means.

apofthéngesthai

NT:669

‎to speak out, speak forth, pronounce, not a word of everyday speech, but one "belonging to dignified and elevated discourse.

Wow!

Look at this, the new tongue spoken forth by the disciples was not a word of everyday speech, but one "belonging to dignified and elevated discourse.

So in conclusion, as the Spirit gave them utterance… means that the new (other) tongues spoken by the disciples was to their advantage and was not a word of everyday speech.

Thus if it’s not a word of everyday speech, why would some insist that it was just human language which is a word of everyday speech!

OBJECTION

I still believe my readers will still say, but the multitude that came around heard their language, in other words, they heard their words of everyday speech been used by the disciples to communicate the wonderful works of God! Agreed!

Continuing!

Now let’s understand what was written in Acts 2. In the bible, it is said their hearers heard them speak their language. Yes that is a miracle of the Spirit. If you recall in the old testament, God was able to confound language spoken by the one people of the old that they can’t hear what another was saying. Thus the Spirit, as the disciples spoke “a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of” tongues, He miraculously allowed the interpretation of “a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of” tongues which they understood them speaking the wonderful works of God in their language. Halleluyah!

Thus we can conclude that what the disciples spoke on that blessed day, was the ushering of “ a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of” language [not some known language] that the Spirit in His mercy allowed the interpretation of the “a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of” tongues revealing the wonderful works of God.

Now let’s move to some occurrence of tongues,

Acts 2:38-41

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

KJV

IMPLICIT NOT EXPLICIT TONGUES

Here, we see that after peter’s exhortation to believe in Christ, they were baptized. Now some object that in this place it was not explicitly stated that they spoke in tongues. Well, but we can deduce they spoke because the ground for fertile ground for the Holy Spirit and the speaking of new tongues has already been laid.

Which are Believe and Baptism!

Mark 16:15-17

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;

KJV

So we can safely believe that they believed, were baptized and hence the sign of New [a new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of] tongues must surely be manifested on the 3000 that were added to the church, in fulfillment of the promise of Yahshua in Mark 16:15-17.

NEW TONGUES IS ENDED BECAUSE THE PERFECT IS COME?

Another objection to new tongues in the modern day is the chapter of love. 1 cor 13. Not quite a few site have used this as a yardstick to state that it’s over because the perfect is come.

Starting from the beginning.

1 Cor 13:1

13 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.

KJV

Here we see that Paul in this chapter, is emphasizing that it’s possible to speak in tongues of men and of angels and still have no love but it also means that I can still have love and speak with tongues of men and of angels.

Moving on to

1 Cor 13:8-13

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

KJV

Here he is stating that love never fails!

Aha! Look, it state that not only prophecy, knowledge shall end but specifically that new tongues! With armed with this verse and subsequent verse, opposition to speaking with new tongues, have a ground to discard modern tongues.

Are they having a good support? Well before I look into that verse, let’s look at two verses before we address this issue

Heb 13:7-9

7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

KJV

Here we see the writer of Hebrew emphasizing that we are to follow the faith of those who have rule over us and also considering their end. Now the disciples including Paul, who were the first to believe, baptized and spoke the new tongues that Yahshua promised, we are to follow. Thus we that have chosen to follow in their steps by speaking in new tongues in the name of Yahshua.

Furthermore, Yahshua who promised the new tongues is stated that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Thus the blessing of the Spirit and the blessing of new tongues continues even through our modern day hence negating those that try to discard that tongues is not needed.

A lot of people misconstrue that speaking in tongues is an example of divers and strange doctrine. Is it? I don’t think so, speaking in tongues which was promised by Him that is the same yesterday, today and forever, cannot claim in our day it’s a strange doctrine.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Back to 1 cor 13, the question now is, considering the above, following after the disciples and Yahshua’s unchanging Person hence His promise of new tongues, was Paul thus stating that after the last apostles, tongues has ceased?

8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Let’s look at the tense used for they shall cease, which is used in referring to tongues.

The word used is paúsontai derived from the root word pauo which means

[NT:3973] ‎a primary verb ("pause"); to stop (transitively or intransitively), i.e. restrain, quit, desist, come to an end: KJV - cease, leave, refrain.

According to Thayer’s lexicon, the word means

to make to cease or desist: to restrain (A.V., refrain) a thing or a person from something,

Now that we agree that tongues will be refrained of a thing or person, we need to know WHEN, we need to see the tense of that WHEN.

Greek Verb:
Greek Third Person
Greek Plural
Future
Middle Voice
Greek Indicative

We would observe that the verb used in that tense is futurist hence when tongues will be restricted is in the future, a definite future event.

Now how do we identify that future event if we are actually in that future era?

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

In verse 9, we observe that before the PERFECT, we know in part and prophecy in part because the perfect has not come. And that PERFECT is generally accepted as the BIBLE. But in the context of the following verse, it refers to LOVE being the perfect.

Paul will support this because he admonish believers in Ephesus to ask that their understanding be enlightened to know the depth, height, width and breadth of Love thus signifying that it so enormous and come to think of it, in the Greek language love is Agape, Phileo and Eros thus in the context, Paul wants us to know the enormity of the Agape Love of God which up till today we are still yearning to know, for our knowledge of this awesome love is always in part.

Thus until the perfect comes, which is knowing all the Agape love of God as face to face without some darkly view, the new tongues which Yahshua promised, has not ceased.

With the help of God, I hope to add more to this blog and furthermore will take the issue discussed by other sites.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO?

But above all, I would ask you to personally, call on Yahshua based on Mark 16:15-17

Mark 16:15-19

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.

KJV

PRAYER

Lord Yahshua, I believe and have been baptized with water, I ask for your promises, which are yea and amen, that the sign to speak with New [“new kind; unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of”] tongues be given me. I repent [change my mind towards tongues as mere human language, pagan babbling] and desire to commune with you deeply, spirit to Spirit via the new tongue. Amen

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tongues 101 - Tongues for Beginners

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