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| Act 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” |
A
dear Brother shared his understanding of the subject of tongues on the day of
Pentecost thus:
"True Biblical Pentecost tongues would mean that I speak in English, and, as I speak, a believer who speaks and understands German hears my words as if I spoke German, and another believer who speaks French hears my words in French, while a third believer who speaks Greek hears as if I spoke in Greek. The Holy Spirit provided miraculous simultaneous translation from one known human language, Galilean, into seventeen other known human languages."
Comments:
This
understanding is a novelty indeed; I’m hearing it for the first time.
It
is quite contrary to the plain testimony of the Scriptures. Consider these
passages:
Act 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
i.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost:
-
they were endowed the spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit; they had received the
Spirit before, as the Spirit of adoption
ii.
And [they] began to speak with other tongues:
-
as a direct result of being filled with the Holy Ghost.
-
They speak with other tongues, THAT IS, besides, and different from that in
which they were born and brought up, and usually speak, i.e. Galilean.
-
They began to SPEAK various languages, one spoke one language, and another,
another language. The same person speaks with various tongues, sometimes one
language, and at other times another language. [The singular gift of tongues
enabled a man to speak numerous and diverse languages.]
-
These are the new languages, Christ told them they should speak with, Mr 16:17,
languages that they had never heard, learned, nor known before.
iii.
as the Spirit gave them utterance:
- The occasion was special and the opportunity
unique – Pentecost. Devout Jews from all nations under heaven were gathered in
Jerusalem. Thus, for the occasion, the Spirit specially guided their words, [in
different distinct languages.]
-
The Spirit of God guided them to speak on the wonderful works of God in saving
His people, Acts 2:11, the great doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
-
Even though they speak in different languages, yet in a very orderly and
distinct manner, so as to be heard and understood by the people - because the
Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts
2:6 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?
-
When the news of the Apostles speaking with other tongues was spread
["noised abroad"] multitudes of those devout Jews gathered; they were
astonished.
-
They heard the uneducated Galileans speaking their languages; the uneducated
Galileans DID SPEAK their languages; they were heard, and understood.
-
Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? Then why were they able to
speak our languages?
-
The cause for amazement and marvel WAS the fact that the uneducated Galileans
SPOKE the foreign languages.
-
The cause WASN’T that the Galilean tongue was miraculously changed into, and
heard AS many other languages. That’s just fiction!
-
The miracle was the gift of tongues; the miracle was not the gift of the ears,
nor a language morphing into another in transmission.
Act
2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful
works of God.
-
“We do hear them SPEAK in our tongues”: the Apostles spoke different languages,
plural tongues.
-
What tongues they spoke, were the same tongues heard.
He
continued,
“Thanks
so much for the kind and encouraging note. I believe that the description to
which I referred in Acts 2 is quite literal. The miracle of tongues that the
Spirit empowered and administered appears in His immediate translation. The
disciples spoke in Galilean, but people from the 17 languages named heard in
their native language. That is the miracle.”
Comments:
-
There was no immediate translation; no translation was needed. They spoke their
languages and were plainly heard, and were understood as speaking of the
wonderful works of God in redemption.
-
The 12 apostles speaking different languages were able to address all the
FOREIGN Jews with foreign tongues.
-
There were 17 regions named, NOT 17 languages.
He
continued,
I
believe the situation in 1 Corinthians 14 was perhaps an attempt to duplicate
that miracle. However, Paul specifically requires a translator, and, even with
a translator, he imposes a limit on the number of people speaking in a foreign
language. The miraculous factor, I believe, is missing in 1 Corinthians 14.
Paul requires an interpreter, Verse 27, but none was needed in Acts 2 because
of the miracle of the Spirit’s administration.
Comments:
-
It wasn’t an attempt to duplicate the miracle of tongues. If the miracle is
indeed the way you have understood, the need for translators is completely
redundant!
-
Apostle Paul was dealing with speaking in tongues in the context of a church
gathered for public worship. There must be orderliness.
- Orderliness in public worship requires TWO things: The number permitted to speak in tongues, and there must an interpreter. This was when the gift of tongues was still in operation; the gift has since ceased.
1Cor 14: 27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
Imagine
a church meeting in Corinth in AD60. Let say some Hokkien businessmen from
China were led by the Spirit to visit a church. A brother in the church was
moved to speak in the Hokkien tongue for their sake. But if there is no
interpreter/translator, he should shut up! Why? The rest in the church doesn’t
know Hokkien! The church is NOT edified if there is no translator.
Read
1Cor 14:1-5
