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The speaking with other tongues is a gift that characterizes the Pentecostal movements all over the world. The gift of tongues also marks recent charismatic movements within the older denominations of Christendom. Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians are experiencing the infilling of the Holy Spirit in response to spiritual hunger. The experience, in every observable instance, is accompanied by the Bible evidence of speaking in other tongues.
The promise of the Father, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gift of the Spirit, are synonymous in scripture. Acts 2:38-39, "Repent and be baptized and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 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." In Acts 11:16-17 the gift of the Spirit and the Baptism of the Spirit are made identical.
Evidence of personal salvation is confessing with our mouths the Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9-10). Evidence of healing in answer prayer is deliverance from sickness or disease (James 5:14-15). Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the speaking in another language glorifying Christ. This was evidenced on the day of Pentecost. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4).
Speaking in other tongues enabled Peter to ascertain that the Gentiles in the household of Cornelius were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:43-46). Later when Peter was challenged by Jewish believers for his fellowship with Gentiles, Peter reviewed the matter of his vision (Acts 10:9-22) and told them that as he began to speak, the Holy Spirit "fell on them as on us at the beginning." The record in Acts 10:46 reveals that they spoke with other tongues -- how else would Peter know that the Gentiles had the Holy Spirit fall upon them? Also, we observe that Peter on this occasion (Acts 11:16-17) refers to the gift of the Spirit and the Baptism in the Spirit as being identical.
Speaking with other tongues was considered evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit by Paul as he ministered to believers in Ephesus (Acts 19:1-6). Jesus said that speaking with other tongues would be one of the signs to follow believers in Christ (Mark 16:17).
The Apostle Paul spoke of speaking in other tongues as a source of self-edification in 1 Corinthians 14:4. If tongues are accompanied by the gift of interpretation, the gift can edify the Church (1 Corinthians 14:5). The exercise of the gift of tongues in prayer is scriptural, and is known as praying in the Spirit, and according to the will of God (1 Corinthians 14:14, Romans 8:26-27).
The speaker exercising the gift of tongues cannot himself understand the language he speaks when the gift is in operation (1 Corinthians 14:13). Therefore, he who speaks with tongues, and others in the assembly need someone with the gift of interpretation so that the language spoken through the operation of the Holy Spirit can be understood.
The gift of tongues is also a sign to the unbeliever (1 Corinthians 14:22). This is amply demonstrated by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. As a supernatural sign, it was the "attention-getter" to those that heard. "And when this sound was heard, the crowd gathered in great excitement, because each one heard them speaking in his own language." They were perfectly amazed and said in their astonishment, "Are not all these men that are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears his own native tongue?" (Acts 2:6-8 Goodspead Translation).
The sign of the other tongues drew the crowd - the unbeliever, the uninitiated, the unschooled — they were won to Christ by Peter’s sermon (Acts 2:14-41). Three thousand surrendered to Christ and were added to the Church.
There are some erroneous views about the gift of tongues. There are some that have stated that this speaking in other tongues enables the missionary to work more effectively. Some who have been confident that God would give them the language have ventured out to foreign fields as missionaries, and prayerfully waited in some foreign land for God to bestow on them the gift of tongues so that they might speak to the natives in their own language. After much praying and waiting, they were forced to abandon their purpose, and commence the arduous task of learning the tongue of the people among whom they went to labor.
There are times when a speaker exercising the gift of tongues may speak in a known language. The writer was present in a prayer service when a fellow minister spoke in a tongue by the Spirit of God; the tongue was in German. It was amazing that German so spoken was idiomatically and grammatically correct and every inflection precise. Yet the speaker was unaware of the language he spoke, nor did he understand what he himself uttered, the Holy Spirit speaking through him.
So even if a missionary received the gift of a known tongue, he would still be at a disadvantage for he would not know what he was uttering since the gift of tongues does not carry with it the intelligence of the utterance given. Therefore, the reason for the "gift of interpretation."
We read the "He that speaks in an unknown tongue should pray that he may interpret" (1 Corinthians 14:13). Ordinarily, a language spoken by someone possessing the "gift of tongues" is an unknown language. "For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God; for no man understands him; however, in the Spirit he speaks mysteries" (1 Corinthians 14:2). Therefore, the exercise of the "gift of tongues" is the power to speak supernaturally by the Holy Spirit in a language not known to the one possessing the gift.
For this reason, the speaking with tongues is an amazing gift, a miracle of utterance. That a person can clearly and correctly articulate in a language he has never learned, and of which he does not naturally know a single word, proves at once the supernatural origin of what is uttered. Still more remarkable, he does not understand the language even when speaking.
There is need to point out that all utterances by the Holy Spirit magnify God and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is sure evidence of their divine origin (John 16:14).
Sometimes the question arises as to the reason for Paul’s rebuke of the Corinthian Church in connection with the speaking in other tongues. From reading 1 Corinthians chapter fourteen, one would gather that practically all the members were speaking with tongues without order or control. Paul corrected this by suggesting that utterances in an unknown tongue be limited to two or three at the most, and that they be given in an orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:27- 28).
We need to keep in mind that Paul had the "gift of tongues." He mentions this fact in his epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:18), writing that he was constantly exercising the gift, and perhaps more than any of them. Yet, in the church, he restrains himself. This would suggest how greatly the Apostle Paul esteemed the gift of tongues, and how anxious he was that the gift should be used to edify the Church. Accompanied with the gift of interpretation, the gift of tongues edifies the Church (1 Corinthians 14:5, 27, 28).
All the gifts of the Holy Spirit are under the control of the person who possesses them. So also with the "gift of tongues." The one who possesses the gift should never interrupt the preaching of God’s Word by giving a message in tongues. Neither should he give a message in other tongues in a church service unless he himself possesses the gift of interpretation, or, unless someone is in the service that is known to possess the gift. "If there is no interpreter, let him keep silence" (1 Corinthians 14:28).
Sometimes we hear it said, "the gift of the unknown tongue is the ‘least’ of the gifts of the Holy Spirit." Perhaps this is to allude to because it is almost the last in the list of spiritual gifts, and is the least of the gifts of inspiration or utterance. Often this fact is used in a disparaging way, but we should expect the least gift to be the one in greatest evidence. It should therefore, be the possession of all God’s people. If we do not possess the greater gifts such as the "Word of Wisdom" or "Faith" then certainly we should possess and exercise the least.
The student of scripture should be aware that there is a difference between the initial experience of speaking with other tongues (when a believer is filled, or baptized, with the Holy Spirit) and the gift of other tongues. The speaking with tongues as a gift of the Spirit will differ only in the way the gift is used. When one first receives the infilling of the Holy Spirit, the initial sign is the speaking with other tongues; a person may never speak with tongues again. However, the exercise of this gift should be continued in our private devotions for self-edification (1 Corinthians 14:4). We should continue to enjoy the great blessing and communion with the Lord that this gift brings. This is a private and personal experience.
To speak with tongues in the church is a public ministry. This public ministry seems to be left to a few who are especially used in this direction. The Apostle asks the question, "Do all speak with tongues?" That is, in the church, in public. The answer is "No." Nevertheless, all Spirit-filled Christians should avail themselves to speak to God in private with the Spirit (in tongues) and with the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15).
Thus we see that to speak in tongues publicly in a church service is another manifestation from that initial evidence of tongues when filled with the Holy Spirit. To speak with tongues in the Church in a public ministry is not the exercise of another gift. It is another manifestation of the same gift, a public manifestation.
So everyone who is baptized in the Holy Spirit has spoken to God in an unknown tongue, but not everyone who is baptized in the Holy Spirit has the use of the gift so as to give a message in tongues in a congregational meeting.
All Spirit-filled believers possessing the gift of tongues, with manifestation in a public meeting, will need to carefully and prayerfully study 1 Corinthians chapters twelve and fourteen. This gift should not be exercised in a public service without the ministry of someone possessing the gift of interpreting tongues (1 Corinthians 14:28).
Messages in tongues need to be restricted to three at the most, even though such messages are interpreted by someone possessing the gift of interpretation (1 Corinthians 14:29). The speaker with tongues has absolute control of his gift as does also the one who prophesies, and is encouraged to exercise good sense and control (1 Corinthians 14:32-33).
In the foregoing pages we have explored in scripture the purpose and manifestation of the gift of unknown tongues or other tongues. Such areas as tongues as an evidence of the initial infilling of the Holy Spirit, tongues as a means of self-edification of the Spirit-filled believer, tongues in areas of prayer and song. Finally, tongues accompanied by interpretation as a means of edifying the Church (1 Corinthians 14:5, 27, 28).
The Apostle Paul at some length explains that the speaking in other tongues in a church service is meaningless and out of order unless accompanied by an interpretation (1 Corinthians 14:5-13, 16-20, 23, 27, 29). Tongues, with interpretation, should have the same effect and result in a congregational meeting that prophecy has — the edification of the Church.
1 Corinthians 14:26 — "When ye come together, everyone of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done to edifying." Tongues is one of the gifts of the Spirit which are given "to profit with all" (1 Corinthians 12:7. "Wherefore brethren, forbid not to speak with tongues" (1 Corinthians 14:39).
Interpretation of Tongues Defined
The interpretation of tongues as a gift (1 Corinthians 12:10) is inseparably connected with the gift of tongues. As a gift, it is treated many times in the treatment of the gift of tongues.
Interpretation of tongues has nothing to do with the interpretation of scripture. That is the work of the teacher. The interpretation of tongues, like the gift of tongues, is a supernatural gift. It is miraculous and is entirely dependent upon the gift of tongues. It also has no function apart from that gift.
The Function of the "Gift of Interpretation of Tongues"
The interpreter of tongues need not necessarily give a literal word for word translation. The word translated ‘interpret’ used here, means to explain, to give sense and significance. An interpretation given by an eloquent person is often translated in a more eloquent way than when a person of more limited talent gives the interpretation. There is a vast difference between an Amos and an Isaiah though both are divinely ordained as prophets. Amos was truly moved by the Spirit of God as was Isaiah, but his language was not so rich.
The gift of interpretation must be considered a most important gift. The speaker in tongues is dependent upon the interpreter of the completion of the message. If the interpreter fails, the message in tongues has been given in vain. Time is wasted; scriptures have not been obeyed. The interpreter has a responsibility to walk with God.
In some churches, especially in larger congregations, there may be several Spirit-filled Christians who possess the gift of interpretation. In such cases, the pastor or chairman of the meeting designates as to who is to give the interpretation - meaning that he should be acquainted with whom God has given the gift to for such occasions. This practice is widely used in Full Gospel Churches in Europe.