The Biblical Gift of Tongues

Tongues are mentioned in three books of the Bible: Mark (16:17); Acts (2, 10, 19); and 1 Cor. (12-14). Acts is primarily historical narrative and the extra-ordinary miraculous events it recounts do not represent a normative pattern for the entire church age. The disputed text of Mark 16:17 simply mentions tongues as an apostolic sign. That leaves 1 Corinthians 12-14 the only passage of Scripture that talks about the role of tongues in the church. Note that Paul wrote those chapters to reprove the Corinthians for their misuse of the gift. Most of what he had to say restricted the use of tongues in the church.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul discussed spiritual gifts in general, how they are received and how God has ordered the gifts in the church. In the fourteenth chapter of that book, he demonstrated the inferiority of tongues to prophecy. There he also gave guidelines for the proper exercise of the gifts of tongues and interpretation. Right in the middle of those two chapters -- in 1 Corinthians 13 -- Paul discussed the proper motive for using the gifts -- namely, love. Usually dealt with apart from its context, 1 Corinthians 13 has been called a gift of love. It is undeniably a supreme literary achievement and it deals profoundly and beautifully with the subject of genuine love. But it is helpful to remember that it is first of all a crucial point in Paul's discussion of the adulteration of tongues.

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul affirms the preeminence of love. Verse 1 plainly states that miraculous languages without love are nothing. Paul was rebuking the Corinthians for using gifts of the spirit, selfishly and without love. They were more interested in inflating their own egos or in enjoying a euphoric experience than they were in serving one another with the self-sacrificing concern that characterizes agape love.

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels..." is how Paul begins the chapter. "Tongues" is from the Greek work glossa, which, like our word tongue, can refer either to the physical organ or to a language. Paul is clearly referring to a gift of languages. Note that Paul had personally spoken in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:18). He was not condemning the practice itself; he was saying that if the gift of tongues is used in any other way than God intended, it is only noise -- like the rhythm band in a kindergarten class.

(from Charismatic Chaos by John F. MacArthur, Jr.)