1Co 12:27-28 KJV
(27) Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
(28) And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues.
verse 28 reveals that there are 'diversities' or 'different kinds' of tongues.
Act 2:4-11 KJV
(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.
in the above instance ('kind') of speaking in tongues:
-each hearer heard the message in their own native tongue,
-each listener heard the same message as their fellow listener (who had a different native tongue), and all understood the message and recognized it to be the same message to everyone, somehow spoken in multiple languages from the perspective of the listeners - there is no other account of this in scripture that i'm aware of.
1Co 14:2 KJV
(2) For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for
no man understandeth him;
howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
in the above instance ('kind') of speaking in tongues,
no man (including the speaker - also a member of the group 'no man') understood the language being spoken - so what was spoken was a
mystery to all. we can see from 1Cor 12:6 and 12 that the subject here is the 'operating' of spiritual gifts in an assembly of believers - so there is 'diversity' between these two 'kinds' of speaking in unknown tongues. since the speaking in unknown tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, then the interpretation of the tongue is also an interpretation of a spiritual mystery - i believe this refers to 'revelation' knowledge that yields understanding of scriptures that can't be understood with the intellect alone.
1Co 13:1 KJV
(1) 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.
in the above instance ('kind') of speaking in tongues, we can see that it is possible to speak in the same language as angels, but we aren't told what that means; but since this is specifically mentioned in addition to 'tongues of men', we can surmise that is is different from 'the tongues of men' - that it is not a language that anyone in a flesh body will understand with their intellect; this is clearly not making up non-nonsensical speech in one's own head; it is speaking a
language 'unknown' to any man. 'charity' here refers to God's kind of selfless love, so while it is possible to speak in unknown tongues not motivated by God's kind of love, that speaking is unfruitful; much like words spoken in a known tongue not motivated by God's kind of love are also unfruitful from a spiritual perspective.
1Co 14:13-19 KJV
(13)
Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
(14) For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
(15) What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
(16) Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
(17) For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
(18) I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
(19) Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
in the above instance ('kind') of speaking in tongues, the tongue being spoken in is unknown to the speaker; it might be known to someone or everyone hearing him speak, but we aren't told that - but the subject here is still the 'operating' of spiritual gifts in an assembly of believers.
when a translator 'translates' one language into another, there is a word-for-word matching, but this is not necessarily a restatement of the principle or message to be conveyed that is faithful to the intent of the original speaker. when an interpreter 'interprets' one language into another, there is no word-for-word matching, but rather a restatement of the principle or message to be conveyed that is faithful to the intent of the original speaker; so 'interpret' here does not refer to a word-for-word translation of the unknown tongue spoken, but a restatement of the principle or message to be conveyed that is faithful to the intent of the original speaker - since the original speaker is inspired or led by the Holy Spirit, then 'interpret' here means to restate the Holy Spirit's intent in language the speaker and listeners can understand; so this interpretation is divinely supplied by the Holy Spirit to the speaker who expects by faith ('pray that he interpret') to receive the intent of the message he spoke in a tongue he doesn't understand to listeners who also likely don't understand the tongue spoken. if he spoke that message in an assembly of believers, he must share that interpretation also; if he does not have effective faith to receive the Holy Spirit's intent, he should not speak in unknown tongues in meetings until he has built up (edified) his faith to receive the interpretation - which according to verse 17 is a result praying in unknown tongues inside or outside of an assembly believers.
we can also see in verse 14 that Paul didn't pray (speak to God) in an unknown tongue out of his head - he wasn't making up words with his intellect - he was yielding his mouth to his spirit - which must refer to the Holy Spirit, else the man would have two minds - one in his intellect and one in his spirit (if 'spirit' as used here means something other than the Holy spirit). he makes it clear that when he prays in tongues, his intellect doesn't understand what he's saying.
in verse 15, we see that Paul is resolved to pray and sing 'in the spirit' - which must again refer to the Holy Spirit as in verse 14. interestingly, the
entire New Testament was written by people who spoke in tongues as a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit.
in verse 16, speaking in tongues is said to bless - devils' languages do not bless, they curse. in verse 17, speaking in tongues gives thanks - devils' do not give thanks, they complain. also, speaking in tongues edifies (or builds up effectiveness of faith) - devils do not edify or build up people's faith in God.
in verse 18, we see that Paul spoke in tongues more than anyone. given his preference to speak in assemblies in a known tongue (verse 19) over an unknown tongue, it seems likely that he spoke in unknown tongues even more when he was not in a meeting of believers than he did when he was in a meeting of believers. he also wrote much of the New Testament - perhaps he by faith interpreted the scripture he knew as a jew as a result of speaking in unknown tongues? could these two things be related? IMO, yes.
1Co 14:39 KJV
(39) Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and
forbid not to speak with tongues.
i don't see how anyone can discourage others from receiving and operation in the gift of speaking in unknown tongues, considering that Paul instructed us to 'forbid
not to speak with tongues', yet there are churches today that teach that speaking in tongues passed away with the Apostles (and all of the 'Joe Christians' of their day who also spoke in tongues), or that speaking in tongues is speaking devils' language - but i prefer to yield to the scripture and forbid not to speak with tongues.
