Do you understand what you are saying when you speak in tongues?

Why the word “new?” We will investigate this word more closely. The idea being presented by Jesus in Mark 16 requires thought. The believers will speak in “NEW” tongues as opposed to any form of tongues they may have spoken in before. They are “NEW” because they are the product of a new man, a new nature, and a new creature. They are fresh, genuine, and unique.

1 Corinthians 14 shows that “devotional tongues” originates in the spirit of the believer:

1 Corinthians. 14
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.

Paul stated that when the spirit in him spoke, it was Christ speaking:

2 Corinthians 13:
13 Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

Paul also related in Ephesians 5:19 that when one speaks in spiritual songs, he is speaking to himself:

Ephesians. 5:
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Paul states that when we allow “spiritual songs” to live in us, that these “spiritual songs” are actually “the word of Christ” living (abiding) in us. A “spiritual song” is the word of Christ dwelling in us:

Colossians. 3:
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

All believers are exhorted to “let” this happen.




What is the significance of the word “new” in “they shall speak in new tongues?”

Mark 16:17
17 And miraculous signs will follow to those believing these things: they will cast out demons in My name; they will speak new languages;

Jesus uses very specific wording here when referring to “tongues” or “languages.” The literal translation is closer to the reality of what He was saying than the KJV, but still lacks the accuracy of the Greek. The word “new” here is often thought to mean a language that is merely “new to the speaker” but not “new” as in “genuine” or previously unknown. By “genuine” it is meant “having never been spoken before” and “new” as in “newly created” and “unique.” They are altogether new. Look at the Greek dictionaries:

G2537
kainos
kahee-nos
Of uncertain affinity;
new (especially in freshness; while G3501 is properly so with respect to age)
: - new.

This brings forth the idea more accurately. These “new” languages we speak will be fresh. Strong’s refers to the root word, which solidifies the “freshness” concept:

G3501
neos
neo¯terosneh'-os,
neh-o'-ter-os
A primary word, including the comparative (second form); “new”, that is, (of persons) youthful, or (of things) fresh; figuratively regenerate: - new, young.

Thayer’s Dictionary takes the idea of “new” to mean “never heard before.”

Thayer Definition:
1) new
1a) as respects form
1a1) recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn
1b) as respects substance
1b1) of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, unheard of

»they shall speak with new tongues« translates »glôssais lalêsousin kainais«. kainais is the dative plural form of kainos which means “new; of new quality; unused; unknown, unheard of” [UBSGNT].

Any of these shades of meaning can be applied to the subject of glossolalia.


We could say that believers will speak with:
new languages,
languages of new quality,
unused languages,
unknown languages,
languages unheard of.

In any case, Jesus is saying that they will speak languages previously unknown to them. Apparently, the King James translators believed that this was what Paul was describing when they supplied the word “unknown” in 1 Corinthians 14.


1 Corinthians 14
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.

1 Corinthians 14
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.


1 Corinthians 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.


Kainos

Here is a brief study of other instances of the Greek word Kainos (new) and how it is used:

1. “New” Wine

Matthew 9:17
17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.

The new wine is “fresh” wine.


2. “New” Things

Matthew 13:52
52 Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

In teaching, a scribe will present “used” teaching and “fresh” teaching. It is significant that Jesus used the Greek word for “worn” or “antique” as the opposite of “new”. Hence the meaning of the word here “new” would logically mean “unworn and “newly built.” It is not simply “new” to the teacher's methods; it is fresh and altogether new... having never been “worn” before. The “new languages” we speak will be new in that they have never been “worn” before, they are not “antique” (which a known tongue would be) and they are “fresh.”


3. “New” Covenant

Matthew 26:28-29
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

1 Corinthians 11:25
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.


The “New” Covenant is genuine and fresh. Note the usage in verse 29. The phrase “new wine” uses the word under consideration. It is new wine because it is fresh wine. The languages we speak will be “new” in the same way fresh “new wine” is “new.” The covenant and wise are “new” as in fresh, genuine, and never having been experienced before.


4. “New” Tomb

Matthew 27:60
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

John 19:41
41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.

Here the meaning of the word is reinforced by the context. Jesus was placed in a “new” tomb that was “never been used.” So too the languages Jesus said we would speak will be languages that have “never been used.” It was not merely “new” in the sense that Jesus had never used it before; it was new in the sense that nobody had ever occupied it.

The CEV translation reads:

“In the place where Jesus had been nailed to a cross, there was a garden with a tomb that had never been used. “


5. “New” Teaching

Mark 1:27
27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.

Acts 17:19
19 And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?

Acts 17:21
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)

The teaching here is new in that it was never heard before. It was fresh and genuine. So too the languages we speak will be fresh new languages that have never been heard before.


6. “New” Cloth

Mark 2:21
21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.

Here a wonderful clue is disclosed about the meaning of this word “new.” The word “new” actually occurs twice in the verse, but from two different Greek words. In the first instance the word is “agnaphos” and the meaning is “new” as in an unprocessed or unrefined piece of cloth, i.e. a “patch.”

G46
agnaphos
ag'-naf-os
From G1 (as a negative particle) and the same as G1102;
properly unfulled, that is, (by implication) new (cloth): - new.

The second instance is our word used to describe “new languages.” Jesus in this parable is referring to a “fresh new patch” that is “unrefined and unprocessed.” While this verse is not referring specifically to the topic at hand, it is significant that the two words here are thrown parallel to each other. It leads us to the concept that these “fresh genuine languages” will be “unrefined” and “unworn” like an unprocessed piece of cloth.

7. New Creation

2 Corinthians 5:17
17 So that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!

We are a “new creation.” The precise meaning of the word “new” here can be seen. The “new languages” will be new with the freshness of a new creation. It is something that has never been seen or heard before. It is as new and different from known languages as the new creation is new and different from the unregenerate.


8. New Name

Revelation 2:17
17 The one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To the one overcoming, I will give him to eat from the hidden manna. And I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name having been written, which no one knows except the one receiving it.

Here each believer is given a “new name.” The use of the word “new” here further confirms that the tongues we receive will of a sort that “nobody knows.” The languages we speak are not known; else they would not be “new, fresh, unique, genuine, and unheard.”

So our research of this word leads us to the conclusion that the “new languages” the believers will speak will be fresh, unworn, unique, genuine, unheard, unused before, and perhaps by association, unrefined and unprocessed. Hence we could confidently say that these are not known tongues that are in use by men.

• They are languages that spring forth new and fresh.
• They are outside the understanding of the natural man.
• They have never been heard or spoken before.
• They are unique to the speaker alone.
• The are “unprocessed” or not the result of a mental process​