According to the apostle Paul, what you said is not correct. ".. he that speaks in unknown tongues speaks not unto men.."
Ho boy. A person who speaks French among a group of men who speak English, is not speaking to them. They'll probably have to resort to sign language to communicate with each other. He is NOT saying that speaking in tongues is itself speaking "not unto men." He's saying that it is entirely ineffective in communicating with other men. The Greek word γλοσσολαλια is a compound word which if literally translated would mean "language speaking."
He would therefore be contradicting himself when he said that the purpose of speaking in tongues was for unbelievers.
That can only mean that what is spoken is not foreign languages.
No, that can not be the only thing that sentence means and especially not when taken in context with what else Paul writes there. If you think that's the only way to interpret that passage, then the scripture is erroneous that says the multitude on the day of Pentecost understood the apostles. Not only did they understand them, but there were many languages spoken and the real amazement was that the people speaking these languages were all from Galilee, a place where such languages were not spoken.
The apostle Paul who spoke in tongues more than those at Corinth would know what he was talking about.
Yup. And he said that tongues is for the unbeliever, not the believer.
Speaking in tongues is not for the purpose of communicating the gospel.
Why then did the apostles do exactly that on the day of Pentecost? I mean...what could they have accomplished had they merely spoke gibberish that no one understood?
The apostle Paul stated that when in the church he would rather speak five words in an understood language than to speak ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
Exactly correct. After explaining why speaking in tongues when there was nobody to understand them, results in no communication, but confusion.
If you claim that the verses are only talking about foreign tongues.. it makes me think that you sound so sure because you have spoken in foreign tongues. So I would return your question to you.
The word Paul used is Greek and it means to speak in another language. He goes on to explain exactly why having people understand what is being said is important. I can read Greek and some Spanish. If I have spoken in a tongue, it was not because the Holy Spirit caused me to do it. One can speak fluently in several languages without God's direction. The reason that speaking in tongues was so impressive a sign was that the speaker was not a learned person in the language being spoken. The only way that a person could accomplish the task was by direct spiritual guidance.
But it is completely unimpressive and unpersuasive if nothing that's being said is understandable by anyone present, including the speaker.
