What did Paul mean with “speaking in a tongue”?

Please read carefully through the arguments and counterarguments.

Interpretation 1: A non-human language

Summary: Paul means a speaking in unintelligible sounds (glossolalia, from the Greek word “glossa”). This occurs when people get into a state of ecstasy. For this unintelligible speaking some Bible translations therefore choose the word tongue instead of language.

This kind of ecstatic speaking in foreign tones was also heard on the first day of Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2). There God complemented this miracle of speech with a miracle of hearing: Jews who had grown up in different countries outside of Israel could still understand the strange ecstatic words of Christ’s disciples, because, instead of Hebrew, each heard them in the language or dialect in which they had grown up.

Glossolalia should be seen as a convincing sign that someone has received the Holy Spirit. Some believe that this speaking in a tongue can also be taught through courses.

Arguments in favour of this view:

1.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 1 Corinthians 14:8–9 that speaking through a tongue is incomprehensible and unintelligible. This applies also to the speaker himself; see 1 Corinthians 14:11. An explanation is needed: see 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:13, and 1 Corinthians 14:27.

2.  Paul calls such speaking a speaking not to men but to God, (1 Corinthians 14:2). It is a speaking with your spirit, not with your mind (1 Corinthians 14:14–15).

3.  Paul characterizes this speaking as the uttering of mysteries.

4.  Paul knows that people can speak in the language of angels (1 Corinthians 13:1).

5.  This speaking overwhelms people every time they are filled with the Holy Spirit (see Acts 2:4; Acts 10:44–46; Acts 19:6).

Arguments against this view:

1.  The Greek word “glossa” that Paul uses means both tongue (literally: the body part in our mouth) and what the tongue produces, namely, language (literally: intelligible language as a means of communication). It cannot be understood as an unintelligible sound. Because Paul mentions several times that the language—which is not understood by everyone—can be explained, translated, and interpreted (see 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:13, 1 Corinthians 14:26–27), we should rather think here of one or more existing foreign languages. Most of those present would not be able to understand them, but if there was someone who did, then he or she could act as interpreter.

Paul tempers the mixing of languages and utterances of church members, that are unintelligible to many, by referring to Isaiah 28:11–12 and Isaiah 33:19. Isaiah warned God’s people that they would soon be punished for their unbelief by being sent into exile among people who spoke all sorts of languages and dialects. These were existing languages but were foreign to the Israelites. This would make them feel even further away from home. Paul warns that unbelieving outsiders who are curious enough to come to one of the worship services should not also get this distant feeling because of the cacophony of languages. They should be welcomed into the congregation in an understandable language and experience it as a homecoming.

This reference by Paul to Isaiah 28:11–12 and Isaiah 28:11–12 would not be appropriate if no foreign languages but a spiritual or angelic language had been spoken in the church at Corinth.

Also in Acts 2 the most plausible explanation is that the Holy Spirit, in his coming to the church, caused the one gospel suddenly to be heard in many languages and dialects, as a sign that God was now going to involve all peoples in his redemptive plan again. Then it would not be necessary to have an additional miracle of hearing.

2.  Why should speaking to God take place in sounds unintelligible for both the listener as well as the speaker himself?

Even when in Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 there was a sudden ability to speak in existing foreign languages through a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit on the human spirit, this could very well be characterized as speaking with your spirit and not with your mind.

3.  The Greek word “mysterion” in the Bible does not mean riddle or secret—something you do not understand. For that, the Greek has another word, namely, “ainigmos,” plural “ainigma” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Mysterion is always used to denote God’s plans of salvation that a man could never have conceived, that God also kept hidden for a long time, but revealed in Christ (e.g., Matthew 13:11; Romans 11:25; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Corinthians 4:1; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Corinthians 15:52; Ephesians 1:9; Ephesians 3:3–4, and Ephesians 3:9; Ephesians 5:9; Ephesians 6:19). Thus, he utters mysteries in 1 Corinthians 14:2 has to mean that God’s plan of redemption in Christ is somehow spoken of in a meaningful way and not without substance.

4.  When Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:1 about the ability to speak the languages of men and angels, he is using hyperbole, just as he also does further on in 1 Corinthians 13:2: if I…understand all (!) mysteries and all (!) knowledge, and if I have all (!) faith, so as to remove mountains...(!) He does not mean that this is a possibility, let alone that it happens regularly. But he reasons: even if this were possible, without love it would still be worth nothing.

5.  The gift that is spoken of in both Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 did indeed occur as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on people. But this does not prove that these must have been unintelligible sounds. And when the Holy Spirit spontaneously grants such speaking, how foolish is it to think that, at the same time, one can learn such sounds through courses.

Interpretation 2: A foreign human language to spread the gospel

Summary:   Paul means a sudden ability, given by God, to speak in one or more existing foreign languages in order to contribute to the spread of the gospel.

Arguments in favour of this view:

1. This is a continuation of the event in Jerusalem on the first day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–47).

There the assembled Jews from all walks of life heard how Aramaic-speaking people each spoke the language with which they had grown up outside Israel (Acts 2:6–8). These were the languages as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).

The repetition of this miracle in Acts 10:44–46 and Acts 19:6, and also in 1 Corinthians 14:1–40 is a sign from the Holy Spirit that the punishment of the confusion of languages in Babylon (Genesis 11:1–9) is being overcome, not by bringing the many peoples together again through one common language—for example, Hebrew or Koinè Greek—but by bringing them the gospel of the one Saviour, Jesus Christ, in many languages.

2.  This sign was appropriate in Corinth, a port city in which many crews from all kinds of countries around the Mediterranean Sea would spend the winter.

3.  Paul insists on a translator when someone, prompted by the Spirit, began speaking in a foreign language. So there could be people in attendance in the worship service who knew the language used by the speaker—possibly his or her own mother tongue—and could interpret what was being said for everyone in the common language, Greek.

Arguments against this view:

Paul always uses expressions for speaking in another language that indicate that the speaker was not testifying, proclaiming, preaching to the other people present, but instead that he was worshipping God (1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:15–17).

Interpretation 3: A foreign human language to worship God

Summary:  Both Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 spoke of worshipping God in praise in an existing language other than the native language of the speaker. It served as a sign that the time had come when people of all languages would worship God.

Arguments in favour of this view:

1.  When Paul writes about speaking in a tongue in 1 Corinthians 14, he uses expressions that indicate that the speaker was speaking words of praise to God (1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:15–17). The speaker would remind the listeners in a worshipful way of the mysteries of God’s plan of redemption in Christ.

2.  Also in Acts 2:1–47, the disciples of Jesus Christ do not address their fellow citizens, but God. After all, they were already speaking in all those languages before the people came flocking in. They came to hear the loud praise of Jesus’ disciples to God for his great acts of redemption.

3.  If speaking in another (human existing) tongue is a way of worshipping God, it is also understandable why Paul compares it to prophesying in 1 Corinthians 14 and tempers such speaking in another language. Someone who speaks in another language (to God) has only something to gain from it for himself if his words are not translated; he who prophesies in the common language in the worship service edifies the entire congregation (1 Corinthians 14:3–5).

4.  Because the Spirit worked such worship of God in a language unknown to the speaker himself, as a sign for the outsiders, Paul can characterize this as spiritual prayer (see 1 Corinthians 14:14–15). It happened in ecstasy. Apparently the praying person did not always understand in his mind what he was saying either, even on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Yet others who also spoke this language did understand it (1 Corinthians 14:27). When there would not be someone in the congregation at Corinth who understood the language, the one who interceded could pray that he himself would understand and explain what he was saying.