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March 05, 2025 15. Speaking in Tongues in 1 Corinthians

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1 Corinthians 12:7, 10; 13:1, 8-12; 14:2, 4, 6, 11, 13-19, 27-28

Greco-Roman Background for Speaking in Tongues

We’ve looked at Corybantic male dancers, Bacchic female revelers, Sibyls, and oracles. The closest description to speaking in tongues we encountered was Lucan’s.

Oracle in a frenzy: “When she found it, first the wild frenzy overflowed through her foaming lips; she groaned and uttered loud inarticulate cries with panting breath; next, a dismal wailing filled the vast cave; and at last, when she was mastered, came the sound of articulate speech: “Roman, thou shalt have no part in the mighty ordeal and shalt escape the awful threats of war; and thou alone shalt stay at peace in a broad hollow of the Euboean coast.” Then Apollo closed up her throat and cut short her tale.”1 (Lucan, Civil War 5.190-197)

This doesn’t sound like she was speaking a foreign language. Rather she was groaning, crying, and panting.

Christopher Forbes: “[N]o convincing parallels whatsoever have been found within the traditions of Graeco-Roman religion, as they were known in the environment of the New Testament, whether it be at the level of terminology, phenomena or concept. …Revelatory speech in those periods was believed to take an archaic poetic form, not, as I have shown, a form analogous to foreign languages. The “interpretation” that some oracles were believed to need was at the level of metaphor and imagery, not the linguistic level.”2

Magic papyrus: “And take the mild with the honey and drink it before the rising of the sun, and there will be something divine in your heart. And take the falcon and set it up as a statue in a shrine made of juniper wood. And after you have crowned the shrine itself, make an offering of non-animal foods and have on hand some old wine. And before you recline, speak directly to the bird itself after you have made sacrifice to it, as you usually do, and say the prescribed spell: “A EE EEE IIII OOOOO YYYYYY OOOOOOO, come to me, Good Husbandman, Good Daimon, HARPON KNOUPHI BRINTANTEN SIPHRI BRISKYLMA AROUAZAR KRIPHI NIPOUMICHMOUMAOPH. Come to me, O holy Orion.…”3

(Papyri Graecae Magicae I.27-29)

Craig Keener: “[T]he magical papyri may offer the most concrete parallels for unintelligible speech. Yet the strings of nonsense syllables found in magical papyri are mostly from the third century or later; more decisively, they are incantations and invocations, not understood as genuine language, not revelatory, and not inviting “interpretations.” Appeal to gnostic and Montanist “tongues” would be anachronistic, but there are no clear parallels there anyway. Greco-Roman religion thus offers no sufficient explanation for “tongues”—as a phenomenon understood as inspired “languages”—such as we find it in our earliest Christian sources.”4

What Is Speaking in Tongues? (1 Corinthians 12:7, 10)

Speaking in tongues is a gift (1 Cor 12:4, 31).

Tongues are languages (cf. Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon).

These languages can be interpreted or translated.

Someone can have more than one language for speaking in tongues.

Thomas Schreiner: “Most scholars think that the gift in 1 Corinthians 12-14 differs from what we find in Acts, and many think that ‘ecstatic utterances’ are in view. Certainty is impossible, but I suggest that the gift is foreign languages, just as we see in Acts. …Tongues must be in some discernible code or language, even if the language is not known to humans. Since ecstatic speech cannot be interpreted or translated inasmuch as it consists of meaningless babbling and there is no discernible code, the word glossa points to some kind of language. Different kinds of tongues, then, points to the variety of languages.”5

Tongues in the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 2:1-11 Tongues were human languages. Foreigners understood them even though they were untranslated. The content of the speech was about God’s deeds of power. It was not a miracle of hearing but of speaking.

Acts 10:44-46; 11:15-17 Peter was surprised to see Gentiles speaking in tongues. He recognized what they were doing as the same phenomenon he had experienced on Pentecost and concluded that meant God had accepted them as members of the Church.

Acts 19:6-7 Luke employed the same Greek terminology here as on Pentecost or Cornelius’s house, which undermines the NRSV’s translation “speak in other languages” for Acts 2 while “speaking in tongues” for Acts 10 and 19. In other words, speaking in tongues is speaking in other languages.

If Luke described Paul’s missionary activity in Ephesus (Acts 19) as involving glossa (γλῶσσα), then we would expect different terminology in 1 Corinthians 12-14 if it was a different phenomenon.

Craig Keener: “[It] is virtually inconceivable that the two writers [Luke and Paul] would independently coin the same obscure phrase for two entirely different phenomena.”6

Thus, we’re on solid grounds to link the activity of tongues in Acts with that of 1 Corinthians while noting the change in context. Whereas in Acts tongues speaking happened at conversion, in 1 Corinthians it occurred as part of the weekly worship gathering.

Tongues of Angels

1 Corinthians 13:1 Paul mentions tongues of humans and of angels.

The gods spoke a different language: “Tell me, do you think Apollo speaks Attic or Doric? Or that men and gods have the same language? Yet the difference is so great that the Scamander river in Troy is called Xanthus by the gods …And after telling us that the river is called not Scamander but Xanthus by the gods, Homer himself proceeds to call it by this latter name in his verses, as though it were his privilege not only to mix the various dialectic forms of the Greeks freely, using now an Aeolic, now a Dorian, and now an Ionic form, but to employ even the Zeus dialect in the bargain.”7 (Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 10.23, 11.23)

In Jewish apocalyptic literature, we find two intriguing examples of speaking the language of angels.

Example 1: “Thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads of angels gave praise before me. I, myself, put on an angelic garment. I saw all of those angels praying. I, myself, prayed together with them, I knew their language, which they spoke with me.”8 (Apocalypse of Zephaniah 8.2-4)

Example 2: “48.1 Thus, when the one called Hemera arose, she wrapped around her own string just as her father said. 2 And she took on another heart— no longer minded toward earthly things— 3 but she spoke ecstatically in the angelic dialect, sending up a hymn to God in accord with the hymnic style of the angels. And as she spoke ecstatically, she allowed “The Spirit” to be inscribed on her garment. 49.1 Then Kasia bound hers on and had her heart changed so that she no longer regarded worldly things. 2 And her mouth took on the dialect of the archons and she praised God for the creation of the heights. 3 So, if anyone wishes to know “The Creation of the Heavens,” he will be able to find it in “The Hymns of Kasia.” 50.1 Then the other one also, named Amaltheia’s Horn, bound on her cord. And her mouth spoke ecstatically in the dialect of those on high, 2 since her heart also was changed, keeping aloof from worldly things. For she spoke in the dialect of the cherubim, glorifying the Master of virtues by exhibiting their splendor. 3 And finally whoever wishes to grasp a trace of “The Paternal Splendor” will find it written down in “The Prayers of Amaltheia’s Horn.”9 (Testament of Job 48.1-50.3)

Christopher Forbes: “What the Testament [of Job] does provide, however, is clear evidence that the concept of angelic languages as a mode of praise to God was an acceptable one within certain circles. As such it is our nearest parallel to glossolalia. …We have, then, within Judaism, only two substantial parallels for the concept that humans might, under inspiration, learn and use the languages of the angels for prayer. Neither of them is of demonstrably pre-Christian date.”10

In light of the parallels in the Apocalypse of Zephaniah and the Testament of Job as well as the commonsense argument of Dio Chrysostom that the gods presumably have their own language, it’s certainly plausible that at least some speaking in tongues is in the languages of the angels.

Tongues in the Assembly (1 Cor 14)

1 Corinthians 14:2, 4 Tongues are to God—prayer. No one understands them though they build up the speaker.

1 Corinthians 14:6, 11 Tongues sound like a foreign language, though they are not a learned foreign language.

1 Corinthians 14:13-19 While speaking in tongues, the speakers do not understand what they are saying. Speaking in tongues is primarily done in private (Jude 1:19-20; Eph 6:18-19).

1 Corinthians 14:27-28 Uninterpreted spoken tongues have no place in the weekly worship gathering though they are fine to be done silently.

Gordon Fee: “The following seem certain: (a) It is Spirit-inspired utterance; that is made explicit both in the present listing (vv. 7 and 11) and later (14:2). (b) The coming regulations for its use (14:27–28) make it clear that the speaker is not in “ecstasy” or “out of control.” Quite the opposite; the speakers must speak in turn, and they must remain silent if there is no one to interpret. (c) It is speech essentially unintelligible both to the speaker (14:14) and to other hearers (14:16). (d) It is speech directed basically toward God (14:2, 14–15, 28); one may assume, therefore, that what is “interpreted” is not speech directed toward others, but the “mysteries” spoken to God.

What is less certain is whether Paul also understood the phenomenon to be an actual language. In favor of such a view are (a) the term itself, (b) the need for “interpretation,” and (c) the evidence from the early narrative in Acts (2:5–11). In the final analysis, however, this question seems irrelevant. Paul’s whole argument is predicated on its unintelligibility to both speaker and hearer; he certainly does not envisage someone’s being present who would be able to understand it because it was also an earthly language. Moreover, his later use of earthly languages as an analogy (14:10–12) implies that it is not a known earthly language, since a thing is not usually identical with that to which it is analogous. Most likely, therefore, the key to Paul’s—and their—understanding lies in the term “the language of angels” to come (13:1, q.v.).”11

N. T. Wright: “Paul assumes that none of these gifts are given to everybody. ‘Do all speak in tongues?’, like the other questions, expects the answer ‘No.’ And, though Paul is always eager for God to do new things in the lives of people and communities, he sees no need to suggest that the ‘not all’ categories of verses 29 and 30 should be challenged, that everyone should, after all, be prophets, or teachers, or tongue-speakers, or whatever.”12

Tongues Ceased After the Apostolic Age

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 Paul says that tongues will end when the complete or perfect comes. Some argue that this has already happened.

John MacArthur: “In 1 Corinthians 13:8, Paul explained that “whether there are tongues, they will cease.” The Greek verb used in that verse (pauo) means “to cease permanently,” indicating that the gift of tongues would come to an end once and for all. … [W]hatever modern charismatics are doing, it is not the gift of languages. …The New Testament gift ceased after the apostolic age ended and has never returned. In 1 Corinthians 13:10, Paul noted that partial knowledge and partial prophecy would be done away with “when that which is perfect has come.” …[T]he believer’s entrance into the Lord’s presence best fits Paul’s use of “perfect” in 1 Corinthians 13:10. …[Paul] was making a point that specifically pertained to his first-century audience: when you Corinthian believers enter the glorified perfection of eternity in heaven, the spiritual gifts you now prize so highly will no longer be necessary.”13

Tongues Continued After the Apostolic Age

Irenaeus: “[T]he Apostle declares: We speak wisdom among the perfect. He calls those perfect who have received God’s Spirit and who speak with all the tongues through the Spirit, as he himself spoke. We, too, hear many brothers in the Church who possess the prophetic charisms, and speak with all the tongues through the Spirit, and bring out into the open secrets of men for the benefit of others, and declare the mysteries of God.”14 (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.6.1)

Tertullian (208-212 ad): “Let Marcion then exhibit, as gifts of his god, some prophets, such as have not spoken by human sense, but with the Spirit of God, such as have both predicted things to come, and have made manifest the secrets of the heart; let him produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer—only let it be by the Spirit, in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him; let him show to me also, that any woman of boastful tongue in his community has ever prophesied from amongst those specially holy sisters of his. Now all these signs (of spiritual gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty….” (Tertullian, Against Marcion 5.8)15

Novatian (250-255 ad): “This is He who places prophets in the Church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, often discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, suggests counsels, and orders and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismata; and thus make the Lord’s Church everywhere, and in all, perfected and completed.”16 (Novation, On the Trinity 29)

Hilary of Poitiers (356-360 ad)

“For God hath set the same in the Church, first apostles, in whom is the word of wisdom; secondly prophets, in whom is the gift of knowledge thirdly teachers, in whom is the doctrine of faith; next mighty works, among which are the healing of diseases, the power to help, governments by the prophets, and gifts of either speaking or interpreting divers kinds of tongues. Clearly these are the Church’s agents of ministry and work of whom the body of Christ consists; and God has ordained them.”17 (Hilary, On the Trinity 8.33)

Apostolic Constitutions (375-380 ad)

“It is not therefore necessary that every one of the faithful should cast out demons, or raise the dead, or speak with tongues; but such a one only who is vouchsafed this gift, for some cause which may be advantage to the salvation of the unbelievers… God is pleased, as a wise steward of a family, to appoint miracles to be wrought, not by the power of men, but by His own will. Now we say these things, that those who have received such gifts may not exalt themselves against those who have not received them; such gifts, we mean, as are for the working of miracles. For otherwise there is no man who has believed in God through Christ, that has not received some spiritual gift….”18 (Apostolic Constitutions 8.1-2)

Ambrose (writing 381-382 ad): “See, God set apostles, and set prophets and teachers, gave the gift of healings, which you find above to be given by the Holy Spirit; gave divers kinds of tongues. But yet all are not apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers. Not all, says he, have the gift of healings, nor do all, says he, speak with tongues. For the whole of the divine gifts cannot exist in each several man; each, according to his capacity, receives that which he either desires or deserves.”19 (Ambrose, The Holy Spirit 2.150)

Tongues Ceased After the Fourth Century

John Chrysostom (late 4th cent.) “This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place. And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause too of the obscurity hath produced us again another question: namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no more?”20 (John Chrysostom, Homilies on 1 Corinthians 29)

Christopher Forbes: “From the end of the fourth century onwards I have been able to find no clear suggestion of the continued practice of glossolalia within the church. Chrysostom’s view, which is also Augustine’s, becomes standard, and little more can be said. What we have seen, however, is that glossolalia appears to have been known in three widely separated areas over a period of more than three hundred and fifty years of the church’s life. In the light of this evidence, it becomes impossible to argue that glossolalia was a limited, anomalous phenomenon within the Apostolic generation. It was, on the contrary, a widespread and lasting (though far from universal) spiritual experience in the early formative centuries of Christianity.”21

Although the tracks run cold for a few centuries, we find scattered reports about speaking in tongues starting in the time of the Moravians (15th c.), Anabaptists (16th c.), the French Prophets (17th c.), early Quakers (17th c.), Mormons (19th c.). Then at the dawn of the 20th c., the Pentecostal movement began with William Seymour’s Azusa Street Revival. The movement steadily grew such that today more than one in every four Christians is charismatic (an estimated 644 million Christians).22

Bibliography

Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies. Translated by William Whiston. Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Robertson and James Donaldson, vol. 7. Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885.

“Global Pentecostalism.” Gordon Conwell. Accessed March 4, 2025. https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/research/global-pentecostalism.

“Have Pentecostals Outgrown Their Name?”, Christianity Today, May 29, 2020. Accessed March 4, 2025. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2020/05/holy-spirit-empowered-christian-global-pentecostal-study/.

Ambrose. Selected Works and Letters. Translated by Henri de Romestin. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd Series), edited by Philip Schaff, vol. 10. Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1890.

Betz, Hans Dieter. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1986.

Charlesworth, James H. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Volumes 1 and 2. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.

Chrysostom, Dio. Discourses 1-11. Translated by J. W. Cohoon. Vol. 1. Loeb Classical Library, edited by E. H. Warmington. London, England: William Henemann, 1932.

Chrysostom, John. Homilies on First and Second Corinthians. Translated by T. W. Chambers. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, edited by Philip Schaff, vol. 12. Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1886.

Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition. New International Commentary on the New Testament, edited by Joel B. Green. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014.

Forbes, Christopher. Prophecy and Inspired Speech in Early Christianity and Its Hellenistic Environment. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997.

Irenaeus. St. Irenaeus of Lyons: Against Heresies (Books 4 and 5). Translated by Scott D. Moringiello. Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press, 2024.

Keener, Craig S. Acts: An Exegetical Commentary. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014.

Lucan. The Civil War 1-10 (Pharsalia). Translated by J. D. Duff. Loeb Classical Library, edited by T. E. Page. London, England: William Heinemann, 1962.

MacArthur, John. Strange Fire: The Dangers of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship. Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2013.

Novatian. Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix. Translated by Robert Ernest Wallis. Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Robertson and James Donaldson, vol. 5. Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885.

Potiers, Hilary of. Hilary of Potiers and John of Damascus. Translated by E. W. Watson. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd Series), edited by Philip Schaff, vol. 9. Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1890.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1 Corinthians. Vol. 7. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, edited by Eckhard J. Schnabel. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018.

Tertullian. Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian. Translated by S. Thelwall. Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Robertson and James Donaldson, vol. 3. Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885.

Wright, N. T. Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.

Lucan, The Civil War 1-10 (Pharsalia), trans. J. D. Duff, Loeb Classical Library, ed. T. E. Page (London, England: William Heinemann, 1962), 253.
Christopher Forbes, Prophecy and Inspired Speech in Early Christianity and Its Hellenistic Environment (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1997), 316-17.
Hans Dieter Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 3-4.
Craig S. Keener, Acts: An Exegetical Commentary, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014), 810-11.
Thomas R. Schreiner, 1 Corinthians, vol. 7, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018), 261-2.
Keener, 813.
Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 1-11, trans. J. W. Cohoon, vol. 1, Loeb Classical Library, ed. E. H. Warmington (London, England: William Henemann, 1932), 435, 63.
James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Volumes 1 and 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985).
Charlesworth.
Forbes, 185-87.
Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition, New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Joel B. Green (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014), 662-3.
N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 169.
John MacArthur, Strange Fire: The Dangers of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2013), 148-9.
Irenaeus, St. Irenaeus of Lyons: Against Heresies (Books 4 and 5), trans. Scott D. Moringiello (Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press, 2024), 138-9.
Tertullian, Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, trans. S. Thelwall, Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Robertson and James Donaldson, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885).
Novatian, Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix, trans. Robert Ernest Wallis, Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Robertson and James Donaldson, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885).
Hilary of Potiers, Hilary of Potiers and John of Damascus, trans. E. W. Watson, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd Series), ed. Philip Schaff, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1890).
Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, Homily, and Liturgies, trans. William Whiston, Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Robertson and James Donaldson, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1885).
Ambrose, Selected Works and Letters, trans. Henri de Romestin, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (2nd Series), ed. Philip Schaff, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1890).
John Chrysostom, Homilies on First and Second Corinthians, trans. T. W. Chambers, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip Schaff, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 1886).
Forbes, 84.
“Global Pentecostalism,” Gordon Conwell, accessed March 4, 2025, https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/research/global-pentecostalism. See also “Have Pentecostals Outgrown Their Name?,” Christianity Today, May 29, 2020, accessed March 4, 2025, https://www.christianitytoday.com/2020/05/holy-spirit-empowered-christian-global-pentecostal-study/.

The post 15. Speaking in Tongues in 1 Corinthians first appeared on Living Hope.

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