📖 Biblical Definition
The gift of tongues as described in Acts 2 was the supernatural ability to speak in known human languages that the speakers had never learned. Devout Jews from every nation under heaven each heard the apostles speaking in their own language (Acts 2:6-8). Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 14 regulate the use of tongues in worship: they must be interpreted, limited to two or three speakers, and subordinate to prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). Tongues are a sign not to believers but to unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
TONGUE: A language; the speech of a particular nation or people.
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TONGUE, n. 5. Speech; discourse. 6. A language; the speech or whole body of words used by a particular nation. Webster understood tongues as real languages — the gift of tongues was the miraculous ability to speak in actual human languages, not unintelligible utterances.
📖 Key Scripture
• Acts 2:4-8 — "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues... every man heard them speak in his own language."
• 1 Corinthians 14:22 — "Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not."
• 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 — "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."
• 1 Corinthians 13:8 — "Whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern tongues practice often bears no resemblance to the biblical gift.
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Much of what passes for "speaking in tongues" in modern Pentecostal and charismatic churches is unintelligible babbling with no interpretation — the exact opposite of what Paul commanded. Paul explicitly states that in the church, five words understood are better than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue (1 Corinthians 14:19). The modern practice frequently violates every Pauline regulation: multiple people speak at once, there is no interpreter, and the practice is treated as evidence of spiritual superiority rather than a sign for unbelievers. Some churches even make tongues a requirement for salvation or evidence of the Holy Spirit, adding to the gospel what Scripture never requires.
Usage
• "At Pentecost, the gift of tongues was real languages understood by real people — not ecstatic utterances requiring no accountability."
• "Paul subordinated tongues to prophecy and required interpretation — any practice that ignores these rules is not following Scripture."
• "Making tongues the evidence of salvation adds a work to grace and contradicts the entire argument of Galatians."