What the Biblical Text Actually Says About: Speaking in Tongues

By Brian Wright

Much ink and venom have been spilled over the question of what tongues was in the New Testament and what, or even if, it should be today.  Most of the dialogue on the topic has been rooted in denominational dogma, cultural tradition, and personal experience instead of clear exegesis of the NewTestament texts.

Therefore, if anything in Acts or the rest of the New Testament is to be rightly understood, it must be read and understood within the socio-religious context of the people who first heard and read it.  Within the New Testament, any theological or religious idea was understood by Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people in the context of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, i.e., the Old Testament.  It is within this framework that the issue of ‘tongues’ should be considered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Calvert Biblical Institute for Study of Religion & Society
• Release date: Dec 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781540145109

Brian Wright

ABOUT BRIAN S. WRIGHT, Ph.D(c) Founder and Executive Director of Calvert Biblical Institute ​      Brian Wright is a biblical scholar and author, having spent most of the last seventeen years of his studies investigating the Ancient Near Eastern languages, cultures, and history that birthed Judaism and Christianity. He holds a Master of Religious Education in Middle Eastern Studies from The American Institute of Holy Land Studies, has studied sociology and religion at Oxford Graduate School, and is completing a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at Trinity Theological Seminary.  Following this, he intends further post-graduate and doctoral study in Semitic languages, biblical interpretation, and sociology of religion.  His latest book, The Great Yet Completely Misunderstood Commission of Jesus was published in February of 2011.  His other works include Blood & Seed:What Is The Eden Story Really Telling Us? released in October of 2010, its sequel, The GodBlood, due in 2017, and What the Biblical Text Actually Says About Speaking in Tongues, due in late 2016.

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Introduction

Speaking of the bible, Thomas Paine wrote, It is a book that has been read more, and examined less, than any book that ever existed.[1]  Unfortunately, Paine’s words still ring true today.  An example of this is seen in the debate within Christianity over the issue of ‘tongues,’ or the religious use of speech-like utterances with an impoverished range of syllabic and rhythmic patterns and no systematic grammatical structure, often believed by the speaker to be a real but unknown language, but on analysis quite unlike any natural language.... Also called the gift of tongues or speaking in tongues.[2]

Much ink and venom have been spilled over the question of what tongues was in the New Testament and what, or even if, it should be today.  Most of the dialogue on the topic has been rooted in denominational dogma, cultural tradition, and personal experience instead of clear exegesis of the New Testament texts.

No ancient texts were produced in a vacuum.  The same is true for the events recorded in Acts and all of the New Testament, where we read about ‘tongues’.  However, what is lacking for a historical interpretation of the meaning of ancient texts is information about the meanings familiar to the original audience of those texts.[3]  Considering the New Testament, these events took place in a specific sociological background comprised of the language, culture, idioms, and meanings of the descendants of Abraham.  Certainly the Hebraic people of first century A.D. Jerusalem were not exactly the same in language, lifestyle, or culture as those of 2000 B.C.  The Hebrews did, however, retain their Yahwistic religious worldview and social context throughout the eras recorded in the Scriptures.  This fact is demonstrated in the document that scholars refer to as Luke-Acts, which requires a high, or thoroughly familiar social context to be understood, for most of what is needed for adequate interpretation is simply left unsaid and presumed known from that cultural experience of the first-century eastern Mediterranean reader.[4]

Therefore, if anything in Acts or the rest of the New Testament is to be rightly understood, it must be read and understood as it would have been by those who lived it and first heard it.  Any references to God, faith, the Scriptures, or any theological or religious idea was only understood by Hebrew/Israelite/Jewish people in the context of the Tanakh, (a Jewish acronym for the Torah, the Neviim, and the Ketuvim, meaning the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings of Poetry and Wisdom, i.e., the Old Testament). Interestingly, Luke ends his gospel with this same assertion from the mouth of Jesus:

And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.  (Luke 24:27 LEB)

And he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything that is written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.  (Luke 24:44 LEB)

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, (Luke 24:45 LEB)

Applying this principle to the book of Acts, we can recognize and contextualize key elements in the text that can guide our hermeneutic for anything and everything that happens in the text.  Thus, we must begin with the socio-religious context that preceded and surrounded the New Testament, and subsequently allow for consideration of later interpretations.  It is within this framework that the issue of ‘tongues’ should be considered.

Pentecost and the Nations

In the first chapter of Acts Luke notes that Jesus appeared to his followers for forty days following