Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover
When Paul says one should not speak in tongues in the public assembly unless it is followed by interpretation, does he really mean all tongues... or is there a caveat somewhere?
After Paul's' instruction, did they continue speaking in tongues publicly without interpretation?
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I don't think Paul was referring to ALL tongues. I stated yesterday that, IMO, there are at least 3 different types of tongues. "Other tongues"- commonly called the initial evidence, "Unknown tongues" -prayer language, and "Prophetic tongues" - to be interpreted.
When Paul wrote this:
1Cr 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in [those that are] unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? he was referring to "prophetic utterances or tongues". These are messages directed to the assembly. If one or more stands (and I've seen maybe a dozen speaking "prophetic utternances" at the same time- completely out of order) to speak in tongues to an assembly without an interpreter it would cause confusion. Paul said they should only do so, praying that they may interprete. He added that if no interpreter (a separate spiritual gift) is present, then there should be no "prophetic tongues". This doesn't impede the estatic utterances of "other tongues" or praying in "unknown tongues".
Now, another point. If, in fact, "other tongues" (
Acts 2:4) is the supernatural ability to speak in other "earthly languages" then, my question is, Why the need for the spiritual gift of interpretation? I do believe the foriegn visitors in Jerusalem heard the disciples speaking in their own langugage, but I believe this to be the gift of "divers kinds of tongues" in operation. The disciples were "prophesying" - just as Joel had said- in "prophetic utterances". They were "interpreting" into the language of the hearers.
On a side note: We had a deaf girl attending our church. She had never been saved because no one knew how to "speak" to her. A man was saved in our church I'll call Harold. When Harold would "get in the spirit", his hands would do strange things. The girl began watching him, and began to write something. A few minutes later, she went to the altar, repented and recieved the Holy Ghost and, yes, spoke in tongues. From then on, Harold interpreted as the preacher preached, using his hands to convey the words to the girl. The thing is, Harld did not know the American sign language. To my knowledge, Harold never "spoke" in tongues audibly. God used his hands rather than his tongue to interprete the Word of God. The girl woud write down what "Harold" would say and then we could compare what she had written to audible tapes of the sermon. It was almost always word for word.
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