3 replies to my concern where tongues were a sign of them that believed when the bible says tongues were a sign for them that didnt believe.
1.Hello, I was reading your message about tongues ( since I am trying to understand all there is to know. Can you help with a question I am stumped on please ? If so here it is and thank you ! 1 CORINTHIANS 14: 22 ---- Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
But what about Acts 19 ? In Acts 19:1-7, Paul encounters a dozen men in Ephesus who claim to believe in Jesus. When asked if they had received the Holy Spirit when they became believers, the men scratch their heads, confessing that they've never even heard of the Holy Spirit. Act 19:6 says ... And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
So in one verse tongues are for ( sharing Gods Works ) to non believers ( in their language ) , in another tongues were for believers ( for the reason is unknown to me ) ( We are known by our fruits/ not by the gifts of the Spirit such as speaking in tongues) . Please help me understand. thank you, Holland
Holland,
Thank you for reaching out with this thoughtful question! It's evident that you're digging into Scripture deeply, which is always a good thing. Let me do my best to offer some clarity from me (not Pastor J.D., but informed by my following his teaching for many, many years):
In 1 Corinthians 14:22, Paul is addressing the purpose of spiritual gifts, specifically the gift of tongues, within the context of the church's worship and mission. He explains that tongues are a "sign" for unbelievers, often pointing back to the event of Pentecost in Acts 2. At Pentecost, the disciples spoke in tongues (languages they didn’t naturally know), and this miraculous event served as a sign to the unbelievers gathered there, showing them the power of God and validating the gospel message. Tongues in that context were about God breaking through cultural and language barriers to reach those who didn’t yet believe.
Now, when we get to Acts 19, we see something a little different. Here, Paul encounters men who were disciples of John the Baptist and had not yet fully understood or experienced the gospel of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. When Paul lays hands on them, the Holy Spirit comes upon them, and they speak in tongues and prophesy. This moment is similar to what happened at Pentecost and in other instances in Acts (like Acts 10 with Cornelius). The speaking in tongues here is less about evangelism to unbelievers and more about affirming and confirming that these men had now fully entered into the New Covenant through the Holy Spirit's indwelling.
So, how do we reconcile these passages? The key is understanding the different contexts and purposes for the gift of tongues in the New Testament:
As a sign for unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22): In some instances, tongues served as a miraculous sign pointing unbelievers to the truth of the gospel (as at Pentecost).
As an affirmation for believers (Acts 19, Acts 10): In other cases, tongues accompanied the reception of the Holy Spirit to confirm that the gospel had broken into a new group of people (e.g., Gentiles in Acts 10 or these disciples of John in Acts 19). It was a visible, outward demonstration of an inward work.
While tongues served these purposes in the early church, Paul reminds us repeatedly that spiritual gifts are secondary to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the ultimate goal of love (1 Corinthians 13). The gifts are tools God uses for His purposes, but they are not the evidence of salvation or spiritual maturity—our fruit is.
So, in short:
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul is emphasizing the evangelistic and missional role of tongues in reaching unbelievers.
In Acts 19, tongues served as a way to confirm to these new believers—and the church at large—that they had received the Holy Spirit.
I hope this helps clarify things! Keep studying and wrestling with these texts. The Holy Spirit loves to reveal truth as we seek God in His Word. Blessings to you as you continue to grow in faith and understanding!
Katie
Summit Life Team
J.D. Greear Ministries
jdgreear.com
866-335-5220
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2.
From Amazing Facts Ministry
Please help, I have ran into two scenarios that apparently contradict one another. 1 CORINTHIANS 14: 22 ---- Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. But what about Acts 19 ? In Acts 19:1-7, Paul encounters a dozen men in Ephesus who claim to believe in Jesus. When asked if they had received the Holy Spirit when they became believers, the men scratch their heads, confessing that they've never even heard of the Holy Spirit. Act 19:6 says ... And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. So in one verse tongues are for ( sharing Gods Works ) to non believers ( in their language ) , in another tongues were for believers ( for the reason is unknow to me ) . Please help me understand. thank you, Holland Shoaf----
Holland,
Thanks for writing and for your question.
Tongues if for both believers and non-believers.
Think of it in this way. Pastor Doug just completed an evangelistic series in NYC, and in that series he spoke 15 different languages to whomever was listening or watching (Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, etc), because it was a worldwide preaching of prophecy series. The audience consisted of believers and non-believers all over the world.
Now pastor Doug preached in those languages with the use of AI. In the bible tongues were given by the Holy Spirit to believers to preach and edify both believers and non-believers.
People had heard of Jesus and the work of the Apostles and when they came to Jerusalem or wherever they were preaching, and these people possibly did not speak Greek or Aramaic or Hebrew.
So the gift of tongues was given to them so that the visitors, both believers and non-believers could hear the word in their own tongue.
Acts 19:6 for example: As at Jerusalem the gift in Ephesus worked its effect upon the Jews gathered at the feast from every part of the empire, so now the Spirit, given in this center of Gentile activity, would have a like result, that the amazement of the people at such a power might attract attention to the message and gain converts to Christ. “Thus they were qualified to labor as missionaries in Ephesus and its vicinity, and also to go forth to proclaim the gospel in Asia Minor.”
Dr. Stan
Amazing Facts Correspondence Team
www.amazingfacts.org
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3. Hello Holland,
Thanks for this question. I am a volunteer assistant to Matt who helps answer emails.
My thought on this is that tongues are officially (and primarily) a sign to unbelievers, as 1 Corinthians 14 says.
However, tongues also served a secondary purpose of verifying to those particular companions of Peter and Paul in those two instances (Acts 10-11 and 19:1-7) that in fact the people who were believing in Jesus through Peter and Paul's preaching (even Gentiles!!) were filled with the Holy Spirit and were being included by God into His family.
We do not see the New Testament authors teaching anywhere else that we should look for tongues as a sign that someone is truly saved (instead, 1 John, we should observe people's works overall), and Paul is clear that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ has the Spirit of God (e.g. Romans 8:9 and context).
There seem to have just been a few special times in the early church as recorded in Acts, where someone who believed in Jesus immediately began speaking in tongues, as a special sign. The first time this happened was in Acts 2, validating and verifying that God was pouring out His Spirit as prophesied and predicted. The second time was in Acts 10, when the Gentiles were included officially by God. Acts 8:14-17 may have been another such moment, when the Samaritans were included (through Peter, again, whom Jesus used as a leader among the early church, to 'bind and loose', i.e. declare when God had included certain people in His family of redeemed people), although tongues are not specifically mentioned in Acts 8:14-17. Acts 19:6 is a third example of this.
I hope that is helpful. Here are some extra articles on this topic:
https://carm.org/about-the-holy-spirit/do-i-have-to-speak-in-tongues-if-i-receive-the-holy-spirit/
https://carm.org/oneness-pentecostal/is-speaking-in-tongues-a-necessary-sign-of-salvation/
https://carm.org/roman-catholicism/is-peter-the-rock-on-which-the-church-is-built/
https://www.gotquestions.org/binding-loosing.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/keys-of-the-kingdom.html
Tim
CARM
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Dear Holland,
Thank you so much for writing Alex McFarland Ministries.
That's a great question you have there about tongues usage in the Bible. It's easy to see how that might be confusing. The honest answer is that there is nothing in God's Word indicating that tongues was always interpreted. Rather, Paul admonishes the church in 1 Corinthians 14 on how to have order in their regular church gatherings so that they might better honor Christ, and in doing so, He commands them to use interpretation when the Spirit moves people to speak in tongues. It's actually clear by implication that people were already speaking in tongues without interpretation and that this was likely causing a measure of disorder which then prompted the letter, or he would have no need to write it and caution them against it, reasoning with them as though they had been speaking in tongues and should correct their behavior.
Also, since the passage in Acts 19 involves just a few verses, we really can't be sure there wasn't interpretation involved in that event in Acts 19. The Bible often just mentions high points or specific points it wants us to note in a narrative. After all, the Gospels only contain a few chapters about very high level events in Jesus' ministry, but John says all the books in the world couldn't contain all the things Jesus did while on earth. Many details are left out, and they are often important, but that's how God chose to do this in His wisdom. However, since we can't conjecture about what wasn't mentioned, we have to take it as best we can at face value but without making conclusions as though it was clear.
We hope that helps! Thank you for writing. May God bless you!
Alex McFarland Ministries /
Truth For A New Generation
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Thank you very much. Acts 19:6 describes something that happened after the apostle Paul laid his hands on the disciples. We do not have the apostles around us today to receive this measure of miraculous gifts (see Acts 8:14–18). What we have in Acts 19:6 is a single verse of a moment of what happened. No definition or purpose is given. Therefore, we need to look elsewhere to find the definition and purpose (for example, Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12–14). Here's a video where we study just that: https://youtu.be/_1zh_mlrMBo
Additionally, here is a closer look at the purpose of tongues: https://youtu.be/fvw80JzuET4
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Holland,
Thank you for your patience. The situation in Acts 19 was that those men believed in John’s baptism for repentance, and not in Jesus Christ for eternal life.
“And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:3-5)
They were re-baptized because they didn’t believe on Jesus Christ when they were first baptized. Then, as a part of the sign gifts at that time, the spoke in tongues (known languages) and prophecies (taught God’s revelations) to others. The text doesn’t indicate they did those things so Paul would confirm their salvation.
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Dr. Jesse Martinez | Pastor
Calvary Community Church
4811 George Rd. Tampa, FL 33634
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Tongues of Angels ( is there really a heavenly language )? https://www.gotquestions.org/heavenly-language.html
And explanation of 1 Cor 14:2- Video and transcription.
Its my belief after watching this video there is too many references to scripture surrounding that verse for it to be shown as part of Pauls rebuke to the church. It also explains the emotion Paul was using to create a hyperbole in the verse 1 Corinthians 13:1
https://topicalbiblestudies.com/1-corinthians-142-is-a-rebuke/
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Please watch these 3 youtube videos about speaking in tongues. If you take what
the pastor says to heart you will know more than you could imagine about the truth of miraculous tongues. It will only take you less than 50 minutes to watch these 2 videos !
Id love to hear your critique on these.
"Speaking in tongues"—What does the Bible say? 30 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1zh_mlrMBo&t=373s
This verse almost made me change my mind about tongues.... 17 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvw80JzuET4&t=1s
Eleven LIES they told me about the gift of tongues!
https://youtu.be/6bb59BST-ns
