RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2021-02-17	What Are The 'Tongues Of Men And Of Angels'? (1Co.13:1)
		1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 1Co 13:2  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Many use this verse to support the idea that they speak in “angel talk” because they know they are not speaking in “men talk”. Paul came to Corinth on his second missionary journey. He preached the gospel and many got saved. They were saved out of paganism. Specifically they worshipped the deities of Cybele, Bacchus, and Dionysius.   When Paul thought the people were mature enough, he departed and continued his ministry. Soon after he left there were many kinds of sin issues, including gross immorality. Having been saved out of paganism, many held on to their old religious practices. They tried to bring these into their worship of Christ. One of the pagan practices they engaged in, was speaking in unintelligent, ecstatic gibberish. It was nonsense. They were confusing their pagan gibberish with the genuine Christian gift of speaking in tongues (Ac.2,10,19). Probably a better way to understand the gift of tongues is to call it the gift of languages. When Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians, he was writing as a corrective measure. He had to deal with many abuses in the church at Corinth. The Corinthinas had become arrogant in what they called an exercise of spiritual gifts. Many claimed to be more spiritual than the next believer. They would claim to be more spiritual because they spoke in tongues more than others. Their spiritual arrogance opened the door to all kinds of sin and immorality. So it is important to understand we are reading a letter of correction to these believers in Corinth. In verse 1 Paul starts out by saying if you do not have love, it does not matter what you think you can do. To make his point Paul uses hyperbole when he speaks of the tongues of angels. Paul is exaggerating to make a point. This becomes more clear as we continue in the text. In verse 2 did Paul know all mysteries, and have all knowledge? Of course not. He is exaggerating. He continues exaggerating by referring to having “all faith.” Again he focuses on the importance of love. In verse 3 did Paul give all his possessions to feed the poor? No. And Paul did not surrender his body to be burned. What Paul is doing here is rebuking the Corinthians. He is saying it does not matter what you think you know. It does not matter what you think you can do. If what you know and what you do is not based upon love, it profits you nothing. What was true of the Corinthians is true of us today. It does not matter what we think we know. It does not matter what we think we can do. If what we know and do is not based upon Biblical love, then it profits us nothing. Paul is saying, even if he could speak in some angelic language, or foreign language of men, if he does not have love it will not profit anyone. Again Paul was exaggerating to make a point. He was not saying any human spoke the language of angels. Paul's reference to “sounding brass or a clanging cymbal” (v.1) was very pointed. They were saved out of paganism. The ecstatic sounds they made were accompanied by percussion music instruments. They honored these deities with their ecstatic noises, and clanging instruments. What they did was build their emotions up with the instruments and release these emotions in ecstatic noises. When the Corinthians read these verses, they would have understood what Paul was saying. It would have been an “ouch moment.” So these verses cannot be used to support some form of ecstatic angelic language. And there is no reference anywhere in Scripture of anyone speaking in anything but a known human language (Ac.2,10,19). Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

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