Speaking in Tongues
Speaking in Tongues
Xenoglossia or xenoglossy is a miracle (Acts 2). It means the power to speak fluently a language one never learned or heard. On the other hand, anybody can speak in tongues —if what you mean by "speaking in tongues" or "the gift of tongues" is not xenoglossia (xenoglossy) but glossolalia.
Folk in persuasions commonly called Charismatic or Pentecostal commonly practise glossolia. They don't demonstrate the miracle xenoglossia (xenoglossy). In this lesson we are going to describe the two phenomena. Then we will compare xenoglossia and glossolalia with the Biblical account of speaking in tongues, to see which phenomena matches the Biblical miracle.
xenoglossia Speaking in a language which one has never learned.
A phenomena which may well be called the gift of tongues (technically called xenoglossia) is the ability to speak fluently a language one has never learned. That is to say, one has never studied the language or had any natural exposure to it. One does not "know" the language in any natural sense, yet one can speak it fluently. Although this phenomena has a name, xenoglossia, there appears to be no proven case of it in the world today.
The fact that xenoglossia (xenoglossy) is not seen or heard today, does not mean that it has never occurred in the past. If it has occurred, however, then it was a miraculous event, because, unlike glossolalia, xenoglossia is not a natual or innate ability in man.
glossolalia uttering language-like but unintelligible sounds usually in a state of ecstasy.
The first phenomena we will consider is "ecstatic utterance" which is technically called glossolalia. This is a real phenomenon. There is nothing imaginary about it. In Australia, as in just about any part of the world, you can hear and observe glossolalia without having to walk very far. The phenomenon is common to many religions, pagan as well as "Christian". You can make recordings of it, examine it, write histories and case studies about it. You can even practice it yourself if you so choose.
There are two components to this phenomena...
Now let us examine the Biblical description of "speaking in tongues" to see which, if any, of these two phenomena match that description.
According to the scriptures, speaking in tongues is one of several signs which were to follow those who believed in Christ. These signs are...
This list is found in Mark 16:16-18, however it is not a complete list. You might like to compare it with another list found in 1Corinthians 12:7-11.
Since none of the other gifts is natural, one would expect that the gift of tongues would not be a natural gift either. We are looking at a scriptural list of miraculous signs. Since this list includes tongues, we must conclude that the gift of tongues is a miraculous sign, not a natural ability common to all mankind. This rules out glossolalia or "ecstatic utterance" and leads us to conclude that the gift of tongues is xenoglossia.
In Acts 2:4-8, the true Pentecostal tongues, spoken by the apostles, are described by the very people who heard them: "We each hear in our own language in which we were born."
If, as is often asserted, speaking in tongues caused everyone listening to hear in their own language and therefore to understand the speech, then Paul would never have made his lengthy criticism of using the gift of tongues in church —his criticism being that the people listening do not understand the tongues being spoken and are therefore not edified by what they hear (1Co 14:1-28).
The miracle recorded here was not in the hearing but in the speaking. The apostles "began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." The apostles were not speaking one language whilst the people were hearing different languages to that which was spoken. The apostles were actually speaking in the other tongues that people were hearing. These tongues were languages other than the apostles’ own. They were languages native and familiar to the hearers, but completely new to the apostles, languages which the apostles had not learned by study, or by natural exposure, yet were suddenly able to speak.