Originally posted by Walguy:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Lorelei, when the apostles first spoke in tongues was it to break a language barrier? Was it only so people could understand what was being said about Jesus?
Assuming that you are referring to these questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
What you must understand is that the issue is not as simplistic as you are trying to paint it. All of the sign gifts had the GENERAL purpose of authenticating the message of the new Christian Church. Tongues also had the SPECIFIC purpose of breaking language barriers.
So to answer your questions: yes, it was to break a language barrier; but no, it wasn't ONLY so people could understand what was being said about Jesus.
Btw, it may be noted that the 'private prayer language' version of tongues does NOT fulfill the general purpose of the sign gifts, because there is nothing obviously miraculous about lying on the floor babbling. It's something literally anyone can do, regardless of whether they have the Holy Spirit.</font>[/QUOTE]I was hopeing that Don and Lorelei would reply to the questions, b/c i have found something very intresting. My pastor should this to me.
So back to the topic.
If you will notice in the Book of Acts the second Chapter. The bible says that
all who were filled with the Holy Ghost at the first outporing of the Spirit spoke with "Other Tongues" (languages other than their own" as the Spirit gave them the utterance.
Jews from every nation under heaven heard their diffrent languages spoken miraculously by the disciples.
Were Tongues Given at Pentecost Principally to Enable the Foreign Jews to understand what was spoken?
If so , why did not God likewise empower others to speak with tongues before this time, such as John the Baptist, the apostles during the earthly ministry of Jesus and the seventy whom Jesus sent out?
And why would God want to speak through
ALL on the day of Pentecost, all seemingly speaking at once, if He merely wanted the Jews to understnad what was said?
Aramaic was the popular language in Palestine at the time, while Old Testament Hebrew (though not always in an unchanged form) was still in use in schools and religion. The Greek language was a widely known and used in the World of that day. Perhaps most, if not all, of the foreign Jews Present on the Day of Pentecost could understand Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Jerusalem, the location of the temple, was the religious center of the Jews-not like a strange country to them. Therefor, surely no major language problem existed.
If an insurmountable language barrier existed, how did the multitude discover that each one recognized his own language being spoken? For Example, who informed the crowd that the Jews from Rome heard their language? And who made it known that the Arabian Jews heard their language spoken? And likewise for those who spoke other languages? Yet the fact that each group heard their own language being spoken became common knowledge, so that the people were able to ask, "And how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?" Acts 2:8 The bible says plainly that the multitude spoke "one to another" and the bible repeats some of their conversation (acts 2:6-13)
When the disciples were filled with the Spirit the multitude "were all amazed and were in doubt saying one to another, What meaneth this"? (Acts 2:12) "Other mocking said, These men are full of new wine. "Then Pter preached the notable sermon recorded in the second chapter of Acts. It is altogether reasonable to judge that he preached to the entire multitude in only
ONE language. If he had preaced to on language "group at a time, he could rightly address only that one group as he began his sermon to the. But the apostle Peter addresse the entire multitude all at one time saying "Ye men of Judaea, and
ALL ye that dwell at Jerusalem..." (acts 2:14) Verse five had previously disclosed that these people from every nation were dwelling at Jerusalem. If the tongues were fiven to enable people to understand what was spoke,
why did not God Cause the disciples to do the necessary explaining in other languages? When the People asked the vital question "What shall we do" again it was Peter who gave the answer.
The tongues may have been profitable on the day of Pentecost to enable some to better understand part of what was spoken, but it is quite evident that the enabling of people to understand was not primary purpose of the tongues. Futhermore, the bible does not state that tongues were given or ever would be given to overcome language barriers
God Bless
[ May 30, 2002, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: ONENESS ]