If your Bible says that the Corinthian believers were cursing Christ in tongues, or that they were cursing Christ, you need to get yourself a real translation.
Let's look at these verses from chapter 12.
2. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
3. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
See, Paul says that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. That's what the Bible says. It does not say that any of them were cursing Christ.
Is it possible that someone had cursed Christ and that Paul was addressing it? Yes. Is it possible that some pagan had does pagan prophecy to curse Christ? Yes it is. Does the Bible say that these things happened. No. If you still see definitive proof in verse 3, in this translation, that people in the Corinthian church had cursed Christ by speaking in tongues, something is wrong with you. Please, just be humble enough to admit when you are wrong. If you read something like this into the passage, you have a serious problem with eisegesis, and that would explain some of your other approaches to this issue.
And how would one accomplish that feat except it be by a tongue (language). Tongue always means language.
Let me specify then. I mean with something that proported to be the gift of speaking in tongues. That is how anyone reading this thread will take it if you say they were cursing Christ in tongues. If they were speaking in the common tongue, Greek, and cursing Christ, you could argue that since they were doing it in a language, they were doing it 'in tongues' but that is a rather smarty-pants way of arguing the case.
There is nothing in the passage to indicate that anyone in Corinth had cursed Christ while proporting to speak in tongues. If they had, no one would have understood it, and so they would not have known that was what Paul was talking about anyway. And there is no reason to think that this is what Paul is talking about in the passage. You are just reading your own ideas into scripture.
What is your basis for doing so? Did you get an extra-scriptural revelation about the demonic tongues speaker in Corinth?
No, Paul wasn't using hyperbole in either case. There is no reason to believe that he was. You are just denying the facts of Scripture. Paul said that some were calling Christ accursed. That is a fact. You deny it. You are denying Scripture because you don't want to believe it.
Be faithful with the word, man.
No, I am not denying scripture. I am confessing this.
3. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
That's what the verse says. Not what you say it says.
There are tongues of angels. Paul never said he spoke in them. He said; "If he could speak in them." That is not hyperbole, but conjecture. There is a difference.
Apples and oranges. In one he says: If I could--that means conjecture, not hyperbole.
The reason some people say it is hyperbole is because it is an _extreme_ thing that they don't think is possible. Why don't you look up hyperbole in the dictionary before we continue on this topic?
I don't say it is hyperbole because I don't say it's impossible to speak in tongues of angels. I also do not say it is impossible that someone in Corinth may have cursed Christ and that Paul was referring to it. But the Bible does not tell us that this is the case and it is twisting the word to make it say that it does when it doesn't.
If you say there is hyperbole in 1Cor.12, you are simply denying the Word of God. Paul said that some were calling Christ accursed. So you don't believe the Scriptures. Quite amazing!
Saying there is hyperbole somewhere isn't denying the word. It's saying the author is using a figure of speech. I can accept that as a possibility. Btw, do you think it is possible for someone to understand all mystery and all knowledge in this day and age? If not, how could you get around the idea of that being hyperbole?
You are adding something that the Bible does not say. The Bible does not say that the Corinthians were cursing Christ. It does say, "that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed". That is it. It doesn't say the Corinthians were doing it. Either present the other verses you are talking about, or just be humble enough to admit that you are wrong.
Yet that is what it says. You can't speak something without your tongue can you. A tongue is a language, or haven't you learned that yet.
If the Corinthians were cursing in Greek, do you consider that 'speaking in tongues.' Do you think speaking Greek is the same kind of 'speaking in an unknown tongue' that Paul is talking about in this passage?
If not, why are you trying to cloud the issue by calling speaking with natural languages speaking in tongues when you know that no one is taking the phrase 'speaking in tongues' that way when you write? Isn't it just to save face?