I recently responded to a man who says tongues have ceased. This is my reply;
Do you hear yourself? On the one hand, tongues were real human languages, & on the other, they have ceased.
How so? Tongues as real human languages is multilingualism.
The gist of what Paul has to say about them in 1 Corinthian letter conduces to:
One the problems in your church is the spirit of division.
Another is disorderly worship. People speak out of turn & it can get of of hand.
Your church is part of the Roman Empire, & in the Empire, people speak Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian, & many other languages. That’s how the Empire manages communication, business, & justice.
Your church reflects the world, not only as to your moral problems, but also as to your linguistic composition.
When you receive a visitor who speaks a language nobody there knows or understands, he prophesies to his own edification. It would be better if he or she had someone among you who could paraclete them as their translator. If not, let that individual be silent & find ears to participate.
That said, just as those of stronger conscience are responsible for helping those of weaker conscience in any number of matters like eating food sacrificed to idols & restoring orderly worship relative to male-female ecclesiastical & familial relationships, those who have a gift for communication in general & learning & understanding languages in particular have a duty & responsibility, if possible to learn the language of the stranger/visitor in order to grow as a church & teach each other as time goes on.
For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cushmy worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones,shall bring my offering.
11 “On •that •day you shall not be put to shamebecause of •the deeds •by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer •be haught in my holy mountain.
12 But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly; They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord,
13 those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down,and none shall make them afraid.” ((Zephaniah 3:9–14, ESV)
The Bible itself has been preserved & translated in many many languages. Today, if someone desires to travel abroad as a missionary, they do well to learn the language & the culture of the people to whom they are sent.
This gift of the Spirit is therefore most certainly still with us today. When it was the right time, Christ came to die for us. There’s a reason we call the past 2000 years the Common Era. What began in Acts 2 has spread throughout the Table of Nations & remains with us today.
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