Speaking in tongues

[MelanieM]

What is this?

[Stephen Spiteri]

Recommended reading:

"The Nature of Tongues", by Jimmy Akin - http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1998/9804chap.asp

[sandiego]

Gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

[DavidObeid]

Hi Melanie,

Tongues are one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in Scripture. The word used to describe the gift (eg in St. Mark 16:17) is in a different case to the word used to describe the physical organ (eg in St. Mark 7:33). Without torturing you with a lesson in Greek grammar, the idea conveyed by the word when used to describe the gift is "languages". So for example, I might ask if you are "familiar with the Lebanese tongue" when I mean "Lebanese language".

The nature of the language that the gift brings has been the topic of debate since the rise of the charismatic movement at the start of the 20th Century in Protestantism and its later spill over into Catholicism. The rub is basically this: when the gift of tongues appears the recipient of the gift is able to speak a language that they are not familiar or conversant with. Some claim that the language is a babble that requires yet another gift to interpret, others claim it is merely a different language (like Japanese is different to Portuguese). It seems that both interpretations are at least plausible from the Biblical data. (Though common sense tells us that that doesn't make them both equally correct.)

The question of the phenomenon of tongues (as fraud or real gift and in terms of its proliferation either way) is a different one and needs a careful examination of St. Paul's teachings on it to get a proper understanding. For my part, I think most people, largely due to protestantism's charismatic movement's misunderstanding of St. Paul have it wrong and that the same misunderstanding has made its way into the charismatic movement in Catholicism.

Someone hand me a cat to toss in amongst the pigeons.

[muslebard]

Does Romans 8:26 have any place in this discussion? I've heard it used in defence of the pentecostal/charismatic view.

[DavidObeid]

Hi muslebard,

I don't see how it does, since the one groaning in "sighs too deep for words" is the Holy Spirit Himself, not the one who has received the gift.

[danieljankovic]

I dont understand the point of 'Speaking in Toungues'.

Acts 2:4 And they [the Apostles] were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

Im pretty sure that when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles they didnt start mumbling across Jerusalem.

PAX