Bereansearching Bible Studies

Introduction

What does it mean to “speak with new tongues”? In Mark 16:17, we read where the Lord Jesus Christ said, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” Does it mean that the believers are to babble in church like those in the charismatic churches of today who are said to speak “in tongues”? Or does it mean something else?

If we are to take these “signs” literally, then only those capable of picking up a cobra or rattlesnake and not dying from the venom, or who can drink poison and survive would qualify as believers. But that is not what Jesus meant, otherwise essentially no one could be counted as a believer if that were the case. The same is true with believers speaking “in new tongues”. There has to be a spiritual meaning involved.

Picking Up Serpents and Drinking Poison Without Harm?

Before moving on to addressing the meaning of speaking “with new tongues”, let us look at the taking up of serpents and drinking any deadly thing without being harmed. Jesus made clear that these would be the signs that follow believers.

The reality is that all of these openly visible “physical” manifestations in the early New Testament church era were a “sign” of what actually takes place “spiritually” in the life of every believer who has been quickened by God’s Holy Spirit, just as Jesus said would be the case. With regard to taking up serpents without harm, we should remember what we read in Act 28:3-6, where the Apostle Paul, after having just survived a shipwreck on The Island of Melita, was bitten by a poisonous serpent, but no harm came to him. That was an unmistakeable “physical” sign, or manifestation, of what takes place “spiritually” in the life of every believer. “And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid [them] on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the [venomous] beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.“

Although Paul’s picking up a venomous serpent, and even being bitten by it (but remaining unharmed), was clearly “literal”, it also served as an historical parable (and therefore a “sign”), which carried a “spiritual” implication. God used this exemplary “sign” to point to the fact that believers will be able to “spiritually” deal with the devil’s (the “serpent’s”) lies, and thus will not be enticed or fooled by purveyors of false gospels that would otherwise “spiritually” kill the hearers.

We can know this because God refers to the devil’s servants as we read in Deuteronomy 32:33, “Their wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.“, which is expounded further in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:13, “Their throat [is] an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps [is] under their lips:” This is reiterated in Psalm 140:1-3, “¶[[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.]] Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in [their] heart; continually are they gathered together [for] war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison [is] under their lips. Selah.” and in Psalm 58:4&5, regarding the wicked and violent men, “Their poison [is] like the poison of a serpent: [they are] like the deaf adder [that] stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.“

Similarly, Jesus’ description of the “sign” of true believers as being unable to be harmed by drinking anything poisonous does not refer to “literal” earthly poisons, but rather to “spiritual” poison. Jesus was highlighting the fact that no believer can be harmed through the hearing of a false gospel (which is spiritual poison that comes from the devil). God’s elect, if they do come in contact with false gospels, will not be harmed nor destroyed by them. This correlates with teaching of Revelation 17:2, wherein God describes the “poison” of the wine of fornication of the great harlot being consumed by all the reprobate world, “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” That wine is indeed poisonous, as it will most certainly destroy mens’ souls.

Speaking with New Tongues?

But what about speaking with new tongues? The first recorded occurrence of the believers speaking in “new tongues”, after being newly indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit, is found in Acts Chapter 2. On Pentecost Day in 33AD, the Holy Spirit gave the apostles had the ability to speak to the assembled crowds of Jews in Jerusalem in languages with which the apostles were otherwise unfamiliar.

Acts 2:4-12, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ¶And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another,Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, andAsia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya aboutCyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?“

It is clear, then, that the tongues in Acts 2 were “literal” and were spoken in understandable human languages, which served as a “literal” physically discerned “sign” that Jesus said would be a hallmark of all believers. The gift of speaking in new tongues, as exemplified in Acts 2, is generally accepted to mean that it is the miraculous ability to speak a language that believers, like the apostles, did not previously know in order to minister to a person who spoke that particular language. Some believe that the “speaking in tongues” later mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1—11 are the same as the speaking in tongues that unfolded in Acts 2.

However, others (particularly those who identify as “charismatics”) believe that the “tongues” in 1 Corinthians 12:1—11 are related, but different, to the “new tongues” of Acts 2. They interpret the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12:1—11 as being a private prayer language between a believer and God and/or the miraculous ability to speak an unknown language in order to minister to other believers (not unbelievers, and not people who can understand the language as was the case in Acts 2).

So then, what is the reality concerning speaking in new tongues?

“tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:“

We need to search further in the Bible for potential insights. In 1 Corinthians 14:21&22, we read, “¶In the law it is written, With [men of] other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. ¶Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying [serveth] not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.” The Apostle Paul was referring back to the prophesy of Isaiah found in Isaiah 28:11-13, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This [is] the rest [wherewith] ye may cause the weary to rest; and this [is] the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, [and] there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.“

Moreover, the other “signs” that Jesus said would follow the believers…the casting out of devils and healing the sick…are also not to be taken “literally”, but more importantly “spiritually”, in that those who under the domination of the devil, and who are sin sick, can only be saved through the hearing of faithful and prayerful preaching of Jesus’ Gospel of Salvation. For more on healings serving as “signs”, please see: “The Great Physician: Another Name for the Lord Jesus Christ“.

Conclusion

Speaking in “New Tongues”, is indeed as a “sign” that follows all believers who, upon conversion and the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, speak in a new tongue by faithfully proclaiming the New Testament Gospel that they did not speak before. It is noteworthy that, just as was prophesied by Isaiah, the majority of national Israel could neither hear, nor understand, nor believe.

And just as noteworthy is the fact that this has also been true for the majority of the Gentile world throughout the entire New Testament era. The Gospel is still like a foreign language, which most people can neither hear nor understand, apart from God’s Gracious and Divine intervention. Previous to conversion, the believers themselves knew nothing about, nor even cared to know, the Gospel of Salvation that was wrought through the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ unless God had intervened to save them.

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