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NASB | 1 Corinthians 14:22 So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Corinthians 14:22 Therefore, [unknown] tongues are [meant] for a [supernatural] sign, not to believers but to unbelievers [who might be receptive]; while prophecy [foretelling the future, speaking a new message from God to the people] is not for unbelievers but for believers. |
Subject: Tongues, madness or sign for unbeliever |
Bible Note: Hi, Tim: Glossolalia, then as now, is not always proof of the presence of the Spirit of God. Pagans practiced glossolalia in NT times. See 1 Cor. 14:2,4) wherein Paul uses "a tongue" as opposed to "tongues" to describe the false gibberish of pagan ecstatic speech. Nevertheless, what we know about the glossolalia of Acts 2, if we may so term it, is that these men at Pentecost spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance. They were empowered with a supernatural ability to speak in tongues, Gr. dialektos (known languages or dialects) that were not their own. John MacArthur seems to lean, in a guarded sort of way, toward the idea of the event of Pentecost being a miracle of hearing. Commenting on the phrase in Acts 2:6, 'everyone heard them speak in his own language," MacArthur writes, "As the believers were speaking, each pilgrim in the crowd recognized the language or dialect from his own country." But MacArthur's statement could be interpreted either way it seems, because he maintains that 'other tongues' of vs. 4 refers to known languages, not gibberish, in which the men were speaking. ..... What is ultimately important, I suppose, is not so much how the Holy Spirit accomplished His miracle but that He did. It would be no less a miracle if the Holy Spirit empowered these men at Pentecost to speak several languages simultaneously than it would if He empowered the audience each to hear the message in his own language. The point is that the Holy Spirit willed that the message be heard in languages the hearers could understand; and it was heard, it was understood, and about three thousand of them gladly received it. --Hank |