“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” — 1 Corinthians 14:33
The gift of tongues is one of the most contested subjects in contemporary Christianity. In charismatic and Pentecostal traditions it is celebrated as evidence of the Spirit’s presence. In cessationist traditions it is viewed as a gift that ended with the apostolic age. Most of the argument between these positions focuses on whether the gift continues today. Less attention is paid to a more immediate question: whether what commonly passes for tongues in modern practice actually resembles what Scripture describes.
That question is worth asking carefully, because Paul spent considerable effort in 1 Corinthians 14 correcting a church that was misusing a genuine gift. The problem in Corinth was not that tongues were counterfeit — Paul affirmed the gift and said he practiced it himself. The problem was that a real gift was being used in ways that produced confusion rather than edification, performance rather than worship, and chaos rather than the orderly assembly God intends.
The same dynamics he corrected in Corinth are visibly present in portions of the modern church. Understanding what he actually said is more useful than either dismissing the gift entirely or defending every expression of it uncritically.
What Scripture Actually Says About Tongues
The first appearance of tongues in the New Testament is Pentecost in Acts 2, where the disciples spoke in languages they had not learned and were understood by people from many different nations in their own native tongues. The text is explicit: these were recognizable human languages, not ecstatic utterance. The miracle was both supernatural and intelligible.
Paul addresses tongues extensively in 1 Corinthians 14, and his concern throughout is intelligibility and order. A few of his specific instructions are worth quoting directly:
“In church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” (v. 19)
“If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?” (v. 23)
“If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.” (v. 27)
“If there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.” (v. 28)
These are not suggestions. They are instructions from an apostle who explicitly affirmed the gift while recognizing that it was being used in ways that produced exactly the opposite of its intended purpose. The gift was real. The abuse was also real. Paul distinguished between them.
The Babel Problem
Genesis 11 records God confusing human language at Babel as a direct response to human pride — a people building toward heaven to make a name for themselves, using their unified voice not for worship but for self-glorification. God scattered them and confused their speech.
Pentecost is often understood as the reversal of Babel: the Spirit enabling intelligible communication across language barriers, unifying rather than scattering, glorifying God rather than man. That pattern is important. Genuine tongues, in the biblical picture, move toward clarity and toward God. They are not evidence of spiritual status. They are a tool for proclamation and edification, subject to the same order and accountability as any other gift.
When tongues become primarily a performance — something done publicly for its own sake, untethered from interpretation, oriented around the speaker’s experience rather than the congregation’s edification — the dynamic has reversed. What was meant to reverse Babel has become its own version of it: sound and confusion in the name of heaven, but serving the speaker rather than the Lord.
Testing the Spirits
Scripture does not ask us to accept every spiritual claim uncritically. John writes: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.” (1 John 4:1) Paul writes: “Test everything; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
Applying these instructions to tongues is not unbelief — it is obedience. The questions worth asking are the ones Paul’s instructions imply: Is there interpretation? Is there order? Is the church being edified? Is the focus on God or on the one speaking? Does it produce clarity or confusion?
These are not hostile questions. They are the questions a biblically informed community should be able to answer about any practice it embraces.
A Word to Those Who Practice the Gift
If you believe you have genuinely received the gift of tongues, the appropriate response is not defensiveness when Scripture’s standards are applied. Paul himself said he spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthians — and then spent an entire chapter explaining why he would rather speak five intelligible words in church. The gift did not exempt him from accountability to order and edification. It should not exempt anyone.
The gift, if real, does not need to be performed. It does not require an audience to validate it. It does not prove anything about the speaker’s spiritual standing. It serves the body when used according to Paul’s instructions, and it serves primarily the speaker when those instructions are ignored.
God is not the author of confusion. A gift from God, used as God instructs, will not produce confusion. That is a useful diagnostic for any spiritual practice — not just this one.