SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Christadelphian Presentation
Speaking in Tongues
“If with tongues of men I speak and/even of angels,
and have not love…”
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
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Dead Sea Scrolls Text
Songs dedicated to particular Sabbaths in the first
quarter of the year
Songs are for angels to utter in the heavenly
tabernacle-sanctuary
Dates for the texts range from c. 75-50 BCE to c.
50 CE
Songs functioned primarily to form the identity and
confirm the legitimacy of the priestly community
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
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The recitation of the songs, which exhort the angels
in the divine temple to praise God, would have
been a way of associating the divine temple with
the worshiping community at Qumran
They lift one up emotionally and imaginatively into
the midst of heavenly choirs
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
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...to praise your glory wondrously with the divinities
of knowledge, and the praises of your kingship with
the m[ost] holy ones...how will it be regarded
[amongst] them? And how our priesthood in their
residences? And [...] their holiness? [What] is the
offering of our tongue of dust (compared) with the
knowledge of the divinity[ies?...]
4Q400 2 1, 6-7
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
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[...] through the wonderful height [...] tongue of
purity [...] gods (~yhla), seven [...] 4Q400 3 1, 1-2
...Psalm of praise, on the tongue of the
fou[rth]...[Ps]alm of [tha]nksgiving, on the tongue of
the fifth...[Psalm] of exultation, on the tongue of the
sixth...Psalm of [singing, on the to]ngue of the
seventh of the [chief] pri[nces,] a powerful song [to
the God] of ho[lines] with its se[ven] wo[nd]er[ful
songs] 4Q403 1 1, 1-6
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
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Proclaim his glory with the tongue of all who
proclaim knowledge, his wonderful songs with the
mouth of all who proclaim [him. For he is] God of all
who sing {knowledge} for ever, and Judge in his
power over all the spirits of understanding.
4Q4031 1 36-37
In the chiefs of the praise-offerings are tongues of
knowledge. They bless the God of knowledge in all
the works of his glory. 4Q405 23 2, 12
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
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There was awareness on the part of the Qumran
sectarians that angels praised God in their own
tongues
This may appear to be an unremarkable point
except that it has a specific implication for 1 Cor
13:1. Paul’s reference to “tongues of angels” is a
reference to tongues spoken within the Corinthian
assembly when praising God.
Testament of Job
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Dated to between the 1c. BCE and 1c. CE
In the Testament, Job gives one of his daughters
some sashes,
And she took on another heart—no longer minded toward
earthly things—but she spoke ecstatically in the angelic
dialect, sending up a hymn to God in accord with the hymnic
style of the angels. And as she spoke ecstatically, she allowed
“The Spirit” to be inscribed on her garment. T. Job 48:2-3
Testament of Job
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Job’s other daughters likewise took on “the dialect
of archons”, “the dialect of those on high”, and the
“dialect of the cherubim” (T. Job 49:1-50:3)
What is clear from the Testament is that there is a
concept of angelic language being spoken
Crucially, the writing of these hymns is described in
terms that allow for the role of interpretation
The process of “explanation” implies interpretation
of the hymns and this corresponds to the
requirement for interpretation in Corinth
Testament of Job
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After the three had stopped singing hymns, while
the Lord was present as was I, Nereus, the brother
of Job, and while the holy angel also was present, I
sat near Job on the couch. And I heard magnificent
things, while each one made explanation to the
other. And I wrote out a complete book of most of
the contents of hymns that issued from the three
daughters of my brother, so that these things would
be preserved. T. Job 51:1-4
Proposal
Speaking in tongues in Corinth was praising God;
when a language was known, it was a tongue of
men; when it was not known it was regarded as a
tongue of angels.
Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
...understand all mysteries 1 Cor 13:2
...in a spirit speaks mysteries 1 Cor 14:2
...knowledge 1 Cor 13:8
...speaking unto God 1 Cor 14:2
...sing with the spirit 1 Cor 14:15
...bless with the spirit 1 Cor 14:16
...hath a psalm 1 Cor 14:26
The concept of mysteries appears in expressions
such as “wondrous mysterie[s...]” as well as in
motifs such as “hidden things”
The theme of divine knowledge is common in
the Songs. .Angels are “divinities of knowledge”;
they dispense knowledge through their songs in
the heavenly sanctuary
The notion of “praise” is everywhere present in
the songs
The notions of chanting, melody and song are
found in the Songs, for example, “Chant to the
powerful God with the chosen spiritual portion,
so that it is [a melo]dy with the joy of the
gods...for a wonderful song...”
The concept of blessing is frequent in the Songs,
The terms “psalms” is extensively used in the
Songs
1 Corinthians
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“sounding brass, tinkling cymbal” 1 Cor 13:1
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“pipe or harp” 1 Cor 14:7
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“trumpet” 1 Cor 14:8
Acts
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Scholars have primarily asked whether the tongues
mentioned in the account of Pentecost should be
seen as glossolalia, akolalia, or xenolalia.
This is a debate about whether the phenomenon is a
miracle of hearing or speaking and whether the
speaking is intelligible foreign languages or
unintelligible speech
Acts
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Luke uses avpofqe,ggomai in Acts 2:4 (“utterance”) to
describe the speech act
“Moreover David and the captains of the host
separated to the service of the sons of Asaph…who
should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and
with cymbals” 1 Chron 25:1
Acts
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In Pss 58:8 where the verb is used to describe the
lying of the enemies of Israel, the Psalmist contrasts
this with his singing (v. 17)
The related noun occurs in the Song of Moses (Deut
32:2, cf. Odes 2:2), “My doctrine (avpo,fqegma,) shall
drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew,
as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the
showers upon the grass”
Acts
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Luke is therefore invoking a liturgical framework for
understanding the speech acts engendered by the Spirit
at Pentecost: these involve praise, but not ecstatic
praise.
Luke places the disciples in the Temple on the day of
Pentecost; the word “house” is used by him (Acts 7:47,
49; Luke13:35, 19:46) when he is directly using Jewish
scriptural material about the temple
A setting in the Temple makes it more likely that the
Spirit would have inspired praise amongst other speech
acts
Acts
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The subject matter of the tongues is denoted by ta.
megalei/a (v. 11) and this noun is used with verbs of
proclamation in the LXX (e.g. Sir 18:4, 36:8, 2 Macc
3:34) including the praise of God’s mighty acts (e.g.
Sir 17:10, Pss 70:19)
The Gentile “Pentecost”, modelled on the account in
Acts 2, uses the verb megalu,nw (“to magnify”) to
characterize the tongues (Acts 10:46). This verb is
used elsewhere by Luke in describing Mary’s song
of praise (Luke 1:46)
Acts
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Peter’s speech is missiological and directed towards
devout Jews of the Diaspora resident in Jerusalem, but
there is no suggestion that this speech act had a multilingual character
Similarly, there is no evidence that the speech acts of
praise initially initiated by the Spirit (v. 4) were
directed towards any person or group. Their multilingual character allowed Diaspora Jews to understand
something of what was being uttered, but this does not
imply that the speech acts were delivered in their
direction
Conclusion
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The speech acts of tongues at Pentecost were “praise”.
The tongues at Corinth were “praise”.
Tongues could be tongues of men or angels depending
on their human intelligibility to those present.
Tongues might need interpretation if tongues of men but
would need interpretation if tongues of angels.
Tongues whether of men or of angels were engendered
by the Spirit but were not ecstatic or frenzied-they
were structured and hymnic