The Pastor/Theologian Robert Zerhusen has been looking
very closely at the subject of 'speaking in tongues' in the New
Testament. He has developed what might be called a purely
linguistic approach to the New Testament phenomenon. Lets
consider Zerhusen's fascinating new approach.
For Zerhusen, there is little or nothing
miraculous in the tongues speaking accounts which we read of in
Acts, and which Paul discusses in 1 Corinthians, except that
Gentiles were praising God and showing evidence of the Holy
Spirit; the problem is, we have too quickly adopted a somewhat
mystical approach to 'glossolalia' and to the relevant texts. I
don't think that Zerhusen ever actually says that, but it is
certainly the basis of his approach.
Zerhusen points out that the original Acts 2 manifestation of
tongues almost certainly occurred in or around the temple. He
points out - with telling authority - that Hebrew was the
language of worship for the Jews and so the thing which made the
'tongues' (non-Hebrew languages) so momentous in Acts 2 was that
languages other than Hebrew were heard in the temple area and in
worship of God! This is certainly interesting and there is no
doubt that many religions have had their languages of worship, as
Zerhusen points out.
For Islam, Arabic is a 'holy language', the Jews, of course,
still use Hebrew in their synagogues; then we have the example of
the Roman Catholic Church with its great preference for Latin as
a language of worship. So we have several examples of people
using languages for worship which they rarely use - if at all -
away from worship. Most of the Jews of New Testament times spoke
in Aramaic but worshipped in Hebrew - this is why the occasions
of 'tongues' in worship became so momentous. Worship of God was
simply inseparable from the use of Hebrew!
Zerhusen is able to apply this basic approach to all the New
Testament texts which deal with tongues; the 'tongues' are simply
non-Hebrew languages! The evidence of the presence of the Holy
Spirit is simply that people for whom Hebrew was not the language
of religious worship were praising God! It was simply stunning
for the Jews - even the first Jewish Christians - to encounter
people praising the God of Israel in a foreign language!!
He makes an especially compelling case for this when discussing
the relevant 1 Corinthians texts. When Paul states that he spoke
in tongues more than anybody, Paul is referring to the fact that
he spoke many languages (which he would have surely needed to).
Corinth was a thriving seaport which attracted many different
nationalities, many of these people were becoming Christians! It
was, therefore, inevitable that they would occasionally praise
God or give their testimonies in their native language - let us
remember that these people were simply not Jews! Also, without
question, many Christian Jews - perhaps for a long time - felt
that just as Moses was for the Jews, so Jesus would be! But
Paul's advice is that the use of various languages in worship
needed to be held in check and if no interpreter was present,
such a person should keep silent. Obviously, if one was able to
ensure that an interpreter was present, one knew that one would
be speaking a definite language (rather than making somewhat
unpredictable 'ecstatic utterances').
So what is our reaction to this new linguistic approach of
Zerhusen?
I think that there is a lot in what Robert Zerhusen says! When I
first learned of his approach, I believed that it would not stand
up upon careful consideration of every single New Testament
textual consideration of 'tongues', but actually his approach
stands up rather well, although not without raising the odd
question (for instance, if Zerhusen is correct, why were
'tongues' considered a gift of the Holy Spirit?). Of course, I
myself have written two articles on Tongues. In my original
article, Tongues (which I have now renamed The Truth
About 'Speaking in Tongues' At Last) , I purposely approach
the subject from a viewpoint somewhat sympathetic to
Pentecostals/charismatics. Hopefully, in Christian love and
concern, I attempted to show this group of Christians that not
all of their assumptions on 'tongues' are truly biblical. My
briefer article, Should Believers Speak in Tongues? ,
attempts to show that some claims which have been made on this
topic are simply illogical.
So I am somewhat sympathetic to the work of Robert Zerhusen, yet
I am not entirely convinced that his very able and scholarly
stance fully explains everything we read in the New Testament
about 'tongues'. But certainly, we remain convinced that much of
what Pentecostals/charismatics consider 'tongues' is not
the same as that which occurred in Acts and which Paul discusses
in 1 Corinthians.
Robin Brace
2003
A reader of the above article has contributed the following comments:
Hi, great review of Zerhusen's thesis on tongues. His thesis really helped me several years ago when his articles first came online when I was struggling through getting out of the pentecostal/charismatic maze. I spent some time in my own research which confirmed many points he brought up for myself. I had emailed linguistic experts on Jewish languages in the second temple period, etc., to get the needed information and now I can not be shaken from this new position.
I can offer a possible answer to the question you raised, that if Zerhusen is correct, how are 'tongues' considered to be a gift of the Holy Spirit? I consider various languages to be a gift to the Church under the New Testament in the sense that the gospel has a vehicle to spread it throughout all the nations. Given that the gospel as promised by God even as far back as Abraham was with the intention to redeem people out of every nation. This would be impractical upon the supposition that evangelism and discipleship required only the use of Hebrew. The gift of languages was that the Holy Spirit bore witness to the truth of the gospel when its glories were declared in common languages. In the same way the Lord Jesus declared all foods kosher, he has declared the same concerning common langauges. The biggest expression of this idea is seen in the very language in which the New Testament was written. God designed, in light of the international aspect of the gospel, that there is no such thing as a 'holy' language. Languages, as a gift, allows a multi-national, multi-cultural expression of worship to God, which provides a marked contrast to his dealings with his covenant people under the stricter Old Covenant. The old wine skins cannot hold the new wine any longer. Language itself must be, in my observation, be considered a vehicle of communication, a wineskin to bring us to God. I am not sure if it gets more complicated or simple than that. The 'gift of languages' cannot properly be spoken of outside of 'the gift of the gospel' itself. One is the means of expressing the other in order to establish the Church which is the Israel of God.
Grace and peace, Doug Gibson, Regina, Sk, Canada.
My own two articles on tongues are here:
The
Truth About 'Speaking in Tongues' At Last!
Should
Believers Speak in Tongues?