How were tongues to operate in the early church?
1 Corinthians 14:26-28 (NKJV)
How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
The use of tongues was subject to certain stipulations by Paul;
- During the service, no more than three people should speak.
- There should be one speaker at a time.
- The message must be translated for the edification of the congregation.
- In the event that no one is able to interpret, they should remain silent.
People who speak through the Holy Spirit speak when He chooses to speak, and then they are able to be silent like the prophets. However, those who are possessed by unclean spirits speak even when they don’t want to, and often they say things they do not understand.
The gift of languages was to be used in an orderly manner in the church. Any disruptive or disorderly use violates the way God intended the gift to be used. In contrast to the chaotic forms of ecstatic speech in pagan practices, the Holy Spirit does not work through people who lack self-control or act in an unrestrained manner.
1 Corinthians 14:32-33 (NKJV)
And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
Moreover, in the early church, only 2-3 people were permitted to speak revelations, and they were expected to take turns. Paul would never allow or attribute the Holy Spirit to causing everyone in the congregation to simultaneously burst into multiple gibberish.