The new testament supernatural gift of tongues served to authenticate the Apostles’ supernatural message – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This caught the attention of the people around who were amazed by the phenomenon of people speaking in languages that they did not know.

As soon as the crowd gathered, Peter stood up and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in a language that everyone understood, and three thousand people were saved.

Let’s examine some scriptures:

Acts 2:4 (NKJV)

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The disciples spoke in authentic languages. The Greek word for tongues is “glōssa,” which is a term that refers to human language.

In the following verses 6-7, the same word is used to refer to “dialect / own language” and in verses 9-11, it refers to a list of “foreign languages.”

Acts 2:6-7 (NKJV)

And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans?

Acts 2:9-11 (NKJV)

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

Due to the celebrations of Pentecost, Jews from all over the world had travelled to Jerusalem for the feast of passover (Acts 2:5), this included many pilgrims who had grown up speaking languages other than Aramaic.

Seeing uneducated Galileans suddenly speaking in multiple languages fluently became an obvious miracle that astonished the crowd.

Additionally, there were native Judeans in the crowd who could not understand what the disciples were saying because they didn’t speak those languages. In their utter confusion as they sought an explanation, and responded with skepticism / mockery / accusing the disciples of being drunk (verse 13).

When we consider the larger picture of the early church movement, the phenomenon of tongues in Acts is connected to key moments of expansion in the church’s mission. In Acts 8, tongues likely occurred as the gospel moved into Samaria, marking the inclusion of the Samaritans into the faith.

In Acts 10, tongues are recorded when the gospel reaches the Gentiles through Cornelius and his household, signifying their acceptance into God’s family. Finally, in Acts 19, tongues occur when John the Baptist’s disciples are brought into the church, affirming their full inclusion into the body of Christ.

Each instance of tongues in Acts served a critical purpose: confirming God’s work in spreading the gospel to new groups and ensuring that the message was understood across cultural and linguistic barriers.

Each new phase of the church was marked by the same sign given on Pentecost. This repetition demonstrated that the same Spirit was at work across all groups, ensuring that the Jews did not perceive any difference between themselves and Samaritans or Gentiles. It was therefore a sign gift, indicating God’s nearness and authenticating the authority of those proclaiming His message.

When you compare the day of Pentecost with the Tower of Babel, there is a surprising contrast. As a judgment on humanity, the Lord confused the languages of the world at the Tower of Babel.

However, on the day of Pentecost, the curse of Babel miraculously disappeared. This demonstrates that God’s wonderful words, including the gospel of Jesus Christ, are spread throughout the world. Regardless of the language spoken, the message remains the same: the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ transcends all linguistic and cultural barriers, uniting people under one gospel.

Christians in the centuries following the apostles understood the miracle of languages (tongues) in exactly the same way.

In light of this, tongues and other miraculous signs are no longer necessary to authenticate a speaker’s message. Today, we discern whether a speaker is truly from God by measuring their message against the truth of Scripture.

The Bible, which the people of the apostolic era did not yet have in its complete form, now serves as our ultimate authority. This is why the Apostles were granted gifts of signs and wonders—to validate the divine origin of the gospel message they were delivering during a foundational period for the church.

2 Corinthians 12:12 (NKJV)

Truly the signs of an apostle were accomplished among you with all perseverance, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

The early Pentecostals right up to the early 20th century believed Acts 2 was a real language. As charismatics understood that modern tongues were not true languages, they began to devise novel interpretations in order to justify their unorthodox inventions.

Tongues Required an interpreter

Another point that attests to the fact that the gift of tongues was an authentic language is that an interpreter was always required to make the message meaningful.

As Paul states in his letter to the Corinthians, when the gift of tongues is used in the church, it must be translated by someone with the gift of interpretation.

1 Corinthians 14:27 (NKJV)

If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret.

Paul indicated that the gift of tongues consisted of rational languages. The word interpretation is “Hermenevo” from which we get the word “Hermeneutics” which refers to a “translation” or an “accurate unfolding of the meaning.”

Obviously it would have been impossible to translate non-sensical gibberish, since translations require concrete meanings in one language to be rendered correctly in another.