WHY DID THE APOSTLES SPEAK IN TONGUES ON PENTECOST?
• QUESTION: In your answer to the question about speaking in tongues, you said that “Tongues” was a sign gift. It demonstrated something to the hearer. Tongues was a sign to the Jews in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost that God was at work among them.” Today I heard another reason given. The speaker said that the Holy Spirit gave the apostles the gift of tongues on Pentecost as a sign that God was now sending the gospel out to the Gentiles. Since the apostles’ audience was composed of Jews from all over the world, the fact that they heard the gospel in the language of the Gentile nations where they lived demonstrated that the gospel was no longer for the Jews only, but also for the Gentiles. What are your thoughts on this explanation? • ANSWER: Paul wrote that “Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers.” (1 Corinthians 14:22) Paul was writing about the tongues he and other Christians spoke at that time. It was an unknown language. Paul wrote, “For anyone who spe
