An Interpretation of "γλῶσσα" written in the 1 Corinthians ⑧

Ⅱ. Examples of “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα) in the New Testament

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Whether “tongue (s)” means “foreign language” or “repeated unknown sound”, the word is expressed in the New Testament as “γλῶσσα” and “διάλεκτος”. Both are used to mean “word” and “language,” but there are differences in nuances. "tongue (s)" is 31 verses in the entire New Testament except Revelation, of which "διάλεκτος" is written in 2 verses (Acts 2: 6 and 2: 8) and " γλῶσσα " in the other 29 verses. These two words are synonymous with “language,” but the usage is different. “γλῶσσα” is a language that the listener does not know, and “διάλεκτος” is used to mean the language that the listener knows. In Acts 2: 6, 11, are “διάλεκτοs.”

Examples of Mark

Mark 16:17 says, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;” (KJV 1900). Here, "new tongues" (γλώσσαις λαλήσουσιν καιναῖς) was used in plural and was used in the meaning of “foreign languages as a gift”, as is the case in the book of Acts.

However, the last part of Mark's Gospel (Mark 16: 9-20) is included in the old Latin translations or the Synoptic Gospels of Arabic, and many scholars believe that this verse was added by someone later to the original text for a variety of reasons.[33] Because of this, I think of this as a passage that does not serve the purpose of demonstrating the biblical “tongue (s)”. It seems unreasonable to explain this as the basis of “tongue (s)” as an example. Therefore, in this paper, it is classified as “foreign languages” and is not analyzed separately.

Examples of Acts

There are four uses of “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα) in the book of Acts, and the use here is “foreign languages as gifts” in connection with the giving of the Holy Spirit. These are: Pentecostal events on Pentecost (Chapter 2); events that gave the Holy Spirit to Cornelius and friends (Chapter 10); events that gave the Holy Spirit to the twelve of Ephesus (Chapter 19).

All were used in plural in Acts, but Thomas R. Schreiner said, “It seems that the gift of Acts 2 was the language of man. This is because people from various regions are listening to what the apostles are saying. Also, there is no evidence anywhere else in the book of Acts that the nature of speaking in tongues is different. Luke doesn't provide a sign that a change has occurred since the first tongue (s) event.” [34]

Here is one thing to point out. Luke was a doctor and accompanied Paul for a long time. However, Paul wrote "1 Corinthians" eight years before Luke wrote "Luke Gospel" and "Acts of the Apostles." Therefore, when writing the book of Acts, it should be considered that Luke understood the meaning of "tongue" (an unknown tongue) as well as "tongues (foreign languages)" prevalent in the Corinthian church. It is also evident that he had discussed this issue several times with Paul. However, Luke recorded only "foreign languages" as a gift without saying a word about this "unknown tongue". Had Luke mentioned only one verse in "Luke's Gospel" or "Acts of the Apostles", there would have been a theologically significant conclusion in the "tongue (s)" study. This is a very sad part. On the other hand, all four uses of “γλῶσσα” in Acts are used in plural and are “foreign languages ​​as gifts”. Therefore, “γλῶσσα” in 1 Corinthians 14, which is used in the singular, must be regarded as different from “foreign languages ​​as gifts.” [35]

C. Examples of Revelation

In general, most “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα) research books or papers do not extend the use of “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα) to “Revelation”. However, this paper includes the use of “Revelation”. This is because this paper attempts to clearly distinguish the use of plural and singular by analyzing all the uses of “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα) in the entire New Testament.

In relation to the singular and plural use of this “tongue (s)” (γλῶσσα), there are eight places in Revelation (5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 16:10; 17:15) Among them, except for 16:10, which was used as the meaning of ‘tongue’, the rest was written as the people (s) and used as the meaning of language (s). However, in 5: 9 and 14: 6, γλῶσσα is used as a singular, but this is used as a singular because “πᾶς” in front of it means “every” and cannot be used in plural. In fact, it is a plural noun. Many English translations (KJV, NIV, ESV, NIT) also use every tongue (language). Therefore, when “γλῶσσα” is used in plural in the entire New Testament except for 1 Corinthians, it is used as “a foreign language (languages) as a gift” or “an angel's language”. We can see that it is written as “unknown sound” only when it is used in singular.

 

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