1. TONGUES
OTHER TONGUES
UNKNOWN TONGUES

2. Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe;
In my name shall they cast out devils; they
shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall
recover.

3. 2 Corinthians 12:12
12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought
among you in all patience, in signs, and
wonders, and mighty deeds.

4. The apostolic office was not a permanent office,
but a temporary office.
• Apostles were required to have seen the risen
Christ, so that he could preach a resurrection
of which he had himself been an eyewitness
(1Corinthians 9:1).
• He had to be called and commissioned by the
risen Lord directly (John 20:21; Acts 26:15-18)
• He had to receive the gospel from Christ
Himself (Galatians 1:11-12).

5. Counterfeit
Revelation 2:2
2 Thessalonians 2:9
Even him, whose coming is after the working of
Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2 Corinthians 11:4
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus,
whom we have not preached, or if ye receive
another spirit, which ye have not received, or
another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye
might well bear with him.

6. 1 Corinthians 14:22
22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them
that believe, but to them that believe not: but
prophesying serveth not for them that believe
not, but for them which believe.

7. 1 Corinthians 1:22-23
22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks
seek after wisdom:
23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews
a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness;

8. John 4:48
48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs
and wonders, ye will not believe.

9. The Why and How
Exodus 4:1,9
And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they
will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice:
for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared
unto thee.
9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe
also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy
voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the
river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the
water which thou takest out of the river shall
become blood upon the dry land.

10. John 3:1-2
There was a man of the Pharisees, named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto
him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God: for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with
him.

11. The two types are other tongues and
unknown tongues.
Other tongues are found only in the book of
Acts, with the exception of two verses in 1
Corinthians 14, which we will look at in detail
a little later. Unknown tongues are found only
in book of 1 Corinthians.

12. OTHER TONGUES
• Other tongues are used in three places in Acts:
Acts 2, Acts 10, and Acts 19.
• These other tongues were not a mysterious
language that no one had ever had. Every tongue
that the apostles were speaking was a known
language. In Acts 2:9-11, a list is given of all the
different nations where Jews had come from to
take part in the feast of Pentecost. Look at what
these men said: (Acts 2:6-8)

13. OTHER TONGUES
Acts 2:7-8
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying
one to another, Behold, are not all these which
speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born?
• This gives us a clear definition of what an “other
tongue” is. It is a tongue that is unknown to the
speaker, but known to the one listening.

14. OTHER TONGUES
In order to reach a group of lost Jews in
Jerusalem at a Jewish feast (Pentecost), God
sent them a sign that had been prophesied in
the Old Testament. That way, when the sign
came the unbelieving Jews would believe the
message that was being preached.
Isaiah 28:11

15. Acts 10
Cornelius and his house, Gentiles, which
believed the message that Peter preached. As
soon as they believed, the Holy Ghost fell on
them and they began to speak with other
tongues. (Acts 10:46) Notice that the language
they were speaking could be understood. The
people listening knew that they were
magnifying God! The question could be
asked, “Why are Gentiles speaking in tongues
if tongues are for a sign and Jews require a
sign?”

16. Acts 10
Peter did not come to Cornelius’ house alone.
He brought six other Jewish men with him.
Up to this point, the Jews did not believe that
a Gentile could receive the Holy Ghost. In
order to make these Jews believe that a
Gentile could receive the Holy Ghost, God
gave the sign of other tongues!

17. Acts 10
We have the written word of God to tell us that
a man receives the Spirit of God when he puts
his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
(Galatians 3:14) No Jew living during the
book of Acts had this information in writing,
therefore they needed signs!

18. Acts 19
Acts 19:1-6, we have a group of Jewish men that
were disciples of Apollos. Paul began to
question them about receiving the Holy
Ghost. They had not even heard of the Holy
Ghost, because all they knew was the baptism
of John. After Paul preached a short message
to them, they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus.

19. Acts 19
Paul laid hands on them, they received the Holy
Spirit and began to speak in tongues and
prophesy. Why did this group speak in
tongues? Remember, these Jews were in
Ephesus, not in Israel where the apostles
were. Therefore, they did not have the
privilege of learning good doctrine from the
apostles (Acts 2:42)

20. Acts 19
Neither had they seen any proof that Jesus was
the Christ, because they had not seen any
signs. In order to prove to these men they had
believed the truth, God gave them the miracle
of other tongues!

21. In each of these cases, the tongues were given as a
sign to a Jew that needed help believing a new
truth that God was presenting them. In all of these
cases, the tongues were clearly understood and the
men listening to them verified that. Tongues are for
a sign and Jews require a sign. Therefore, there is
no reason why a church full of saved Gentiles
should be concerned with using other tongues.
That is something God used in the book of Acts,
because in much of the book of Acts, God is
primarily dealing with Israel.

22. UNKNOWN TONGUES
An unknown tongue is a language that is
known to the speaker, but not known to the
people listening. The use of unknown
tongues still happens in our day and there is a
proper way to go about using them.
Therefore we need to find out what the Bible
says about it. In order to find the truth about
unknown tongues, we will need to look at
several verses found in 1 Corinthians 14.

23. Counterfeit
It is widely believed that if a man speaks in
tongues, then he will not be able to
understand what he is saying, and he will
speak in a language no one has ever heard.
This could very easily be called a babbling
tongue, for that is exactly how it sounds. You
need to understand that this “babbling”
tongue is always referred to as a bad thing in
the Bible. This uncontrolled babbling tongue
is NOT the same thing as the unknown
tongues found in 1 Corinthians 14.

24. Counterfeit
If a man is babbling and no one can understand what
he is saying, then all you have is great confusion.
And the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14:33, “God is
NOT the author of confusion…” God would not lead
a man to do such a thing. We also read in
Ecclesiastes 10:11, “Surely the serpent will bite
without enchantment; and a babbler is no better.”
As you can see, a babbler in the Bible is not a good
thing. In 1 Corinthians 14:10, Paul says, “There are,
it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world,
and none of them is without signification.”.

25. UNKNOWN TONGUES
1 Corinthians 14:14
Paul admitted that he had understanding of
what he was saying. . Paul’s concern was that
they could not understand what he was
saying. Paul’s understanding was unfruitful,
meaning it did not bear fruit in the life of
anyone else.

26. UNKNOWN TONGUES
1 Corinthians 14:2
The man that is trying to teach in an unknown
tongue could very well be talking about the
mysteries of the Bible (1 Corinthians 4:1-2),
but what good is it if no one listening can
understand what he is saying?

27. UNKNOWN TONGUES
1 Corinthians 14:4,19
It is very obvious that Paul’s concern is making
sure he is a blessing to someone else, and not
just himself! If a man is speaking in an
unknown tongue, then he is only edifying
himself, because he is only one in the church
that can understand what he is saying.

28. RULES FOR SPEAKING IN TONGUES
1 Corinthians 14
1) Only one person can speak at a time (vs.27
“…and that by course…”)
2) Only two or three people at the most during a
church service (vs.27)
3) The unknown tongue must be interpreted (vs.27)
4) The speaker must have control of himself (vs.32)
5) No women can speak in an unknown tongue
during the church service (vs.34)

29. RULES FOR SPEAKING IN TONGUES
There is nothing wrong with speaking in an
unknown tongue, as long as it is done
according to the scriptures. Paul clearly says
that we should not forbid anyone to speak in
tongues.
These rules are put in place by the apostle Paul
so that things would be decently and in order.

30. Example
If a missionary only speaks English and he goes
to preach in a village that speaks another
language, then that missionary will be
preaching to them in an unknown tongue.
The missionary knows exactly what he said, but
the people will not.
The missionary can preach his message in
English if an interpreter can translate.

31. • OTHER TONGUES
– Is a tongue that is unknown to the speaker, but
known to the one listening.
• UNKNOWN TONGUES
– An unknown tongue is a language that is known
to the speaker, but not known to the people
listening.