Email from Abiding Place Daily Bread – August 13, 2025 (The Fourth Day – Genesis 1:14-19) 1 Corinthians 14:13 – Therefore, he who speaks in a tongue should pray to put it into words. The interpretation of tongues is different than we might think at first glance. The Greek word used for this gift is ‘diermeneuo.’ The usage of this word by Josephus and Philo conveys a meaning different from just providing a translation by interpreting one language into another. The word ‘diermeneuo’ may be understood as “to put into words”, or “bring to articulate expressions” (The Anchor Bible Dictionary- Gift of Tongues). The interpretation of tongues is first observed in Acts 2:7-8, where the miracle of tongues sounds like the native language of a diverse group of people. Many of those who were gathered around were able to hear what the disciples were saying in their own language. The text suggests to us by the use of the word ‘hear’ instead of ‘speaking’ that, although the disciples were speaking in the tongues of the Spirit, many of the people who were present heard what the disciples were saying in their own language. Thus, the miracle of interpretation rested in the hearing, and not in the speaking. “Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all of these speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own native language?'” (Acts 2:7). In this event, there were those in the crowd who did not even hear the disciples speaking in “tongues”, but in their native language – even though the disciples were in fact speaking in tongues. At the same time, there were others standing in the crowd that only heard the utterance of stammering lips and other tongues. They mocked saying, “They are filled with new wine” (Acts 2:13). The gift of tongues is the first utterance of the Holy Spirit that comes out of the river of God (John 7:38-39; Acts 2:4,33). It is the result of the fire of God coming upon the tongue and lips of man (Acts 1:5, 2:3). These tongues of fire fill every dimension of a person’s being with every syllable spoken. The fire of God produces utterances from the heart that teach us to speak out of the Spirit, instead of the intellect; and brings forth revelation, knowledge, prophecy, and teaching (1 Corinthians 14:6). The gift of tongues is viewed as a kind of New Testament prophecy, as explained by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:13-19). Paul reveals it to be the means by which we speak directly to God in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:2). It is an expression of the Spirit that bypasses the intellect of a person and affects every realm of that person’s being. At the same time, it should distill into an utterance of prophecy that can be understood by all. The utterance everyone can understand would be as unknown to the speaker, and as absent from his intellect, as the tongues itself. Blessings, Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
Daily Bread 8/13/2025
