TONGUES SHALL CEASE

by Ron Cottle

"Speaking in tongues" is a popular phrase for what scholars .

term Glossolalia. This phenomenon, appearing from time to time
in the record of the Christian church, is unmistakably reflected in
the New Testament. To some it is a sign of spiritual life and
renewal and ought to be encouraged. To others it might be seen as
helpful to certain individuals of specific temperament but often
leads to strife and disunion in the church as a whole and ought
perhaps to be ignored. To still others "tongues" is an egocentric
escape from the more weighty demands of life in Christ and is
more damaging than helpful to the body of Christ and ought to be
actively discouraged if not suppressed.
Except for Mark 16:17 the only explicit references to speak-
ing in tongues appear in Acts and I Corinthians. The Mark passage
is not inconsistent with these references. Acts refers to "other
tongues" (heterais glossais) and to "tongues" (glossais) at three
crucial junctures of the developing gospel in the world; namely, (1)

Ronald Cottle earned both the Ph.D. and Ed.D. degrees from the University of
Southern California.Dr. Cottle serves as Executive Vice-President of the Assemblies of
God Graduate School, Springfield, Missouri.

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the breakthrough of the gospel to the Jews (2:4); (2) to God-
fearing gentiles (10:46); and (3) to followers of John the Baptist
who had not previously followed Christ (19:6).
I Corinthians mentions "kinds of tongues" (12:10, 28), inter-
pretation of tongues" (12:10), "strange tongues" (14:21), and
"tongue" or "tongues" (12:30; 13:1, 8; 14:2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 13, 14, 18,
19, 22, 23, 26, 27, 39).
Let us spell this out somewhat more fully. While the noun
glossolalia does not appear in the New Testament, the phrase "to
speak with tongues" (glossais lalein) does appear, and there are
frequent occurrences of the word glossa, which is a component of
glossolalia. Glossa has three referents in New Testament Greek:
(1) the physiological organ of taste or speech;
(2) language or a manner of speech;
(3) what might be called undiscernible or "obscure speech"
(Kittel) and "the broken speech of persons in religious
ectasy" (Arndt-Gingrich).
(1 ) Glossa unmistakably refers to the tongue as "a physical
organ of speech" in Mark 7:33 and 35 where Jesus "touched (a
dumb man's tongue," and it was released ... and he spoke
plainly." Other passages employingglossa in this manner include:
Lk. 1:64; 16:24; Rom. 3:13; 14:11; I Cor. 14:9; Jas. 3:5-6; I Jo.
3:18; I Pet. 3:10; and Rev. 16:10.
Glossa is used in a figurative sense as the physical organ in
Acts 2:3 "tongues of fire"; Acts 2:26 "my tongue rejoiced"; and
Phil. 2:11 "every tongue confess."
(2) The second use of glossa, that of "language or manner of
speech," is found only in Acts and Revelation. In Acts 2:11 glossa
is used as language in "we hear them telling in our own tongues the
mighty works of God." This parallels verses 6 and 8 where dialecto
is used with perhaps the same meaning.
In Revelation the use of glossa for language is always in a
figurative or personified sense as a synonym for "tribe," "people,"
and "nation" in order to distinguish one liguistic group from an-
other (cf. 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; and 17:15).
(3) It is the third usage that concerns us here, however: that
of glossa as "strange or ecstatic speech" now sometimes called

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glossolalia. Before going on to review the references in this
category briefly and then probe into the text of special concern for
this essay, let us pause for one observation.
In light of this special usage of glossa it would be very helpful
to have in English a corresponding special term to designate
glossolalia. Various translations of the Bible have used para-
phrastic renderings which have, because they are varied, and often
biased in favor of a particular point of view, tended to obscure
rather than clarify the actual meaning. The Geneva Bible of 1560,
for example, used "strange tongues"; the KJV if 1611 used "un-
known tongues"; the NEB of 1961-70 used "ecstatic speech,"
"the language of ecstasy," "tongues of ecstasy," and "ecstatic
utterance." The modem Today's English Version of 1966 used
"speak with strange sounds."
Perhaps the best word is simply the Greek itself-glossolalia.
But even here we must exercise care to clarify whether it is the
Acts "languages which are understandable" or the I Cor. "devo-
tional, undiscernible glossas" that we mean. I suggest that
perhaps we should use glossolalia only in the sense of I Cor. and
use "languages unknown to the speakers" to translate "tongues"
in Acts 2:4; 10:46; and 19:6.1
Now to glossa as glossolalia. This third usage is confined to I
Cor. 12, 13, and 14 and appears there a total of 20 times: in I Cor.
12:10, 28, 30; 13:1, 8; and 14:1-39 (15 5times).
I Cor. 12:10 and 28 appear to refer to the gifts (charismaton) .
of various kinds of glossas for use in worship:
vs. 10-"For... by the Spirit there is given ... various kinds
of tongues (hereto gene glosson)."
vs. 28-"And God set some in the church ... diversities of
tongues (gene glosson)."
I Cor. 13:1 and 8 are as follows:
vs. 1-"If I speak with the tongues (glossais) of men and
angels ..."

this would give us a term by which to distinguish speaking in tongues as the initial
physical evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit with what we know as "prayer
language" or devotional tongues. Perhaps this would be helpfulfor present-day discussion
of problems of understanding in this area.

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 vs. 8-"There are tongues; they will cease (eite glossai,
pausontai)." We shall return to this verse shortly.
I Cor. 14 has 16 references to "tongues" in the verses earlier
mentioned and all are this third meaning: "obscure or ecstatic
speech." The only exception is verse 21, a quote of Isa. 28:11, "By
men of strange tongues (ev heteroglossois) and by the lips of
foreigners will I speak to this people."
Here we have a brief review of every reference to tongues
within the New Testament.
Now we proceed to I Cor. 13:8: Eite glossai, pausontai. KJV,
"... whether there be tongues they shall cease ..." RSV, "... as
for tongues, they will cease ..." TEV, "... there are gifts of
speaking, but they will cease ..."
This is a quite simple, straightforward statement. The basis
for disagreement among interpreters of this passage cannot be its
lack of clarity or its equivocation. The meaning of the passage is
clear: TONGUES SHALL CEASE.
Tongues in the third sense of obscure or ecstatic speech as an
act of worship or ministry shall cease-stop altogether. The basis
for disagreement, however, is the question, "WHEN SHALL
THE CEASING BEGIN?"
A very common interpretation put forth by a number of
scholars including Ungerl and Bruner2 might be summarized as
follows:
There are three stages in the development: (1) first, pro-
phecy, tongues and knowledge will cease and pass away (I Cor.
13:8); (2) then faith, hope and love will remain (I Cor. 13:13); and
(3) finally, love alone is everlasting (I Cor. 13:13).
This is the way it unfolds:
When Jesus returns, faith will be turned into sight and hope
will be realized, but love will remain. When Paul says, "There
abide faith, hope and love." he means that the first three gifts will

1Merrill F. Unger, New Testament Teaching on Tongues (Grand Rapids: Kregel

Publications, 1973) 34d ed., pp. 90-101.
2F. D.Bruner,A Theologyof theHoly Spirit(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1970), esp. pp.
258-262.

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 have already disappeared. When did this take place? When the
canon of the New Testament became available in its present form
these three gifts became superfluous because they were replaced
by the written Word of God. The fixing of the canon took place at
Jamnia and Joppa in 201 A.D. Hence, the scheme which resulted
is this:
(1) The gifts of peophecy, tongues and knowledge existed
until 200 A.D.;
(2) Faith and hope will remain until the second coming of
Christ;
(3) Love, which has always existed, will continue to do so for
all eternity.
Two serious problems involved in holding such a view are (1)
first, it seems very unlikely that Paul ever considered that his
quickly written letter to the Corinthian believers would receive
wider circulation, let alone become "canonical"; and (2) second, it
is inconceivable that the author of I Cor. 7 who exhorted Christian
virgins (young women of marriageable age) not to bother to
become married because of the shortness of time before the
second coming of Jesus, would within the same letter write of a
time when contemporary worship practices would cease and a
new, more settled way emerge due to the adoption of a literary rule
of faith.
. The context of the passage under question within the section
of I Corinthians which concerns congregational worship and other
"church matters" (11:2-14:40) gives us the key to understanding
the time when tongues as a gift for devotion and ministry were
expected to cease as Paul saw it.
In I Cor. 11 Paul deals with another church matter, the proper
conduct of the Lord's Supper. In verse 26 he says: "For as often
as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's
death until he comes."
Here we are left in no doubt that the event which will termi-
nate the desirability of the eucharist is the parousaa. Until then, the
symbols of bread and wine will continue to be needed to remind
the Corinthian Christians of the great cost of redemption: the
body and blood of Jesus.

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 Now, in light of this immediate context, 13:8 seems to say that
the time of ceasing for contemporary worship practices such as the
euchczrist and the charismczta including prophecy, knowledge and
tongues is the second coming of Christ. I Cor.13:8, 10,12, indicate
the occurrence of a definite event-a "happening." The language
indicates a crisis which will end one period and usher in another. In
the earlier period the gifts were used and useful; in the latter they
will disappear because no longer needed.
The nature of this latter period is one of perfect wisdom in
which "that which is perfect" (vs. 12) will replace that which
"knows in part" (vs. 9); "is in part" (vs. 10); "understands and
thinks as a child" (vs. 11); "sees through a glass darkly" (vs. 12);
and (again) "knows in part" (vs. 13). It is a period of perfect speech
in which "that which is perfect" will replace that which "prophe-
sies in part" (vs. 9) and "speaks as a child" (vs. 11).
Then, at the coming of "that which is perfect"-the second
coming of Christ and the new age which that coming ushers in-
the one who is "a child" and who spoke (tongues), understood
(prophecy), and thought (knowledge) as a child, will become a
mature man and put away the things pertaining to his childhood.
The new period will be a period when the one who sees in a mirror
in an obscure fashion will come to see "face to face" (vs. 12) and a
time when partial knowledge shall vanish and "I shall know even as
I am known" (vs. 12).
That this position is not one adopted by Pentecostals and
Neo-Pentecostals alone is evidenced by a review of older, estab-
lished commentaries. For example, Dean Alford wrote: "Unques-
tionably the time alluded to is the coming of the Lord"; Barnes
refers to it as "heaven... a state of absolute perfection"; and
E llicott says "this verse shows by the emphatic 'then' that the time
when the gifts shall cease is the end of this dispensation. The
imperfect shall not cease until the perfect has been brought in."
Finally, G. H. Lang says, "The theory that such gifts were not
intended to be permanent in the Church of God is theory only,
without any basis in the Word of God."
More recently, F. F. Bruce has said: "It is true that, accord-
ing to I Cor. 13:8-10, prophecies, tongues, and knowledge are to be

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done away, but only 'when that which is perfect is come.' That
which is perfect is not come yet ... the literature of the period
following the apostolic age makes it plain that the gifts did not
come to a full stop with the closing of the New Testament canon."1 I
Bruce M. Metzger and David E. Dilworth writing the position
paper for the 182nd General Assembly of the United Presby-
terian Church in the U.S.A. in 1970 says: "We cannot... follow
the view of some theologians that the purely supernatural gifts
ceased with the death of the apostles. There seems no exegetical
warrant for this assumption ... We therefore conclude on the
basis of Scripture, that the practice of glossolalia should be
neither despised nor forbidden ..."2

In summary then, I submit that the "until he come" of I Cor.

11:26 and the "when that which is perfect is come" of I Cor. 13:10
are one and the same event; namely, "the blessed hope and
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ"
(Titus 2:13). It is at this time and not before that "tongues shall
cease."

1"Answers to Questions," The Harvester, (August, 1964).

20ffice of the General Assembly, 520 Witherspoon Building, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, 19107.

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