How Are Tongues a Sign for Unbelievers and the Uninformed?

Part 3 of 4 by Don Bell | ⏱️ 10 minute read

Having explored the nature of tongues in Part 1 and the practical aspects of speaking in tongues in Part 2, we now turn to one of the most fascinating dimensions of this gift: its role as a divine sign. We'll examine how God established tongues as a sign for unbelievers, revealing one of His most extraordinary methods for reaching those seeking authentic spiritual truth.

This miraculous gift of the Spirit that manifested at Pentecost continues to burst through spiritual barriers, transforming skeptics and demonstrating God's active involvement in establishing His Kingdom. It serves as a powerful bridge, transcending language barriers and offering undeniable evidence of divine presence.

Biblical Foundation: Tongues a Sign for Unbelievers

Tongues Are a SignTongues Are a Sign to Unbelievers and the Uninformed
(Source: © czdistagon/Depositphotos.com)

Paul informs us, "In the law it is written: 'With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,' says the Lord. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe" (1 Corinthians 14:21–22).

This passage, while noting resistance, ultimately demonstrates God's persistent desire to reach His people through various means. It echoes humanity's division at the Tower of Babel, where languages became a barrier between peoples and nations. Yet God, in His wisdom, would later use this very barrier into a powerful sign — more on that shortly.

For now, let's examine moments when God has chosen to sovereignly demonstrate His presence through the supernatural gift of tongues.

Modern Testimonies: When Tongues Transform Lives

Throughout Church history, the supernatural gift of tongues, a sign for unbelievers, has served as a powerful catalyst, opening doors for meaningful spiritual dialogues and profound understanding of divine truths.

When believers speak in tongues without offering an interpretation, it may confuse those unfamiliar with the practice (1 Corinthians 14:23). However, there are special moments when God inspires someone to speak in an unknown language and amazingly, listeners hear the message in their own native tongue.

This undeniable miracle serves as clear proof of God's presence. When God uses tongues as a sign for unbelievers in this supernatural way, it often sparks genuine interest, leading to important conversations and positive outcomes that help bring people into a closer relationship with God.

The Power of Personal Encounter

Let me share two experiences from my own journey to illustrate how God continues to use this gift as a sign in our day.

A Personal Anecdote

After the evening prayer meeting, several of us gathered for coffee and conversation. A Baptist man who was new to the group expressed his interest in tongues and its relation to the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Intrigued, he asked, "Could I hear what tongues sound like?" Sensing the Holy Spirit's leading, I agreed and began speaking in an unknown language. Moments later, he interrupted me and asked, "Do you speak Hebrew?"

Surprised, I replied, "No, not at all."

He then revealed that he was familiar with Hebrew, having taken a course to study the Old Testament in its original language. He had recognized certain words and phrases as I spoke, specifically referencing God and His Temple. No interpretation of the tongue had been given.

I had no idea that I had been speaking Hebrew; to me, it was just my usual experience of speaking in tongues. Other than the man himself, nobody else present heard anything but an unknown tongue.

It was a sign to the man that the gifts of the Spirit were genuine, and he went home with a renewed desire to dive deeper into studying the Scriptures, The following week, he returned and shared that he had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and could now speak in tongues fluently!

This experience perfectly illustrates how the gift of tongues can touch hearts through divine intervention, demonstrating why tongues are a sign for unbelievers. Speaking in tongues can have a significant positive effect on people's lives when it's prompted by the Holy Spirit.

This wasn't an isolated occurrence in my experience. God graciously allowed me participate in a healing service where I met a priest who relayed how tongues served as an unmistakable sign of the Holy Spirit's presence in a foreign gathering.

A Personal Anecdote

We read in Proverbs 18:16, "A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men." I've often been amazed at the opportunities God has given me to minister as an ordinary layperson without any effort on my part.

One such occasion was a special Healing Mass held at St. Ann Roman Catholic Church in Cormac, Ontario, in March 1995.

This grand church has three long aisles. Parish priest Father Neville was assigned to anoint people with oil in the center aisle, while the guest Mass celebrant Father Peter Coughlin was to anoint people in one of the side aisles.

However, because of the large number of attendees and because I had led healing retreats in the area, the organizers approached me to stand in the remaining side aisle and anoint people with holy oil.

Father Coughlin (later Monsignor) was a nationally recognized figure in Charismatic Renewal, and he had a ministry of healing that extended overseas. He had, on occasion, spoken in tongues from the pulpit, and the European congregations miraculously understood the message in their native languages without an interpretation.

Out of curiosity, I asked Father Coughlin about his first experience of speaking in tongues to a foreign congregation. He replied, "It was scary, to be honest. Humbling." He went on to explain that lacking a translator, he simply obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. He knew that people were understanding when they started coming forward for healing prayer.

When messages in tongues are miraculously understood without an interpretation, they are always an indisputable sign of God's presence for restoration and healing. These contemporary experiences demonstrate that God continues to use tongues as a sign for unbelievers today, just as He did in the Early Church. Whenever the Holy Spirit orchestrates these divine encounters, skepticism gives way to faith.

The modern accounts echo the pattern established two thousand years ago on the Day of Pentecost. To fully appreciate what God is still doing today, let's examine that foundational event more closely and understand what the first believers witnessed.

The Pentecost Pattern: God's Original Kingdom Blueprint

The Book of Acts recounts the powerful example of the gift of tongues being used as a sign for unbelieving Jews. Through manifestation of tongues as a sign for unbelievers, God demonstrated His power and presence in an unprecedented way.

On the Day of Pentecost (known as Shavuot), 120 believers were gathered in one place. Suddenly, they heard a sound like a powerful rushing wind, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in unknown tongues (Acts 2:1–4).

Luke relates, "And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and was confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?'" (Acts 2:5–8).

This miraculous occurrence astounded the crowd, and the men declared: "'We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.' So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'Whatever could this mean?'" (Acts 2:11–12).

The bewildered crowd's response reveals precisely why tongues are a sign for unbelievers — the supernatural phenomenon demanded an explanation that could only be found in God's divine intervention. That's when Peter stood and spoke of recent events surrounding Jesus, and recalled the words of the prophets saying, "'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ'" (Acts 2:36).

Reversing Babel's Curse

The event held great significance because it signaled a reversal of the curse that had been placed on humanity at the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11 reveals that God confused the languages of the people and placed them in nations to be ruled over by the sons of God, spiritual authorities over the nations (referenced in Ephesians 6:12 as "spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places").

In ancient Jewish understanding, these "sons of God" were angelic beings assigned authority over the nations — beings who later rebelled and became the dark spiritual powers that oppose God's purposes. Israel alone remained under God's direct care, awaiting the day when all nations would be reclaimed.1

Moses wrote, "Remember the days of old, consider the years for past ages: ask thy father, and he shall relate to thee, thine elders, and they shall tell thee. When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel was the line of his inheritance" (Deuteronomy 32:7–9 LXX).2

Isaiah prophesied the future outpouring of the Spirit of God, saying, "'It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory. I will set a SIGN among them ...'" (Isaiah 66:18–19, emphasis added). This prophecy beautifully foreshadowed how God would make tongues a sign for unbelievers, a powerful tool for breaking down barriers between nations.

Two thousand years later at Pentecost, the significant sign was revealed: the diversity of languages was no longer a barrier. Through the outpouring of supernatural tongues, God united all languages and nations under Jesus in the Kingdom of God, fulfilling the prophetic words of Moses and Isaiah.

The "devout Jewish men from every nation under Heaven" (Jews of the Diaspora who had returned for the feast) who witnessed the outpouring of tongues on the Day of Shavuot were well aware of this significant occurrence. It made the spoken tongues a sign for unbelievers that Jesus had ascended to become King over all the nations on Earth.

At Babel, God divided humanity through confused languages and scattered them under spiritual authorities. At Pentecost, He reunited humanity through supernatural tongues and gathered them under Christ's Lordship — a complete reversal.

Languages Spoken or Languages Heard?

The Pentecost account raises an intriguing question that scholars and believers have pondered for centuries: Did God enable the believers to speak in tongues native to the devout men from every nation under Heaven? Or did He enable the devout men to "hear" their native languages as the believers spoke in heavenly tongues? Both explanations are plausible because of God's sovereignty, and I will leave it for you to decide.

However, I believe God might have caused the men to hear their native languages as the unknown tongues were spoken. It would have been challenging for them to distinguish one specific language amid the chaotic noise of over one hundred people loudly speaking in tongues within such a large crowd. Besides, the Scripture records that "everyone heard them speak in his own language," with no mention of known languages or interpretations being spoken (Acts 2:6).

The Sign's Continuing Purpose

Whether through miraculous speaking or supernatural hearing, the basic purpose remains clear — God's purpose in establishing tongues as a sign for unbelievers continues to demonstrate His sovereign power across generational, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. This pattern has remained consistent throughout Church history, confirming the timeless nature of this divine gift and the establishment of God's Kingdom.

Understanding How Tongues Serve as a Sign for Unbelievers: Moving Forward

We've covered significant ground in this study. Understanding how tongues serve as a sign for unbelievers adds another crucial dimension to our study. We've seen how God used this gift at Pentecost to reverse the curse of Babel and unite all nations under Jesus. We've witnessed modern testimonies of skeptics transformed when they heard believers speaking their native languages through supernatural utterance.

But one intriguing question remains, a question believers have pondered for generations: Did Jesus Himself speak in tongues?

While the Gospels don't give us a direct answer, there are fascinating passages that offer compelling clues. In our final article, we'll examine the historical languages Jesus spoke, explore His prayer life, and consider the biblical evidence that suggests He might have experienced this gift of the Holy Spirit.

Continue to Part 4: Did Jesus Speak in Tongues? The Biblical Evidence.

Endnotes

1 The concept of angelic beings ("sons of God") ruling over the nations comes from an ancient interpretive tradition known as Divine Council theology. This framework, rooted in passages like Deuteronomy 32:8–9, Psalm 82, and Daniel 10:13–21, understands that God originally assigned angelic authorities to govern the nations after Babel's dispersion.

The Septuagint (LXX) reading of Deuteronomy 32:8 — "according to the number of the angels of God" — is supported by the Dead Sea Scrolls, which predate the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text by centuries. Many scholars consider this the more original reading, as it explains why the later Masoretic scribes might have changed "angels of God" to "sons of Israel" (a theologically safer phrase, though inaccurate).

Psalm 82 depicts God judging these divine beings for their corruption: "I said, 'You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes'" (Psalm 82:6–7). Jesus Himself quoted this passage in John 10:34.

This background sheds light on why Pentecost was so significant. When the Holy Spirit arrived on the Day of Pentecost and people from "every nation under heaven" heard the Gospel in their own languages, it signaled that God was reclaiming the nations from these rebellious powers. The scattered peoples of Babel were being gathered back under the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the Kingdom of God.

For further study on this topic, I recommend Dr. Michael S. Heiser's book The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Lexham Press, 2015), which explores these concepts in easy-to-understand yet scholarly depth.

2 The Septuagint (LXX) is the Koine Greek translation of the Old Testament quoted by the New Testament writers, particularly by Paul. The "angels of God" ("sons of God" ESV) translation is supported in the oldest Hebrew texts, the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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About the Author

Don Bell of Kingdom Anointing

Don Bell is the creator of the Kingdom Anointing website and a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ. He shares insights from his spiritual journey to encourage ordinary believers to seek God's Kingdom and walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.


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