The Earliest View of New Testament Tongues

Book excerpt: This book is a groundbreaking, paradigm-shifting look at the “languages/tongues” problem (γλῶσσαι/glṓssai) of the first-century AD Corinthian church. It adduces that in a multilingual setting, new converts were expressing themselves in their native dialect without translation, where Koine Greek was not yet overriding all regional dialects. This cuts against the idea that tongues were supernatural earthly languages, an idea not found before AD 160. Vellacott also argues against the view that “tongues” were heavenly languages, as claimed by Pentecostals/Charismatics. This, he says, is a novel trend started about 145 years ago by German, higher-critical scholars and seized upon after the 1906–15 Los Angeles Azusa Street Revival’s supposed supernatural earthly languages proved to be a mirage, whereupon a redefinition to “heavenly/angelic, non-earthly languages” occurred. This book soundly establishes the credibility of an ancient third view regarding “tongues”—that they were non-supernatural, learned, earthly languages. The author endeavors to demonstrate that this is the earliest known Christian interpretation of New Testament tongues/languages.