harwood@cvl.UUCP (David Harwood) (11/04/86)
Some more controversy - no matter what most charismatic Christians believe, or what scholars say, there is some more miss- understanding -- of what was meant by "speaking in tongues", as Paul says, "speaking in the tongues of angels". There is extra-Biblical reference to this Jewish religious concept, and no one in early Christianity "babbled" in literally unintelligible dialects. Actually, there are examples of "speaking in tongues of angels" right in the New Testament writings. I won't argue this at all since I once wrote thousands of words with references to all sorts of ancient Jewish and Christian tradition. But the basic Jewish idea is that no one knows "the mysteries of heaven (the magnificent things)" except the angels in heaven, or those who like the angels have "ascended to heaven" as Paul did (II Cor. end, which is Jewish traditional account of such ascent.). Those who were "baptised in Christ", especially those "sent by God" (a Jewish traditional concept, originating with the call of Moses in Exodus 3) -- the "apostles" (Greek for "those sent"), were likened to angels because they were admitted to the presence of God, knew the "heavenly mysteries", and were sent on missions for God, as Paul was for Christ. So, the Jewish traditional idea is that "the angels" know "the mysteries of heaven", what Paul calls "the mysteries of Christ" - for Christians. According to Jewish tradition, the angels in heaven praise God with celestial "hymns" about his mysterious but "magnificent works or things". There is one great Celestial Song (the TriSagion is most important to the Kedush though), with each angel having " a new song" to sing (cf Revelation about the songs of the saints). Well, according to Jewish tradition, "the angels" on earth glorify God in the same way as in heaven - by composing new songs (hymns) to be sung by "the choir" below in Synagogue (assembly). The subject of these "hymns" or inspired poems is "the mysteries (of Christ)" in the Christian assemblies. Now there are a number of these hymns, not only in early Jewish Christianity (eg the important Odes of Solomon which are related closely to Johanine thought), but in contemporary Jewish sects, even The Thanksgiving Hymns of the Essenes at Qumran. The latter have a similar subject generally - that of the mysteries of God's revelation and redemption, and refer to speaking of the mouth as inspired by God. But there are a number of these "angelic hymns" about the mysteries of Christ, even to be found in the New Testament. Examples, are the prologues of John, Colossians, Ephesians, Hebrews, and parts of other Pauline writings. Paul himself, as a Jew, composed many hymns himself. In fact, the hymn to love with its conclusion about mystery of knowing God (as in a glass darkly, Greek 'enigma' - referring to Numbers where Moses sees God face to face, "not as in a prophetic parable"). is ITSELF an example of such a "hymn" spoken in the tongues of angels (Paul's own composition). The Jews in Acts understood the Gentiles' "speaking in tongues", but were astonished because these who were converts to Christ were using their own Jewish RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION with its traditional prophetic figures of speech. (Judaism was an exclusivist religion by and large - about which outsiders knew nearly nothing, certainly not about their prophets teaching about the one true God.) So Luke has them joke that the converts to Christ are drunk (indeed - with the new wine). So what is Paul complaining about in I Corinthians 14, after composing his own hymn -- he is saying that the meeting is becoming a disorderly and presumptuous scandal to outsiders, who might be converted. Except that some members are "speaking in tongues (as angels)" nonsense - which even they cannot interpret. (Note he says that when we speak in tongues (of angels) we are speaking to God, and to what he calls "the initiated" (literal Greek), but "outsiders" cannot understand this sort of religious manner of speech (hymns or poems about the heavenly mysteries, which only "the angels" -those initiated- can understand). That is, while we can understand -- as Paul says earlier in I Corinthians because we share the understanding of Christ, being his members - the mind of Christ, speaking of the Spirit to those who are spiritual themselves -- nevertheless, this "speaking in tongues (of angels)" is a scandal (obstacle) to conversion of outsiders. He quotes Isaiah about this, to prove that God said that outsiders CANNOT understand such inspired religious figures of speech. Isaiah prophesied to the people, but they mock him as speaking nonsense -- as if what he said was "a strange language" to them. They cannot understand because "THUS SAITH THE LORD." (a very strange concept of Jewish religous thought even for us modern Gentile Christians, by the way, which is exactly paralleled by Jesus quotation of Isaiah to explain why he speak "in parables" (about the mysteries of the kingdom of God).) So Paul is complaining that some do not really know what they are "speaking about" (they are talking nonsense), and that, more important to Paul, this is scandalizing the conversion of outsiders, who don't understand these things yet (before their conversion). Enough controversy, I'm tired. (Ask me why did Jesus write with his finger in the ground in the story about stoning the adulteress ;-) I don't mean to offend anyone with arguments about obscure subjects, which are not very important for our faith. Yours in Christ, David Harwood