In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.
So, I must speak in the tongue of the unbeliever if he is going to be led into the Kingdom of God. I must present his need for a Savior in terms and concepts that are comprehensible to him. No Nederlands. No Christianese. The lingua franca, the patois of the streets. The onus is on me to speak in a way that he can see his need and Jesus Christ's plan of salvation as a unified whole.
I am not called to convince him that I am a Biblical scholar and apologist par excellence, but that I have been forgiven in a way that is also open to him. This is the proper application of tongues and prophecy in this passage.
Today's readings in the Psalms:
Morning: Psalm 50
Mid-day: 119:89-96
Evening: Psalm 125
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