Technically anytime a preacher preaches the word of God, he is speaking in a tongue, because the word linguistically means a language. The event or phenomena of speaking in tongues (incorrect because you can only speak in a single language at any one time) is when God intervened in the “normal” preaching and teaching in a miraculous way. What was the primary focus of Acts 2? A feeling that the Holy Spirit provoked on those present? Everybody “praising God in tongues” lifting their hands and feeling spiritually different, sensing the presence of God? Where do you see that kind of thing in the text? You don’t. The emphasis was missionary. Getting the Word of God, the Gospel to those without knowledge of Jesus Christ. The focus was always on Jesus’ work on the Cross and resurrection. Therefore speaking in tongues in the Scripture is where God moved men to boldly speak the work of God to people present that didn’t speak these ministers’ own language. This speaking in a foreign language is the vehicle by which they communicated the truth of God to the unsaved. 1) It was in a public forum in Acts 2, with foreigners present (equally in 1Cor 14). Today the focus in not on communicating to people of a different language that those Christians preaching. 2) The special divine intervention where men miraculously spoke in a different language to unsaved people of that language present, was clearly marked to cease. It was a sign to unbelieving Israel, not for the church.

3) In 1Cor 14, the issue was disorder and ungodly things happening in the services, and tongues were part of that. Paul does not command that everybody should speak in tongues, but rather relegates tongues speaking (preaching in a foreign language to those foreigners present) to an inferior and minor importance. If there are foreigners present, let them have a translator. Otherwise, don’t let these sermons and speeches in foreign languages take a major part of the service, because that is incorrect according to Paul.

Moreover, Paul gives a series of rules or criteria to decide whether something is of God or not. Obviously modern tongues speaking breaks these criteria regularly and has to be condemned as unbiblical. Whether it is done in Corinth during the time of Paul or today, Paul’s words condemns the practice heavily because it breaks with all spiritual criteria of what is godly. Confusion, women speaking, multiple people speaking at the same time, no interpretation back into the langauge of the majority, etc. Everything focuses on that communication to foreigners in tongues speaking. In an American church with all people who have English as their native language, where does tongues fit in? It doesn’t, and it is just a prideful thing people exalt themselves with. On the one extreme, I believe it has all the marks of demon activity, and on the other, it is just out of place and not right.