I often hear or read well-meaning preachers suggest that if we are serious about reaching this generation with the gospel, then we must speak their language, or bring it to their level. In other words, we need to get rid of our religious sounding vocabulary. I suggest that’s a mistake. Pentecost offers a paradigm for doing missionary preaching.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
The other tongues of the Bible. The words of Scripture are other tongues to an unbelieving world. The biblical imagination is one that is alien to modern and post-modern world. The Bible speaks the language of miracles, wonders, and terrors. Words that are common in scripture are as a foreign language to the uninitiated: sin, propitiation, repentance, saved, regeneration, sanctification, holiness, and many others. Just as the other tongues of Pentecost left the streets of Jerusalem perplexed, the words of the Bible can leave unbelievers confused and mystified.
Even so, the language and imagination of the Bible is divinely inspired – God breathed. Language transcends demographics, socio-economics, and ethnicity. Language can separate us, or unite us (cf. Gen. 11:6-8; Acts 2:7-8). Language has a symbolic function that forms the world around us. That’s precisely why we must embrace the other tongues of the God-breathed scriptures. The biblical words and images – sin and salvation, death and resurrection, sanctification and holiness – form a new human community, the church. If we fail to speak the other tongues of the Scripture we will lose our identity as God’s special people.
The other tongues of Pentecostalism. Early Pentecostals spoke in other tongues, that is, they used a vocabulary that was unfamiliar even to the Christian world of the early 20th century. Pentecostals once used phrases like “tarry at the altar,” “praying through,” “revival fire” and words like conviction, worldliness, and yielded. As we have ceased using the language of Pentecostalism, we have witnessed the decline of Pentecostal spirituality. In rejection of legalism we have embraced license. As we have resisted the wildfire of excess, we have quenched the flames of the Spirit. Just as Paul exhorted, “Do not forbid to speak in tongues” (1 Cor. 14:39), we should not replace the theological language of the Faith with generic terms with dubious meanings. If we cease to speak the language of Pentecostalism, we forfeit our spirituality.
We need to practice interpretation of tongues. Other tongues without proper interpretation can promote confusion and even madness (1 Cor. 14:23). The proper practice of speaking in tongues requires prayerful and discerning interpretation (cf. 1 Cor. 14:13). God-breathed words must be rightly divided (2 Tim. 2:15 NKJV), that is, correctly explained (2 Tim. 2:15 NLT). The signs of Pentecost provoked a question: “What does this mean?” (Acts 2:12). With that question, Peter offered an interpretation of the Pentecost event using language of the Faith (Acts 2:14ff). The biblical and theological language of the Christian faith is not a hindrance to God’s mission, but integral to it. Theological language forms faith (Ro. 10:17: Gal. 3:5; Eph. 4:29; 1 Tim. 4:16). Just as speaking in tongues edifies the human spirit, speaking in theological tongues with the proper interpretation edifies the unbeliever and believer alike (1 Cor. 14:22). Paul has told us that the Christian message can appear offensive and foolish to unbelievers (1 Cor. 1:23). Even so, effective missionary preaching IS NOT simplifying the Christian message, but a straightforward proclamation of the Gospel.
