Three Tongues

Acts2:3. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. [Here the Holy Ghost filled them & then it gave them utterance, the 2nd tongue, but possibly also the 1st tongue] 5. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. [2nd tongue] 7. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8. And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9. Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10. Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11. Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues [2nd tongue] the wonderful works of God.

I Cor 14 5. I would that ye all spake with tongues [1st tongue]; but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that [1st & 3rd tongues]prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.

I Cor 14:13. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue [1st tongue] pray that he may interpret. [with 2nd Tongue] 14. For if I pray in an unknown tongue [1st tongue], my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.

I Cor 14:18. I thank my God, I speak with tongues [1st Tongue] more than ye all: 19. Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice [2nd or 3rd Tongue] I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

I Cor 12 4. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10. To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues [1st, 2nd and 3rd tongues]; to another the interpretation of tongues: [Divers kinds of tongues apparently includes all 3 kinds of Tongues while interpretation of Tongue goes along with 3rd Tongue] 11. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14. For the body is not one member, but many.

1st Tongue: speaker speaks in a tongue unknown to himself (and possibly as a witness to others), apparently for God's understanding alone.
2nd Tongue: speaker speaks apparently in his own language but the listeners hear him in their own foreign languages
3rd Tongue: speaker speaks in tongue understood by no one present & is then interpreted by some one into the common language

Wouldn't the 1st tongue be the speakers native language?

Wouldn't the 2nd tongue be speaking by the power of the holy Spirit, another language as demonstrated in Acts 2?

And then wouldn't the 3rd tongue be an angelic tongue, not recognized by anyone on earth, only those given the gift of interpreting it?

The numbering and the definitions were mine alone from something I wrote to a friend a couple of years ago. The three that I identified would be the type of diverse tongues considered as gifts of the Spirit. Your first one, the person's own native language would not be a gift of the Spirit unless the hearers who did not understand the speakers language thought through God's intervention that they were hearing their own language being spoken. This is what I identified as #2.

My #1 and my #3 may well be the same, one with an interpreter for the benefit of others present, and the other without an interpreter between the speaker and God. I separated the two because it seems to me that they are different. I pray in tongues daily, but that is a private thing between me and God. This is the one that I see Paul admonishing against using in the church in the following verse:

"But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God." I Cor 14:28

I have never given an interpretation of a message in tongues, nor have I have I ever given a message in tongues which was interpreted. Therefore I attempt to keep my tongue talking out of the church. However, my wife has done both on several occasions. I regard her gift as a different gift than mine. Are the unknown or angelic languages spoken in these two manifestations or gifts ever the same? I am unable to answer that question. Perhaps you or someone else can.

I have never heard anyone speak in a language that I recognized, but I have heard testimonies of people who have heard such known language messages given by someone who did not know the language. [I do speak both Spanish and German, but I learned both of them in school and in the countries where they are spoken by the natives.]

I don't speak in any tongue but my own, I have never asked for this gift, nor at this point do I covet it, I have enough gifts from my perspective.

I do have some questions that maybe you have some insight on.

What do you believe is the tongues of men and of angels that Paul speaks about in 13 of 1 Corinthians?

Do you think only born again believers can be given the gift of praying in tongues, or can G-d use this in anyone?

Do you think that only the Holy Spirit can cause these tongue to spill forth off of a humans tongue or is this something that the fallen ones can also do?

Psalms_119:105 wrote:

I don't speak in any tongue but my own, I have never asked for this gift, nor at this point do I covet it, I have enough gifts from my perspective.

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Phil 4:11

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I do have some questions that maybe you have some insight on.

What do you believe is the tongues of men and of angels that Paul speaks about in 13 of 1 Corinthians?

I believe that he means to include any and every kind of tongue that exists because no tongue, ultimately, is worth anything if there is no charity in the one with the tongue!

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Do you think only born again believers can be given the gift of praying in tongues, or can G-d use this in anyone?

Without getting into what born again is an who is born again, I think that to receive a gift of tongues, a person must be a believer in God. But...having said that there are people who speak in unknown tongues who are not believers in God. They are not God's people. They are, in effect, wolves in sheep's clothing, but who are they able to deceive? Only those who do not have God's covering and protection. Unfortunately, since none of the believers that I know (including me) are overcomers as Jesus was, all are susceptible to being deceived when they take their eyes off of Him for even a moment.

I believe that a person who has served God can backslide. When I backslid for a long period of time a number of years ago, I did not speak in tongues at all. Could I have? I am not certain, but I believe not. I was cold in my own spirit at the time and when I finally was attempting to come back from God (unsuccessfully while alone) and I opened my mouth to pray, it was English words that came out. Now when I open my mouth to pray and/or worship God the unknown tongue often simply flows out. There is no conscience effort made on my part to speak that language as there is when I want to speak in German or Spanish. I believe that if I had spoken any unknown language while backslid, it would not have been a language favored by God.

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Do you think that only the Holy Spirit can cause these tongue to spill forth off of a humans tongue or is this something that the fallen ones can also do?

As I at least inferred above, there are tongues which are not of God. But...in a sense I believe that they are. To explain myself on this point you must understand something of what I believe. I believe that everyone is working FOR God or WITH God. Those that are what would call saved should be working WITH Him. The others who do not believe in Him or who choose not to serve Him are nonetheless working FOR Him. A good example of what I mean here is found in Joseph and his 10 older brothers. His brothers intended to hurt him, and in doing so they were working FOR God, but not WITH Him. God used the evil purpose of the brothers to accomplish His will in the life of Joseph. Joseph was working WITH God.

Remember that God created all things. God also always had a plan. He never changed His plan because He had made a mistake. He did not make mistakes. Everything that happened to Joseph was according to His plan. I do not believe that God made the brothers do evil to Joseph to accomplish His purpose. Rather, I believe that God used what was happening to accomplish His purpose.

When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, but is not serving God, Gdo can and does use such a negative thing for His purpose as well. For example, such a tongue might be used by God as a delusion for someone who had not received "the love of truth" [as per II Thess 2: 10-12]

Thank you for your answer Amadeus.