The Writers of the New Testament Spoke in Tongues

In this post, I will show that the New Testament was written by Christians that spoke in tongues.  This will be short and direct because it is so easy to see.  Here we go…

The authors of the letters that make up the New Testament in our Bible are as follows:

• Matthew – One of the original 12 apostles
• Mark – A disciple and close friend of Peter, and a close friend and traveling companion of Paul
• Luke – A close friend and traveling companion of Paul
• John – One of the original 12 apostles
• Paul – Originally persecuted Christians, but was miraculously converted after Jesus appeared to him.  He wrote two-thirds of the New Testament
• James – Brother of Jesus
• Peter – One of the original 12 apostles
• Jude – Brother of Jesus

That is the list of authors.  Now let us look at a passage of scripture that tells us about most of them:

Acts 1:13-14 – And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

According to that passage, Matthew, John, and Peter (apostles), along with James and Jude (brothers of Jesus) were all in the upper room, just before the events on the day of Pentecost took place.

Here is what happened just a few verses later:

Acts 2:1-4 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

It says that all of those that were present spoke in tongues.  So we can be certain that Matthew, John, Peter, James, and Jude all spoke in tongues because they were all there.  That takes care of five of the eight authors.  Only Paul, Mark, and Luke remain.

I will address Paul next. Here is what he says about himself in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 14:18 – I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all

We see here that Paul most definitely spoke in tongues.  He was very happy and thankful about it, and he did it a lot!

Here are some other important facts about Paul and tongues that will come into play for Mark and Luke:

• Paul is the main source for the verses that explain the purposes and benefits of speaking in tongues.
• Paul made a it a high priority to make sure other believers received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
• Paul encouraged believers to speak in tongues often (1 Cor 14:14-15, Eph 6:18).

Now we are down to only Mark and Luke.

We do not have a verse of scripture that explicitly tells us whether or not they spoke in tongues.  However, we do know with certainty that they were close friends and traveling companions of Paul, and were very active in ministry in the early church.  That is an important thing to consider.

Since we know the importance that Paul (and the rest of the early church) placed on speaking in tongues, it is almost certain that Mark and Luke received the Holy Spirit baptism and spoke in tongues.  It is highly unlikely that Paul would lead strangers into this experience (Acts 19:1-6), but never lead his close friends into it.  I am on very safe ground when I say I confidently believe that Mark and Luke spoke in tongues.

In conclusion, we know with absolute certainty that six of the eight authors of the New Testament spoke in tongues.  We also know beyond any reasonable doubt that the remaining two authors did as well.

Your New Testament was written by people that spoke in tongues.