1 Corinthians 14:23: Speaking in Tongues

1 Corinthians 14:23: with everyone speaking in tongues, Paul and Plato saw this as madness: Plato thought that it was good, Paul condemned it.

Paul warned that by speaking in tongues they were speaking to god and we believe that was Juno or one of the various "wind" gods of the pagans. This is confirmed by 14:9 when Paul said that they were just "speaking into the air." This was the common practice of speaking to the god or ghost who was believed to be in the air: a principality and power of the air. Furthermore, we have no evidence that any of them had any spiritual gifts and we know that their sexual tolerance was much like that of the surrounding Greek religions.

Platonic love was "the love of a man for a young boy" and Paul seriously addressed this in the Roman letter. All of these facts conspire to warn us that Corinth had not yet moved out of the "carnal" life of paganism and into a spiritual (rational) relationship with a rational God Who is pure or Holy Spirit.

He clearly warned in 1 Corinthians 14:23:

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 1 Corinthians 14:23

The "sign" for the unbelievers was not of a spiritual meeting but to mark them as just another group involved in pagan religion. Based upon his second letter, we doubt that Corinth ever totally rejected the madness of speaking in tongues because some would fall for their claim that they were inspired.

Madness is from

Manteuomai (g3132) mant-yoo'-om-ahee; from a der. of 3105 (mean. a prophet, as supposed to rave through inspiration); to divine, i.e. utter spells under pretence of foretelling: - by soothsaying.

"From mantis, a seer, diviner. The word is allied to mainomai, "To rave," and mania, "fury" displayed by those who were possessed by an evil spirit represented by the pagan god or goddess while delivering their oracular message." Vine

Mainomai (mainomai) (g3105) mah'ee-nom-ahee; mid. from a prim. maoÑ , (to long for; through the idea of insensate craving); to rave as a "maniac": - be beside self (mad)

But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. Acts 26:25

Plato's dialog between Socrates and Phaedrus speaking in tongues,

Socrates: Understand then, fair youth, that the former discourse was by Phaedrus, the son of Pythocles (Eager for Fame) of Myrrhinus (Myrrhtown); but this which I shall speak is by Stesichorus, son of Euphemus (Man of pious Speech) of Himera (Town of Desire). And I must say that this saying is not true, which teaches that when a lover is at hand the non-lover should be more favored, because the lover is insane, and the other sane.

For if it were a simple fact that insanity is an evil, the saying would be true;

but in reality the greatest of blessings come to us through madness, when it is sent as a gift of the gods.

Io in Prometheus Bound states:

Oh! Oh! Alas! Once again convulsive pain and frenzy, striking my brain, inflame me. I am stung by the gadfly's barb, unforged by fire. My heart knocks at my ribs in terror; my eyeballs roll wildly round and round. I am carried out of my course by a fierce blast of madness; I've lost all mastery over my tongue, and a stream of turbid words beats recklessly against the billows of dark destruction.

For the prophetess at Delphi and the priestesses at Dodona when they have been mad have conferred many splendid benefits upon Greece both in private and in public affairs,

but few or none when they have been in their right minds;

and if we should speak of the Sibyl and all the others who by prophetic inspiration have foretold many things to many persons and thereby made them fortunate afterwards, anyone can see that we should speak a long time. And it is worth while to adduce also the fact that those men of old who invented names

thought that madness was neither shameful nor disgraceful;

otherwise they would not have connected the very word mania with the noblest of arts, that which foretells the future, by calling it the manic art.

No, they gave this name thinking that mania, when it comes by gift of the gods, is a noble thing,

but nowadays people call prophecy the mantic art,

tastelessly inserting a T in the word.

So also, when they gave a name to the investigation of the future

which rational persons conduct through observation of birds and by other signs, since they furnish mind (nous) and information (historia) to human thought (oiesis) from the intellect (dianoia) they called it the oionoistic (oionoistike) art, which modern folk now call oionistic making it more high-sounding by introducing the long O.

The ancients, then testify that in proportion as prophecy (mantike) is superior to augury, both in name and in fact, in the same proportion madness, which comes from god, is superior to sanity, which is of human origin.

Moreover, when diseases and the greatest troubles have been visited upon certain families through some ancient guilt, madness has entered in and by oracular power has found a way of release for those in need,

taking refuge in prayers and the service of the gods, and so, by purifications and sacred rites, he who has this madness is made safe for the present and the after time, and for him who is rightly possessed of madness a release from present ills is found.

And a third kind of possession and madness comes from the Muses.

This takes hold upon a gentle and pure soul,

arouses it and inspires it to songs and other poetry, and thus by adorning countless deeds of the ancients educates later generations.

But he who without the divine madness comes to the doors of the Muses, confident that he will be a good poet by art,

meets with no success, and

the poetry of the sane man vanishes into nothingness before that of the inspired madmen.

All these noble results of inspired madness I can mention, and many more. Therefore let us not be afraid on that point, and let no one disturb and frighten us

by saying that the reasonable friend
should be preferred to him who is in a frenzy.
Let him show in addition that love is not sent from heaven for the advantage of lover and beloved alike, and we will grant him the prize of victory.

We, on our part, must prove that such madness is given by the gods for our greatest happiness; and

our proof will not be believed by the merely clever,
but will be accepted by the truly wise. (Where is the wise? Paul)

"Not only the shapes but also the sounds of primitive instruments are often rich in symbolism. The sound of the flute, for example, is widely associated with love magic. Among the tribes of the northeast and Great Plains of North America, young men played the flute to serenade young women; in New Guinea, flutes and flute music are connected with rites of sexual initiation. In some cultures, instrument symbolism is highly developed. For the Tucano Indians of Colombia, instrument sounds constitute a symbolic taxonomy comprising three levels: whistling, vibration, and percussion.

The whistling of a flute connotes sexual invitation, while vibration, represented by such instruments as the indigenous clarinet and the bull-roarer,

symbolizes a warning or threat. Percussive sounds produced by drums and various rattles

symbolize the uniting of male and female. "wind instrument" Encyclopædia Britannica Online.

Plato: I might tell of many other noble deeds which have sprung from inspired madness. And therefore, let no one frighten or flutter us

by saying that the temperate friend is to be chosen rather than the inspired,

but let him further show that love is not sent by the gods for any good to lover or beloved;

if he can do so we will allow him to carry off the palm.

Likening prophecy to driving a chariot with winged horses, he continues:

The reason why the souls exhibit this exceeding eagerness to behold the plain of truth is that pasturage is found there, which is suited to the highest part of the soul; and the wing on which the soul soars is nourished with this.

And there is a law of Destiny, that the soul which attains any vision of truth

in company with a god is preserved from harm until the next period, and if attaining always is always unharmed.

But when she is unable to follow, and fails to behold the truth, and through some ill-hap sinks beneath the double load of forgetfulness and vice, and her wings fall from her and she drops to the ground, then the law ordains that this soul shall at her first birth pass, not into any other animal, but only into man;

and the soul which has seen most of truth shall come to the birth as a philosopher, or artist, or some musical and loving nature;

that which has seen truth in the second degree shall be some righteous king or warrior chief;

the soul which is of the third class shall be a politician, or economist, or trader;

the fourth shall be lover of gymnastic toils, or a physician;

the fifth shall lead the life of a prophet or hierophant;

to the sixth the character of poet or some other imitative artist will be assigned;

to the seventh the life of an artisan or husbandman;

to the eighth that of a sophist or demagogue;

to the ninth that of a tyrant-all these are states of probation, in which he who does righteously improves, and he who does unrighteously, improves, and he who does unrighteously, deteriorates his lot.

Now he who is not newly initiated or who has become corrupted, does not easily rise out of this world to the sight of true beauty in the other; he looks only at her earthly namesake, and instead of being awed at the sight of her, he is given over to pleasure, and like a brutish beast he rushes on to enjoy and beget; he consorts with wantonness, and is not afraid or ashamed of pursuing pleasure in violation of nature.

But he whose initiation is recent, and who has been the spectator of many glories in the other world,

is amazed when he sees any one having a godlike face or form,

which is the expression of divine beauty; and

at first a shudder runs through him, and again the old awe steals over him;

then looking upon the face of his beloved as of a god he reverences him, and if he were not afraid of being thought a downright madman,

he would sacrifice to his beloved as to the image of a god;

then while he gazes on him there is a sort of reaction, and the shudder passes into an unusual heat and perspiration; for, as he receives the effluence of beauty through the eyes, the wing moistens and he warms. And as he warms, the parts out of which the wing grew, and which had been hitherto closed and rigid, and had prevented the wing from shooting forth, are melted, and as nourishment streams upon him, the lower end of the wings begins to swell and grow from the root upwards; and the growth extends under the whole soul-for once the whole was winged.

During this process the whole soul is all in

a state of ebullition and effervescence,-

which may be compared to the irritation and uneasiness in the gums at the time of cutting teeth,-bubbles up,

and has a feeling of uneasiness and tickling; speaking in tongues,

but when in like manner the soul is beginning to grow wings, the beauty of the beloved meets her eye and she receives the sensible warm motion of particles which flow towards her,

therefore called emotion (imeros), and is refreshed and warmed by them, and then she ceases from her pain with joy. But when she is parted from her beloved and her moisture fails, then the orifices of the passage out of which the wing shoots dry up and close, and intercept the germ of the wing;

which, being shut up with the emotion, throbbing as with the pulsations of an artery, pricks the aperture which is nearest,

until at length the entire soul is pierced and maddened and pained,

and at the recollection of beauty is again delighted. And from both of them together the soul is oppressed at the strangeness of her condition, and is in a great strait and excitement, and in her madness can neither sleep by night nor abide in her place by day.

After this their happiness depends upon their self-control; if the better elements of the mind which lead to order and philosophy prevail, then they pass their life here in happiness and harmony-masters of themselves and orderly-enslaving the vicious and emancipating the virtuous elements of the soul; and when the end comes,

"they are light and winged for flight, 1 Corinthians 14:23,

having conquered in one of the three heavenly or truly Olympian victories; nor can human discipline or divine inspiration confer any greater blessing on man than this.

If, on the other hand, they leave philosophy and

lead the lower life of ambition, then probably,

after wine or in some other careless hour,

the two wanton animals take the two souls when off their guard and bring them together, and they accomplish that desire of their hearts which to the many is bliss; and this having once enjoyed they continue to enjoy, yet rarely because they have not the approval of the whole soul.

Socrates. And of madness there were two kinds; one produced by human infirmity, the other was a divine release of the soul from the yoke of custom and convention.

Phaedrus. True. 1 Corinthians 14:23,

Socrates. The divine madness was subdivided into four kinds,

prophetic,
initiatory,
poetic,
erotic,

having four gods presiding over them;

the first was the inspiration of Apollo, 1 Corinthians 14:23,
the second that of Dionysus, 1 Corinthians 14:23,
the third that of the Muses, 1 Corinthians 14:23,
the fourth that of Aphrodite and Eros. 1 Corinthians 14:23,

In the description of the last kind of madness, which was also said to be the best, we spoke of the affection of love in a figure, into which we introduced a tolerably credible and possibly true though partly erring myth, which was also a hymn in honour of Love, who is your lord and also mine, Phaedrus, and the guardian of fair children, and to him we sung the hymn in measured and solemn strain.

Unfortunately, people still interpret loud and "enthusiastic" singing and speaking as evidence of the "Spirit." However, Philo invented the word "enthusiasm" and it was enthus o mania or "the demos or gods driving you mad or insane." On the other hand, Habbakuk warned that when God is in His holy temple (us) we should be silent before Him because you cannot hear with your mouth open.

The prophets said that Jesus would not cry out to attract the crowds and Jesus did not. He demanded that true worship can only happen in spirit (in the mind) and concerned with truth (the Words of Christ which are Spirit and Life. John 6:63)

Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 14:23 that speaking in tongues and their singing would mark them as mad or insane.

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1 Corinthians 14:23: Speaking in Tongues - Plato and Madness