This exploration delves into the biblical understanding of speaking in tongues, examining key passages to determine its purpose and duration.

In Numbers chapter 11, God instructs Moses to gather seventy elders of Israel to help bear the burden of leadership. God promises to take some of the Spirit that is upon Moses and place it upon these elders (Numbers 11:16-17). When this occurs, as described in verses 24-25, the Spirit rests upon the seventy elders, and they prophesy. Significantly, the text notes they "never did so again." This incident establishes a principle: the visible, miraculous manifestation (in this case, prophecy) served as a temporary sign confirming that the Spirit had indeed been given to these individuals for their specific role.

This principle finds resonance in the New Testament, particularly on the Day of Pentecost described in Acts chapter 2. As the apostles were gathered, the Holy Spirit descended upon them with visible and audible signs (wind, tongues of fire). Crucially, they "were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). These "tongues" were actual foreign languages understood by the diverse crowd gathered in Jerusalem, languages the Galilean apostles wouldn't naturally know. Peter later explains to the crowd that what they "now see and hear" (Acts 2:33) – the speaking in tongues – is the evidence of the resurrected and ascended Jesus pouring out the promised Holy Spirit. Like the prophecy of the elders in Numbers, the miraculous speaking in tongues at Pentecost served as an undeniable sign that the Spirit had been given.

A similar event occurs in Acts 10, during the pivotal moment when the gospel is first formally preached to Gentiles in the household of Cornelius. As Peter speaks, the Holy Spirit falls upon these Gentile listeners (Acts 10:44). The Jewish believers accompanying Peter were astonished because they heard the Gentiles "speak with tongues and magnify God" (Acts 10:46). When Peter recounts this event to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 11), this speaking in tongues is presented and accepted as the definitive sign from God that He had granted "repentance to life" (Acts 11:18) to the Gentiles, validating their inclusion in God's plan. Again, tongues functioned as a confirmatory sign of the Spirit's outpouring upon a new group.

Further insight comes from Philip's ministry in Samaria (Acts 8). Philip preached, performed miracles, and many Samaritans believed and were baptized. However, Luke explicitly states that the Holy Spirit "had fallen upon none of them" until the apostles Peter and John arrived from Jerusalem and laid their hands on the believers (Acts 8:15-17). Simon the Sorcerer observed that it was specifically "through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given" (Acts 8:18), implying a visible manifestation occurred, consistent with the pattern of sign gifts.

This connection between the apostles' actions and the reception of the Spirit's miraculous gifts is confirmed in Acts 19. Paul finds disciples in Ephesus, ensures they are baptized correctly in Jesus' name, and then "laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:6).

The ability to impart these miraculous gifts, including tongues, is consistently linked to the ministry of the apostles through the laying on of their hands (Acts 8, Acts 19). Nowhere in the New Testament is this specific type of miraculous gift-giving shown to occur apart from the direct presence or action of an apostle. Therefore, given that the foundational role of the apostles was completed in the first century and they are no longer physically present to lay hands in this manner, the conclusion drawn is that the specific, miraculous sign gift of speaking in tongues, as demonstrated in Acts, has ceased along with the apostolic age.