First, the “him” here is a later addition. As explained earlier in this thread, no one at that specific gathering understands, or better from the Greek – “hears with understanding”. They don’t understand him simply because they don’t speak his language.
I think we are in general agreement about this, except I see the language as something supernatural the speaker would not generally understand.
Why would 'in the Spirit' or 'in the spirit' designate a foreign language?
I think you misunderstood – it doesn’t refer to speaking a specific language at all. “(Praying) in the Spirit” means as I have described it earlier - Praying in the Spirit does
not refer to the words one is saying. Rather, it refers to
how one is praying. In the three places it is used (Corinthians, Ephesians, and Jude), there is absolutely zero reference to 'languages' in connection with this phrase. “Praying in the Spirit” should be understood as praying in the power of the Spirit, by the leading of the Spirit, and according to His will. In Pentecostal/Charismatic parlance however, the phase has come to be equated with modern “tongues”, i.e. when one “prays in the Spirit”, one is typically engaged in some form of tongues-speech.
I was specifically referring to the passage when I said this. I would agree that many Pentecostals and Charismatics take references to praying in the Spirit in too specific of a sense to refer to praying in tongues. What I don't get is why you would think that Paul would characterize praying in a foreign language as the spirit of the individual praying as opposed to the understanding praying.
If I were to pray in an American church full of Anglos, Blacks, and Hispanics in Malaysian, I would be praying 'with my understanding.' Why would my spirit be praying any more any more than if I were praying English. Why would my praying in Malaysian be described as speaking mysteries with my spirit? It might be a 'mystery' in a rather mundane sense if no one present understands my prayer. But it would be no more likely to be praying 'with my spirit' than if I did so in English.
Your interpretation would have us label praying in a foreign language as the spirit praying. It's just odd and doesn't really make much sense.
And there are a lot of non-mundane sounding gifts there in I Corinthians 12. Paul does call serving and leading 'gits' in Romans 12, but I Corinthians 12 is about puematikos, manifestations of the Spirit. Doesn't the natural ability to speak in languages and interpret them seem to be a poor fit for this list of gifts?
19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
He states that, despite his knowledge of languages, in a church setting, he’d rather speak a few words in a language he knows intimately, rather than a ton of words in a language that, although he may be familiar with, doesn’t quite speak it well enough to accurately convey the subtleties and nuances, particularly with such a philosophical subject as religion. Translation from one language to another isn’t as simple as it seems. I can certainly relate to his concern of wanting to “get it right”.
I am not sure what languages you think Paul knew only faintly. I thought with the diglossia theory you were of the opinion that there were rather few languages in the Grecco-Roman world, and all the Jews in the east would have spoken Greek rather than local languages.
But let's say he spoke just a bit of Lyaconian. He would still be speaking with his 'understanding' in Lyaconian, even if he had an accent and had to circumlocute a bit to get his point across. You can't speak a language without some understanding of it, unless you are just repeat someone talking, reading words you do not understand....or something supernatural is going on.
In this passage, Paul is writing about a spiritual gift referenced in a list of supernatural spiritual gifts in chapter 12. He is referring to speaking in tongues
as contrasted with speaking with the understanding.
I find your interpretations as rather loose? It's basically eisegesis, especially the diglossia idea.
I don’t see this as referring to anything but real, rational language.
The language may have been 'rational' to someone, but Paul did not understand what he was saying. He was not using his 'understanding' to speak in tongues. Basically, I showed you where Paul indicated when he prayed in tongues he did not use his mind/reasoning/understanding, and you are saying, no it doesn't mean that. It is in the passage, whether or not you want to explain it away with loose reasoning. It is not something Paul really emphasizes, but there is enough in the passage for us to surmise the speaker does not understand the language. And those the original epistle would not have needed a detailed explanation because they would have been familiar with the practice.
Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians are reading something into this passage that simply is not there. It’s a reworking/reinterpretation of the passage to fit the modern tongues phenomenon.
I think I may have read a late 1800's theological treatment of speaking in tongues that basically understood the phenomenon in I Corinthians 14 to be speakers speaking languages they did not understand. At the very least, this understanding did not start with the Pentecostal movement.
And I did show you where the passage indicates the speaker cannot understand the language. If that is what you are focusing on, no Pentecostals did not rework the interpretation of the passage. If you want to talk about reworking and reinterpreting a passage. we should consider this innovative diglossia interpretation of Acts 2 you embrace.
Keep in mind here that in the phrase “unknown tongue”, ‘unknown’ is a later addition and ‘tongue’ is simply ‘language. “Ten thousand words in a language”; If I were to add anything, I would probably insert “some” in place of ‘a’; “ten thousand words in some language”.
Pentecostals in the US used to use the KJV like most other evangelical type churches did, and they could see the italics on 'unknown.' I don't think I've ever heard a Pentecostal make a theological argument off of the word 'unknown' there in that verse, though I have encountered straw man arguments that imply that the use of 'unknown' was somehow the basis of other doctrinal positions on the passage.
He does indeed use his mind to speak these languages; it’s just that, given the seriousness of the situation, there is a concern that he may not be able to adequately convey what he wants to. Something any translator can relate to!
It seems you are saying to forget what he said and say he really means something else he did not quite say.
For those who have experienced the phenomenon of praying in the Spirit, this is a good explanation of how it works. Those who are trying to understand the explanation, or are trying to refute it, get hung up on the term "wordless groans" and miss the rest of the verse.
Romans 8:26
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
Romans 8 has nothing to do with ‘tongues’ at all – people take and interpret the passage out of context with the rest of the narrative.
I am pretty sure the red part was not from me. I do not consider the groanings which cannot be utterred in Romans 8:26 to refer to speaking in tongues which is spoken as the Spirit gives utterance.