Have you ever been in church and were confused and caught off guard by someone speaking gibberish, and you felt in your spirit that what they were doing wasn’t right, but they claimed they’re speaking in the tongues of angels? Or, maybe you heard someone teach that we can speak in the tongues of angels, and you thought to yourself, “is that really what Paul is talking about here?” I know how you feel. I’ve been there too, and today we are going to look at what the Bible actually says about the tongues of angels.

People cite 1 Corinthians 13:1 to support their claim that we can speak in the tongues of angels, but is that really what the Bible is talking about? We need to look at the context of that verse to better understand what Paul is saying here.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Paul made some pretty fantastic claims here, but what’s he actually saying? He says things like, “though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge” Can anyone understand all mysteries or have all knowledge? No, this is obviously not possible. No one has all knowledge. Even the most knowledgeable person in the world can’t claim to have “all knowledge”, and even the most educated person could never claim to understand all mysteries.

He goes on to say, “though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains” Can anyone actually claim to have “all faith”? No, this is another exaggeration. We can have faith, even great faith, but no one could ever claim to have “all faith”. And this is the context in which Paul speaks about the tongues of angels.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love…”

Paul is not saying we can speak in the language of angels. This is another extreme exaggeration meant to illustrate the futility of our own abilities in comparison to love. Paul’s not saying it’s possible to do these things. He’s saying even if I could do all these things if don’t have love, it’s worthless. He’s using Hyperbole to get his point across. Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech.

Paul is making exaggerated statements that are not meant to be taken literally to prove his point. And the point is that it doesn’t matter what we do, no matter how amazing it might be, if we don’t do it with love, it is worthless.

He’s not saying that it’s possible to have all faith, all knowledge, or speak in the tongues of angels. He’s saying that even if it were possible to do those things, love is greater.