Watchman Nee's comments Biblical tongues vs. false tongues
On page 138 of What Shall This Man Do? (c.1961, printing date 1998) Nee writes:
We can, if we like, classify spiritual gifts into gifts of work or action (such as healings, miracles) and of word (such as prophecy, teachings, tongues, and so forth)....chapter 14 that follows [1 Corinthians 14] is quite taken up with the gifts of speech, and passes over miracles or gifts of action altogether. So for the building up of the Church, God emphasizes the ministry of the Word above the ministry of works. The Church is not to trust in miracles, for they may only lead to outward things. Israel in the wilderness continually touched God's works, but missed his life. So did the multitudes in the Gospels, who witnessed the Lord's gracious acts but knew nothing of the life he came to give. Even the disciples fell short here, for having performed miracles themselves, they fell at the last to arguing who of them should be the greatest. Here as not building in love! But the "seed is the word." Apart from God's Word of life nothing counts much. Miraculous works may support the Word; they cannot by themselves minister life.
In this entire discourse, never does Nee claim tongues is gibberish babble, but always seems to indicate tongues are languages for spreading the word of God in different nations with different dialects.
Study God's Works.
The Spiritual Man, vol. 2, p. 197:
A Christian should understand that his emotion is wholly natural; it is not the source of God’s life. If he in fact acknowledges that no life of God resides in his emotion, he will never attempt to secure the salvation of people by means of his power of emotion through tears, mournful face, cries, or other emotional devices. No efforts of his emotion can affect in the slightest the darkened human spirit. Except the Holy Spirit gives life, man can have no life. If we do not rely on the Spirit and use emotion instead, our work will yield no real fruit.
The Ministry of God's Word, 171:
Let us return to the principle of tongues. Why do we pay attention to this matter? Because in the New Testament Paul compares tongues with prophetic ministry. Why is not the speaking in tongues forbidden? [notice, when speaking of tongues, Nee, always leaves open the meaning as other languages spoken, though, without necessarily in discernment with the mind]. Because it is profitable to the one who speaks in tongues. Yet why is it useless in the ministry of the word? For the simple reason that there is no human understanding and no human element involved in tongues [That is, the man does not fix with his mind upon the words received]. To speak in tongues depends entirely upon the Holy Spirit, that is, the person speaks with his own spirit as God’s Spirit gives him words. But it is nothing more. To our thinking, tongues may be better than prophecy, for is it not better to speak in God’s own words or in the words of the Holy Spirit? Nonetheless the Bible views tongues as being inferior to prophetic ministry. God places the latter above tongues. A prophetic ministry includes in it God’s word plus the prophet himself. In other words, the living water in the words flows out from the depths of the prophet; it does not pour down from heaven. This is a very fundamental principle in the New Testament.
Never does the meaning of tongues in the Bible mean babble for neither are such actual words nor does God give babble. There needs to be thought between the word and the spirit to prevent artificiality. Do be careful what you are letting go into, for it may not be the Holy Spirit at all, but the evil spirit's wiles, even though it may seem harmless. Later on what seemed so innocent can grip you and render you controlled by it. See how damaging altering God's Word is?
Troy