What Is Speaking With The Tongue Of Angels?

[Christian Mormon]

2 NEPHI 31:13

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ by baptism–yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel

is this the answer?

2 Nephi 32:2-3. I took a short journey across the page and I found the following:

Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost? Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.

anyways...i really want to know if i found the answer....thx

[Flyonthewall]

I would say with power and authority...which is the same as what you have quoted.

[Zakuska]

Well since the Ancient sign of having the spirit was a snake, perhpas this answers your question?

Edited October 10, 2011 by Zakuska

[Rob Osborn]

is this the answer?

2 Nephi 32:2-3. I took a short journey across the page and I found the following:

anyways...i really want to know if i found the answer....thx

You found it. Congradulations! This ability is part of what is called the "gift of the Holy Ghost".

[The Nehor]

Not the tongue of angels:

[ed2276]

Could it not also refer to expressing oneself in the pure, Adamic language?

[Scott Lloyd]

is this the answer?

2 Nephi 32:2-3. I took a short journey across the page and I found the following:

anyways...i really want to know if i found the answer....thx

I think you've nailed it.

Anyway, that is what I taught the last time we discussed this phrase in gospel doctrine class.

Add on:

Here's a snippet from the Gospel Doctrine Teacher's Manual on the Book of Mormon, Lesson 11:

What gift will we receive when we show our willingness “to follow [the] Savior down into the water” through baptism? (2 Nephi 31:13). How did Nephi describe the way a person could speak after being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost? (See 2 Nephi 31:13.) What does it mean to “speak with the tongue of angels”? (See 2 Nephi 32:2–3. It means to speak the words of Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost.) In what situations might we be blessed to speak with the “tongue of angels”? (Answers may include when we are teaching or testifying to friends and family, during a talk in church, or when we pray.)

Edited October 10, 2011 by Scott Lloyd

[WalkerW]

I think it is an allusion to the ancient concepts of heavenly ascent and divine humanity. Margaret Barker has described baptism (and, more specifically, the baptism of Jesus) as the means to a heavenly ascent. To enter the heavenly place and become a member of the divine community was in a sense to become deified or angelified. My friend David Larsen wrote,

My course with Jim Davila was also eventful. We looked at the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Hodayot, which are documents that I am looking at for my dissertation. It was interesting to see the distress on the students’ faces as we discussed issues of “suprahuman priests”, angelified humans, heavenly ascents, and deification (all of which are featured in these writings). When explaining that these people probably practiced a ritualized heavenly ascent which resulted in their deification, Davila called this notion “performative deification.”

Saved and priestly humans were described in terms of gods and angels in the Qumran community. See Crispin H.T. Fletcher-Louis, All the Glory of Adam: Liturgical Anthropology in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Brill, 2002).