I have tried to understand speaking in tongues as portrayed by the Bible. I have been tought by both sides why the "pentecostal" version is right or wrong, but I want to see it plainly in the word. So I've read it over and over. I would like to hear people's opinion on this section of 1 Corinthians 14.22Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.23If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?24But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:25And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
It is good that you actually asked to discuss the Bible. I noticed a lot of one-off verses out of context in discussion slike this. Verse 23 is really important to understand Paul's quote of Isaiah in verse 22 and Paul's point in referring to the verse. Without meditating on the passage a bit and getting an understanding of it, maybe a bit of help from the Spirit, it can seem like a contradiction. On the one hand, we may think if tongues is a sign to unbelievers, that they should respond to it in faith. But Paul illustrates the concept by showing that an unbeliever or uninstructed one responds to speaking in tongues with unbelief, not faith.
One type of sign is a fulfilled prophecy. Jesus had fed the five thousand. We might call that a 'sign' but the Jews wanted a sign from heaven, that is a sign from God, to follow Jesus, right after He fed the five thousand. In Deuteronomy, if a prophet gave a prophecy in the name of the LORD that did not come to pass, the Israelites were not to be afraid of him. So they asked a sign of Jesus. Jesus said a wicked and adutlerous generation asked for a sign and said no sign would be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. This was about his resurrection. So Jesus predicted a future event. When it came to pass, that was evidence that He was a real prophet (though he was actually 'that Prophet' like unto Moses).A sign can be a fulfilled prophecy.
The prophecy from Isaiah already had a short-term fulfillment during the Israelite captivity at the hands of Assyrian, just like the virgin conceiving prophecy likely had a short-term fulfillment, and 'out of Egypt have I called my Son' had a dual meaning. Prophecies about Israel, though fulfilled, could also refer prophetically to Christ. Israel was taken off into captivity with Assyrian or Aramaic speaking captors yelling at them to get back in line, march faster, or whatever. Men of other tongues and other lips spoke to them as God's discipline was exacted upon them for their idolatry and other forms of disobedience and disloyalty to the covenant they were under with God.
But Paul also sees in this passage something else about God speaking through men of other tongues and other lips that applies to the operation of the gift of speaking in tongues. When unbelieving men hear speaking in tongues, they react with unbelief and do not hear. So if an unlearned or uninstructed men comes into the assembly, and all speak with tongues, then he says 'ye are mad.' Like the scoffers on the day of Pentecost who accused the disciples of being drunk, he responds to speaking in tongues with unbelief. This fulfills 'and yet for all that, ye will not hear Me.'Those who believe not hear speaking in tongues, and the sign is fulfilled that they don't hear God through this.
(I find it ironic when some posters react with the same attitude, and like to quote this verse from Isaiah about speaking in tongues, when they are responding to it with unbelief.)
Here is an old quote on the topic that is helpful:
“They spoke with foreign languages (and not those of their native land); and the wonder was great, a language spoken by those who had not learned it. And the sign is to them that believe not, and not to them that believe, that it may be an accusation of the unbelievers, as it is written, ‘With other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people, and not even so will they listen to Me says the Lord”‘ (Isa 28:11, 1 Co 14:22). —St. Gregory the Theologian (Oration 41, XV)
fromhttp://www.patristics.co/2016/07/01/what-is-speaking-in-tongues/