Imagery in The Bible: ‘Tongues of Fire’

 by Alexia Romaniuc

The Bible effectively uses imagery in order to convey ideas about the divinity and omnipotence of The Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The remarkable imagery helps Christians gain a better understanding of the characteristics of God and Christian values. 

Firstly, the Holy Spirit is a divine force which is the third person in the Trinity. This means that the Holy spirit co-exists with Jesus and God. An example of a way in which the Holy spirit makes an appearance in the Bible is in the Pentacostal event where the disciples (followers of Jesus) gained the power of speaking multiple languages with the help of the Holy Spirit in order to spread the word of God in different countries. The Bible says: 'Suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.' Act 2:4

The 'violent wind' blows into the house and 'fills' it which emphasises on the omnipresent nature of God. The Holy Spirit can be felt everywhere, as proven by the adverb 'violent' that it is impactful and instils omnipotence and arguably fear due to the negative connotations of 'violent'. In addition to this, the Bible uses the metaphor 'tongue of fire' to describe the Holy Spirit. On one hand, 'fire' can have connotations of omnipotence due to its power and destructibility - the fire is used to highlight the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit as it performs miracles such as the virgin birth and now the event of Pentecost.

On the other hand, one can argue that the imagery used in this part of the Bible is wholly negative and does not portray the Holy Spirit in a positive light. Additionally, it is not contradictory to the Christian teaching that followers of the religion shall not fear God. "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41: 10

Fire is a very prominent theme in the Bible. In my opinion, fire is used as a character in the story: a reference point that the writers use to create effective imagery that represents God’s omnipotence and potence in a way which is understandable by humans. Many philosophers support the fact that the characteristics of God are not comprehensible by humans therefore various explanations such as ‘The Trinity’ and imagery such as ‘tongues of fire’ are used to better our understanding of God.