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I hope you found Part 1 of this blog series helpful! Let’s dive right into the final three common questions that come up about speaking in tongues. This blog series was inspired by Allen Parr’s YouTube video, Why I Stopped Speaking In Tongues and You May Want To Too.

4. Are Christians who don’t speak in tongues second-class Christians?

I realize that at times some Christians might speak about others in a way that makes them feel like they are “less than” if they don’t speak in tongues or haven’t been “baptized with the Holy Spirit” according to their understanding of it, and that is not okay. And I’m sorry if anyone has ever done that to you.

But I would also raise this question: does merely acknowledging you had an experience with God or that you practice a spiritual gift automatically mean you’re treating everyone around you as a junior varsity Christian? I don’t think so, because we could make that accusation about any gift or experience in God.

No matter what there are going to believers who have gifts, experiences, and testimonies you don’t have and vice versa. For example, let’s say you and a friend struggle with a certain area of sin, and God miraculously sets your friend free in a moment and they never struggle with that sin issue again, but it takes you years of walking with God to overcome it.

Is it wrong for them to be excited about or testify about their experience with God just because it’s different from yours? Of course not! And it would be wrong for them to try to keep you from being excited and sharing the work of God in your life openly as well.

We should always be humble and have pure motives when we share testimonies or exercise spiritual gifts. We should never flaunt our gifts and experiences or use them to draw attention to ourselves instead of using them to glorify God and serve people. But we should celebrate what God is doing in and through each other, and maybe even be provoked in a godly way by each other to seek and believe God for ways we want to see Him move in our own lives too.

5. Is speaking in tongues required for salvation?

There’s a fringe belief that gets tossed around sometimes that if you don’t speak in tongues you aren’t saved. That’s heresy because it distorts what the gospel message teaches about how people are saved from their sins and brought into relationship with Jesus. Others claim if you don’t speak in tongues, you don’t have the Holy Spirit living in you, and that is a false teaching as well.

When a person repents from sin and places faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of them–no exceptions. Every Christian has the Spirit of God dwelling inside of them forever, actively working in their lives by teaching them, making them more like Jesus, using them to share the gospel, and to build up the Church with their spiritual gifts (John 14:16-18; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Romans 8:1-16).

Recognizing that there are experiences with God throughout our Christian life where He fills and empowers us afresh with new spiritual gifts, boldness to be a witness for Him and boldness to share our faith, and yes, sometimes even speaking in tongues doesn’t imply that a Christian didn’t already have the Holy Spirit present and active in their lives.

6. Should Christians feel pressured to speak in tongues? Can Christians be taught to speak in tongues?

Allen vulnerably shared in his video that he stopped speaking in tongues partly because he felt like he was only doing it in response to pressure. And I have so much respect for his heart to be sincere and take every gift of God seriously. No one should ever make a Christian feel pressured to speak in tongues. We can and should encourage each other to pursue all that God would have for us and pray with one another for God to fill us with the Spirit and give us gifts, as we see practiced in Scripture. But we should never shame or pressure.

No one can teach anyone else to speak in tongues. The Bible clearly says it’s the Holy Spirit who empowers us to speak and the Holy Spirit who gives us utterance (the words to say) when a Christian speaks in tongues, not another believer who is trying to teach someone to mimic what their personal prayer language sounds like. It’s never okay to do this when praying with someone to receive their prayer language!

Speaking in tongues is not learned. It’s a supernatural ability given by God. It is exercised of your own free will and it’s under your control when to start or stop speaking, so it will require an intentional step of faith for you to speak out, but it is God who empowers the ability and gives the language.

When I spoke in tongues for the first time, I felt a clear prompting from God in my spirit to speak, but I had to make a choice and take an intentional step to speak out. And when I pray in tongues today, I choose to start or stop, just like when I’m praying to God in English.

Don’t Give Up On Speaking In Tongues

If you’re wary of speaking in tongues or tempted to disregard the practice altogether, remember the solution to misuse of speaking in tongues or to wrong motives or wrong teaching about speaking in tongues, is right teaching, right motives, and right use, not no use at all. Remember, the Bible clearly tells us not to forbid speaking in tongues and not to scoff at or stifle the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:39-40; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21). And it encourages us that the gifts of the Spirit are good, desirable, and for the building up the Church. That’s good enough reason for me to desire and pursue all God has for us, and I think it should be for you too.

Let’s Talk: How were you encouraged to grow through this study on speaking in tongues? Discuss this post in the comments below.

Resources:

• Caitlyn Lutz’s blogs on tongues: Part 1 and Part 2
• Message series and book :The God I Never Knew by Robert Morris
• The Holy Spirit: An Introduction by John Bevere
• Receiving The Holy Spirit and His Gifts by Terry Virgo and Phil Rogers
• The Beauty of Spiritual Language by Jack Hayford