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*Read my blogs 6 Common Questions About Speaking In Tongues Part 1 and Part 2 as a companion to this blog.

When I was 14 years old, I was listening to worship music and singing to Jesus while I was waiting for a video game to load. Suddenly I felt the tangible presence of God overwhelm my entire body. I felt prompted in my heart to start speaking out these words in a language not my own. I knew what was happening; I grew up in a church that believed in the supernatural work of the Spirit.

So, I sheepishly began to utter a few phrases and speaking in tongues has been one of the most meaningful parts of my Christian life ever since. That encounter with God (the baptism in the Holy Spirit) was transformative for me, and as time went on I began to notice a greater boldness and passion in my faith and other spiritual gifts starting to surface in my life as well.

Speaking in tongues is arguably the most controversial and misunderstood of the nine miraculous gifts. It’s okay if we don’t agree, but in case you’d find it helpful I wanted to share from my perspective what in the Bible has validated my experience, leading me to believe tongues is a good and useful gift of God that’s active today. 🙂

What is speaking in tongues?

Tongues as Personal Prayer

In 1 Corinthians 14, speaking in tongues is described as the ability for a Christian to speak to God in a language they don’t know and have never naturally learned, as empowered and given utterance by the Holy Spirit. The purpose of speaking in tongues is prayer, praise, and personal edification. (1 Corinthians 14:2, 28 ;1 Corinthians 14:14-18) The phrases “speaking in tongues” and “praying in tongues” are used interchangeably in Scripture to refer to the same thing.

When we speak in tongues, we’re praying to God and praising God, and we’re strengthening ourselves spiritually and building ourselves up in the faith (1 Corinthians 14:4 // Jude 20). Praying in the spirit (one expression of which is praying in tongues, according to 1 Corinthians 14:14-17) is even mentioned in Ephesians 6:18 as one of the spiritual weapons God gives us for spiritual battle.

In this conversation, the question often comes up as to whether tongues are earthly/human languages the tongues-speaker or hearer doesn’t naturally know or heavenly/spiritual languages not know to anyone on earth (1 Corinthians 13:1). I think either or both could be true, but this article by Sam Storms explains in ten quick points what I learn towards: tongues can be human language at times, but tongues are probably most often spiritual language.

A Christian can pray in tongues in their personal time alone with God or in a corporate gathering of believers so long as it’s exercised in a way that’s quiet/private between them and God and isn’t disruptive to whatever may be happening in the service (1 Corinthians 14:28). I’ve found praying in tongues in both of these contexts to be beneficial in my life.

The apostle Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 14:14-17 that we shouldn’t pit praying in our understanding and praying in tongues against each other as to which is better. Rather, we should incorporate both into our prayer lives because both have benefit.

I’m grateful to God for the ability to pray in tongues because it’s another tool to help me connect with Him. I’m especially grateful when my heart is burdened, or when I don’t know exactly how or what to pray in English for a situation, or when I want praise and talk to God beyond the limits of my own human understanding and language and know I’m praying His perfect will. Praying in tongues frequently brings much-needed strength and refreshment to my heart.

Tongues as a Spiritual Gift

Sometimes speaking in tongues can be practiced as a spiritual gift to edify the entire assembly of believers. Some of my fellow Charismatic/Pentecostal Christians define the spiritual gift of tongues as a message of prophetic exhortation God speaks to a congregation through a believer speaking in tongues, which is then interpreted and equivalent to prophecy, but I don’t see tongues ever clearly defined as prophetic exhortation in Scripture.

Rather, the gift of prophecy is when God speaks through a Christian to deliver a timely, Spirit-prompted message of encouragement and exhortation to another person or group of people. And, unlike tongues, prophecy is spoken in a language both speaker and hearer naturally understand. 

In both the prayer and spiritual gift expressions as defined in Scripture, speaking in tongues is prayer and praise to God. When speaking in tongues is exercised publicly as a spiritual gift for the Church (and not only personal prayer), God prompts a Christian to speak out a message of prayer and/or praise directed toward God in tongues out loud in the congregation (always in an orderly way and submitted to the discretion of pastors).

Then, through the gift of interpretation of tongues, that same person or another Christian interprets that message of prayer/praise to God spoken in tongues in the commonly understood language of the hearers so the whole congregation can understand and agree together in prayer and praise of God.

Tongues practiced in this way–an individual speaking out loud in a congregation–requires an interpretation, according to the Bible (1 Corinthians 14:27). There’s no biblical requirement for interpretation placed on personal prayer in tongues because it’s a personal/private conversation of prayer between an individual believer and God (1 Corinthians 14:2-4, 28).

Based on the pattern in the book of Acts, which I explain more in this blog, I believe any Christian filled with the Holy Spirit can potentially receive the ability from God to pray in tongues if you desire it. But not every believer will necessarily be prompted by God to exercise speaking in tongues as a spiritual gift in a church gathering, based on 1 Corinthians 12:29-30. You can ask God to use you in this gift (and others) if you want Him to, though! Scripture actually encourages us to do so (1 Corinthians 12:31; 14:1).

Tongues as a Sign to Unbelievers

At this point you might be asking, “weren’t the tongues in the Bible about believers preaching the gospel to people in foreign languages?” I don’t believe so. There’s actually no instance in the Bible of tongues ever being used directly to evangelize or preach the gospel, although I totally believe it’s within biblical boundaries that God could work a miracle like that.

Scripture does show us that sometimes God can miraculously cause an unbeliever to overhear a Christian praying/praising God in tongues and understand in their own language what’s being said as an evangelistic sign to them (1 Corinthians 14:21-22).

This is what happened on Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13. Contrary to what some Christians believe, the disciples weren’t preaching the gospel in tongues. They were “speaking about the wonderful things God has done,” or praising God in tongues, and that got the attention of the crowds when they miraculously understood what was being said, each person in their own native language. And after that Peter spoke to the crowd in a language commonly understood by the people, sharing the gospel with them (Acts 2:14-41).

You Don’t Need to Fear Speaking in Tongues

Lots of Christians get scared with this stuff, but don’t worry. Speaking in tongues is not some weird, uncontrollable experience. The Bible describes speaking in tongues as being simultaneously empowered by the Holy Spirit and being under the control of the person speaking as to when to step out and exercise it and when to stop. (1 Corinthians 14:31-33)

And nowhere in Scripture does it say that if a follower of Christ speaks in tongues they are being empowered by demons. (For followers of Jesus, that’s not even possible.) To the contrary, the Bible says that they are empowered by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 14:2) In Luke 11:11-13 Jesus taught that if you ask God the Father for the Holy Spirit, He will not give you a scorpion or a snake. Scorpions and snakes were symbols Jesus used to refer to the work of Satan/demons (Luke 10:18-20).

So in other words, when you ask God for the ability to speak in tongues, or to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, or for any other gift of the Spirit to be at work in your life, He will give you what you ask for, not a counterfeit.

God is a good Father and He won’t give you something demonic when you ask for or use a gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s a trick of the Enemy intended to rob Christians from all of the benefits God has for us to make you believe otherwise.

At the end of the day, each of us has to decide what to believe about this for ourselves. I hope this talk encourages you to prayerfully study this topic in Scripture more on your own and with trusted Christians in your life. If speaking in tongues is something you desire, I encourage you to ask God for it. 🙂 Here’s how to do that.

Resources:

• Every Person Filled sermon by Jabin Chavez
• 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

Let’s Talk: Did you learn anything new in this conversation or were you inspired to study any aspect of speaking in tongues more in the Bible? Discuss this post in the comments below.

–> Part 5: How to be Filled with the Holy Spirit