Speaking in Tongues
Last time we talked about the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and I showed you from God’s Word that God wants everyone baptized with the Holy Spirit. One spiritual gift or spiritual outworking that comes with the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. Now in the same way the devil has fought against the Baptism with the Holy Spirit the devil has fought against speaking in tongues, for the devil knows that speaking in tongues is a powerful spiritual exercise and a wonderful gift from God to His people.
Today we will look at speaking in tongues in detail and I will show you the various types of speaking in tongues that we see in the Bible. We will also counter the primary argument against speaking in tongues and show you that God wants you speaking in tongues, just as He wants you saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Our first passage today comes from Mark 16:17 where Jesus says, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues.” As we have mentioned, this passage specifically covers us. Jesus was talking to the disciples and He tells them to preach the gospel. He tells them how people will believe their message and these are two of the signs that shall accompany the new believers. My brother or sister in Christ, that’s you and me. These two thousand years later, give or take, we are in that group of believers. So those signs should follow all of us. I have already described over the past weeks how Jesus’ authority over unclean spirits comes to all believers, and how all believers can be casting out demons. In the same way, all believers can speak in new tongues. This doesn’t mean that all believers automatically cast out demons or speak in new tongues, but they can if they will learn about it from God’s Word and begin walking in it.
Notice the word “new” in front of tongues. In the Greek that word is “kainos,” and it means “new.” Jesus says that believers will speak in new tongues. Now let’s look at what happens in Acts chapter 2.
(Acts 2:1-8 NIV) “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 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. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?”
This passage, as you now know, shows when the believers first received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. As part of that experience, the Bible says they began to speak in “other” tongues. Now as I’m sure you understand, the words “other” and “new” are different in English. And in fact, these words are different in the Greek as well. Remember that in Mark 16 Jesus said that believers would speak in new tongues, and new is the Greek word “kainos.” Here we see believers speaking in other tongues, and other is the Greek word “heteros,” which means other or different. We should also note that the people hearing the disciples speak in tongues said “we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:11) The word “our” further signifying the disciples were miraculously speaking in “other” existing human languages.
Based on these verses alone, is it possible that speaking in other, existing human languages is what Jesus was talking about? Sure it is. We have here the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and believers speaking with tongues that are new to them. Those tongues aren’t new to humanity as a whole, because the other native speakers of those languages understand them, but they are new to these believers who were baptized in the Holy Spirit. So it’s possible that this is what Jesus was talking about? But, it’s also possible this is some other manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We should see what else the Bible has to say about it.
In Acts chapter 8, when the Samaritans were baptized in the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t specifically say they spoke in tongues, so that’s no help here. In Acts chapters 10 and 19, while it does say the gentiles and Ephesians spoke in tongues, it doesn’t say whether they were “new” or “other” tongues, there is no descriptive adjective there, so those don’t help either.
Interestingly, aside from Acts chapter 2, there is not another Biblical instance where someone speaks and another person miraculously hears in their own existing human language. I’ve heard of this happening with various people in the world today, but it doesn’t appear again in the Bible. However, the Apostle Paul does write at length about speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians, so let’s direct our attention there.
(1 Corinthians 12:1 NIV) “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
So Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14, teaches on spiritual gifts. We certainly can’t go through all of it now, but I think we can get a lot for our study on speaking in tongues.
(1 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV) “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.”
Paul says that one spiritual gift is speaking in different kinds of tongues. The word translated as “different kinds” there is “genos” which refers to nations, kindreds, family groups, races, etc. So this is a spiritual gift where people speak in the different languages of different people groups. I think it’s pretty obvious that is the spiritual gift we see in operation in Acts chapter 2 when the people heard the disciples praising God in their native languages.
But look at the next spiritual gift, Paul calls it the “interpretation of tongues.” So some people have a spiritual gift of interpreting some languages. We must point out that there was no interpreter present in Acts chapter 2, those listeners miraculously heard in their own languages without any interpreter, that’s what made it a miracle. So obviously we have two different spiritual operations going on. We have people with the spiritual gift of speaking in known tongues, where the hearers don’t need any interpreter, and we have other people with the gift of interpreting tongues, where the hearers wouldn’t understand without the interpreter.
(1 Corinthians 12:28-30 NIV) “And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?”
So this is later in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul is continuing his discussion on spiritual gifts, and I present this to specifically discuss Paul’s question, “do all speak in tongues.” Once again, in verse 28, when listing the gifts, Paul says “different kinds of tongues.” Again he uses the Greek word “genos.” He is pointing out that this is a spiritual gift that has been placed in the church. He then walks through the same list to point out that none of these gifts pertains to everyone. Not everyone is an apostle, not everyone is a prophet, not everyone is a teacher, not everyone works miracles, so on and so forth. He is clearly pointing out here that not everyone has the spiritual gift of speaking in other known languages, and not everyone has the spiritual gift of interpreting.
Some people use the question “do all speak in tongues?” to suggest that many, many people should not speak in tongues, but that is an incorrect read of the Bible. That is removing the verse from the context and changing its meaning. What Paul is saying there is that everyone doesn’t have the spiritual gift of speaking in genos tongues, miraculously speaking in the different languages of different people groups. Do all miraculously speak such that others hear in their native languages? No, not everyone has that spiritual gift.
So let’s continue, because there is still more to understand. We have the spiritual gift of speaking in genos or different tongues, which we can now tie specifically to what happened in Acts chapter 2. But we also have Jesus’ statement that people would speak in “new” tongues. And we still need to understand the role of those who interpret tongues. If all the listeners hear in their own languages, why do we need an interpreter?
(1 Corinthians 14:2-5 NIV) “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
Whoa, wait a second, what is going on here? You and I come to this passage with knowledge of the various denominations in the world, with knowledge that certain Pentecostal weirdos (like yours truly) believe big time in speaking in tongues, with the knowledge that many denominations don’t believe in this stuff. But just drop all that. Pretend for a minute that you don’t know any of that and you are reading the Bible straight through for a careful study on speaking in tongues. That’s actually what we are doing in this study here today.
So we have seen a number of verses and occurrences involving speaking different tongues, but now we get to this passage, and very clearly, something else is going on here.
Let’s read verse two again. “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them.” Just stop right there. What is this talking about? This is obviously not what happened in Acts chapter 2 where literally everyone understood the people speaking in tongues. This is not what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where a person is speaking in different kinds of tongues, at least someone would understand them. No, in this case no one understands the person speaking in tongues other than God. This must be something different.
This is, when you study it carefully like we are doing today, obviously a separate type of spiritual speech, of spiritual utterance. In the first instance, God’s people speak in tongues and other people miraculously hear in their own languages. But in this instance, God’s people speak in tongues and no one is going to understand, unless there is an interpreter.
My friends, I don’t know if you realize it but in this podcast we are very easily, and 100% Biblically, resolving questions that Christians have needlessly argued about for centuries. There are two different types of speaking in tongues. In one type, those who hear understand what is being said in their native language. In the other type, those who hear don’t understand at all, and that’s why they need an interpreter. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at that one.
In this type of speaking in tongues, the speaker is speaking to God and no one understands the speaker. Remember that Jesus said believers would speak in new or “kainos” tongues. It certainly sounds to me like that’s what we are talking about here.
1 Corinthians 14:5, again, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
(1 Corinthians 14:27-28 NIV) “If anyone speaks in a tongue, two–or at the most three–should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.”
The Bible is clear. If someone is speaking in an unknown tongue in a public church setting, there should be one to interpret what is said. This is the spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues. The person with that gift isn’t interpreting a known human language, but a new or unknown tongue that someone is speaking. In my experience, and from my understanding, I would say this practice has been banned in the vast majority of American churches, either through an outright forbiddance or the lack of practice because of the lack of teaching or openness to the gifts of the Spirit. What a tragedy that to a huge extent this particular Spiritual gift has been largely lost to the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 14:39 even specifically says “do not forbid speaking in tongues.” But I digress a bit.
Is there anything more? Can we see any other application for the gift of speaking in tongues? Jesus said that believers would speak in new tongues, but Paul tells us that all believers don’t speak in different human tongues and all believers don’t interpret. Is there something available for all believers? Jesus’ statements about the signs that would follow believers, including speaking in new tongues, certainly seem to apply to all believers. Let’s look at some of Paul’s statements about speaking in an unknown tongue again.
(1 Corinthians 14:2 NIV) “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 14:4 NIV) “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves . . .”
(1 Corinthians 14:14-15 NIV) “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.”
When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, they are speaking directly to God. When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, they are speaking mysteries by the Spirit. When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, they are edifying themselves. When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, their spirit is praying.
We could talk all day about those four sentences alone. Do you want to speak mysteries by the spirit? Do you want to edify yourself in prayer? Do you want your perfect, born again spirit that is connected directly to God and the knowledge base of Heaven to pray. Yes you do!
Perhaps 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 is the most important here. If you are praying in an unknown tongue, your spirit is praying. Paul says that this is praying with his spirit. As we consider this, also remember 1 Corinthians 6:17 – “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.”
When you become a Christian your spirit is born again and instantly united with God’s Spirit. As we have discussed in other teachings, you have a unified spirit with God’s Spirit, and that is one of the most wonderful truths of all. When you are praying in an unknown tongue, your spirit, which is united with God’s Spirit, is praying. You are edifying yourself in the spirit realm, and you are speaking mysteries directly by the Spirit of God. How are you speaking these mysteries, God’s Spirit is delivering them directly to your spirit, which is now praying. Praying in an unknown tongue is one of the most important ways we receive revelation directly by God’s Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2 for why this is so important).
When you are praying in a new or unknown tongue, you are praying in the spirit. Yes, I do believe you can pray in your natural language and have your spirit guide those prayers. I hope I’m doing that every time I’m praying for someone. But beyond any argument, when you are praying in a new or unknown tongue, you are praying in the spirit. Again, maybe there are other forms of praying in the spirit, but I’m not positive about that. I am positive that when you are praying in an unknown tongue you are praying in the spirit.
(Romans 8:26-27 NIV) “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
When you are praying in the spirit, God’s Spirit is joining with your spirit to intercede and pray according to God’s perfect will. When you are praying in the spirit, God’s Spirit is helping us in our human limitations. When you put it all together, look at this amazing, amazing reality. When you pray in a new tongue, when you pray in the Spirit, God, by His Spirit, is literally praying for you? Why would God pray to Himself for you? Because in your natural thinking you don’t know exactly what to pray for.
I’m sorry, but this is so next level I’m going to say it again. When you are praying in the Spirit, God Himself, Who knows exactly what you should pray, is praying the perfect prayer through your mouth. He is interceding for you, He is praying out revelation for your life, and He is praying exactly what you should pray. Wow.
Some of you might be wondering why God would help you pray, or literally pray through you, like this. We can’t get into that too deeply today, but in short, prayer is extremely important. Some things aren’t going to happen without prayer. Some words must be spoken into the natural realm. God wants to help you in those areas. God wants to pray through your mouth.
(Jude 1:20 KJV) “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost . . .”
When you are praying in the Holy Spirit you are building yourself up on your most holy faith. I’m not saying I fully understand that, or any of this for that matter, but I definitely want to build myself up on my most holy faith. In the Greek, the word for “building up” comes from the same word which is translated as “edify” in 1 Corinthians 14:4. “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves.” They are really the same word, but the Jude version has a prefix making it even stronger. The fact that both verses talk about this practice building up, or edifying, the one who prays further establishes the connection between praying in tongues and praying in the Holy Spirit.
Moreover, this verse also establishes a connection between faith and praying in the spirit / praying in tongues. We have talked about the extreme importance of faith in other teachings, and I encourage you to listen to my teachings about living by faith. But suffice it to say, learning that praying in new tongues builds me up on my faith is awesome!
Looking at these awesome passages in Romans and Jude, do you think God wants these blessings for some believers, or all believers? Both Jude and Romans are directed to all Christians. All believers should speak in new tongues, just as Jesus said. All believers should pray in the Spirit. God wants all believers built up on their most holy faith. God wants to pray through and for all believers.
Praying in unknown tongues, praying in new tongues, is an extremely important gift that Jesus has given to all the church. This is also commonly referred to as a person’s “prayer language.” There are times when we should pray in an unknown tongue in a public church setting if an interpreter is present, and the church will be blessed. But in your personal life, in your personal prayer time, you need to be praying in your new prayer language. You need to be praying in the spirit directly to God and edifying yourself, speaking mysteries for your life and God’s Kingdom. You need to let the Holy Spirit of God pray through you. You need to have this gift.
(1 Corinthians 14:5 NIV) “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues . . .”
(1 Corinthians 14:18-19 NIV) “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you . . .”
Paul clearly prayed in tongues a lot, and Paul wanted everyone to speak in these unknown tongues. Those two statements alone show us how important praying in tongues is to Paul. Maybe Paul regularly spoke in tongues in church settings with an interpreter, but there is not a single Biblical record of that happening. What I do believe we can say for sure is that Paul spent a lot of time praying in tongues privately. And so should we.
There is a lot more we could say about this and I probably will in future teachings. I believe when we pray in the spirit, because God’s Spirit is praying with us, that the entire spiritual realm is affected to remove hindrances in our lives, bring manifestation to our answered prayers, and bring God’s will into the earth. That’s how important this is.
Praying in the spirit is definitely praying in new tongues. There may be other instances of praying in the spirit without praying in tongues, but teaching that would require a Bible reading that I feel is shaky, at best. If someone describes praying in the spirit apart from praying in tongues, I’ll bet they don’t believe in tongues. No one argues that praying in the spirit is passed away or that it’s not for everyone, so if they don’t believe in new tongues then they have to come up with some other definition for praying in the spirit. But those other definitions aren’t nearly as Biblically concrete as defining praying in the spirit as praying in tongues.
Lastly, I want to briefly address the principle Biblical argument against speaking in tongues. In my opinion it is so weak that really I’m wasting your time. But the devil has made this argument so prevalent in the church, so widely adopted, despite its weakness, that I think we need to address it.
(1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NIV) “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”
There is no question that at some point tongues will cease. It would be unbiblical to say otherwise. Many people believe that both the gift of tongues and the gift of prophesy have already passed away. They commonly teach that now that we have God’s complete Word in the Bible these things have passed away.
However, that is an incorrect reading of this passage. First of all, when completeness comes, prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled, and knowledge will pass away. Knowledge has not passed away. Just as an example, 2 Peter tells us at least twice that we should add to our knowledge and grow in knowledge. Surely the Bible in my hand can’t both signify the passing away of knowledge and the very knowledge that I’m supposed to gain. That would render Peter’s statements meaningless and impossible. 2 Corinthians 8, written after 1 Corinthians 13 and by the same author, says we should abound in knowledge. It’s just an impossible read to say that the Bible’s creation signifies the passing away of knowledge and the death of prophesy and tongues.
Just for one other point, the word “completeness” is rendered “perfect” in some other translations, but that doesn’t really matter. Those opposing tongues from this perspective suggest that word refers to the Bible we now have, as I’ve already stated. But I’m honestly not sure how they get there. We could talk a lot about that word, but it definitely doesn’t only refer to the written Word of God. I think the best translation might be “fully developed spiritually” and it is most commonly used to describe a spiritually mature person.
There will come a day when we are with God through physical death or Jesus’ return. We will lose any relationship with our sin nature. We will have unhindered unity with, and access to, God’s Spirit and all the revelation of God. We will know everything. We will have no limitations. At that time, we will be fully developed spiritually. At that time, all lower level, human knowledge will pass so far below us that we may never consider it again. Once we reach this level, we won’t need tongues anymore. We will know exactly what to pray in any language we want. We will be fully edified and fully built up in our most holy faith. We will know all mysteries. God won’t need to bypass our tainted brains to have us pray correctly in new tongues. That’s when tongues will cease. We aren’t there yet. We need to be praying in the spirit, we need to be praying in new tongues, now.
If you already have this gift, if you already speak in new tongues, that’s awesome. I encourage you to spend more time doing it. I like to pray in the spirit for an hour as I walk. I also encourage you to begin praying for interpretations as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 14:13. We need to pray in the spirit and then pray for interpretations so we get more understanding and edification for our lives, especially as concerning God’s perfect will for our lives.
If you don’t yet speak in new tongues, Jesus said that believers would speak in new tongues. Not everyone is going to miraculously speak in other known languages. But all believers can speak in new tongues as Jesus said. All believers can and should pray in the spirit. You need to be praying in the spirit and edifying yourself, especially now in this modern age. You need to be building yourself up on your most holy faith. We need the intercession of the Spirit like never before, and praying in new tongues is the best Biblical way to receive that.
The ability to speak in new tongues comes when a Christian receives the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus wants you to have both. If you would like to receive the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in new tongues, please reach out to me or another trusted Christian friend in your life who already has these gifts. We can pray together and you can receive these blessings anytime you want. I’m also happy to share more materials with you so that you can further study and grow your faith in these blessings.
Today we will look at speaking in tongues in detail and I will show you the various types of speaking in tongues that we see in the Bible. We will also counter the primary argument against speaking in tongues and show you that God wants you speaking in tongues, just as He wants you saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Our first passage today comes from Mark 16:17 where Jesus says, “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues.” As we have mentioned, this passage specifically covers us. Jesus was talking to the disciples and He tells them to preach the gospel. He tells them how people will believe their message and these are two of the signs that shall accompany the new believers. My brother or sister in Christ, that’s you and me. These two thousand years later, give or take, we are in that group of believers. So those signs should follow all of us. I have already described over the past weeks how Jesus’ authority over unclean spirits comes to all believers, and how all believers can be casting out demons. In the same way, all believers can speak in new tongues. This doesn’t mean that all believers automatically cast out demons or speak in new tongues, but they can if they will learn about it from God’s Word and begin walking in it.
Notice the word “new” in front of tongues. In the Greek that word is “kainos,” and it means “new.” Jesus says that believers will speak in new tongues. Now let’s look at what happens in Acts chapter 2.
(Acts 2:1-8 NIV) “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 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. Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?”
This passage, as you now know, shows when the believers first received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. As part of that experience, the Bible says they began to speak in “other” tongues. Now as I’m sure you understand, the words “other” and “new” are different in English. And in fact, these words are different in the Greek as well. Remember that in Mark 16 Jesus said that believers would speak in new tongues, and new is the Greek word “kainos.” Here we see believers speaking in other tongues, and other is the Greek word “heteros,” which means other or different. We should also note that the people hearing the disciples speak in tongues said “we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.” (Acts 2:11) The word “our” further signifying the disciples were miraculously speaking in “other” existing human languages.
Based on these verses alone, is it possible that speaking in other, existing human languages is what Jesus was talking about? Sure it is. We have here the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and believers speaking with tongues that are new to them. Those tongues aren’t new to humanity as a whole, because the other native speakers of those languages understand them, but they are new to these believers who were baptized in the Holy Spirit. So it’s possible that this is what Jesus was talking about? But, it’s also possible this is some other manifestation of the Holy Spirit. We should see what else the Bible has to say about it.
In Acts chapter 8, when the Samaritans were baptized in the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t specifically say they spoke in tongues, so that’s no help here. In Acts chapters 10 and 19, while it does say the gentiles and Ephesians spoke in tongues, it doesn’t say whether they were “new” or “other” tongues, there is no descriptive adjective there, so those don’t help either.
Interestingly, aside from Acts chapter 2, there is not another Biblical instance where someone speaks and another person miraculously hears in their own existing human language. I’ve heard of this happening with various people in the world today, but it doesn’t appear again in the Bible. However, the Apostle Paul does write at length about speaking in tongues in 1 Corinthians, so let’s direct our attention there.
(1 Corinthians 12:1 NIV) “Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.”
So Paul, in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14, teaches on spiritual gifts. We certainly can’t go through all of it now, but I think we can get a lot for our study on speaking in tongues.
(1 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV) “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.”
Paul says that one spiritual gift is speaking in different kinds of tongues. The word translated as “different kinds” there is “genos” which refers to nations, kindreds, family groups, races, etc. So this is a spiritual gift where people speak in the different languages of different people groups. I think it’s pretty obvious that is the spiritual gift we see in operation in Acts chapter 2 when the people heard the disciples praising God in their native languages.
But look at the next spiritual gift, Paul calls it the “interpretation of tongues.” So some people have a spiritual gift of interpreting some languages. We must point out that there was no interpreter present in Acts chapter 2, those listeners miraculously heard in their own languages without any interpreter, that’s what made it a miracle. So obviously we have two different spiritual operations going on. We have people with the spiritual gift of speaking in known tongues, where the hearers don’t need any interpreter, and we have other people with the gift of interpreting tongues, where the hearers wouldn’t understand without the interpreter.
(1 Corinthians 12:28-30 NIV) “And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?”
So this is later in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul is continuing his discussion on spiritual gifts, and I present this to specifically discuss Paul’s question, “do all speak in tongues.” Once again, in verse 28, when listing the gifts, Paul says “different kinds of tongues.” Again he uses the Greek word “genos.” He is pointing out that this is a spiritual gift that has been placed in the church. He then walks through the same list to point out that none of these gifts pertains to everyone. Not everyone is an apostle, not everyone is a prophet, not everyone is a teacher, not everyone works miracles, so on and so forth. He is clearly pointing out here that not everyone has the spiritual gift of speaking in other known languages, and not everyone has the spiritual gift of interpreting.
Some people use the question “do all speak in tongues?” to suggest that many, many people should not speak in tongues, but that is an incorrect read of the Bible. That is removing the verse from the context and changing its meaning. What Paul is saying there is that everyone doesn’t have the spiritual gift of speaking in genos tongues, miraculously speaking in the different languages of different people groups. Do all miraculously speak such that others hear in their native languages? No, not everyone has that spiritual gift.
So let’s continue, because there is still more to understand. We have the spiritual gift of speaking in genos or different tongues, which we can now tie specifically to what happened in Acts chapter 2. But we also have Jesus’ statement that people would speak in “new” tongues. And we still need to understand the role of those who interpret tongues. If all the listeners hear in their own languages, why do we need an interpreter?
(1 Corinthians 14:2-5 NIV) “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
Whoa, wait a second, what is going on here? You and I come to this passage with knowledge of the various denominations in the world, with knowledge that certain Pentecostal weirdos (like yours truly) believe big time in speaking in tongues, with the knowledge that many denominations don’t believe in this stuff. But just drop all that. Pretend for a minute that you don’t know any of that and you are reading the Bible straight through for a careful study on speaking in tongues. That’s actually what we are doing in this study here today.
So we have seen a number of verses and occurrences involving speaking different tongues, but now we get to this passage, and very clearly, something else is going on here.
Let’s read verse two again. “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them.” Just stop right there. What is this talking about? This is obviously not what happened in Acts chapter 2 where literally everyone understood the people speaking in tongues. This is not what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where a person is speaking in different kinds of tongues, at least someone would understand them. No, in this case no one understands the person speaking in tongues other than God. This must be something different.
This is, when you study it carefully like we are doing today, obviously a separate type of spiritual speech, of spiritual utterance. In the first instance, God’s people speak in tongues and other people miraculously hear in their own languages. But in this instance, God’s people speak in tongues and no one is going to understand, unless there is an interpreter.
My friends, I don’t know if you realize it but in this podcast we are very easily, and 100% Biblically, resolving questions that Christians have needlessly argued about for centuries. There are two different types of speaking in tongues. In one type, those who hear understand what is being said in their native language. In the other type, those who hear don’t understand at all, and that’s why they need an interpreter. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at that one.
In this type of speaking in tongues, the speaker is speaking to God and no one understands the speaker. Remember that Jesus said believers would speak in new or “kainos” tongues. It certainly sounds to me like that’s what we are talking about here.
1 Corinthians 14:5, again, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.”
(1 Corinthians 14:27-28 NIV) “If anyone speaks in a tongue, two–or at the most three–should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.”
The Bible is clear. If someone is speaking in an unknown tongue in a public church setting, there should be one to interpret what is said. This is the spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues. The person with that gift isn’t interpreting a known human language, but a new or unknown tongue that someone is speaking. In my experience, and from my understanding, I would say this practice has been banned in the vast majority of American churches, either through an outright forbiddance or the lack of practice because of the lack of teaching or openness to the gifts of the Spirit. What a tragedy that to a huge extent this particular Spiritual gift has been largely lost to the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 14:39 even specifically says “do not forbid speaking in tongues.” But I digress a bit.
Is there anything more? Can we see any other application for the gift of speaking in tongues? Jesus said that believers would speak in new tongues, but Paul tells us that all believers don’t speak in different human tongues and all believers don’t interpret. Is there something available for all believers? Jesus’ statements about the signs that would follow believers, including speaking in new tongues, certainly seem to apply to all believers. Let’s look at some of Paul’s statements about speaking in an unknown tongue again.
(1 Corinthians 14:2 NIV) “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit.”
(1 Corinthians 14:4 NIV) “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves . . .”
(1 Corinthians 14:14-15 NIV) “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.”
When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, they are speaking directly to God. When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, they are speaking mysteries by the Spirit. When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, they are edifying themselves. When a person speaks in an unknown tongue, their spirit is praying.
We could talk all day about those four sentences alone. Do you want to speak mysteries by the spirit? Do you want to edify yourself in prayer? Do you want your perfect, born again spirit that is connected directly to God and the knowledge base of Heaven to pray. Yes you do!
Perhaps 1 Corinthians 14:14-15 is the most important here. If you are praying in an unknown tongue, your spirit is praying. Paul says that this is praying with his spirit. As we consider this, also remember 1 Corinthians 6:17 – “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.”
When you become a Christian your spirit is born again and instantly united with God’s Spirit. As we have discussed in other teachings, you have a unified spirit with God’s Spirit, and that is one of the most wonderful truths of all. When you are praying in an unknown tongue, your spirit, which is united with God’s Spirit, is praying. You are edifying yourself in the spirit realm, and you are speaking mysteries directly by the Spirit of God. How are you speaking these mysteries, God’s Spirit is delivering them directly to your spirit, which is now praying. Praying in an unknown tongue is one of the most important ways we receive revelation directly by God’s Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 2 for why this is so important).
When you are praying in a new or unknown tongue, you are praying in the spirit. Yes, I do believe you can pray in your natural language and have your spirit guide those prayers. I hope I’m doing that every time I’m praying for someone. But beyond any argument, when you are praying in a new or unknown tongue, you are praying in the spirit. Again, maybe there are other forms of praying in the spirit, but I’m not positive about that. I am positive that when you are praying in an unknown tongue you are praying in the spirit.
(Romans 8:26-27 NIV) “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
When you are praying in the spirit, God’s Spirit is joining with your spirit to intercede and pray according to God’s perfect will. When you are praying in the spirit, God’s Spirit is helping us in our human limitations. When you put it all together, look at this amazing, amazing reality. When you pray in a new tongue, when you pray in the Spirit, God, by His Spirit, is literally praying for you? Why would God pray to Himself for you? Because in your natural thinking you don’t know exactly what to pray for.
I’m sorry, but this is so next level I’m going to say it again. When you are praying in the Spirit, God Himself, Who knows exactly what you should pray, is praying the perfect prayer through your mouth. He is interceding for you, He is praying out revelation for your life, and He is praying exactly what you should pray. Wow.
Some of you might be wondering why God would help you pray, or literally pray through you, like this. We can’t get into that too deeply today, but in short, prayer is extremely important. Some things aren’t going to happen without prayer. Some words must be spoken into the natural realm. God wants to help you in those areas. God wants to pray through your mouth.
(Jude 1:20 KJV) “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost . . .”
When you are praying in the Holy Spirit you are building yourself up on your most holy faith. I’m not saying I fully understand that, or any of this for that matter, but I definitely want to build myself up on my most holy faith. In the Greek, the word for “building up” comes from the same word which is translated as “edify” in 1 Corinthians 14:4. “Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves.” They are really the same word, but the Jude version has a prefix making it even stronger. The fact that both verses talk about this practice building up, or edifying, the one who prays further establishes the connection between praying in tongues and praying in the Holy Spirit.
Moreover, this verse also establishes a connection between faith and praying in the spirit / praying in tongues. We have talked about the extreme importance of faith in other teachings, and I encourage you to listen to my teachings about living by faith. But suffice it to say, learning that praying in new tongues builds me up on my faith is awesome!
Looking at these awesome passages in Romans and Jude, do you think God wants these blessings for some believers, or all believers? Both Jude and Romans are directed to all Christians. All believers should speak in new tongues, just as Jesus said. All believers should pray in the Spirit. God wants all believers built up on their most holy faith. God wants to pray through and for all believers.
Praying in unknown tongues, praying in new tongues, is an extremely important gift that Jesus has given to all the church. This is also commonly referred to as a person’s “prayer language.” There are times when we should pray in an unknown tongue in a public church setting if an interpreter is present, and the church will be blessed. But in your personal life, in your personal prayer time, you need to be praying in your new prayer language. You need to be praying in the spirit directly to God and edifying yourself, speaking mysteries for your life and God’s Kingdom. You need to let the Holy Spirit of God pray through you. You need to have this gift.
(1 Corinthians 14:5 NIV) “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues . . .”
(1 Corinthians 14:18-19 NIV) “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you . . .”
Paul clearly prayed in tongues a lot, and Paul wanted everyone to speak in these unknown tongues. Those two statements alone show us how important praying in tongues is to Paul. Maybe Paul regularly spoke in tongues in church settings with an interpreter, but there is not a single Biblical record of that happening. What I do believe we can say for sure is that Paul spent a lot of time praying in tongues privately. And so should we.
There is a lot more we could say about this and I probably will in future teachings. I believe when we pray in the spirit, because God’s Spirit is praying with us, that the entire spiritual realm is affected to remove hindrances in our lives, bring manifestation to our answered prayers, and bring God’s will into the earth. That’s how important this is.
Praying in the spirit is definitely praying in new tongues. There may be other instances of praying in the spirit without praying in tongues, but teaching that would require a Bible reading that I feel is shaky, at best. If someone describes praying in the spirit apart from praying in tongues, I’ll bet they don’t believe in tongues. No one argues that praying in the spirit is passed away or that it’s not for everyone, so if they don’t believe in new tongues then they have to come up with some other definition for praying in the spirit. But those other definitions aren’t nearly as Biblically concrete as defining praying in the spirit as praying in tongues.
Lastly, I want to briefly address the principle Biblical argument against speaking in tongues. In my opinion it is so weak that really I’m wasting your time. But the devil has made this argument so prevalent in the church, so widely adopted, despite its weakness, that I think we need to address it.
(1 Corinthians 13:8-10 NIV) “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.”
There is no question that at some point tongues will cease. It would be unbiblical to say otherwise. Many people believe that both the gift of tongues and the gift of prophesy have already passed away. They commonly teach that now that we have God’s complete Word in the Bible these things have passed away.
However, that is an incorrect reading of this passage. First of all, when completeness comes, prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled, and knowledge will pass away. Knowledge has not passed away. Just as an example, 2 Peter tells us at least twice that we should add to our knowledge and grow in knowledge. Surely the Bible in my hand can’t both signify the passing away of knowledge and the very knowledge that I’m supposed to gain. That would render Peter’s statements meaningless and impossible. 2 Corinthians 8, written after 1 Corinthians 13 and by the same author, says we should abound in knowledge. It’s just an impossible read to say that the Bible’s creation signifies the passing away of knowledge and the death of prophesy and tongues.
Just for one other point, the word “completeness” is rendered “perfect” in some other translations, but that doesn’t really matter. Those opposing tongues from this perspective suggest that word refers to the Bible we now have, as I’ve already stated. But I’m honestly not sure how they get there. We could talk a lot about that word, but it definitely doesn’t only refer to the written Word of God. I think the best translation might be “fully developed spiritually” and it is most commonly used to describe a spiritually mature person.
There will come a day when we are with God through physical death or Jesus’ return. We will lose any relationship with our sin nature. We will have unhindered unity with, and access to, God’s Spirit and all the revelation of God. We will know everything. We will have no limitations. At that time, we will be fully developed spiritually. At that time, all lower level, human knowledge will pass so far below us that we may never consider it again. Once we reach this level, we won’t need tongues anymore. We will know exactly what to pray in any language we want. We will be fully edified and fully built up in our most holy faith. We will know all mysteries. God won’t need to bypass our tainted brains to have us pray correctly in new tongues. That’s when tongues will cease. We aren’t there yet. We need to be praying in the spirit, we need to be praying in new tongues, now.
If you already have this gift, if you already speak in new tongues, that’s awesome. I encourage you to spend more time doing it. I like to pray in the spirit for an hour as I walk. I also encourage you to begin praying for interpretations as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 14:13. We need to pray in the spirit and then pray for interpretations so we get more understanding and edification for our lives, especially as concerning God’s perfect will for our lives.
If you don’t yet speak in new tongues, Jesus said that believers would speak in new tongues. Not everyone is going to miraculously speak in other known languages. But all believers can speak in new tongues as Jesus said. All believers can and should pray in the spirit. You need to be praying in the spirit and edifying yourself, especially now in this modern age. You need to be building yourself up on your most holy faith. We need the intercession of the Spirit like never before, and praying in new tongues is the best Biblical way to receive that.
The ability to speak in new tongues comes when a Christian receives the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus wants you to have both. If you would like to receive the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in new tongues, please reach out to me or another trusted Christian friend in your life who already has these gifts. We can pray together and you can receive these blessings anytime you want. I’m also happy to share more materials with you so that you can further study and grow your faith in these blessings.
Comments
Post a Comment