Speaking in Tongues

By David Feddes

Millions of people claim to speak in tongues. They feel moved to make sounds
that arent part of any language theyve learned, and they take this as a special blessing
from Gods Holy Spirit. Other people want to speak in tongues but cant, and they fear
that this means their relationship to God is second-rate at best. Then there are those
want to speak in tongues and think they might be doing it, but theyre not sure. They
babble a bit in their private prayers or when others in their church are making unusual
soundsbut theyre not sure if its the real deal. They wonder if they truly have a divine
gift for speaking unlearned languages in praise of God, or if theyre just making noise.
But one thing theyre sure of: speaking in tongues is a top priority, and theyre
desperately eager to do it.
In contrast to those who speak in tongues or wish they could, there are many
who shun the very idea as unhealthy. Non-religious people tend to think that someone
speaking in tongues must be an irrational fanatic or an unbalanced psycho. Some
Christians also take a negative view of tongues. They think unintelligible noises are not
from God at all. They know that in New Testament times the Holy Spirit gave some
people miraculous power to speak other languages on certain occasions, but they think
that time is over. In their opinion, those who claim to speak in tongues today are
babbling from an irrational part of their brain, or else the strange noises come from evil
spirits. Either way, they think, the jabbering is not from God.
Whats the truth about speaking in tongues? Some think its the surest sign of the
Holy Spirits power. Others think its weird babble that comes from mental imbalance or
evil spirits. Both extremes are wrong. Its wrong to insist that any Christian who doesnt
speak in tongues must lack Holy Spirit empowerment. Its also wrong to say all tongue-
speaking is either ditsy or demonic. The truth is that speaking in tongues is one among
a variety of gifts from Gods Holy Spirit. Its not the most important one, not every Spirit-
filled person gets it, and even some who claim to speak in tongues are just babbling and
fooling themselves. But the Bible plainly shows that speaking in tongues is a gift that
some Christians do receive from the Holy Spirit.
If youre a Christian who doesnt speak in tongues, dont rule out the possibility
that God may give you that gift at some point. But dont feel frustrated or inferior if God
chooses not to give it to you. Keep in mind that the Spirit gives others gifts too, some of
them more valuable than tongues. Treasure and use any gifts God has already given
you to serve others. If you do have the gift of tongues, use it the way the Bible directs.
Value your gift of tongues, but dont exaggerate its importance.

The Corinthian Problem

I hear from people in various parts of the world wondering about tongues. A
Nigerian person told me in an email,
This has been disturbing me so much. I've come out in several altar calls
concerning the power of Holy Ghost. Yet nothing seems to happen. When I go to
fellowship, I see some people falling in the power of the Holy Ghost, bursting in
tongues, proclaiming, prophesying and lots of things, but I don't seem to find

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 myself there. I feel as if I'm not worthy to be in their midst. In fact, I'm envying
them. I feel like crying.
If youre in a group where many people are speaking in tongues or falling to the ground
but youre not doing those things, you may wonder, What am I missing? Whats my
problem? Well, the problem might not be your inability to speak in tongues. The
problem might be the unbiblical teaching youve received and the unbiblical pattern of
worship youre surrounded by.
In some circles, its taught that to be spiritually healthy, you must have two
separate experiences. First, you must believe in Jesus and receive him as Savior. At
that point you are born again and made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit. But thats not
enough. After that first event, says the teaching, you must seek a second blessing, the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. When that happens, you receive a huge power boost, and the
surest sign of this is speaking in tongues. In this teaching, not speaking in tongues
means that youre at best second-class, a lower-level, carnal Christian who isnt yet as
spiritual as those Spirit-baptized tongue-speakers. Such teaching tends to make you
feel superior if you speak in tongues and inferior if you dont.
You can avoid the pitfalls of feeling superior or inferior if you know what the Bible
says and what it doesnt say. The Bible mentions a few cases where people began to
speak in tongues when they were first filled with the Holy Spirit, but the Bible does not
require a two-stage pattern for all Christians, and the Bible does not say that tongues
are the badge of Spirit baptism which every first-rate Christian should have. On the
contrary, the Bible speaks of other spiritual gifts which rank higher than tongues, and
the Bible says that the highest mark of being Spirit-filled is love, not any particular talent
or ability.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a
resounding gong or a clanging symbol (1 Corinthians 13:1). Tongues are a gift that will
pass away when we know God fully, but love lasts forever (13:8-13). So if you want to
measure spiritual maturity and how much the Holy Spirit has flooded you, the measuring
stick is how much you love, not how often you speak in tongues.
In New Testament times, some Christians in the church at Corinth exaggerated
the importance of tongues, often at the expense of love. They made tongues the main
mark of being super-spiritual, and there were many divisions and quarrels in their
congregation. Their wrong thinking led to wrong conduct in worship, and something
similar happens in some churches today. Going overboard on tongues leads to worship
gatherings where large numbers of people speak in tongues all at the same time during
worship services. That sort of thing was happening in the church of Corinth. There was
lots of noise but no clear message that anyone could understand.
The apostle Paul, inspired by God, told the Corinthian Christians to get their
worship in order. Paul said that in public worship, only one person at a time should
speak in a tongue, and then only if someone could interpret the meaning. The tongue-
speaking should be limited to only two or at most three people in a worship service.
They should not speak at the same time or try to shout above the noise of the others but
should speak one at a time, with each waiting his turn. If the tongue-speakers had only
the sounds of an unknown language but no translation or explanation, they were not to
speak in tongues at all during the worship meeting but only in their personal times of

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worship (see 1 Corinthians 14:27-28). That was Gods word of guidance to correct the
noisy free-for-all in Corinth, and that is still Gods word of guidance for the use of
tongues today.

God of Order
Its all too easy to associate Holy Spirit power with loud sounds and dramatic
action. It might seem that God is more active among people who are making lots of
noise and toppling over than among people who sit quietly and listen to clear teaching.
But thats not what the Bible says. Paul told the Corinthians, God is not a God of
disorder but of peace (14:33).
In public worship, said Paul, a few clear words are worth more than all kinds of
noise that nobody can understand. Did Paul say this because he was an ultra-rational
person who couldnt speak in tongues and didnt want anybody else doing it? No, Paul
said hed be happy if all the Corinthians had the ability to speak in tongues (14:5), and
he said that he himself could speak in tongues with the best of them. Paul wrote, I
thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather
speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue
(14:18-19).
Earlier I quoted an email from someone who referred to crowds of people in his
church speaking in tongues and also falling in the power of the Holy Spirit. People
falling down during a worship gathering is in a whole different category from speaking in
tongues. The Bible speaks of tongues as one of the spiritual gifts that a Christian might
receive; the Bible never speaks of falling as a special gift. Falling is a sign of weakness,
not a sign of being super-spiritual. Falling or fainting means your body and spirit arent
strong enough to handle a certain kind of pressure. Whether its the pressure to fall
when a hypnotic leader touches you or the pressure of group hysteria that makes you
fall like so many others in the meeting, or whether it really is the pressure of the mighty
presence of God upon you, falling means youre too weak to handle something.
In Americas Great Awakening of the mid-1700s, some people collapsed during
meetings as they felt the weight of Gods presence and their own sin. Others fell just
because they got overexcited and fainted. The leaders of the Awakening, such as
Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, didnt see falling down in church as a bad or
good. They were matter-of-fact about it. Edwards described falling as an occasional
side-effect affecting people of a weaker frame. These mighty preachers were
concerned with changing hearts, not with making bodies fall over. They knew that many
who didnt fall were touched and transformed by the Spirit, while some who did fall
turned out later on to be just as unsaved and unchanged as ever. So if people fell, the
preachers didnt praise or scold them. They simply helped them regain their senses and
encouraged them to keep seeking God.
In the powerful Korean revivals of the early 1900s which launched Christianity as
a major force in Korea, there were meetings in which people felt overwhelmed and fell
to the ground. How did the preachers in Korea respond? Did they try to make even
more people fall over as some sort of special blessing? No, they helped the fallen back
up and encouraged them with words of Gods forgiveness and transforming power. The

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falling was not important of itself. It was just an occasional side-effect. The leaders
never promoted it; they tried to keep it to a minimum.
If youve ever fallen during an experience of Gods presence, dont be ashamed
of it, but dont be proud of it, either. Some call this being slain in the Spirit, but that
phrase is a human invention, not a divine revelation. Fainting is no grand event. Its not
important. What matters is whether you love God, trust Jesus, and live by his Spirit.

Fireplace
Liveliness and orderliness are not opposites; they belong together. The
Corinthian church had a problem of liveliness without orderliness, and some churches
today have the same problem. But lets be honest: many church gatherings suffer from
the opposite problem. They have orderliness without liveliness. These meetings arent
so overwhelming that weaker souls cant handle it and topple over. These worship
services are so sedate and predictable that if anyone fell over, it would be from
boredom or sleepiness. In the Bible Paul had to tell the Corinthians to bring more order
to their wild, noisy worship gatherings, but its still better to be too lively than too lifeless.
Its not good if too many people are losing control, but its worse when nobody senses
the Holy Spirits power among them. Its not good if everybody in a church is trying to
speak in tongues or prophesy or display their spiritual gifts at the same time in one huge
hubbub, but its worse if nobody in the church ever uses spiritual gifts except one paid
pastor delivering a prepared sermon.
Churches dont have to choose between order on the one hand or lively
participation with speaking in tongues and other spiritual gifts on the other. The apostle
Paul summarized the matter perfectly when he said, Do not forbid speaking in tongues.
But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way (1 Corinthians 14:39-40).
Spiritual gifts are not meant to be used in a disorderly way, but they are meant to
be used. The Spirits fire is not meant to burn out of control, but it is meant to burn. The
Bible says, Do not put out the Spirits fire (1 Thessalonians 5:19). A church is like a
fireplace. Its made for fire to burn in a controlled way. Its not meant to be an
uncontrolled explosion of flame, and its not meant to be a heap of cold, dead ashes.
The church is meant to be aglow with the well-ordered flame of the Holy Spirit. Then
there will be light and warmth to bless the people and gladden God.
The church needs the Holy Spirit in all his liveliness and orderliness, and so does
each individual. You dont need to speak in tongues as the sign of being flooded with
the Holy Spirit, but you do need to be flooded by the Holy Spirit. You need to be filled to
overflowing with the life and power of God. Dont settle for less. Lets not
overemphasize tongues, but lets also not underestimate our need for the Holy Spirit. If
you believe in Jesus and belong to him at all, the Holy Spirit is already living and
working in you. You couldnt have come to Christ without the Spirit. But dont be
satisfied with that. Seek more.
The teaching about a two-stage experience of first being born again and later
being baptized by the Spirit is mistaken because it forces the Holy Spirit into a rigid
formula which the Bible doesnt teach. Still, those who teach this are right about at least
one thing: God has much more to give you than what you receive when you first
become a Christian, and you shouldnt rest content with staying at the same level as

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when you were saved. Seek to grow in grace. Seek for the Spirit to flood you with love,
to fill you with assurance, to equip you with gifts for serving others, to empower you
afresh to meet new challenges and do great things for God. Dont just ask for one
sensational baptism of the Spirit or settle for a so-called second blessing. Even if
God gives you a mighty anointing of the Spirit unlike anything youve experienced
before, dont say, Now Ive had the experience. Now Ive arrived! No, keep seeking
more of God. Pray that the Spirit may fill you again and again and again, that he may
keep pouring into you more and more of the spiritual blessings that Jesus has earned
for you.

Unity in Diversity
Speaking in tongues is one among many gifts of the Holy Spirit. When the Bible
talks about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12, it lists a wide variety, including apostles,
prophets, teachers, workers of miracles, gifts of healing, those able to help others, gifts
of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues (12:28). Each time
Pauls letter to the Corinthians gives a list of spiritual gifts, tongues is mentioned last.
Other books of the Bible list a variety of other gifts and dont even mention tongues.
Thats not a knock on the gift of tongues. Scripture plainly says, Do not forbid speaking
in tongues (14:39). We should not stifle or speak ill of any gift of the Spirit. But neither
should we exaggerate any particular gift as the gift every person should have above all
others, the badge of being a truly Spirit-filled person.
The apostle Paul compares people with different personalities and spiritual gifts
to different parts of a body. An ear should not feel inferior to an eye because the ear
cant see; thats not the ears job. If the whole body were an eye, where would the
sense of hearing be? (12:17). Likewise, someone with a special gift of helping or
administration should not feel inferior to someone with a special gift for healing or
speaking in tongues. All the gifts are valuable, and the church body benefits from the
variety.
The goal is for all parts to work in harmony, not for all parts to be identical. A
healthy body has unity in diversity, and a healthy church has unity in diversity. If you
have a quiet, thoughtful personality, you dont have to become loud and boisterous to
be spiritually alive. If you have an outgoing, talkative personality, you dont have to
become a silent scholar to be truly godly. God created us with various personalities. He
doesnt force everyone into the same mold. The Holy Spirit adorns each unique person
with a unique mix of gifts which can bring blessing to the whole body. Unity is not based
on everyone having the same personality and the same abilities. Unity is based on
everyone belonging to the same Spirit, the same Lord Jesus, the same heavenly
Father. As Paul put it, There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are
different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but
the same God works all of them in all men (12:4-6). If you have a gift of tongues and I
have a gift of teaching, both come from the divine Source. Neither is more spiritual
than the other. Neither is more a mark of Spirit-baptism than the other. For we were all
baptized by one Spirit into one body (12:13).

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Building Up
Spiritual gifts are not collectors items just to put in a trophy case and admire.
The gifts are to be used for Gods glory, for your own good, and for the good of others.
With the gift of tongues, the Holy Spirit moves your spirit to speak in a language which
your mind hasnt learned and doesnt recognize. Many people testify that speaking in
tongues is a liberating, empowering experience which adds a new dimension to their
praying and praising God. In the Bible Paul wrote, Anyone who speaks in a tongue
does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries
with his spirit (14:2). As your spirit voices mysteries that your mind doesnt grasp, it
can build you up as an individual and enhance your personal praise of God.
But can speaking in tongues build up fellow Christians who dont speak in
tongues? Yes it can, but only if the Spirit gives someone the gift to know and explain
what the sounds mean. Without interpretation, speaking in tongues is just noise to those
who overhear it. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone
know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air (14:9) You wont be
helping fellow believers. They cant gain any truth from what youre saying and they
cant say Amen in agreement if they cant make sense of the sounds youre making.
You will be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified (14:9,17)
If someone who isnt a Christian comes to a meeting and hears someone
speaking in a tongue, followed by a meaningful interpretation, it could be a powerful
sign for the nonbeliever. But if lots of people are speaking in tongues with no
interpretation, it no longer serves as a sign to help persuade nonbelievers of Gods
presence. It only sends a signal that youre crazy. Paul wrote the Corinthians, If the
whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not
understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your
mind? (14:23).
To help nonbelievers know Christ and to help believers grow in Christ, we need
to communicate. We need to convey a clear meaning. Therefore, any spiritual gift which
communicates a clear, understandable word from God is of greater value in public
worship than speaking in tongues with no interpretation. Tongues can build others up
when accompanied by a clear, true meaning. Otherwise, speaking in tongues is for
personal, private outpouring of your spirit as moved by Gods Spirit.
At one point Paul asked the Corinthians, Do all speak in tongues? (12:30) He
phrased the question in such a way that the obvious answer was no, not all speak in
tongues. Some do; some dont. In the long history of the worldwide church, there have
been many mighty servants of God who never spoke in tongues. There have been
many churches abounding in spiritual power where tongues were not spoken. There
have even been periods of history, times of tremendous reformation and revival in the
Holy Spirit, where the gift of tongues did not appear anywhere. That does not mean the
gift was only for the early church or that it became forever defunct or useless. It just
means that God can give it or withhold it whenever and to whomever he pleases.
According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is like a wind which blows wherever it
pleases (John 3:8). The Holy Spirit is not bound by our formulas. He is not bound by
the formula that all Spirit-filled people speak in tongues. He is not bound by the formula
that nobody should speak in tongues. The Spirit gives the gift of tongues as he decides,

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and it must be used as he directs. If you have the gift of tongues, use it to praise God in
private and to be built up in worship and adoration. Use the gift in a gathering of others
only when it will build them up.
If you dont have the gift of tongues, use whatever gifts you do have to build
others up, and keep seeking whatever additional empowerment and gifts the Spirit may
be pleased to grant you. Seek this not merely for your own status but for the good of
others. Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts (14:1).

Originally prepared by David Feddes for Back to God Ministries International. Used with permission.