This post is a direct result of a conversation within my small group community that occurred Monday night.  We talked about what it meant to live prayerfully and were discussing Jesus’ instructions on prayer in Matthew 6, when an interesting subjected arose. “What about when people pray in tongues in a service and no one can understand them?  How is that different than ‘babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words,’ in verse 7?”

Thus, the topic for discussion is what exactly is the gift of tongues and how is it appropriate/inappropriate in worship.

Before I dive into scripture, I must confess that this subject is both deeply troubling for me (because I don’t enjoy controversy), yet very close to my heart.  Monday night, I came clean and outed myself as one who has a prayer language; call it what you want–praying in tongues, speaking in the spirit, whatever–I call it my prayer language.

The story of this phenomenon began when I was 17 years old and a junior in high school.  One Saturday night, I was intensely praying in my room and all of a sudden these words, seemingly gibberish and incomprehensible, fell out of my mouth in one, long strand.  I, being the Baptist boy I was, became afraid and felt I had done something wrong.  I immediately went to bed and even asked forgiveness from God for what had happened as a just-in-case-it-was-wrong thing.  The next Wednesday at our youth group, we had a guest speaker from Canyon, TX, come and speak.  As a part of the band, I was there early and me and this speaker sat down before the service and began to talk about God.  He paused for a second and stared down at the table we were at, then said the most impacting words I had ever heard as a 17 year old kid.  “Kyle, God wants you to know that whatever you experienced this past week was real and it was from Him.” I will never forget that experience.

I have never really talked about that experience or other experiences with my prayer language to people.  For me, it is a very personal thing that is, and for the most part, will remain between me and God.

So, the discussion on Monday was uncomfortable and challenging, as I came out and confessed that I do pray in a prayer language in my personal devotion and time with the Lord.  This came as a shock to many in my community group and my prayer for us is that it will at least stir up some good conversation about the things of the Spirit.

I spent about four and a half hours, coffee in hand of course, in the library yesterday researching and digging up everything I could find (in 4.5 hours) on the subject.  Here is what I found.

The main text I’ll exegete is 1 Corinthians 14. You can read it HERE.

In this passage, Paul is talking about the building up of the church using prophecy versus using tongues.

“For 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.” [v 2]

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We must understand first that Paul recognizes this phenomenon as a legitimate part of church life and as a spiritual gift from God.  He mentioned this gift in chapter 12 among a list of other gifts and is now, in chapter 14, expounding on the subject.  So what exactly is the gift of tongues?  Johannas Weiss, a renowned, German Biblical scholar, suggests that Paul could be referring to what Jewish and Greek writers call a state of “ecstasy.”  This is where the person experiencing ecstasy goes under an “inspired seizure,” as words come from his/her mouth of which he/she has no control.  ”The prophet does not utter anything from himself but echoes the foreign things of another being.” [This one sounds a little far fetched for me, but in an effort to be unbiased in my research, it is what I found.]  Plato says that one in ecstasy is, “one who becomes inspired and out of his mind, and the mind is no longer present in him.”  This person might reveal things way beyond his schooling, say profound, proverbial statements, or merely say words of phrases that do not make any earthly sense.

The difference between the Jewish and Greek idea of ecstasy and what Paul refers to as “speaking  in a tongue,” is that in ecstasy, the words spoken are seemingly understandable as far as the language is concerned.  The occurrence in Corinth seems to be different.

“he utters mysteries with his spirit.”

This is a somewhat difficult phrase in Greek.  The word, pneumati, can be translated three different ways:  1) in [his] spirit, meaning his human spirit, 2) in the [Holy] Spirit, or 3) to the Spirit.  Either way, there is a mysterious utterance in some spiritual aspect, and Paul acknowledges this act as legit gift from God.

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Paul himself prays in tongues (vv 6,14,15,18).

“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.” “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 mind;  I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind.”

It is a little frustrating to try to understand and analyze Paul’s psychology and language because he brings in Jewish and Greek backgrounds with no explanation.  Though this gifting is very mysterious to us, Paul doesn’t give much instruction or detail on how it works.  He merely says, “I speak in tongues.”  I understand that Paul considers prayer in a tongue a genuinely Christian experience but that its natural irrationality renders it unprofitable for communal church life, which requires that the mind be productive (more on this in a bit).  It is also interesting that Paul sings in the spirit.  The term Paul refers to is psallein, which usually refers to praise through singing accompanied by an instrument but is not necessarily a previously written song in which everyone already knows.  So in this sense, glossolalia could be related not only to prayer but also to singing a song.  (I thought it interesting that the only other mentioning of Paul singing is while he was in the Philippian Jail, in Acts 16:25).

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Paul does not reprimand or treat harshly the people who are speaking in tongues.  He has the gift himself so he wouldn’t kick someone out of the assembly for using the gift.  The problem is that it was creating alienation within the church, making the ones who didn’t possess the gift feel inferior, pushing them away from Christian community.

I found that the same situation broke out about a century and a half after Paul’s time with the followers of Montanus, who claimed special inspiration from the Spirit through the gift of tongues.  The movement was rejected by church orthodoxy but was later espoused by Tertullian, who defended it.  Perhaps this was because of a severe theological and devotional laxity in the church during the early second century. Regardless, some accepted it as Biblical practice while others rejected it.

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Paul believes that prophecy is especially important because it illuminates the people of the church.

“I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy.” [v 5]

In contrast, speaking in tongues is of value only to the person who speaks.  Apparently, Paul believes that the primary function of tongues is to express feelings, thoughts, or sentiments too deep for words and to address them to God in vocalization that breaks the bonds of ordinary, rational speech.  Perhaps this is what he means in Romans 8:26, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

Prophecy builds up the church, and therefore, is a more important gift.  John Calvin defines prophecy as, “that unique and outstanding gift of revealing what is the secret will of God, so that the prophet is, so to speak, God’s messenger to men.”  It develops loyalty, appealing to the conscience and will.  Evidently, prophecy in these early churches functioned as a role filled now mainly by preaching.  It built up the church, aka congregation, or assembly of believers, or the body of Christ.

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Paul seems to be saying that personal devotion has its place, but it is not as important as public devotion, which concentrates on building up the entire group.

“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.” “He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.”

The only way tongues can be regarded to as more important than prophecy is when one interprets the utterance to the body, which builds up the church.  Outside of interpretation–although it is of value to the individual–tongues is of no value to the church.

Paul compares tongues to instruments; lifeless things that make sounds, “such as the flute or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the nots?” If you cannot understand the individual notes, it is merely meaningless sounds.

Then he compares it to other world-languages; “there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.  If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.”  By contrast, this suggests that, at least in this case, the gift of tongues spoken of here is not an unknown, earthly language (as in Acts 2).  Here, it is words unintelligible to anyone on earth, other than the person whom God has gifted as an interpreter. It also must be noted that the one who speaks in a tongue is permitted to interpret the utterance himself (v 13).  The word foreigner is barbaras, or barbarian, suggesting the onomatopoeic words, “barbarbarbar.”  The point is that if the sounds are heard by the hearer, they are still of no value unless they communicate a message.

Paul’s main concern is the building up of Christian community within the body of believers.  Speaking or praying in tongues, though appropriate and beneficial in times of personal devotion and intimate, spiritual settings, does not build up the church and therefore, is inappropriate in larger, congregational worship settings.  Prophecy is encouraged in larger settings (and small settings) because it edifies and builds up the community of believers.  I do believe that speaking in tongues or praying in a prayer language is beneficial in some cases.  If a small gathering of believers are seeking the Lord together, and everyone is comfortable praying in a prayer language, or at least with others praying in a prayer language, I do not think it is inappropriate.  The believers are seeking to draw closer to God, through the Spirit, communally.  If there are, however, members or individuals in the gathering that are not comfortable with tongues, I think it is more beneficial to do as Paul says.  ”If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.”

Upon conclusion of this overly-lengthy post, we should heed the words of Paul.  ”Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.” “Be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.  But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”