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Various Kinds of Tongues 

The final set of gifts focuses on the gifts that “speak,” or articulate God’s thoughts. In this devotional, we will explore various kinds of tongues.

The apostle Paul discussed the gifts of tongues and the interpretation of tongues much more often than he did many of the other gifts. Above all, he urged everyone to employ the gifts of the Spirit by means of the love of God. (See 1 Corinthians 13.) He wanted love to be our aim in everything we do.

Tongues were first given to the apostles and the other believers who were gathered in prayer on the day of Pentecost. Speaking in tongues is an overflow of the infilling of the Holy Spirit. (See, for example, Mark 16:17; John 7:38–39; Acts 1:8; 19:6.) Just as with the other spiritual gifts, receiving the gift of tongues is not a special sign of favor from God, nor is it a sign of superior zeal, commitment, or maturity. It is simply a manifestation of the grace of God given to believers for the common good of the church.

The gift of tongues is definitely miraculous. It is given to people regardless of their educational background; some people who exercise the gift may not even have learned to read or write. Without their having cracked a foreign language book or lived in a foreign country, the Holy Spirit en­ables them to begin to speak in another language (tongue)—and they can continue to speak in this language, by an act of their will, at their choosing. They can’t understand what they’re speaking, but they can speak expres­sively, fluently, and smoothly. Their particular tongue may be identifiable as a known language—one of the “tongues of men” (1 Corinthians 13:1)—and on occasion they may be understood by a native speaker. Or it may be a heavenly language—one of the “tongues…of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1). Almost never is a person’s God-given tongue a language that the person has learned to speak, even in part.

Normally, the gift is reserved for use in private devotions, but some people might speak out by the Spirit’s prompting in worship settings or, very occasionally, in a public, secular situation. Once in a while, the Spirit inspires someone to speak temporarily in an entirely different tongue from their usual one in order to communicate with another party. Once, I spoke out in Greek, and it was understood by others; I have never done this since, that I know of. I have also been known to speak in Russian and Korean, as well as a language used by the indigenous inhabitants of the Guatemalan highlands.

I was ministering in Guatemala City at a gathering of leaders. We were praying in the Spirit, and because I was up front, I was praying into the microphone. Suddenly, Harold Caballeros, the main leader of the group, stopped me. “Do you know what you’re saying?” he asked in English. Harold knows quite a few languages.

He held up two fingers. “First of all, you’re speaking Korean. Second, you’re speaking K’iche’, the native language of the people of the Central American hill tribes.” (That language name sounded like the word quiche to me; I had never heard of it before.)

That was amazing, of course, but let me tell you what happened next. We all went off to the World Congress on Evangelism, held at a convention center in Guatemala City. I was speaking at the podium when an anointing came upon me to speak in tongues. Almost immediately, about a hundred short men and women came running to the front, all dressed in clothing made from the same print of fabric, which identified them as coming from the same village. Apparently, I was speaking in K’iche’ again, and evidently I had summoned them to come forward. In this case, it was not necessary for the tongues message to be interpreted, because these men and women who spoke K’iche’ could understand every word. The Holy Spirit came upon them as a group, and they were overwhelmed by His glorious power.

Purposes of Speaking in Tongues

When a person speaks in a tongue, he or she uses normal vocal organs, but the conscious mind plays no part in the operation of the gift. Yet when a person feels inspired to speak out in tongues publicly, such utterances will, ideally, be followed by an interpretation in the native language of the hearers.

Praying and speaking in tongues represent personal communication with God—communication that is guaranteed to be on target every time, despite the limitations of our human understanding. Communication with God builds up our spirits every time. Paul explained, “One who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God…. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself” (1 Corinthians 14:2, 4).

Tongues is not the only way of praying in the Holy Spirit, but it is one of the primary ways. Such prayers involve worship, of course, and they also frequently include intercession on behalf of an individual, a group of people, or a situation.

I am convinced that the Lord often uses such prayer to rebuke the forc­es of darkness, who can comprehend the supernatural reproofs even when the speakers do not. Surely, in such cases, the victory is often won by a com­bination of the prayer in tongues and the gifts of faith and discernment.

Praying in tongues is also a powerful way to express victorious praises to God, using words that are far better than what we could come up with on our own.

God sometimes uses the gift of tongues as a sign of His glorious pres­ence in an assembly. This can be particularly powerful as a sign to unbeliev­ers, and the gift has proven to be very effective on the mission field for con­vincing those who do not yet believe in God. “So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers” (1 Corinthians 14:22). As a sign, the gift of tongues exposes unbelievers to the reality that God is alive and is personally involved in His people’s lives. Also, utterances in unknown tongues signify that the resurrection of Jesus Christ really happened—that He is risen and glorified. Peter said to the awed unbelievers on the day of Pentecost, “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, [Jesus] has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The gift of tongues was a powerful sign to observers on the day of Pentecost who knew for a fact that none of those uneducated Galileans could possibly have learned so many foreign languages. (See Acts 2:7–11.) As we see from that first episode of mass tongues-speaking, such supernatural occurrences can result in amaz­ingly successful evangelism. (See Acts 2:41, 47.)

Clear Guidelines

In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote very explicit guidelines for speaking in tongues, both in private and in public church meetings. He acknowledged that not everyone who exercises a tongue in private communion with God will also exercise the public ministry of tongues. (See 1 Corinthians 12:29–30.) He also indicated that in a public assembly, it is out of place to speak out loud in a tongue without being prompted by God’s special leading and without supplying the interpretation. (See 1 Corinthians 14:18–19, 27–28.)

Public utterances in tongues should occur within the guidelines of the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22–23), and they should be interpreted into a commonly understood language. Guidelines for speaking in tongues, therefore, will always depend on the situation. We should respect the protocol of the particular house of wor­ship. “Do not forbid speaking in tongues,” Paul wrote, “but all things should be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:39–40 NRSV). “Decently and in order” means different things in different places. It is never wrong to follow Paul’s instruction to “follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:1).