Have you ever heard someone speak in tongues? Do you know what it means to speak in tongues? Can you speak in multiple languages? Have you experienced the ability to speak in a language that no one else understands?
Speaking in tongues, as spoken of in the Bible, has raised much debate. Some believe it is merely the ability to speak a foreign language. Others believe it is the ability to speak an angelic language. And still others believe it is speaking in a spiritual language.
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 13:1 speaking in tongues of angels and tongues of men. However, he discourages doing so in the assembly of the church as being of no use practical use, unless someone can interpret it. Why? One of the main purposes to gather as a church body is to build up the body. If someone is speaking in a language that no one else understands, they cannot be building up the body.
As for speaking in a spiritual language, some believe this comes upon a person in a type of ecstasy brought on by the Holy Spirit. The person speaking is praising God, or perhaps the Holy Spirit is speaking through the person, in the language the Holy Spirit uses. In Romans 8:26, Paul tells the church in Rome that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we pray because we do not know what to pray.
As Paul states, being overcome by the Spirit to speak in a spiritual language is not something that should be done in a congregational setting. Perhaps Paul was saying this should be done in private, where the person overcome can communicate with God directly and thereby be edified or built up. The gift of speaking in tongues is a wonderful gift when used properly.
I pray we all know the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. I pray we know there is a spiritual language. I pray each one of us will invite the Spirit to speak to us and build us up. Pray in the spirit. Pray with the Spirit. Know the Spirit intercedes for you. Be wise in language use. Use the appropriate language to build up one another.
1 Corinthians 13:8-10 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.
Marty Pressey 