I can't compete with St Paul's quantitative assertion (see above), but I do claim to be rational. I leave you to judge whether that claim is justified as you read this article. Speaking in tongues, also known as 'glossolalia', has often been a controversial subject. However, anyone who prays habitually will have learned that normal words are sometimes inadequate to express our deepest prayers. When speaking in tongues, we set our intellect aside, but we engage our passions.
Bible
Let's go back to the beginning, or at least the first occasion when this phenomenon was reported in the Bible. The events
on that first Day of Pentecost in the era of the Church were extraordinary, and the explanations for those events differ widely.
That was true even on the day itself, when some of the crowd glorified God because they heard supposedly unlearned people
speaking foreign languages that the hearers recognised. Meanwhile, other people in the same crowd accused them of talking
gibberish, and assumed that they must be drunk. Which witnesses were right? I think we can be sure that those who recognised
their own languages knew what they were talking about. As for the others, as regular visitors to cosmopolitan Jerusalem they
must have been used to hearing a variety of Mediterranean languages, so they probably picked out some that were quite
unfamiliar. Both comments could have been true. A reasonable assumption is that many languages were being spoken and just
a few of them were recognised by witnesses.
World
Most modern instances of speaking with tongues are in languages that none of the witnesses recognise. But that doesn't mean
that they are not languages. There are more than 7000 languages spoken in the modern world, and there are many past languages
that are no longer used. That only accounts for the known languages, but more languages and dialects are still being discovered.
On that basis there is little chance that a random "tongue" would be recognised by someone in the room. On the other hand,
experienced linguists are able to distinguish between genuine languages and random sounds - even where they don't recognise
the specific language they are hearing. Languages have recognisable form and patterns, and recordings of speaking in tongues
have been appraised in this way by experts.
Interpretation
Nevertheless, there have been modern instances where "speaking with tongues" has produced a recognisable language (recognisable,
that is, to the hearers, but not the speaker). Journalist, John Sherrill, quotes several such cases in his investigative study of
the phenomenon NOTE 2, but I recall an incident that, though less dramatic, means more to me because it was a personal experience.
One Sunday, at a church in a Kentish village, I felt a strong urge to speak a message in 'tongues'. The visiting speaker gave
the interpretation, which consisted of the words of a Psalm that I had read in my prayer time that morning. The speaker had
no way of knowing what I had read earlier that morning.
Fire
What was the point of that? It assured me (if I needed reassurance) that the gift was genuine. More importantly, it
introduced more people in our church to the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit, and it helped light a spiritual fire in
our church - the nearest thing to revival that I have yet seen (but I'm looking and praying for more!). As the Apostle
Paul said, speaking with tongues is a sign. Look through the book of Acts and on most occasions when it reports on people
becoming "filled with the Spirit" it mentions speaking with tongues. In those instances when it doesn't mention "tongues"
the accounts make it clear that something unmistakable happened to show the witnesses that the miracle had happened. I
don't hold to the dogma that "tongues" is the only proof of the Spirit's baptism, but it's clearly important
Puncture
How foolish this seems! As Paul said:
| "If unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy." NOTE 3 |
Feelings
However, the place where this gift really comes into its own is in prayer. Speaking in tongues is a form of prayer that
engages our emotions but not our intellect. That doesn't necessarily mean that our mind is blank, but deep feelings may be
involved, even if we don't know what we are praying for. And that's an important point - we can use this prayer form when
interceding for a known subject or an unknown one. We may know the subject, but we may not know specifically what to pray
for or how to express the depths of our feelings. So, by praying in tongues, we allow our feelings to come out in a language that only God understands.
Passport
Speaking with Tongues may be the least of the miraculous gifts that Paul listed NOTE 5, but it seems to be a passport to the rest.
Where the gift of "tongues" breaks out other gifts soon follow. A possible explanation for this is that speaking with tongues
wakes us up to our non-rational senses. That kind of awareness enabled Paul to "see" that the crippled man in Lystra had
faith to be healed NOTE 6 , and to "sense" that God did not want him to travel on to Bithynia
Character
Always remember that no spiritual gift, however miraculous, powerful or impressive, matters as much as character. Speaking
with tongues doesn't prove we are righteous, loving, holy or in any way special. It is a gift. That's all.
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." NOTE 8
Modulation
Glossolalia is not a stream of meaningless gibberish. It has form. It has tone, rhythm, and modulation. Though the
speaker doesn't understand the actual meaning (other than through the gift of interpretation) the mood can be sensed from
the sound. Praise can be distinguished from pleading by the tone and modulation of the voice, though the actual words are
not understood.
Precious Gift
Tongues have meaning, but our intellect can't penetrate or interfere with it. This is a deeply expressive form of prayer
that can be used in worship, praise, or supplication. Like meditation and contemplation, those other prayer forms that avoid
engaging the mind, tongues are primarily for private prayer. And, like the apostle Paul, I thank God that I can use this
precious gift in my prayers.