Disclaimer: Since this is a hot issue for many of my friends I want to provide a short disclaimer.  This is not an article that dives into deep exegesis with the intent of proving one specific position. The exegesis in this article is superficial at best.  My motives in this article aren’t to convince you to become charismatic, or to sway you to become a cessationist. I am perfectly content with you choosing whatever “side” you think is best for you.  This article more or less documents my personal encounter with tongues, and the things that have crossed my mind while considering whether or not I believe in their existence today.

My Story:

I was raised in a conservative, non-denominational, evangelical Christian church in the Seattle,WA area.  My parents have always been committed servants of Jesus and of the local church, and because of that we did not switch churches very often.  They got plugged in and required my sister and I to attend the children’s programs on a weekly basis.  I have fond memories of growing up in the local church.  As I’ve grown older and received a formal theological education, I have spent time thinking back to my childhood years considering what kinds of things the church taught.  I remember a Christ-centered theme throughout, saturated with quality exegesis, and a membership dedicated to serve.  I also remember that the church wasn’t charismatic in practice.

There was no speaking in tongues being done during the prayer services, and most people were dead silent as the pastor led the congregation in prayer.  At that point in my life I didn’t even know what charismatic meant.  Words like Pentecostal and charismatic were never mentioned in my household growing up.  My parents aren’t the divisive types that commonly speak down of those who held views different than their own, so in many ways as a kid I thought all Christians were the same and went to churches that were just like my own.  There was no Baptist vs. Pentecostal rivalry growing up.

A Cultural Experience:

As I grew older I quickly realized that there are thousands of Christian denominations.  When I met my wife she invited me to visit her church.  She went to a Russian Pentecostal church.  That was my first experience with Pentecostalism, and for that matter, charismatic Christians.  It was a very strange experience for me.  When the preacher wrapped up his sermon and transitioned into a prayer session, it started off sounding fairly normal.  After a minute or so the preacher began raising his voice, and shortly after that the entire church was praying very loudly.  All of a sudden the preacher started making odd noises.  At this point I opened my eyes and looked up at the pulpit, thinking perhaps something was wrong with him.

Nothing was wrong with him, he looked like he was working hard at making the strange noises, and the congregation matched his effort by making similar sounds.  This went on for quite some time, and was an uncomfortable experience for me having never experienced it before.  I also witnessed a person who allegedly interpreted the tongues, and another lady who started belting out prophecy for all to hear.  During this process, no pastor cut any of these people off, and if I remember right, actually encouraged these people on in the process. Simply put, the experience felt very awkward and I left confused as to what had just happened.  I didn’t say anything to my wife (friend at the time) but became instantly curious as to what had happened during that otherwise normal church service.

A Short Story of Research:

I started listening to some sermons from my favorite bible preachers on the topic of tongues.  At that point in my life I was big on Dr. John MacArthur, and so I bought his book Charismatic Chaos, and listened to his sermons that discussed tongues.  During my initial research on the topic of tongues, I quickly learned that there are essentially only two sections of scripture that discuss tongues.  There are sections in the book of Acts (chapters 2,10,19), and sections in 1 Corinthians (chapters 12,13,14) that talk about tongues.  Other than these two sections, the scriptures are silent on the topic. Recognizing that just because the Bible doesn’t handle a topic very extensively, that doesn’t necessarily negate the importance of the topic, I was resolved to dive deeper into the study of tongues.  Thankfully, I did not stop at MacArthur.  While John MacArthur’s book “Charismatic Chaos” was an interesting read, I didn’t find the arguments compelling enough to throw in the towel and dismiss the beliefs that my many Pentecostal friends held so dearly.

The first thing I wanted to investigate was which Greek word (s) translated as “tongues” in the English bible.  I wanted to know whether the Greek word for tongues mentioned in Acts was the same Greek word the Apostle Paul used in 1 Corinthians.  I quickly discovered the Greek words xenoglossia and glossolalia.  Xenoglossia is when a person is speaking in a real human language that was previously unknown to the speaker, while glossolalia is when a person is speaking in an unknown tongue that isn’t a real human language.

Why are these two Greek words relevant to me personally? Without diving much further into the Greek word study, I was convinced that I had encountered glossolalia at my wife’s Russian Pentecostal church.  At this point I began to engage some of my Pentecostal friends in discussion.  I learned that in their particular churches, everyone was encouraged to speak in tongues (glossolalia) and that it was a necessary (if not required) evidence that proved that a person had been baptized with the Spirit.  The leadership was at times suspect of those who did not possess this gift, or did not at the very least aspire to possess it.   In all fairness, I don’t know if my wife’s former church still believes that, but that certainly was the case when I met her and started visiting there.

During a few more candid conversations with members of the youth who attended that church, several people admitted that they had faked the glossolalia experience in order to appease their parents, or to get their leadership off of their backs.  To be clear, that wasn’t the case with every person I encountered.  There were people who were convinced without a doubt that their glossolalia experience was an authentic one.  It is because of those people that I decided to do some more bible study work to get to the bottom of this “issue”.

As I sought answers as to why the topic of tongues was so important to my charismatic friends, I discovered a similar theme in all of their answers.  Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians reference Acts 2 as the foundation of their movement.  The argument is made that the Apostles spoke in tongues, and therefore we should do the same thing today.  The Acts 2 Pentecost event was definitely amazing.  I do wonder what it would have been like to have been there and experienced the sounds coming from heaven, filling the house.  I wonder what it would have been like to have been “filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4 ESV). Admittedly, there is no bible verse that outright says the gift of tongues has ceased to exist, which is ultimately why many Pentecostal and charismatic Christians practice them today, and why I can’t dogmatically dismiss the possibility that they occur.

As I worked through the spiritual gift section in 1^st Corinthians, I encountered the people of Corinth, who the Apostle Paul had the pleasure (and hardship) of ministering to, and who had members who were speaking in tongues and practicing the various spiritual gifts.  In chapter 12, Paul emphasizes the importance of unity among Christians, and establishes that there are a variety of spiritual gifts, including the gift of tongues (1 Cor 12:10).  Apparently there was a lot of disunity between the members of the church in Corinth as the theme of unity is scattered throughout this large epistle.  After Paul identifies the different spiritual gifts, he writes: “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills”(1 Cor 12:11 ESV).

The concept of God the Holy Spirit giving gifts “as he wills” seems contradictory to the experience that many of my young Pentecostal friends claimed to have where they were firmly encouraged to speak in tongues in order to prove that they have the Holy Spirit.  Whatever the case, Paul spends the later two-thirds of chapter 12 writing about unity.  Paul closes out chapter 12 writing “But earnestly desire the higher gifts, And I will show you a still more excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31 ESV).

What are these “higher gifts” that Paul refers to? In chapter 13 Paul writes: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong, or a clanging cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1 ESV).  Paul continues on stating that love is much more important than any spiritual gift stating that he is nothing without love.  Clearly one of the causes for disunity in the church at Corinth was the misuse of the spiritual gifts.  Instead of utilizing the gift of tongues in a way that was pleasing to God, people were boasting in their gifts, and allowing their gifts to create division among them.  Paul makes it abundantly clear that this should not be.

In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul continues on with the theme of spiritual gifts.  Keeping with the larger theme of Christian unity, Paul writes about what specific role the spiritual gifts play in corporate worship.  Paul states that prophecy is more important than tongues because it serves an edifying purpose in the church, while speaking in tongues without translation doesn’t build up the church (1 Cor 14:5b).  Christians certainly differ on what it means to speak in prophecy. Non charismatic Christians argue that biblical preaching is prophetic in nature because the preacher is speaking on behalf of God to the people.  Whatever the case, Paul puts prophecy over tongues in the context of corporate worship, while telling the church at Corinth that all Christians should speak in tongues in the private setting (1 Cor 14:5a).

In the remaining 35 verses of chapter 14, Paul lays out a specific way in which spiritual gifts are to be used during worship meetings.  Paul has in mind the church as a whole when he insists that interpreters must be present if tongues are to be used in public worship.  Paul ends chapter 14 writing “So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order”. (1 Cor 14:39-40. Again, Paul is concerned with the unity of the church, and the edifying nature of the public worship event.

My position on this topic:

What conclusions did I come to regarding the presence of glossolalia and xenoglossia in the modern Christian church? I think it is irresponsible to completely dismiss the possibility that these gifts are still present today.  What that said, it is equally irresponsible to abuse the gift of tongues by practicing it in public worship services, emphasizing that something is wrong with a person if they don’t have the gift of tongues, and engaging in a hostile “better than you” attitude towards those who believe the gifts have ceased.  I suspect that if the Apostle Paul were around today, that he might be whipping out a blank scroll of papyrus to write a few additional epistles condemning modern Christians for their over emphasize of the importance of speaking in tongues, and rebuke them for under-emphasizing the more important topics of unity.  One thing is for sure, Paul would encourage us all to find ways to love one another.