PRAYING IN TONGUES
By Adesoji Fasanya
Image sourced from gurukul.org
Dearly beloved, I write to you not to attempt to be exhaustive on the subject of ‘Praying in tongues’, but to give clarity to biblical injunctions as regards the subject matter. Or better put, to help the 21st century readers comprehend the biblical motif of praying in an unknown tongue. The very reason why this becomes a necessity is because of the excesses that are now evidently displayed about this crucial subject. If these imbalances can be adequately deciphered and realigned, the blessedness of this biblical tool will be apparent to all and our Christian living will be better for it. Let us therefore establish these truths;
1. Praying in the Spirit is NOT limited to praying in tongues.
In Ephesians 6, Paul admonishes the believers about putting on the armor of God. Using warfare language and alluding to Roman soldiers’ combat outfits, Paul counseled the believer to be strong and firm in the Lord. In verses 18–20 (NASB), he added prayer to the list of combative war instruments and said, “Pray at all times in the Spirit.”
“Praying at all times in the Spirit”, according to Paul, is important in being strong and victorious over the enemy. He added that this “praying in the Spirit” must be for all saints and then for himself. He then gave the Ephesian Church his exact prayer point — that he may have utterance to declare the mysteries of God boldly. Paul didn’t say, “Pray in the Spirit” for me by “praying in tongues”; he said, “Pray in the Spirit for me, by praying that I am bold enough to declare the Word of God”.
More so, in his epistle to the Romans, verses 26–27 of Chapter 8, we read that the Holy Spirit helps the believer’s weaknesses in prayer by interceding for him “with groanings too deep for words” and “according to the will of God”. The groanings relate to praying in unknown tongues and praying according to God’s will relates to prayer according to Scriptures. Either of both is a possibility when praying in the Spirit, this is because the Holy Spirit knows the mind of God(1 Corinthians 2:11). The mind of God is also revealed in Scripture, this is why praying according to Scripture is also praying in the Spirit. Some people have differentiated these two possibilities by calling the former, “Praying with the Spirit” and the latter, “Praying by the Spirit”.
2. Tongues is a language of weakness.
Taking a cue from Romans 8:26–27, we understand that Praying in the Spirit is a necessity because the believer is “weak”. This weakness ranges from several things, for instance, he could pray with wrong motives to satisfy his selfish desire (James 4:3). Since he doesn’t know events beyond him, he may not be able to send prayer covering over his family who lives afar off. These weaknesses are compensated for when the believer begins to pray in tongues. This is why it becomes imperative for the believer to pray in tongues.
So, every believer who would get the best out of praying in tongues must therefore acknowledge his or her weaknesses and embrace the strength and help made available by God.
3. Tongues and Prophecy.
1 Corinthians 14:15 is often believed to mean that Paul was advocating praying in tongues as well as praying in understanding. This is accurate and I believe so too, except that I have another perspective.
Paul summarized his position in verse 13 by encouraging everyone who speaks in tongues to pray for the interpretation. He would even go further to talk about how interpreted tongues (prophecy) could convict an unbeliever. Therefore, Paul says, “I will pray with the spirit and I will pray in my understanding also’ teaches us that the “unfruitfulness of the mind” or lack of understanding can be cured by staying diligently praying with the spirit till the understanding of the tongues is captured in the mind and the mind then becomes “fruitful”. It can be viewed like a journey, the destination might not be clear but while we keep praying in tongues, the mind is involved till the mind captures the meaning of the very words that the spirit had been saying.
4. “No man understands him”.
There exist differing views among scholars on the ‘seeming’ disparity between Acts 2:11 and 1 Corinthians 14:2. In Acts 2, the crowd of people testified that they understood the meaning of what the disciples were saying in “other tongues” but Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that no man understands tongues. This pseudo disparity is often aided by many who tried to fit 1 Corinthians 14 into Acts 2 or vice versa. I posit in this tractate that to understand this mirage-dissonance, one must allow each of these two portions of scripture to stay alone in its context. Then clarity will begin. Luke, in Acts 2 wrote clearly that the people present on Pentecost Day heard the disciples in their native tongue, that much is clear. Paul, however, started his discourse in 1 Corinthians 12 before getting to 1 Corinthians 14. It would therefore be a poor biblical exegesis to take 1 Corinthians 14 out as a stand-alone chapter.
One of the premises already established by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:27–31 is that not everyone spoke in tongues in the church in Corinth. The rhetoric questions he asked anticipated a negative response;
“Are all apostles? Are all Prophets?… Do all have the gifts of healing? Do all have speak with tongues?”
If one consistently answers in the negative, one would immediately see that Paul was contrasting ideals with reality. Examining Paul’s statement, “I speak in tongues more than you all” (1 Corinthians 14:18), it is clear that Paul wanted everyone to speak in tongues but 1 Corinthians 12 shows that not everyone does. Therefore, Paul’s ideal is that all should speak in tongues but the reality is that not all speak in tongues.
Carrying this perspective into 1 Corinthians 14, it is clear that since not every person in Corinth speaks or prays in an unknown tongue, the communication of the tongue speaker cannot be understood by the people present unless it is interpreted. So, “no man understands him” should be understood as no man in the Corinth gathering understands him and not no man in the universe, since he wasn’t even speaking to them but to God.
From this perspective, there is no contradiction with Acts 2 since evidently, all who were present understood in each of their native languages.
5. The Tongue of Angels
I decided to address this subject too because of the polarity that exists between bible students and scholars alike on whether Paul was using hyperbole or was referring to a possibility when he said, “though I speak with tongues of men and that of angels…” (1 Corinthians 13). Along with contextual discourse, the biblical literal skill called parallelism is of importance here. In parallelism, as often used in wisdom literature of the Bible, the second line is another rendition of the first line such that each verse teaches the same idea howbeit with different words. Here’s an example!
Proverbs 5:1 says;
“My son, give attention to my wisdom
Incline your ear to my understanding”
The first and second lines are both driving at the same idea and are not different. In the same way, 1 Cor. 13 spoke of the gift of prophecy, knowledge, faith, etc. It also spoke of the tongues of men, and if these listed are possibilities and not hyperbolic in form, then “tongues of angels” cannot be hyperbole but a true reality or possibility.
6. Tongue is a unifying force.
The way Luke narrates the event of Pentecost in Acts 2 is similar to an Old Testament event, which was at the Tower of Babel. The characters in each event were together in unity, they had both just survived a catastrophe; while in the Old Testament, it was the deluge (flood), in Luke’s account, it was the death of Christ. God came down in Genesis 11; the Spirit of God came down in Acts 2. However, instead of scattering the language as in Genesis 11, God gave the people a new language. So, the dispersion of Genesis 11 is redeemed in Acts 2. The rebellion of Genesis 11 (God had told them to spread over the earth and multiply in Genesis 1) was reversed by the obedience of the disciples who obeyed Christ to wait “for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). Therefore, in speaking in tongues, the unifying force of the Holy Spirit is released.
7. God’s voice in tongues.
Isaiah 28:9–13 is one of the few Old Testament prophecies about tongues. And one of those things evident from Isaiah is that God will speak to His people via strange people with stammering tongues. In historical context, we know that it refers to God speaking to Israel via Gentile nations, however, we also recognize the prophetic angle of the scripture. More importantly, Isaiah recognizes the edifying power of tongues, this is why Paul taught, “he that prays in an unknown tongue edifies himself” (1 Cor 14:4). The other thing Isaiah noted was that this growth from ‘stammering lips’ will be incumbent on the word of God spoken to them, this is why it’s not enough to pray in tongues for hours, one must ensure he prays till the word of God becomes alive in his heart. Then will growth be accomplished.
8. The Place of the Mind
Many have thought and taught that “the mind is unfruitful” means the mind is not involved. John Gill’s commentary puts it this way, “what I say with understanding to myself is unprofitable to others, not being understood by them”. The unfruitfulness of the mind does not equate to wandering minds. The mind must stay in prayer as the spirit prays, this engagement of the mind is crucial for the mind’s renewal and growth. The lack of this knowledge is why many believers start praying in tongues without the consciousness of the power available in tongues. It is also indicted in why we pray for long but we see little result both in our lives and around us. The power generated in tongues must be channeled appropriately to effect divine influence around and within us.
In conclusion, I hope that this long but inexhaustive perspective on the tongue arm you with relevant knowledge to help your prayer life and Christian walk.
Remain blessed.
