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What Is Speaking in Tongues?
Speaking in tongues is a spiritual gift. But is it required for salvation?
Of the roughly 2 billion people in the world who call themselves Christian, more than 500 million (almost 27 percent) are part of something called the Pentecostal or Charismatic Movement.1Though this movement is broad—both geographically and theologically—one common element is the practice of “speaking in tongues.”
Speaking in tongues is a mystical experience when a person, inspired by God, speaks in a language unknown to the speaker.
I remember the first time I heard someone speak in tongues. I grew up in a church where this practice was never employed, so it was strange for me to hear. I didn’t understand how someone speaking a language that no one else understood could be helpful to me or the church. That’s not to say I doubted God’s ability to work these miracles in people, but I had many questions as to the purpose of this practice. Later I discovered other people had similar questions.
Who are these Pentecostal or Charismatic people who employ this unusual practice? Why does there seem to be such emotion and controversy surrounding it? How important is speaking in tongues? Is it required for salvation?
For more than a century, a debate has taken place within Christianity over the question of whether the experiences of speaking in tongues are valid or necessary for salvation. So when we begin to ask questions about this issue, we are entering into a much larger conversation with a rather long history and a large diversity of beliefs.
The Biblical Backstory
The most prominent biblical reference to speaking in tongues is found in the second chapter of the book of Acts.2 Acts recounts the beginnings of the Christian Church immediately after the death of Christ.
All of the Apostles were gathered together for Pentecost, a Jewish religious festival in Jerusalem that commemorated the giving of the law to Moses. Large numbers of Jewish people came from around the world to celebrate and give offerings.
Suddenly, an inexplicable “sound like the blowing of a violent wind” filled the house.3 Then “what seemed to be tongues of fire . . . separated and came to rest on each of them.”4 Immediately, “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”5 In spite of the language barriers among those gathered for Pentecost, each person who listened to the disciples speak heard their own native language and could understand what the Apostles were saying.
The Contemporary Backstory
The contemporary experience of speaking in tongues finds its beginnings in classical Pentecostalism, which in turn has its roots in the nineteenth-century Holiness Movement.
John Wesley (1703–1791), a British Anglican and the founder of Methodism, taught that Christians could—and should—eliminate sin from their lives. The goal for each follower of Jesus was to achieve sinless perfection. Wesley believed that this state of holiness was something every Christian could eventually achieve through a “second work of grace,” a mystical experience that followed their conversion to Christianity.6
Emerging from this movement was a pastor named Charles Parham (1873–1929), who concluded that the primary evidence for this second work of grace was something called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Parham viewed this experience through the biblical account in Acts 2.
Parham began to teach the students at his Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, that this baptism—which followed their conversion to Christianity—was always evidenced by speaking in tongues. In 1900, students at his Bible college claimed to have had this experience.7
Six years after this event, the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles yielded hundreds of similar experiences, attracting attention from around the world. From the Azusa Street Revival, these experiences and the teachings that informed them began to spread around the world.8 Over time various denominations that today call themselves Pentecostal evolved, including the Church of God, the Assemblies of God, the Foursquare Church, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church.
Beginning in the 1960s, these phenomena appeared in many churches that were not traditionally Pentecostal. Many from Episcopalian, reformed, Roman Catholic, and nondenominational backgrounds began to experience speaking in tongues. What emerged from those experiences has generally been called the Charismatic (from the biblical term charismata, or “grace gift”) Movement.9 The Calvary Chapel Movement also emerged during this time, rapidly starting new churches across the western United States wherein these gifts were exercised freely.10
Speaking in Tongues and Salvation
The global Christian church is highly diverse, and the Pentecostals and Charismatics are a vital part of that diversity. When it comes to beliefs on secondary matters of faith—such as speaking in tongues—followers of Jesus are often more siblings than twins. That is, though they may be in the same family of the Christian belief system, they certainly don’t have identical beliefs.
The vast majority of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world are people of strong personal faith who defend the Bible and follow Jesus Christ with great passion. These men and women have contributed greatly to the spread of the gospel around the world. For instance, Pentecostal and Charismatic evangelism is responsible for many of the conversions to Christianity that took place in Latin America and Africa in the late twentieth century.11
However, nearly every major movement within the history of the Christian church has produced a minority group of followers who advocate extreme forms of belief and practice that are outside the bounds of orthodox Christianity. The Charismatic Movement is certainly no exception.
Some more extreme Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians insist that speaking in tongues is required for salvation. However, this is not a belief held by the majority of evangelical Christians. Moreover, the vast majority of New Testament teaching about the Holy Spirit is devoid of such implications.
Those with questions about these issues should know that being a follower of Jesus isn’t conditional on the belief in or practice of speaking in tongues. Most Christians believe that the Bible is clear that faith in Jesus’ death for sin and resurrection to provide new life is all that is necessary. One of many examples of this teaching is from the Gospel of John in the New Testament: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”12
The Way of Love
The Apostle Paul writes that there are many spiritual gifts; speaking in tongues is just one. And “all of these [spiritual gifts] are the work of one and the same Spirit.”13 Though not everyone has the same spiritual gift—speaking in tongues, for example—all are equally valuable because all come from the Holy Spirit.
What’s most important is what Paul calls “the most excellent way”—the way of love:14
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.15
(click link to find sourcepage)
http://www.exploregod.com/what-is-speaking-in-tongues#embed10 Reasons for Speaking in Tongues
https://endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/10-reasons-for-speaking-in-tongues/
Most Christians—charismatics included—don’t understand the true benefits of speaking in tongues, nor why this gift is so valuable. Here are 10 reasons to prove why we need this wonderful gift.
1. The manifestation that came with the gift of the Holy Spirit was speaking in tongues. It wasn’t the wind, fire, noise or feeling of God’s presence that was evidence of the gift being received but a spirit language—believers began speaking languages of the Spirit they didn’t understand. It was God’s plan for the gift to function as a spirit language for His children (Acts 2:4, 11; 1 Cor. 14:2).
2. Jesus commanded us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus commissioned the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father, He didn’t say, “Do this if you feel led to do so, or if it fits in your doctrinal or denominational beliefs, or if you have the time, or if you are so inclined, or if you feel comfortable about it.” No! Jesus commanded them to wait until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Since Jesus put such importance on their receiving this gift, that’s more than enough reason for every Christian to seek God until they receive it too (Acts 1:4; 5:32; John 14:16-17; Eph. 5:18).
3. The Scriptures exhort us to be filled with the Spirit and to pray in the new tongues of our spirit language. Our spirit language enables us to live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, be led of the Spirit, have the fruit of the Spirit, manifest the gifts of the Spirit and go from glory to glory until we are transformed into His same image (Gal. 5:22-25; Rom. 8:14; 1 Cor. 12:7-11; 14:15; Eph. 5:18; Acts 19:2; 2 Cor. 3:18).
4. A spirit language is the greatest gift the Holy Spirit can give a believer. Jesus is the greatest gift God could give for the redemption of the world, and the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift Jesus could give to His church. Of all the resources in heaven and the eternal universe, nothing is more valuable, beneficial or important for the Holy Spirit to give the individual child of God than her own spirit language (1 Cor. 12:31; 14:4).
5. Our spirit language enables us to have spirit-to-Spirit communication with God. Humans are spirit beings clothed with flesh-and-bone bodies. While man’s sin deadened the spirit, Jesus brings the spirit back to life by imparting His everlasting life into us. The Holy Spirit gives us a spirit language so we can communicate directly with God (John 4:24; 1 Cor. 15:45; Gen. 2:7; Rom. 5:12; John 3:3-5, 16).
6. Praying in tongues builds and increases our faith. Faith is the medium of exchange for all heavenly things, just as money is the medium of exchange for all earthly things. A major way to increase our faith is to pray in the tongues of our spirit language (Rom. 12:6; Jude 1:20; Mark 9:23; Matt. 9:29).
7. Praying in tongues activates the fruit of the Spirit. It’s vital and beneficial to have each of the spiritual attributes become active and mature in us. Praying in tongues helps us fulfill God’s predestined purpose for us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Gal. 5:22-23; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 Cor. 13:1-13; Rom. 8:29).
8. Praying in our spirit language is the main way we fulfill the scriptural admonition to “pray without ceasing.” Christians can pray in tongues at any time. If we are in a place where it isn’t convenient or wise to speak out loud in tongues, we can pray with our inner man without making an audible sound (Eph. 6:18; 1 Thess. 5:17; Matt. 26:41; Luke 18:1; 21:36; 1 Cor. 14:15).
9. The Holy Spirit directs our spirit language to pray in accordance with the will of God.Probably the only time we can be assured that we are praying 100 percent in the will of God is when we are praying in our spirit language. God always answers requests that are made in alignment with His will (Rom. 8:27; 1 John 5:14-15).
10. Praying in tongues quiets the mind. When Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist, compared brain scans of Christians praying in tongues with Buddhist monks chanting and Catholic nuns praying, the study showed the frontal lobes—the brain’s control center—went quiet in the brains of Christians talking in tongues, proving that speaking in tongues isn’t a function of the natural brain but an operation of the spirit (1 Cor. 14:2, 14). Charisma
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