Troublesome Topic: Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:2

THREE TYPES OF TONGUES

Why does this sound different than what we read in acts?

Answer: there were three types of tongues being referred to in this passage.

In the book of Acts we see the use of public tongues. But it is obvious that in this verse and in other parts of this chapter, Paul is talking about another type of tongues – private tongues. Thus, there are two legitimate types of tongues mentioned in this chapter. What’s more, there is a third type of tongues discussed here – an illegitimate form of tongues. I will refer to it as a counterfeit form of tongues because that is what it was.

This is the longest discussion of speaking in tongues in the Bible. However, to understand it we absolutely must grasp the fact that Paul was bouncing back and forth between three types of tongues, two proper forms and one improper. How do we know when he was referring to each one? If it violated the rules that govern the use of spiritual gifts, it was the counterfeit; otherwise context tells us whether he was referring to the proper use of public, or private tongues.

WHAT HAPPENED IN PAUL’S LIFE TO EXPAND HIS USAGE OF THE WORD TONGUES?

Paul had many burning questions and heavy burdens during his years of ministry planting churches. During some of them he may have been unable to express the burden to God in prayer apart from unintelligible utterances such as groaning, sighing and weeping. At some point he realized that this fit the pattern of the Urim and Thummim and therefore qualified as a different form of tongues, a private form. It did not fit the pattern of tongues seen in the book of Acts, but it could still be called “speaking in tongues”. Like all the gifts of the Spirit, this private form of tongues was for the benefit of others because the final result of the process of having a burden, waiting for God to make it clear, and then doing whatever needed to be done to bring it to fruition, was a God-inspired, God-empowered ministry to others. God gives us burdens for others which often end up as opportunities to minister to others. Because our sinful tendency is to think only of ourselves, these God-given burdens for others are not normal. In contrast, it is a normal human response to feel burdened and have unanswered questions about something like an illness or some other major problem. But it only qualifies as speaking in tongues if our burden somehow involves helping others get closer to Jesus.

WHAT HAPPENED IN CORINTH TO BRING ABOUT WHAT WE READ IN THIS LETTER?

Did Paul teach the Corinthians properly about tongues while he was in Corinth?  I believe he did. When he taught them about Pentecost, he taught them about public tongues.

How did private tongues enter the picture?

When Paul was in Corinth, he surely had burdens that he may have expressed to God in prayer through unintelligible utterances (e.g. groans or tears). It is possible that someone heard him weeping and groaning in prayer and asked him questions about it. Therefore, He may have explained to the Corinthian believers that there are two forms of tongues, public and private. He probably told them that both forms must fit the pattern set by the Urim and Thummim; both must be miraculous, not originating with man.

The other option for how they learned about private tongues is that someone asked him if there were such a thing as private tongues, instead of the public form of tongues seen in Acts. That person may have been the one who got the counterfeit started, and there is a possibility that the same person was also the immoral man of I Corinthians 5. If you want to read what I have written about that, click on this link WAS IT THE IMMORAL MAN OF I CORINTHIANS 5 WHO STARTED COUNTERFEIT TONGUES?

Did Paul teach the Corinthians properly about tongues while he was in Corinth?  I believe he did. When he taught them about Pentecost, he taught them about tongues.

I envision that after Paul left Corinth, a self-centered person in the congregation concluded that the gift of tongues would be an easy way to look more holy than he really was. He also realized that the public form of tongues was hard to fake because it involved one or more miracles which had to include other people, while the private form of tongues could easily be faked because it did not involve other people. Therefore, it could be used in a public setting to make him look special. But groaning was not fantastic enough and was too common and ordinary for this glory seeker because it can easily be faked – anyone can groan. So he used a few elements of human languages, but not all of the elements of any language, and he created his own repetitive speech pattern which I think was quite similar to what is heard today when people claim to speak in tongues in public.

In other words, he created a counterfeit which was not true tongues in the public expression, or in the private expression. It was not miraculous but was only human effort looking for attention. It was not under the control of the Holy Spirit, for it could be turned on and off at will by the individual. It did not benefit anyone else as a gift of the Holy Spirit should.

This individual started using this new “gift” in church meetings and the trend caught on because others also liked the idea of a shortcut to deeper spirituality. However, he would not let others copy what he was doing; they had to come up with their own repetitive speech pattern, which they did because his system was relatively easy to recreate.

When Paul heard about these problems, he wrote to chastise them for counterfeiting tongues for personal glory, and using what should be a gift of the Holy Spirit in a way that caused chaos, confusion, discord, and division. At the same time, he left in place the possibility of the proper use of either public or private tongues because both are used by God to do His work.

I do not think the letter we call I Corinthians was originally intended to be read in the meetings of other congregations as some other letters of the New Testament were. It was corrective, harsh and specific to the reality in Corinth at that time. Therefore, Paul did not go into details about things that he had already taught them while in Corinth. That is why he did not flag each use of the word “tongue” or “tongues” with an identifier to help us know which type of tongues he was talking about. He knew that the Corinthians knew what he was talking about because he had taught on this topic while he was with them.

I conclude that there were and are two proper types of tongues and at least one counterfeit. That makes three types of tongues Paul is addressing in this chapter. There is no way to reconcile everything that Paul says about tongues in this chapter without discerning the difference between public tongues, private tongues, and the counterfeit. Eric Ludy has said, “Your doctrine is not finished until you include the minority text” (the exception). Our understanding of a confusing topic like tongues absolutely must take into consideration everything the Bible says about that topic, even Paul’s statements about tongues which seem to contradict each other.

TONGUES WITH A CAPITAL T AND TONGUES WITH A LOWER-CASE t

I believe that praying in tongues, in the truest sense of the word, is when one is reduced to unintelligible utterances because nothing normal will come; one is incapable of praying normally, with words. Therefore, I call that private Tongues (with a capital T). However, there are times when we are beginning to explore around the edges of private tongues. We have received a burden from God and we are struggling to express it clearly as we pray. We may incorporate groans and tears with our normal form of praying. This may not be full-fledged Tongues, but it may qualify as private tongues on a different level, private tongues with a lower-case t. Praying in that way is a good thing. Praying in tongues should never be our goal. Let’s focus on praying for the right things and allow God to decide what form our prayers take.

THE HOLY SPIRIT PRAYS IN TONGUES!

I think Paul referred to the burdens mentioned above when he wrote the letter to the Romans and said,

The Holy Spirit wants to teach us how to pray a burden. He groans for us and with us; He joins us in our cries of anguish over a burden. He is joining us in expressing a burden – through unintelligible utterances. The Holy Spirit already knows the interpretation and the application to our lives, but He is doing so in us, because He wants us to join Him and then He joins us in carrying that burden. When all we can do is groan or weep in prayer, it is the Holy Spirit using our voice box to utter those unintelligible sounds in order to help us work through an unclear burden to get to the point of clarity, then to a point of resolution.

NO LONGER ONE BUT MANY

In the Former Covenant, only the High Priest had the use of the Urim and Thummim; in the New Covenant, many believers are given the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. There are probably more believers that have been guided into the proper use of private tongues than we realize, and many of these did not even realize that what they were doing could be called tongues. In contrast to the Former Covenant in which only the High Priest could answer burning questions, now the Holy Spirit wants to teach all believers how to take our burning questions to Him through burdened prayer; whether our expressions of it are through intelligible words or unintelligible utterances, such as tears and groans, is up to Him.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOD-GIVEN BURDENS

Burdens are one of the ways God often works. He starts by giving us a burden for something (the burning question), then he clarifies what our action should look like (Urim), then He enables us to take action (fulfillment, Thummim).

The use of burdens is biblical, common, and effective. God often works by giving us burdens for people. Even God works in this way. He started with a burden for man’s lost condition and it resulted in action. The only difference is that with us humans, that burden sometimes starts as something not understood. Therefore, the step of light and comprehension (Urim) must be inserted in the middle.

Most ministries have begun with an unclear burden. God’s light on the matter (Urim) did not often come right away because God wanted His servants to carry that burden for a while. Allow me to give just a few examples.

Oswald Chambers had a heart for studying and teaching the Bible. During World War I, he was a chaplain teaching the word of God to British Soldiers in Egypt, where he died in 1917 at the age of 43. But his greatest teaching ministry became a reality after his death, when his wife compiled some of his writings into the devotional we know as My Utmost for His Highest.

David Wilkerson saw the needs of a wide range of people caught in the gangs of New York City, but “slow down”, a ministry to them could not begin too quickly. First God wanted him to acquired a burden for the gang members, so he prayed as he walked the streets of the Big Apple one day per week (his day off) for four months before actually starting his ministry called Teen challenge.

Before Amy Carmichael began her work of rescuing at-risk children in India, including children enslaved as temple prostitutes, she was a missionary to Japan, and then worked in a different part of India, where she gained an increasing burden for suffering children. There are many more examples that could be given.

Before we can effectively minister for God, we must learn to feel the heart of God.

In fact, the long road seems to be more common for people in ministry than the short, easy road. 

Have you ever had a burden for someone? Have you ever been given a burden for a certain issue of spiritual importance? Did you later receive ideas of how to minister to that person or clarity on that issue? If you have, then you know what I mean when I say that God often starts something by giving someone an unclear burden (or a burning question) about something and later providing clarity (Urim).  When we cry, it is an unclear utterance. It expresses a burden, but not clearly.

A burden for others, or a burden for a big issue, comes from God; our natural sinful tendency is to focus on self, not others. So there is a type of miracle involved in a person receiving a burden for something. Another miracle is the revealing of the mystery. The illumination of Urim must come from God. Furthermore, we need God’s intervention to bring that burden to a point of completion. Every step of this process involves things that only God can do.

TRUE PRAYER AND PRIVATE TONGUES ARE CLOSELY RELATED

Prayer is not about getting God to do what we want Him to do, but a way for us to learn the heart of God. True prayer is coming alongside of God and joining Him in His great causes. It is asking God to do what He has committed Himself to do, and asking Him to do it in our lifetime so we can see it and publicly give Him praise.

This is closely associated with praying in tongues. Receiving a burden from God is part of joining Him in His great causes. In fact, what better way is there for God to share what He wants to do in our world than to give us a burden about an issue or a person?

EXAMPLES OF PRAYERS MADE HEAVY WITH BURDENS

Hannah was an example of an unspoken burden. She was praying without making any sound, but her lips were moving.   See I Sam 1:10-13  & 15-16.

Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. He was burdened by the spiritual condition of his people because, even with the captivity in a foreign land, they were not repentant. I believe his tears over this burden started in private prayer, but the tears often came when he preached in public as well, hence the nickname.

God sent Paul to the deserts of Arabia for 3 years because he had a burden and could not yet articulate it fully. He also needed to understand certain things better, he needed the light of Urim. By the end of that time God had given him the illumination he needed, and the ability to articulate it clearly – prophecy, Thummim.

My wife is another example. We served as missionaries in Honduras and in Mexico and we experienced some soul-crunching times in each place. During the worst part of our soul-crunching time in Mexico, my wife had a period of time, I think it was about 2 months, where her personal prayer times were characterized entirely by tears. She could not find any words to express the burden she felt, the only thing that would come was tears. I now see that her tears were a form of praying in tongues.

When my wife wept in prayer it was not coming from her but from the Holy Spirit. The burden was from the Holy Spirit and this unique expression of that burden also came from the Holy Spirit who seems to have been saying, in part, “Let me show you how to go deeper in prayer, how to express the inexpressible.” God gives the burden, and He teaches us how to pray the burden.

God purposefully designed our bodies so that the shedding of tears cuts off, or hinders, our ability to speak or sing. This is because tears are their own language! God made weeping capable of standing alone as its own form of communication.

However, we should never produce tears artificially in order to get attention from others. If we keep private things private, others will never know if we weep during our private prayer times or not.

A STORY ABOUT “THE GIFT OF TEARS”

A church planter named José Leon Herrera, whom I worked alongside of in Honduras, told me the following story.

He was visiting a small town for the first time and his first evening there he went to a church service at a local evangelical church.

As was typical in many churches in Honduras, and still is to some degree, those arriving for the church service would go immediately to the front of the church building and kneel at the altar and pray for a few minutes. Then they would get up and find a place to sit. Even if they arrived after the service had started, they would still go to the altar to pray before joining those who were singing.

José Leon got there early and went forward to pray before the service along with others who were arriving. Everything seemed normal until two ladies, sisters, entered the building. The moment they passed through the door they both burst forth into loud sobs and wailing. They rushed to the altar and knelt there longer than most people did, crying, wailing, and sobbing all the while.

At some point José Leon was told, “Those ladies have the gift of tears, and they pray like this at every service.”

The next day he was getting to know the town on foot and decided to walk by the house of these two spinsters (someone had told him where they lived). As he passed their house he heard their voices inside, not praying or singing, but arguing, shouting, and swearing at each other.

He thought, “The gift of tears, you say?” From their treatment of each other, and the fact that they prayed like this at every service, seeming to turn it on and off at will, he concluded that their “gift of tears” was a fraud, a sham.

I have been making the case that praying in tongues, happens when God gives us a burden that is so heavy that we cannot find the words to utter it. In a full-fledged case of private tongues, our praying may consist entirely of groaning and weeping.  However, we dare not artificially produce tears or groans in an attempt to get ourselves from normal prayer to praying in tongues. We need to carry the burdens God gives us with as much purity and intensity as we can and let God decide when He will limit us to unintelligible utterances (private tongues).

FASTING IS ANOTHER WAY TO CARRY A BURDEN

The difference between fasting and private tongues is that we choose fasting, God sends us private tongues. Private tongues should never be artificially created by man. But the closer we get to God, the more we will feel His heart and the more likely it is that we will groan or cry while praying.

Thus, private tongues is on the same level as fasting. Public tongues is on the same level as healings and other miracles that God uses to convince people to follow Him. This shows how important both types of tongues are.

CAN WEEPING FOR A PERSONAL BURDEN BE CALLED PRIVATE TONGUES?

As the question is worded, I would say “no” because it is purely personal. In those situations, it is fine for someone to groan or cry in prayer, but it would not be considered private tongues. However, if that private problem, concern or weight has some kind of connection to ministering to others, including informal ministries that do not include a title, then it might qualify as private tongues. If it affects one’s ability to minister to others, then it is likely private tongues.

Allow me to illustrate that. When we were missionaries in Mexico and my wife’s praying was limited to weeping, the concerns seemed personal at first glance. It had to do with the difficulties we were going through. But these difficulties were also connected to the reason we were in Mexico in the first place – to minister to others. Therefore, I am convinced that her tears qualified as private tongues.

WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES

Do I invest more time praying for myself or for others?

Do I strive to understand God’s heart by praying burdened prayer for others?

The next lesson in the Full and Mid Length Series on Tongues is Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:3-5

The next lesson in the Short series on Tongues is Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:4 & 5