What I have heard about it, is it's some "heavenly language, only understood by God" I've also heard that, it's what you do when you don't know what to pray for, or something along those lines. I don't quite understand it, I figure if I don't know what to pray for, I just be silent, and let my heart speak to God. what is it, and what does the Bible say about it?
Thanks, And God bless
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The Greek word is
glossolalia, it means "languages". In the 2nd chapter of the Acts of the Apostles on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the Church gathered in the upper room just days after the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven. This event was accompanied by those gathered speaking in languages ("tongues"). Pentecost was one of the three Jewish pilgrim feasts, so there were many Jewish pilgrims in Jerusalem at the time, and they heard those speaking speaking in their own languages and dialects (the text tells us that these pilgrims were from many different places, as far as Arabia). In other words, the disciples gathered on Pentecost were speaking actual languages that were
understandable to people present. The Acts of the Apostles records a couple other cases where speaking in languages is connected with the Holy Spirit, where Peter preached the Gospel to the Gentile Cornelius and a smaller Pentecost-like event transpired, and another time when Paul meets some disciples of John the Baptist in the city of Ephesus, Paul baptizes them and afterward lays hands on them, and they spoke in languages.
The only other place that really tells us about the phenomenon is in St. Paul's 1st letter to the Corinthians, where he mentions glossolalia as one of the spiritual gifts which the Holy Spirit gives Christians, it's mentioned along with many other gifts. Paul seems to specifically pick glossolalia to focus on in chapters 12, 13, and 14 in the letter because the Corinthian church kind of had a lot of problems, and one problem was a disorderly usage of gifts, in particular perhaps glossolalia. In 1 Corinthians ch. 14 St. Paul suggests that if glossolalia is used within Christian worship, it should be part of basic order and only 2 or 3 ought to speak, and if they speak in a tongue at all, it is to be accompanied with translation. Paul in fact goes on to say that it is better to prophesy where everyone can understand rather than, perhaps, speak in a tongue which nobody present understands, because it can't edify anyone. Further, the Apostle explains that the chief point in glossolalia is that it's a sign for the unbelieving, not the believing, he quotes the prophet Isaiah who says that even if people with foreign speech were to speak to them, they (Israel) would not accept it, and so Paul seems to indicate that the gift of tongues was a sign of judgment against unbelieving Israel.
There's nothing in Scripture to suggest that "tongues" are some kind of "heavenly language", the closest any can really make to a statement like that is where Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, "If I speak in the languages of men or angels, but have not love, I am but a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal". That doesn't say there is some sort of angelic language, Paul uses it here hypothetically. Every example of glossolalia we have in Scripture indicates it is an actual, spoken, intelligible human language; and that when exercised within the context of gathered Christian worship it should always be accompanied by an interpreter so that everyone may benefit from what is said; otherwise one should remain quiet.
I would argue that what is often called "tongues" today is a rather modern phenomenon that has no real connection with what took place two thousand years ago and is recorded in the New Testament. There is an extensive amount of "theology" connected with modern tongues that is built not upon biblical exegesis and historic Christian teaching, but largely constructed
ad hoc upon the individual experiences from within revivalistic and charismatic circles beginning within the 19th century. Actual glossolalia is an intelligible human language; if someone who had never been exposed to or learned French suddenly spoke in French, that would be an authentic example of glossolalia--if what one is uttering is effectively ecstatic babble, there are psychological explanations behind the phenomenon, it's not a divine activity and it isn't from the Holy Spirit--though it's not necessarily from an evil spirit either, it's probably just a product of the human mind.
Ecstatic babble is a common phenomenon across human societies, and is found in a number of spiritual traditions, some would argue that's evidence that it is demonic, I'd say it's just evidence of that its source is human, not supernatural at all.
-CryptoLutheran
