 You've heard it said that not every Christian can pray in tongues, but is that really what the Bible teaches? So can every believer pray in tongues? Is that gift for every Christian? In order to answer this, we have to carefully examine the Scripture because the Word of God is the final authority. Now, when studying the gift of speaking in tongues, you're going to notice something. You're going to notice that there are three different expressions of the gift of tongues. This is how I've termed them. Number one, there is the personal tongue. This is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1 through 4, that love be your highest goal, but you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives, especially the ability to prophesy. Four, if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God since people won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. But one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. So little side note here, it's important to note that Paul the Apostle is not condemning the gift of tongues. He's comparing the gift of tongues to the gift of prophecy, saying that the gift of prophecy is better because it benefits the entire church as opposed to just the individual exercising the gift. Now, he does say that the one who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. You are strengthened in the Spirit when you pray in tongues. So that's the personal tongue, it's self-edification. Number two, there is the proved tongue. This is the one we see in Acts chapter two, verses four through six. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time, there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. So here we see that when the believers began to speak in tongues, that the listeners miraculously heard their own languages as the believers exercised this gift. So this was a sign to the unbelievers. So this is the proved tongue, that's number two. Number three, we see the prophetic tongue and this is the gift of tongues used in the context of a church assembly. Church Corinthians chapter 14 verses 26 to 28 say, Well, my brothers and sisters, let's summarize. When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given. One will speak in tongues and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you. No more than two or three should speak in tongues, they must speak one at a time and someone must interpret what they say. But if no one is present who can interpret, they must be silent in your church meeting and speak in tongues to God privately. Now this is the prophetic expression of the gift of tongues. The way I've seen this work is in a church service, there will come a holy reverence on the room. Then an individual will stand up, begin to pray out loud in tongues, and then another individual will stand up and give the interpretation for what God is saying through the expression of that gift of tongues. Now in this portion of Scripture Paul the apostle is wanting to avoid fruitless church gatherings. So he did put some boundaries on this specific expression of the gift for the purpose of making sure that everyone who attended the church service was edified. Can you imagine that you go to a church service and the worship team sings in tongues and then the pastor gets up and just prays in tongues for 45 minutes. And then the people at the altar pray for you in tongues for another 10, 15 minutes. And then you never hear the interpretation for what's being said. You would leave that place going, I didn't really receive anything. I wasn't really edified, I wasn't helped, I wasn't informed. I didn't receive revelation or instruction for my life from the Word of God. That would be a fruitless gathering. So Paul the apostle here is specifically addressing that problem with this expression of the gift. He doesn't want the collective attention of the assembly of believers to be placed on something that doesn't edify everyone. Now I've taught in other teachings very clearly from the Scripture why we should pray in tongues, publicly why we should pray in tongues, corporately. In fact, there are examples in the Scripture of praying corporately in tongues. We won't get into details on that here. But just note that on this prophetic expression, Paul specifically put these restrictions for the intention of making sure that we didn't have fruitless assemblies when we gathered together. So you have the personal tongue, the proof tongue and the prophetic tongue. Let's embolden the lines of distinction between these three expressions because the Bible does make it clear that there are three expressions. Notice here that there is a different benefit for each kind of expression. The personal tongue benefits the individual, 1 Corinthians 14-4. The prophetic tongue benefits the church, the entire church, that's 1 Corinthians 12-7 and 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26. The proof tongue benefits the unbeliever, that's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 22. So you can see that each expression has a different outcome of benefit as in who it's benefiting. So the personal tongue benefits the individual, the prophetic tongue benefits the entire church, the proof tongue benefits specifically the unbeliever. Now look at the different interpretation requirements for each of the expressions of the gift of tongues. The personal tongue requires no interpreter or interpretation to be beneficial to the individual. That's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 4. Remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1 through 4 we read that nobody understands what this individual is saying because nobody interpreted what they were saying. But Paul still writes that they were strengthened personally. So the personal tongue requires no interpreter or interpretation in order to be beneficial to the individual. So even though they don't know what's being prayed, they're still being strengthened. The prophetic tongue, this is the one that's used in the public assembly of believers, the prophetic tongue requires an interpreter in order to benefit the church. That's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26. Now interestingly enough, the proof tongue doesn't require an interpreter. The proof tongue requires no interpreter for the interpretation to be miraculously understood by the unbeliever. That's Acts chapter 2 verse 8. So in that instance, in Acts chapter 2, nobody had to interpret the listeners miraculously heard their own languages as the believers spoke in tongues. So the interpretation requirements are different for these three expressions of the gift of tongues. So the lines are becoming bolder. You can see the distinctions as you study the Scripture. How the gift is understood or how the message is understood is completely different between the expressions. The personal tongue is understood by no one but God. That's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 2. The prophetic tongue is understood by the church but with the aid of an interpreter. That's 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 27. And the proof tongue is supernaturally understood by the unbeliever. Again, that's Acts chapter 2 verse 8. So these are obviously three very different expressions of the gift. So the three verses I'm about to read to you are often misapplied because people don't understand the different operations of the gift of tongues. Watch this now. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, I'm going to read verses 29, 30 and 31. Watch this. Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Of course not. So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all. So Paul here is asking rhetorical questions. Are we all apostles? His answer is no. Are we all prophets? The answer is no. And then he says later on down here, do we all speak in tongues? And the answer of course is no. So he is clearly teaching that not all pray in tongues, right? Well remember, context is key. You can't just pick out scriptures and then ignore the context completely. Paul the apostle here is not talking about the personal use of the gift of tongues. Paul is talking about the public expression of the gift of tongues. How do I know that? Well, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7, the Bible says a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. That's from the same chapter. So these gifts that are being described are others centered. So this couldn't possibly be the expression of the gift of tongues that edifies me. Why? Because these gifts that are being listed edify others. So this is not the personal expression of the gift of tongues again because it edifies others. Now look at a key verse here. Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? So he's talking about the gift of tongues that is paired with the gift of tongues interpretation. And remember in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1 through 4, that particular personal expression of the gift of tongues does not require an interpretation in order to be beneficial to the individual using it. All of these gifts that are listed here are public ministries. Now there's the function of a certain spiritual power and then there are areas of grace or ministry focus. For example, I'm an evangelist so that's what I do. I travel the world, I preach the gospel, I pray that God uses my life to win souls but does that mean that not every believer should evangelize? By no means. It's just that the evangelist is a specific area of ministry focus, public ministry focus, but it's different than the function of evangelism. In the same way, this public expression of the gift of tongues that Paul is talking about, the one that's used in the public assembly of believers, is very different than the function of the gift of tongues that edifies you personally. And remember we saw those distinctions in the Scripture. So these are very specific areas of grace and ministry that Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 12 and therefore he's not talking about the personal use of the gift of tongues. Now what would happen if we applied the same logic to all of the gifts? Paul says not all are apostles. So does this mean that not all of us can participate in the establishment of new ministries? Does this mean that not all of us can participate in reaching new nations and people groups and cultures? By no means. Paul writes are we all prophets? No, not all of us are prophets. So does this mean that not all of us can hear from God? Does this mean that the Holy Spirit only speaks to a select few? No, that's the office of the prophet versus the function of hearing from God. Paul writes are all teachers, so not all of us are teachers. Does this mean only a select few group of Christians should know the word and be able to explain the word? Can we not all believe for miracles? Can we not all believe for healing? So what happens if you need a miracle? Well I can't believe for a miracle because Paul says do all have gifts of miracles. Paul wrote do all have gifts of healing? Well now you suddenly can't believe for a gift of healing to function in your life. You can't believe for God to heal your body? Because Paul wrote that? No. He was talking about specific areas of ministry function. Why do we single out the gift of speaking in tongues? We agree that all of us can participate in ministry establishment but not all our apostles. We agree that every believer can hear from God but not all our prophets. We believe that all believers can believe for miracles and believe for healing but that doesn't mean they have those specific areas of ministry focus, the gift of miracles and the gift of healing. So why then do we single out the gift of tongues and treat it so much differently than these other gifts that Paul lists? And this is because of religious thinking. This is because of religious mindset. So does the Bible teach that we can all pray in tongues? Well look at what Paul wrote. First Corinthians chapter 14 verses 4 through 5, a person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally. But one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. I wish you could all speak in tongues but even more I wish that you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened. Here Paul the Apostle says, I wish you could all speak in tongues. Think about this. Why would Paul the Apostle wish for something that was contrary to the will of God? And why would the Holy Spirit allow for that desire to be recorded in Holy Scripture if it were indeed contrary to God's will? Not all have the gift of tongues and tongues interpretation. But every believer can pray in a personal tongue to God. The Bible doesn't say that some were filled and began speaking in tongues. The Bible says all were filled and began speaking in tongues. Acts 2-4, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Nobody stood up on that day and said, hey guys, guys, guys, not all of us should be doing this. No, the Holy Spirit moved and they all began to speak in tongues. Think about what Peter said on the day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter 2 verse 39 he says, this promise is to you, to your children and to those far away, all who have been called by the Lord our God. So Peter is saying that this promise was for you, for the generations that come after you, and for all who believe. This promise is for all who believe. What promise was he talking about? This is what the Bible says, Acts 2-33. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us. Watch this now. Just as you see and hear today, what did they see? They saw the Holy Spirit being poured out. What did they hear? They heard them praying in tongues. And what they heard was the promise, and that promise is for all who believe. Father, I pray, you help us to embrace this precious gift that you desire to give to your children. Lord, we want to receive all for which Christ died. Thank you Jesus for this wonderful gift. And Lord, forgive us for resisting your generosity. Holy Spirit, thank you for your word that goes forth like a hammer, breaking mindsets that are not of you. We honor you, bless you, and we receive this gift. In the mighty name of Jesus we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. Here now is a question for conversation. Why do you think that the church is so resistant to the gift of speaking in tongues? Let me know in the comment section right now. Make sure you are subscribed to EncounterTV on YouTube and make sure that you click that notification bell so that you can receive notices when we put out new content. You can also follow us wherever you're watching us. Now I want to take this moment to encourage you to get involved with what God is doing through His ministry, this ministry. This ministry belongs to the Lord. We're just stewards. Through this ministry, God is saving the lost, healing the sick, delivering the captive, empowering and encouraging and informing the believer. Get behind what God is doing. We believe that the gospel is the answer. Jesus is the answer for the world today. 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