Theology Thursday: What's the deal with speaking in tongues?

Welcome to Theology Thursday! Theology is the study of God, his relation to the world, and our relation to him. I hope these newsletters help enhance your faith and deepen your love for God and his people, the church.

Today's question:
What's the deal with speaking in tongues?

Pastor Brady's thoughts:
The New Testament describes a mysterious and often controversial spiritual gift: speaking in tongues. For some Christians it is a treasured expression of intimacy with God; for others it is a source of confusion or concern, even derision by those who oppose it of those who practice it. Any conversation about tongues must begin with clarity, humility, and charity. Faithful believers have landed in different places on this issue, and my aim is not to mock but to shepherd hearts toward Christ.

Biblically, speaking in tongues refers to Spirit-enabled speech that is not learned through ordinary means. In Acts 2, the apostles experience a supernatural phenomenon where, depending which scholar you read, they either speak in recognizable human languages they had never studied, proclaiming the works of God to an international crowd, or they speak in some kind of language no one recognizes. In 1 Corinthians 12–14, Paul addresses another form of tongues in the gathered church—speech directed toward God that requires interpretation to edify others. At minimum, tongues function in scripture as a sign of the Spirit’s power and a reminder that the gospel crosses every cultural boundary.

Historically, the practice is most associated with Pentecostal and charismatic traditions. Classical Pentecostal churches often view tongues as the initial physical evidence of Spirit baptism - meaning, it is expected or even required in order to consider one’s conversion and faith legitimate. Many Charismatic believers within broader evangelical or mainline denominations see it as one gift among many, available but not required. These movements have emphasized expectancy for the supernatural work of the Spirit, prayerful dependence, and vibrant, expressive worship. Even those who question tongues - like most of us in Restoration Movement churches such as MCC - should acknowledge the genuine and laudable zeal for God that often accompanies these traditions.

I personally maintain something of a “soft-cessationist” view of miraculous gifts. In other words, I generally believe that the miraculous gifts - humans administering physical healing, prophecy (depending on how it’s defined), and speaking in tongues - ceased with the final revelation of God’s word in scripture and the closing of the New Testament canon. I say I am a “soft” cessationist because it’s not something I draw a hard line on, there is plenty of evidence and examples that would seem to potentially contradict my position, and while I think the biblical and real-life witness is stronger on the cessationist side (as opposed to the continuationist side, which would argue that the miraculous gifts administered by the first generation of Jesus’s apostles continues today) I don’t believe it’s a slam-dunk case. I’m open to being wrong on this, but in general I’m skeptical of the claims of Spirit-empowered human-administered miracles today.
 
A soft-cessationist perspective affirms that God is free and powerful while also suggesting that certain miraculous sign gifts, including tongues, were uniquely concentrated in the apostolic era. The purpose of these gifts, according to this view, was to authenticate the message of the apostles and establish the early church on a firm foundation (Ephesians 2:20). Once that foundation was laid and the New Testament witness completed, the ordinary pattern of Christian life shifted toward preaching, sacrament (baptism, communion), and faithful discipleship rather than ongoing signs and wonders as normative expectations.

From this standpoint, concern about modern tongues is not rooted in fear of the Spirit but in love for the church. Paul repeatedly emphasizes that spiritual gifts exist to build others up (1 Corinthians 14:12). When tongues become a badge of spiritual status, a source of division, or a private experience detached from intelligible truth, they risk undermining the very unity they were meant to serve. A soft-cessationist devotional posture asks: does this practice consistently produce clearer understanding of Christ, deeper obedience to scripture, and greater love for neighbor?

There is also a pastoral caution about the human heart. Christians are always tempted to chase dramatic experiences as shortcuts to assurance. Tongues, when elevated as proof of maturity, can unintentionally shift confidence away from the finished work of Christ and toward a particular manifestation. The New Testament, however, anchors assurance in the gospel: Christ crucified and risen, trusted by faith. The quiet fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest - receives far more emphasis than any spectacular gift.

A soft-cessationist does not need to declare that every reported instance of tongues is fraudulent or demonic. Rather, the claim is more modest: scripture does not require us to seek this gift, and wisdom urges caution about practices that easily outpace clear biblical instruction. God has already given the church everything necessary for life and godliness through his Word. The Spirit’s primary work today is to illuminate that Word, conform believers to Christ, and empower ordinary faithfulness.

Our opportunity and call, then, is not to hunger for a particular experience but to hunger for God himself. Pray boldly. Worship passionately. Serve obediently. But measure spiritual vitality not by ecstatic speech, but by a life increasingly shaped like Jesus. The greatest miracle is not that a believer might speak in an unknown tongue, but that sinners are forgiven, hearts are renewed, and a people are formed who love God and one another in the everyday language of gospel grace.

TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN!
- Pastor Brady

Have a question for Theology Thursday? Send an email to office@minierchristian.org and we'll respond, or we'll include in a future Theology Thursday Buffet.