We Need to Talk About Tongues

We are going to teach you something in this post that only about a dozen people in the world know. That is only because I have taught nine of them. While that is, of course, a tongue in cheek remark, if anyone else is teaching it correctly and completely, we certainly have not heard it. As with a lot of scriptural concepts it is so simple it is difficult to understand why it is not commonly known and taught.

Speaking in tongues is possibly the most divisive concept in the Bible. The interesting thing about that division is that the conflict comes from the people who do not want to believe the gift is still important to The Church. Oh wait, it is always the people who do not want to believe something who cause divisions in the church. Perhaps you have noticed that? In this writer's opinion, it is always better to believe too much than too little. When one believes too much, the Holy Spirit can always reign him in. However, when one believes too little he has set a limit on God. Limit God? God does delight in surprising us, but He will stop at the point of our unbelief. Take my word for that for now.

There is another interesting thing about the gifts of speaking in tongues. Yes, we did say "gifts" plural. It is interesting that Pentecostals and charismatics know there are different gifts of tongues, but virtually none of them know where they are found in the Bible. They know about the charismatic gift of tongues, part of the charismata, which is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:10. Somehow they make that gift both gifts. They say it is the public gift and also a private prayer language given by the Holy Spirit as the initial physical evidence of His baptism. Were it not for the fact those presenting this teaching are ignorant of what you are about to learn, it would be bad theology and possibly intellectual dishonesty as well. I suppose what is even more amazing, is they are correct--in a way and to a point. There is a personal prayer language, a speaking in tongues that is the initial, physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it is not a part of the charismata. It is a gift called a dorea (a personal gift in Greek) and it is found in Acts 10:46. The charismatic gift of tongues is given to The Church so that God can talk to us, whereas the other gift, the dorea, is given so that we can talk to God.

Most Pentecostals and charismatics have pretty good theology about the charismatic gifts so we are not going to discuss them here. If you feel you need some teaching in that area, send us an email or simply read 1 Corinthians 12-14. Paul gives some detail on the gifts and how to use them. Understanding the dorea gift is the point of this post. Again, do not let this be too simple for you.

We attended a Pentecostal Bible college, sat under the teaching of some of the best Pentecostal theologians and teachers in the world today, and read numerous books on the subject of spiritual gifts. We did not so much as hear there was a dorea gift of tongues until we had the opportuntity to hear a teaching by Dr. E. Craig Hamlin. Dr. Hamlin holds a Ph.D. Psychology. He is not a theologian per se. He is a gifted Bible teacher. Had we not heard this overlooked piece of theology from him, we would not be teaching it here. Dr. Hamlin did not quite complete the teaching the day we heard it. He was exactly right as far as he went.


Acts Chapter 10 is the story of Peter being introduced to and starting a ministry to the Gentiles. The misunderstanding concerning the dorea is found in verse 46 as indicated above. The point that has traditionally been overlooked in this teaching is the case of the phrase, "the gift of the Holy Spirit" which it is said, "had been poured out on the Gentiles also". We think the Holy Spirit is the gift. That makes sense in the context and when we ignore the case, it is easy to misunderstand what is being said. In fact the genitive (or English possessive) case allows us to say either, "gift of the Holy Spirit" or "Holy Spirit's gift". When we use the latter rendering it is clear the gift is not the Holy Spirit, but rather is one given by Him. We will give you a second to think about that. The gift is not the Holy Spirit. The gift belongs to the Holy Spirit, it is His to give. That gift is the personal prayer language of speaking in tongues.

According to Pentecostal theology (We are not including the charismatics here because there is no such thing as charismatic theology. By definition a charismatic is a person who believes the charismata is for today, but chooses to remain faithful to another branch of The Church. Charismatics hold to Pentecostal theology and usually also to some other denominational, doctrinal position.) the initial, physical evidence of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. This tripped me up for a few hours early in my Pentecostal walk. The Holy Spirit was quick to help me understand the principle. In order to help you avoid tripping too, let me say it has to be the initial physical evidence because it is the only physical evidence. All the other gifts of the charismata must be spiritually discerned as such. We hear tongues from a physical mouth to our physical ears. There is no question something different is going on.

The dorea gift of speaking in tongues is given so that we can communicate with God, through the Holy Spirit, according to His perfect will. When we pray in tongues we are engaging our spirit, our soul, and our body all at the same time. Our mind does not understand what we are saying, but it directs our body to say it, when the Holy Spirit calls the prayer forth from our spirit. It is not really a complex process. It is just something we are not used to. However, it is a good idea to get used to it. Do it often. Pray in the spirit as often as possible. You never know when someone might need prayer that you do not know about. The Holy Spirit knows and He is looking for a partner. Is there anyone who really does not want to be a prayer partner with the Holy Spirit? If you answered "Yes" to that question, you might be reading the wrong blog.