Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - What is the Gift of Tongues and Is It for Today? Acts 2, 1 Cor. 14, and More | Jonny Ardavanis

Episode Date: August 11, 2026

What does the Bible really teach about speaking in tongues? In this episode, Jonny and Hank dig into the gift of tongues from a biblical perspective — walking through Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19, and 1 Corinthians 12–14 to examine whether tongues in Scripture refers to known languages or a private prayer language.Hank shares a personal story from his college years visiting a charismatic church, then unpacks:- What tongues meant in Acts 2 (the Day of Pentecost)- How Luke's authorship and timeline shape the interpretation of Acts- 1 Corinthians 13 and the "tongues of angels" — literal or rhetorical?- Whether tongues is a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit- Paul's instructions for order in the church (1 Corinthians 14:27, 14:23)- Early church history: Gregory of Nazianzus, Chrysostom, and the origins of the modern private prayer language movement (Charles Fox Parham, Agnes Ozman, 1901)- Romans 8:26 and the Spirit's intercession in prayerThis is a respectful, Scripture-first conversation for anyone wondering how to think biblically about tongues, the charismatic movement, spiritual gifts, and the sufficiency of God's Word — without dismissing sincere believers who see it differently.📖 Key passages covered: Acts 2:4-11, Acts 10:44-46, Acts 19, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Romans 8:26, Genesis 11This episode is brought to you by The Master's University — committed to Jesus Christ and the authority and sufficiency of His Word. Learn more at masters.eduStay accountable in a digital world: check out Accountable2You at accountable2you.com/dialin — use code DIALIN for 25% off your first year.

What you believe about God shapes how you'll walk through pain. Moody Publishers is delighted to share a new book for you from my friend, Pastor H.B. Charles, titled Psalms of Trust, Living with Confidence in God at all times. This book draws on a lifetime that HB has from pastoral ministry that leads you through 10 Psalms that have carried different believers through grief, anxiety, and seasons of waiting. I'd recommend that you get your copy today at moodypublishers.com and search Psalms of Trust. So when I was in college, I had some legitimate questions about the things that I had grown up believing, and I visited some charismatic churches. And a pastor walked up on stage.

Everyone kind of quieted down. And this is a true story. I've never really shared this publicly. He said, does anybody here not speak in tongues? And I raised my hand. They brought me up on stage. The elders of the church laid hands on me. After they had finished raising hands on me, I kid you not.

The guy kind of hit me on the forehead, and he said, now speak the holy language. And everybody was waiting there to see what would happen. I want to share a little bit of the journey in regards to what is tongues from a biblical perspective. How do we think about it now? And how do we interpret what's not very clear by what is actually very clear in God's word, if that makes sense? Welcome to the Dialen podcast. My name is Johnny Artivannis. I'm here with Hank Bowen.

This episode is brought to you by the Masters University. If you or anybody in your life is looking to continue higher education, I would highly recommend the Masters University, which is committed to Jesus Christ and the authority and sufficiency of his word, you can check out more information at masters.edu. Hank, how are we doing? Doing great, Johnny. How are you? A little warm in here.

And every minute we spend in here, it's just going to get a little warmer. So we need to dive right in. So last week, we looked at briefly the Office of Apostle and Prophet it and spend some time walking through what those gifts look like in both the Old Testament as well as the new. One of the other gifts often associated is the gift of tongues, but we weren't able to really address it and figured it might be worth a standalone episode. And I feel like you're making fun of my finger. So would you mind picking up with maybe the gift of tongues and just addressing

for the sake of clarity, kind of how to maybe rightly understand the gift of tongues? Yeah, I would say that this is something that's worth understanding because it's a question that people have about something in God's word, right? So I've answered it, you know, to people over the years. I also know, I would say from the onset that there are godly people that I know and love that disagree with me on, you know, the use of tongues today. I have no acts to grind with anybody that submits to the sufficiency of scripture, has a high view of God's word and also has a private prayer language. There are men that I mentioned in the previous episode that would subscribe to that and I love and respect them. With that said, however, I do believe that,

in the Pentecostal church at times, there is a clear deviation from what we see in God's word, and I want to talk about those deviations. And I also want to start with an acknowledgement that I grew up in a home that prioritize the truth of God's word. I grew up in a church environment since, you know, before I could even remember, that was expositional, which means teaching verse by verse through the scripture. And I think that, you know, I'm curious about your take on this, like if you grew up in a biblically conservative environment with a high priority and emphasis on truth. When you were in high school college, there was a almost a yearning, I would say, in my own life, a longing to experience something from the Spirit of God because I had heard about it.

I had seen some things. And it left me feeling as if I was missing something in the Christian life. Obviously, Jesus teaches that those who worship him should worship him in spirit and truth. And I would say that probably something more that was caught, not taught, because, you know, the men in my life, like my dad, you know, who was my pastor, would never depreciate or diminish the work of the spirit of God. But I think it was just something I, I don't think I had a high view of the way that the spirit of God worked growing up. And I think I began to kind of really go, what else is out there? Am I missing something from a spiritual perspective? No, I relate to that deeply. And I feel like growing up in a very similar environment that had a really high view of the study of scripture and kind of a

robust verse-by-verse unpacking of the scripture. There's also just like a practical I think maturation on your own spiritual journey as you come to text like we're going to look at in First Corinthians as well as others, where it's just, it can be confusing of like, how does that actually fit into the equation? And there's just a reality of, I think you said it well, a desire that you don't want to be missing out on something that other friends or people you know might be partaking in and feeling like, oh, man, am I actually like a lesser Christian in my own? And I don't want to diminish the work of the spirit of God, which I think what's a big part of it. Now, I do believe that this, maybe that trend has been inverted. What I mean by that is, I think a lot of the young men today, I would say a lot. That's a general statement. They are more so interested, not in maybe speaking in tongues.

I have very few 21-year-old guys asking me about tongues. They're asking me about the Eucharist from an Eastern Orthodox perspective or from a Catholic church because they've grown up in a church environment that's different than maybe I did with beach balls and lasers and fog and baggy t-shirts. and now they're drawn to the transcendence and the liturgy of an ancient church system. Not to say that no one is interested in the spiritual gifts now, but I would say that it was much more prominent 15 years ago when I was in college than I think today. And that's probably worth another standalone episode that maybe we'll get to in the coming weeks. But it's also, to your point, it ping pongs back and forth.

It feels like in 15 years people might be revisiting these questions in a fresh way. Although that's not to diminish. This is an ongoing conversation today. Correct. So when I was in college, my parents moved away when I was going into my junior year of college. It was kind of like a destabilizing time in my life. I had some legitimate questions about the things that I had grown up believing and I visited some charismatic churches. I mean, if there was a, you know, I was interested, what is the gift of tongues? Why don't I have it? You know, I want to know God. I've been reading the Bible since I was a boy and wanting to really be a man after God's own heart. And so I went to a charismatic, almost revival of sorts. Gathering. A gathering, yeah, and I went with my friend. And when I walked in, everybody was speaking in tongues.

It was the first time I'd ever seen anybody speak in tongues. And I walked in probably three or four hundred people. And a pastor walked up on stage. Everyone kind of quieted down. And this is a true story. I've never really shared this publicly. He said, does anybody here not speak in tongues? And I raised my hand.

Honestly, that's courageous. I don't know if I would raise my hand. I raised my hand. They brought me up on stage. The elders of the church laid hands on me. After they had finished raising hands on me, I kid you not. The guy kind of hit me on the forehead. And he said, now speak the holy language.

And everybody was waiting there to see what would happen. And I said, I can't. I don't know. I couldn't. And they all shook their heads at me. And they told me I was weak in faith. My faith was weak. And I walked off as they were shaking their heads at me.

And I just said, I didn't, I wasn't like defiant back then. This wasn't at a time in my life where I was kind of like, I was standing really strong and I don't believe this anymore. I was genuinely curious. And it was kind of a moment I'll never forget. And I understand that's not everybody's experiences. Not every single person that speaks in tongues thinks that. But it kind of, it was kind of the catalyst to a greater degree of interest. And what does the Bible actually say about this?

I went from there, maybe two years later, I graduated from college. I went to Australia. I was working and living in Australia, and we were going to, at that point, a charismatic church, it was kind of the only church that we could find in Australia. And I met some awesome people, by the way,

like, that love the Lord, were so gracious, so generous, great hangs. I mean, cool people. I mean, you're in Australia. I mean, I'm going to Samakas de Sava, you know. So I was had, yeah, it's English, but not. I'm refraining for making a joke, but I thought you were just speaking in English.

That was tongues. No, no, I, and I went to a night and the guy said, hey, we're all living in some sort of a spiritual fog. And what he did is he went camping for two days. And that's when he received the second baptism. He says, I went up to the mountain to find my inner lion. He said to find my shout.

And I was understanding to find his shout as the courage to live boldly, holy and solely for Jesus Christ. And when he did that, he spoke in tongues. And so he told this story. And there was a moment at that night where everyone was praying for an hour and you were praying to find your shout, which was, I think, he's using as a synonym for your courage to live for Christ.

Everyone, I mean, even the people that I had been with, they started speaking in tongues. And I just couldn't, you know, I just, I don't know, not authentically. I mean, I tried, you know, something. And I walked away going, hey, maybe I'm missing something. Or maybe I just don't understand. And so it kind of led me on a journey. And I want to share a little bit of the journey in regards to God's word of what is tongues from a biblical perspective.

How do we think about it now? And how do we interpret what's not very clear by what it is actually very clear in God's Word, if that makes sense? And then kind of back our way into my conviction today. Yeah, and as we turn to Scripture, I think it's particularly helpful to kind of park and maybe create some clear lines of delineation and clarity

from Scripture. Because to your point, I feel like it's common, like on my YouTube algorithm today, I'll hear many pastors saying a lot of things with a degree of definity around if you don't have tongues, you have to do X, Y, Z, and then you will. I don't know if you've seen any of the... I was watching a video right before this that said,

a well-respected charismatic guy who said, if you can't speak in tongues, there's two things at play. One, there's someone in your life you haven't forgiven or you don't have enough faith. And just kind of the extremity and the bluntness of that statement, there's someone in your life you haven't forgiven or you're not stepping out in faith.

It made me actually want to answer the question. So Psalm 119 reads, how can a young man keep his way pure by keeping it according to your word? One of the priorities of a person pursuing purity is the Word of God. I've said it before and I've written this for myself that if God's Word is not my priority,

neither is my purity. Now, in addition to a love for the Word of God and a dependence upon the Spirit of God, one of the practical strategies for pursuing purity in a world that is littered with impurity as having some form of digital accountability. You have access, I have access, by just the devices we have as an normative element in our life

to all sorts of sin, and I want accountability in my life. And so we've partnered up with accountable to you, and I've been using this software for the last several years and been so blessed by it. The other people on our team use it as well, and I want to recommend it to you. You can use our unique code dial-in

to get 25% off the first year, year for your personal or family plan, and you can check out more information at accountable to you.org forward slash dial in. I think, first of all, from a tongue's perspective, the first time you see it in the New Testament is in Acts chapter two. Acts chapter one, Jesus ascends. He not only is, you know, is risen from the grave. He ascends to the father right now in glory. There is a resurrected body of Jesus Christ. In Acts chapter 1,8, Jesus says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth. Now, later on in Acts chapter 2, it's the

birthday of the church. The Holy Spirit is going to come down exactly as Jesus has said, and he's going to come, and that's where you get the first instance of someone speaking in tongues. Can you read Acts chapter 2 verses 4 through 11? Acts chapter 2, verse 4 begins, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now they were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men of every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were bewildered because each one of them was speaking in his own language. So they were astounded and marveling saying, behold, are not all of these who are speaking, Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language in which we were born?

Parthenians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia, that might have been mispronounced, and Pamphylia, Egypt and the district of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretians and Arabs. We hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God. So first instance of tongues, it's very clear, and this is something you need to understand if you're listening or watching, is a known language.

In verse 2, it says they begin to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. In verse 6, it says because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. This is real phonetic languages, not gibberish, not ecstatic, speech in verse eight it says how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we are born verse 11 says cretans and arabs which we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of god so this Greek word is glossa it refers to real languages i have written down here in my bible from 12 years ago it says knowledgeable languages and people are hearing them talk about

that it mentions 16 languages here and that's the first instance of tongues in the new testament If you turn over to Acts chapter 10, there's a story there where Cornelius, who was an Italian man. He had the Italian court. He is brought to saving faith. And Peter goes to him, and there's a little bit of confusion, like, does God in fact, does Jesus in fact save the Gentiles? So it says in Acts chapter 10, verse 44, while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed. that's the Jews, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also,

for they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God, then Peter answered. Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he? So Cornelius gets saved, he's a Gentile, and the Jews are there watching Peter talking to this man about the gospel, and it says that the Holy Spirit comes on him, and he begins to do exactly what happened to them in Acts chapter 2. It's a known language, same word, same reality here. They were speaking in known tongues.

We see this elsewhere in Acts chapter 19, where with the Ephesion 12, the Holy Spirit falls on those that were previously following John the Baptist, and they begin to speak in tongues as well. Same words, same instance, leading us to conclude, okay, throughout the book of Acts, throughout the history of the church, every single time the word tongues is used, it refers not to ecstatic speech, not to a private prayer language, but to a real language, and this is universally agreed upon by even many continuationist charismatic scholars. So at that point, if you've read the book of Acts, the burden of proof would be overwhelmingly on someone to say that there is

tongues that differ from what you see in the book of Acts. That's a helpful delineation. I think it's helpful to just walk through the book of Acts and honestly have a firmer grasp of where these things are happening sequentially in the early church. And again, it's just you often tell to find the drama of the story of again, it's just reminding on me, this is a church that's explosively growing for the first time. So they don't have the book of acts to actually render clarity onto what's happening in the real moment. It gives a different flavoring to the use of tongues in that context. Yeah, and I think just in regards to the book of acts, I find that it's really important that everyone understands the author and the timing of the book of acts. I want to talk about the author for a

moment. The author of the book of Acts is Luke. Now, Luke was not a disciple. Luke was a doctor. He was a Greek scholar. And you're familiar with Luke's gospel. And I think sometimes people don't realize that Luke was not a disciple, but he is writing an investigative report of everything that he is gathering. So Luke opens his gospel. In Luke chapter 1, he says, inasmuch, this is the way he begins, I love. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order,

most excellent theophilus, so that you may know the exact truth about the things that you have been taught. So everything Luke does is you have to interpret it through the perspective of a very detailed scholastic doctor who is a Greek man and he wants you to know the exact truth about everything that transpired in the New Testament events from Jesus, the apostles, and the ascension and then the birth of the church. It's investigative reporting. Yeah, he's a reporter. In two volumes. So that is the opening of Luke. Yeah. And then Acts 1 begins this way. He says in Acts Chapter 1 verse 1, he says, the first account, I composed Theophilus about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day when he was taken up to heaven after he had by the Holy Spirit given orders to

the apostles whom he had chosen. So he begins the book of Acts by saying, hey, listen, this is a continuation of my investigative journalism. This is extremely precise. This is very detailed. Season two, this is a recap of season one. Yeah, exactly. So he moves on. Now, I want to talk about the timeline, knowing that that's Luke's background, knowing that's why we have the most detailed timeline of Jesus's birth, there's the most events there that are, you know, like everything is from a skeptics perspective. Luke was, you know, writing to Greek skeptics, I want you to know, right?

So in the book of Acts, I want to talk about the timeline, Luke is writing Acts at least five years after Paul has written First Corinthians. And I think that's significant because if Paul is talking about a different type of tongues in First Corinthians, I think that Luke would have cleared that up by using a different word. there is a perfectly good word that Paul could have used to refer to some sort of ecstatic speech, but Luke is going to use an ax the same word that we find elsewhere in First Corinthians, Glossa. And so I think that's something that shouldn't be at least dismissed, knowing that he would have been a reader.

He was Paul's companion in Colossians 4-4. Paul says Luke, who is with me, sends his greetings. So this is a guy that would have read First Corinthians, he would have known First Corinthians, and he's one of Paul's closest friends. I as well as many other people think that Hebrews is actually a sermon preached by Paul, but is written down by Luke. So they were companions. And so this investigator doesn't talk about any sort of distinction. But I want to talk about those maybe legitimate questions that maybe some people have regarding tongues in First Corinthians. In First Corinthians,

chapter 12 through 14, Paul talks a lot about tongues. The most natural way to read it, in my opinion, is that it is talking about the same gift. I'm not convinced that this is a private prayer language that is ecstatic or, I mean, it's not in a disrespectful way, but like gibberish or, you know, not real language. Probably the most prominent passage would be in 1st Corinthians 14, too. Paul says, for one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands, but in his spirit, he speaks mysteries. So what is Paul saying here? Well, I think because he's using the same word, I don't think it's that difficult to understand from my perspective.

In Acts chapter 2, when they receive the gift of tongues and begin to preach in other languages, there are people there that knew those languages that identified that, hey, they're speaking in our own native language. But in this case, in the Corinthian Church, there's no one there to discern what language they're speaking. So it's a mystery to them, and they're speaking to God and not to men. Now, this is a problem because spiritual gifts are given for one predominant purpose. What's that? Edify and build up the church. To edify the church.

but if you're speaking in tongues and no one is there to understand what you're saying, then Paul's going to say elsewhere. Like, how can you say amen to something you don't understand? So he says here, for the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands, but in his spirit, he speaks mystery. So I don't think that's referring to a private prayer language. I also think the burden of proof would again be on, okay, on someone saying that this is an ecstatic, this is a different type of language.

Yes, and there are many people that say this. This is a respected position, you know, John Piper would say, know, in Acts talking about a known language, but this might be referring to a private prayer language. Well, and there's other, this same concept appears in other chapters, right, in 13 and 15? Yeah, so 13 would be like another one that Paul begins by saying, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clinging symbol. So I think people would get the idea from here that there is the tongues of angels.

But I think you have to read the next verse. I think Paul is speaking, and Thomas Schreiner talks about this in his book, but he's speaking hyperbolicly and rhetorically. If he says, if I speak in the tongues of men, on one hand, and of angels, which would be the extreme. And he says in verse two, if I have all faith and all knowledge. So I think he's speaking from an extreme perspective, not saying that there is actually the ability to speak in the language of Gabriel or Michael. I think he's talking here that it doesn't matter if you have all knowledge, all faith, if you don't have love. So I think he's speaking more rhetorically or hyperbolicly than saying, hey, there's actually a tongue of angels that Paul is speaking. Yeah, it wouldn't be too dissimilar if someone said, man, that person's singing voice is beautiful.

That's the voice of an angel. They're not literally saying someone else possessed that human and started singing. Yeah. It's, I think because to that point, folks will say, well, aren't you supposed to take the Bible like at its word, literally? And the point would be, yes, in context with what it's saying. and he's speaking in clearly a rhetorical language. Yeah, well, I think at least from my perspective, I think that another verse that would, you know,

people, or just another idea, is that people view in the Pentecostal church. Many churches would say that speaking in tongues is the symbol of the baptism of the spirit. Like if you've been truly saved, this is something that you will do. Like it happened at Pentecost. No, but yeah, and I just wanted everybody to know that the moment you get saved, you receive the Holy Spirit.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, for by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit, for the body is not one member, but many. So there's no second baptism where you receive the spirit of God. There's no second baptism where you kind of begin to speak in tongues. I also want to be careful here to not respond to maybe one thing that I disagree with

by swinging to the other side of this pendulum to say, like, hey, no, I want to pursue a deeper experiential intimacy with Jesus. You know, it says taste and see that the Lord is good, not believe and affirm. So there should be a real experience to our Christian life. I don't believe that happens in a moment. I believe that's progressive sanctification that we are kind of wading into the waters of our relationship with Jesus more and more. Now, I would say, I think it's, again, it's just so critical to hear the heart in the conversation of there's not a desire to paint, like in broad strokes, characterize the other side kind of as deviously as you possibly can

to kind of shrink wrap their argument and toss it to the side. There's a level of care here that people do fall on different sides of the spectrum. But I think what might also be helpful is there's definitively things that need to be spoken to that are happening in the modern-day church context that aren't clearly elaborated for us in scripture. Yeah, I mean, here's what I definitely, definitely know is that nowhere, nowhere in the New Testament church would you walk in and everybody would be speaking in tongues. that's Paul says in 1st Corinthians 1427 if anyone speaks in a tongue it should be by two

or at the most three and each in turn and one must interpret but if there is no interpreter he must keep silent in the church and let him speak to himself and to God so the idea of going into a service and there are hundreds of people speaking in tongues Paul says actually in 1st Corinthians 1423 if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues and ungifted men or unbelievers enter

will they not say that you are mad? He says, if you walk into a church and everybody's speaking in tongues, they're going to think you're crazy. God is a God of order. God reveals how he is to be worshipped. So church services should have, obviously there's a mystery to the gospel. But he says, if everybody walks in and you're speaking in unintelligible, you know, to them languages, which again, it's languages according to Paul.

That's the word glossa. But he says, if you're all speaking in tongues and there's no interpreter, no one's providing order, they're going to think you're crazy. That's not my word. That's just right here in the text. So that's for sure. He says two or at the most three. Furthermore, not everyone was supposed to speak in tongues.

Paul says in 1st Corinthians 1230, all do not have the gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? So the idea that speaking in tongues is the sign and symbol of a deep walk with God is nowhere found in the New Testament. Paul says, no, that's not true at all. And then I would say furthermore, the Bible lays out what the framework of a church service should look like. So you don't have any, in the pastoral epistles, there's no mention of tongues.

You see that people are on Colossians, they're to sing to one another, let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Paul tells the son in the faith, preach the word. That's the great emphasis, great priority of a pastor, is to preach the truth of God's word. it's sufficient. Even in a world and an environment right now that longs for some sort of deeper experience, Peter says, hey, I was there at the Mount of Transfiguration, but I have something more sure. He says, the Word of God, to which you will do well to pay attention. We live in a world that longs for experience. And Peter says, hey, listen, I've seen it. I've seen Moses and Elijah shoulder to shoulder with Jesus Christ, but the priority is, and the surest thing is the Word of God.

So that's what we see in the New Testament. Absolutely. Well, and I feel like this episode would be incomplete in some ways if we didn't make reference back to. In the Old Testament, we see in Genesis 11, the outpouring of the Tower of Babel and God's judgment in that he disperses them, gives them different languages. And so in Acts, when all of a sudden God seems to be making something new with the birth of his church and building bridges, for lack of a better term, back to make his gospel proclamation known to all people.

And it's just this amazing miracle that's being played out. And that's really helpful context as we look at things biblically. Maybe as you kind of prep for this episode, I know you were looking back even through church history, and there's maybe some helpful resourcing. Well, I think it's helpful just to know that, and I think there potentially be some rebuttals to this, but I think many of the most respected individuals

from the third and fourth centuries, like Gregory of Nancy Anzis or Khrostom, Gregory would say that regarding tongues, they spoke, quote, with the foreign tongues and not those of their native land. and the wonder was great. A language spoken by those who had not learned it. So they were speaking in a tongue they had never learned,

but was their native or the ability to proclaim the gospel to obey Jesus who said, you're going to be my witnesses. Chrysostom says, and as in the time of building the Tower of Babel, to your point, the one tongue was divided into many, so then the many tongues frequently met in one man, and the gift was called the gift of tongues

because he could all at once speak diverse languages. And I think largely from the second, you know, early, you know, first century church to the beginning of the 1900s. There's not a lot of information or writing about a private prayer language. In 1901, Charles Fox Parham has a revival. And Agnes Osmond is, they're praying and they say that she begins to speak something that sounds like Chinese. And the gift of tongues fell on her. She began to write it down. And you can Google the image.

She began to write down symbols that they said was Chinese. You can Google it. It was put into a newspaper. It was later determined that this is not actually a language at all, but Charles Fox Parham sent people all over the world as missionaries. I think well intentioned that they were going to be able to learn the language of the people that they were going to, to be able to proclaim the gospel. But a lot of those missionaries came home disappointed.

They didn't get that language. So largely for 1,800 years, there's not a mention of a private prayer language. But I would say also that sometimes it's presented from a Pentecostal perspective that if you want the Spirit of God to move powerfully, you have to have this intimacy with God. And the intimacy with God is experienced when you speak in tongues. Like even in the YouTube video, I was watching before this from a prominent charismatic pastor. He said that when you pray in English, the devil hears, but when you pray in tongues, it's unintelligible to the devil. Do you want to pray in a way that the devil can't even understand? Listen, God has accomplished a lot through history just by the simple way we pray in English.

you know, the Great, you know, the Reformation, the Great Awakening. You know, there's no mention really from Jonathan Edwards, George Woodfield, to praying in tongues. So I think just three things as we close. First of all, I'd be concerned of a practical undermining of the sufficiency of Scripture. I think that there are, again, good and godly men who pray in tongues in private, not talking about like a Bob Coughlin who obviously loves God's Word. I'm talking about even in the YouTube video I watched just recently of a charismatic leader.

He said, I started praying in the spirit and all of the sudden God started down. downloading things to me. Don't you want that? And if you're listening to that, you go, I do want some sort of fresh revelation. It leaves me the impression, even though they would say, no, God's word is powerful. It leaves me with the impression that, yes, God's word is powerful, but if I speak in tongues, I'm going to get something new and I'm going to get something fresh, and I'm going to get something especially revealed to me. So that would be one concern. Like in turbo mode. Yeah, in turbo mode, for sure. I think secondly, and this is, I mean, I'm sure there's some sort of rebuttal to this. Jesus taught us to pray. The disciples never

asked Jesus, Lord, teach us to, he never taught them how to preach. He didn't specifically teach them how to do other things like cast out demons. He didn't say, hey, follow this technique. But he did teach him to pray. We know from God's word that we pray the truth of God's word. We pray what we read in scripture. If Paul says, for the Ephesian Church, my prayers that you would know the height and depth and breath and width of the love of God. That's what we pray. God, I want to know the height and depth and breath and width of the love of God. Lord, I want to pray fervently. We know that Jesus withdrew to pray. And so we find that, even when he prays in John 17, it's maybe the most majestic chapter in all of the Bible

where Jesus is praying to the Father. He's praying in a language that's understandable. Father, I want them to be one even as we are one. I want them to see my glory. I want them to know my love. And we pray the scripture back to God. So if you want to pray powerfully, I would just encourage someone,

pray the scripture back to God, repeat the promises of God. I would also say that sometimes people come up to me and obviously I pray when I begin a sermon, I pray when I conclude a sermon, but I'm also really mindful, listen, that I think the heartbeat behind a private prayer language is well-intentioned often. Like, I don't know what to say. I want to have intimacy with God, but that's where I cling to passages like Romans 826,

because I know that my best prayer, even if I wrote it down and it was Valley of Vision-esque, is lacking apart from the Spirit of God. And do you have Romans 826? I want you just to read that because I think that's helpful for me because I don't want to to swing and say, well, we only pray this way. It's stoic. It shouldn't be stoic. It should be fervent. It should be real. It should be pouring out our hearts. Read that for us. And in the same way, the spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. I'm so thankful that every single

time I go to pray in my own language, in English, I know that the spirit of God is interceding on my behalf with groaning's too deep for words because my best prayer is insufficient apart from the intercession of the Holy Spirit. That's what makes my prayer effective. It's not because I've learned to pray a certain way. It's because the Holy Spirit is interceding on my behalf. And that's what I cling to. And I'm so thankful for that.

Well, and it just strikes me in that verse, there's a degree to mystery, and there's a degree of miraculous. Every time we pray. Every single time we pray. I mean, we pray before we hit record on every one of these episodes. But it's just, it also is unbelievably confidence-inspiring and hope and joy providing that we have that assurance made sure for us. I think what you just said is important to highlight. Every prayer is supernatural because it's being carried to the Father through the Spirit in the name of the Son.

And Calvin used to say that prayers when I wish. whisper my needs into my father's ear, and he loves to listen. And so I'm grateful for that truth and wanted to provide at least some clarity from what I believe convictionally about the scripture. If you have any specific questions about other verses or passages, feel free to write those down and other topics regarding the Holy Spirit. We want to be able to answer those. This is not like a hobby horse. I have no axe to grind, but want to provide clarity. And I'm so thankful that when we look at God's Word, I believe there is. Yeah. Thanks so much for doing this, Johnny. Thanks, Hank.