“Hadassah, wait up!” Shannon grabbed her backpack and ran to catch up with her friend. “I have a question for you about the Bible.”
“What’s up?” Hadassah smiled. Ever since she became a Christian last year, she and Shannon had been talking about the Bible. They didn’t always agree, but their conversations always made Hadassah think—and study her Bible more.
“We had a visiting preacher at our church last weekend,” Shannon began. “He was preaching about the early church in Acts. He showed us how people spoke in tongues when the Holy Spirit was given. He said that speaking in tongues is the way to know whether I have the Holy Spirit. Then he started speaking in tongues. It sounded so weird! And it made me feel strange. Do you know anything about speaking in tongues? Do we have to speak in tongues to be saved?”
“Ooh! That’s a good question,” Hadassah said. “I saw a video of a bunch of kids speaking in tongues the other day. They looked like they were in pain, so I’ve been wanting to find out what the Bible says about it, too. Let’s get our Bibles and see what we can learn.”
A Specific Purpose: Sharing the Gospel
The next day, Shannon and Hadassah pulled out their Bibles after school. “Let’s look up all the places in the Bible about speaking in tongues,” Shannon suggested.
The girls discovered that Jesus told His disciples they would “speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17). “But look at verse 15,” Hadassah said. “He’s telling them to go and preach to everyone. Doesn’t that mean that people would be able to understand them?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Shannon replied, gazing intently at her phone. “Look, the Greek word used here for ‘tongues’ means languages. So maybe it just means the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to speak in another language?”
Next, the girls looked up all the stories about speaking in tongues. They discovered there were only three—Acts 2, 10, and 19—and that every time, the gift of tongues was given with the Holy Spirit so believers could share their faith with people from other countries.
In Acts 2, the people heard the disciples speaking in 15 different languages after Pentecost. In Acts 10, God sent Peter to share the gospel with the Italian general Cornelius and his household. They began speaking in tongues after receiving the Spirit. In Acts 19, a group of believers in Ephesus received the Holy Spirit and the ability to speak in other languages.
“So, it sounds like the ‘gift of tongues’ is really the ability to speak in another language so others can learn about Jesus,” Hadassah concluded.
The Devil’s Counterfeit
“Pretty sure the preacher wasn’t speaking another language on Sunday,” Shannon said thoughtfully. “It just sounded like a bunch of babbling. Then other people started doing it. Some of them were falling on the ground and shaking. It was so strange. But the preacher said it was a sign that these people had received the Holy Spirit. Why didn’t I speak in tongues? I love Jesus! Is there something wrong with me?”
“I don’t think so,” Hadassah said. “I know you’re following God. I see Him changing your life. Wait … Look at 1 Corinthians 14. I think it might have an answer for us.” The girls read through the chapter together.
“Paul sure didn’t like confusion in church, did he?” Shannon said. “I don’t think he would have liked what happened at my church last weekend. It was really confusing. Look, Paul says, ‘Let all things be done decently and in order’ (1 Corinthians 14:40). Makes me wonder if maybe it wasn’t the Holy Spirit speaking through the people.”
“Do you think it might be Satan’s counterfeit?” Hadassah asked.
One of the Gifts of the Spirit
The girls were quiet as they pondered that thought. Hadassah flipped the pages of her Bible.
“Oh look, 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the gifts of the Spirit. Isn’t speaking in tongues supposed to be a gift of the Spirit?”
“You’re right!” Shannon grinned. She’d just read that chapter in her morning devotions. “It lists a lot of gifts of the Spirit. Look! Verse 4 says that there are ‘diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.’ That must mean the Holy Spirit gives different people different gifts. So … I don’t have to speak in tongues to know that the Holy Spirit is in me!”
“I think you’re right,” Hadassah said with a smile. “And that means you don’t have to speak in tongues to be saved, either.”
To learn more about what the Bible says on speaking in tongues, read Pastor Doug’s article, “The Gift of Tongues and the Devil’s Counterfeit.”