What is speaking in tongues? Is it for today?
Maybe you’ve heard people pray in a language no one understood and wondered what was happening. Or you’ve been told tongues ended with the apostles. Here is what the Bible says.
Speaking in tongues is praying or praising God in a language you never learned, given by the Holy Spirit. It is for today. Our doctrine is that tongues is the first evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, just as it was in the book of Acts: “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:4). In plain words: when you pray in tongues, your spirit is talking to God directly, past what your mind can find words for: “he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God” (1 Corinthians 14:2). It builds you up, and it is a gift God wants to give you.
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The day of Pentecost
About 120 believers were together in one room in Jerusalem. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind filled the house, tongues like fire rested on each of them, and they all began to speak in other languages. Visitors from all over the world heard them declaring the wonders of God in their own native languages and asked, “What does this mean?” Peter stood up and told them: this is what God promised, and “this promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off” (Acts 2:1–12, 39).
What “filled with the Holy Spirit” means
When you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you (Romans 8:9). Being filled, or baptized, with the Spirit is more: God pours His Spirit into you until He overflows, into your heart and out of your mouth. In plain words: think of a glass under a faucet. Salvation puts water in the glass. Being filled with the Spirit is when it runs over. And when the believers in Acts overflowed, it came out of their mouths in tongues (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6).
How to receive the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues
The Bible doesn’t give a formula, but it shows us how people received. Many receive this way: praying, worshiping, and calling on the name of Jesus.
1. Make sure you belong to Jesus. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Him. The Spirit is given to believers (Acts 2:38).
2. Ask for it. “How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). Don’t be afraid you’ll get something bad. The same verses promise a father won’t hand his child a snake (Luke 11:11–12).
3. Call on the name of Jesus and praise Him out loud. Thank Him, worship Him, say His name. In Acts, people spoke in tongues while “exalting God” (Acts 10:46).
4. Give God your voice. “They … began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:4). The Spirit gives the words, but you do the speaking. When sounds or words you don’t know start to rise up, don’t hold them back and don’t try to make them English. Speak them out. It may start with just a few syllables, and it will grow.
5. Let Spirit-filled believers pray over you. In Samaria and Ephesus, the Spirit came when believers laid hands on them and prayed (Acts 8:17; 19:6).
6. Keep seeking. Jesus told His disciples to wait “until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49), and they prayed together until it came (Acts 1:14). If it doesn’t happen the first night, keep asking. God is not holding out on you.
Two ways tongues shows up
Your own prayer language: given when you are filled with the Spirit, for talking with God and building up your faith (1 Corinthians 14:4; Jude 20). Paul wrote, “I wish that all of you could speak in tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:5).
The gift of tongues in church: a message spoken out loud to a gathering, which must be interpreted so everyone is built up (1 Corinthians 14:27–28). That is the gift Paul means when he asks, “Do all speak in tongues?” (1 Corinthians 12:30).
Why it is still for today
Peter said the promise was for “all who are far off, all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). That includes you. Paul said not to forbid speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:39). Nowhere does the Bible say it ended.
What it is not
It is not gibberish, a trance or losing control. “The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets” (1 Corinthians 14:32): you choose when to speak and when to stop. And it is not proof that one Christian is better than another. It is a gift, not a reward.
What the Bible says
- 01
Pentecost.
“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Acts 2:1–4 - 02
Peter heard them.
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard his message. All the circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and exalting God. Then Peter said,”
Acts 10:44–46 - 03
At Ephesus.
“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the interior and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” “No,” they answered, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Into what, then, were you baptized?” Paul asked. “The baptism of John,” they replied. Paul explained: “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”
Acts 19:1–6 - 04
Speaking to God.
“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries in the Spirit. But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified.”
1 Corinthians 14:2–5 - 05
Don’t forbid it.
“So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything must be done in a proper and orderly manner.”
1 Corinthians 14:39–40 - 06
Praying in the Spirit.
Jude 20
Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.
Read Acts 2 today, start to finish. Then find a quiet place, call on the name of Jesus, praise Him out loud, and ask Him: “Fill me with Your Holy Spirit.”
Common questions
Do you have to speak in tongues to be saved?
No. Salvation is through faith in Jesus. Tongues comes with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a filling God gives to believers.
Is speaking in tongues a real language?
At Pentecost, people understood them in their own languages. Paul also speaks of “the tongues of men and of angels” (1 Corinthians 13:1).
What does it feel like?
It’s different for everyone. Some people feel deep joy, peace or tears. Some feel nothing at first and just start speaking. It doesn’t depend on a feeling. It depends on God’s promise.
Can tongues be faked?
People can imitate anything. That’s why Scripture says to test everything and keep what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). God’s gift is real.
Pray with people, not alone.
Become’s prayer house walks you through prayer one step at a time, and the Watch is a prayer room that never closes. Start tonight.