An Apologetical Explanation of

Speaking in Tongues

What does it mean when the Bible refers to speaking in tongues?

There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of work, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.  (1 Cor 12:4-11)

Speaking in tongues, or glossolalia, is a gift of the Holy Spirit in which the faithful praise God or prophesy in “foreign tongues” previously unknown to the speaker.  A phenomenon that is said to be inspired in the Holy Spirit is the use of the charismatic gifts.  In their more spectacular forms, they include speaking in tongues, prophecy, interpretation of prophecy, and healing.  (Cf. CCC 768, 2003)

These gifts are mentioned in the New Testament, particularly in the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians.  Evidently addressing some abuses or conflicts the community was facing over the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, he cautioned everyone to respect the gifts and to use them properly within the context of the Mystical Body of Christ.  (Cf. CCC 799-801)

Later, St. Paul warned against envy among Christians over the gifts and urged them to seek the “higher gifts” (1 Cor 1:27-31), those means of serving the common good that are far less dramatic or spectacular.  Faith, hope, and charity (love) are the greatest gifts, with charity being the greatest of all (cf. 1 Cor 13).  (Cf. CCC 1971)

Charismatic gifts can also be seen in the healings performed by the Apostles and in their “speaking in foreign tongues” after the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, when they boldly preached openly and found that people from all nations, eighteen mentioned specifically in the account, understood them as if the Apostles were speaking their various languages (cf. Acts 2).  (Cf. CCC 731, 1287)

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraph 2003.

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