Be Careful What You Say

I remember being told as a child to watch what I say.

That was good advice then, and it is still good advice today.

Watching our words implies that we know what we are saying. We understand the language we are speaking, and we are willing to be held accountable for the things that come out of our mouths. I was also warned not to make things up, because doing so could get me into serious trouble.

That warning becomes even more important when we claim to speak for God.

God calls men and women to His service in many different ways. Some are pastors. Some are teachers. Some serve quietly behind the scenes. Some teach Sunday school, lead ministries, or simply share what God has taught them with others.

Those who teach God's Word have an enormous responsibility.

Sadly, not everyone who teaches Scripture does so for the right reasons. Scripture itself warns us that people can be motivated by selfish ambition, recognition, money, influence, or the desire to promote their own ideas.

That is why anyone who teaches God's Word needs to surrender himself to God.

It is not easy.

The Word of God shines a light not only upon the world around us but upon ourselves.

I know that when I study something in Scripture and begin writing about it, I often find myself convicted by the very thing I am trying to explain to someone else.

Sometimes that scares me.

There are times when I wonder whether I am up to the task of sharing something that I believe God has placed upon my heart.

Then I remember that I am subject to the same Word I am discussing.

I am not above it.

I do not want to write something simply because it agrees with a religious tradition, a denomination, a preacher, or something I have heard repeated for years.

I research these subjects because I do not want to tell you that God said something when He did not.

Other people can help us understand Scripture. Pastors, teachers, scholars, books, commentaries, and even websites can be useful.

But Scripture must remain my final authority.

Some of the subjects I have written about are not easy.

Sometimes Scripture challenges things we have been taught for years.

Sometimes it challenges traditions.

Sometimes it challenges established religious practices.

And sometimes it challenges me.

One subject where I believe Christians need to be especially careful about what we say God has said concerns prayer and what is often called a private prayer language or praying in tongues.

Let us begin with what Jesus Himself taught about prayer.

In Matthew 6:5–15, Jesus warns His followers not to make prayer into a public performance designed to impress other people. He tells them not to pray as the hypocrites do merely so that they may be seen.

He also warns against meaningless or empty repetition.

Prayer is communication with God.

Of course, this does not mean that Christians may never pray publicly. Scripture contains examples of believers praying together and praying for one another.

But Jesus makes something very clear:

Prayer is not supposed to be a performance.

It is not supposed to show everyone around us how spiritual we are.

Prayer should be sincere communication between the believer and God.

Jesus also gave His disciples an example of how to pray.

He taught them to pray to the Father, to honor God's name, to seek His will, to ask for their daily needs, to seek forgiveness, to forgive others, and to ask for protection from temptation and evil.

The prayer He gave them contained understandable words.

That matters to me.

Jesus did not tell His disciples to stop thinking and begin making sounds they did not understand. He gave them meaningful words directed toward God.

That leads me to an important question:

Where does Scripture clearly teach that Christians should develop a private prayer language consisting of words or sounds they themselves do not understand?

I know that some Christians sincerely believe Scripture teaches such a practice.

I do not question their sincerity.

But sincerity and biblical support are not always the same thing.

I have looked at the passages commonly used to support the idea, and I do not find clear biblical evidence for the doctrine of a private prayer language.

One passage often mentioned is Romans 8:26.

Paul says that the Spirit helps us in our weakness because we do not always know how we ought to pray, and that the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

That is a beautiful promise.

There have certainly been times in my own life when I did not know what to pray.

But notice who is doing the interceding.

The verse says the Spirit Himself intercedes for us.

It does not say that the believer is instructed to begin producing unintelligible sounds.

Whatever else someone may believe about tongues, I do not believe Romans 8:26 can simply be used as proof that Christians possess a private prayer language.

Another important passage is 1 Corinthians 14.

Paul spends a great deal of time discussing tongues, prophecy, understanding, interpretation, and the edification of the church.

One of the things that stands out to me is how concerned Paul is with understanding.

He essentially asks what benefit there is in speaking unless what is spoken communicates revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching.

He compares speech to musical instruments. If the notes cannot be distinguished, how can anyone know what is being played?

He compares it to a trumpet giving an uncertain sound. If the signal cannot be understood, how will anyone know to prepare for battle?

Then he applies the same principle to speech.

Words should communicate something meaningful.

Paul also says that when tongues are used in the gathered church, interpretation is necessary so that others may be edified.

This is important.

Whatever conclusions we reach about the exact nature of tongues in 1 Corinthians, Paul clearly does not treat unintelligibility as the goal.

Understanding matters.

Interpretation matters.

Edification matters.

Order matters.

Paul even says:

“I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.”

That is an important statement.

Some people believe the tongues in 1 Corinthians were known human languages similar to what happened in Acts 2. Others understand some of Paul's statements differently.

I believe there are strong reasons for understanding biblical tongues as genuine languages, particularly when Acts 2 is considered alongside Paul's teaching.

But even if someone disagrees with me on that point, 1 Corinthians 14 still places tremendous emphasis upon meaning, understanding, interpretation, and the building up of others.

That brings me to something that has personally bothered me.

I once watched a young man give his life to Christ and then immediately be encouraged to speak in tongues.

He appeared not to know what he was supposed to do.

He was essentially told that it did not matter what he said. He was encouraged to make sounds, not to think too much about it, and simply allow something to happen.

That concerned me deeply.

I am not claiming that every Christian who believes in tongues teaches people this way.

I am saying that what I personally witnessed did not appear consistent with what I see emphasized in Scripture.

The Christian life does not normally call us to abandon discernment.

Quite the opposite.

Galatians 5:23 includes self-control among the fruit of the Spirit.

Second Timothy 1:7 reminds us that God has given us a spirit not of fear but of power, love, and self-control.

First Peter 5:8 tells us to be sober-minded and watchful.

Those passages do not, by themselves, disprove tongues.

But they do remind us that Christian spirituality is not supposed to require the abandonment of thought, discernment, or self-control.

If someone tells me that in order to experience a spiritual gift I must stop thinking, stop evaluating what I am doing, and simply produce sounds without concern for meaning, I believe I have every right to stop and compare that instruction carefully with Scripture.

God does give spiritual gifts.

They are good gifts.

They are given for His purposes.

And Scripture also makes clear that believers do not all possess the same gifts.

Paul does not tell us that every Christian must speak in tongues.

Nor does he say that speaking in tongues is the defining evidence that someone possesses the Holy Spirit.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul asks a series of questions:

Are all apostles?

Are all prophets?

Are all teachers?

Do all work miracles?

Do all possess gifts of healing?

Do all speak with tongues?

The expected answer is no.

Different believers receive different gifts.

Paul also repeatedly places greater emphasis upon gifts that build up the entire church than upon a tongue that no one present can understand.

That does not mean tongues are evil.

Paul himself says not to forbid speaking in tongues.

But he also commands that things be done properly and in order.

That balance is important.

I do not want to condemn something merely because I do not understand it.

But neither do I want to accept a doctrine simply because someone tells me that it is spiritual.

Everything must be examined according to God's Word.

Philippians 4 reminds Christians to rejoice in the Lord, to pray with thanksgiving, to allow their requests to be made known to God, and to set their minds upon what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise.

Our minds matter.

Truth matters.

Understanding matters.

And our words matter.

That brings me back to where I began.

Be careful what you say.

Be careful what you teach.

Be especially careful when you attach the words “God says” to something.

James 3 contains one of the strongest warnings in Scripture for anyone who teaches:

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

James then compares the tongue to a small fire capable of setting an entire forest ablaze.

That warning applies to pastors.

It applies to Sunday school teachers.

It applies to television preachers.

It applies to people teaching about spiritual gifts.

And it applies to me.

If I am going to tell another Christian that something he believes is not supported by Scripture, then I must be careful that I do not commit the very error I am warning against.

I cannot put words into God's mouth simply because they support my position.

I have to allow Scripture to correct me too.

I may misunderstand something.

I may have been taught incorrectly.

I may discover tomorrow that I need to rethink something I wrote today.

If that happens, then I pray that I will have enough humility to admit it.

But until someone can show me from Scripture that believers are commanded or clearly taught to develop a private prayer language of unintelligible sounds, I cannot teach that doctrine as biblical truth.

That is not because I want to take something away from another Christian.

It is because I believe God's Word deserves greater respect than our traditions.

James ends this section by describing wisdom from above as pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere.

That is the kind of wisdom I want.

And that requires me to do something I was taught many years ago as a child:

Be careful what you say.

And when you claim to speak for God, be more careful still.