How to Speak in Tongues: What the Bible Teaches and How to Begin

1. What Is Speaking in Tongues?

Speaking in tongues is prayer or praise given by the Holy Spirit in a language the speaker does not know. The Greek of the New Testament calls it speaking in glossais, "tongues" or "languages", which is where the scholarly word glossolalia comes from. Scripture describes two forms of it. At Pentecost the apostles spoke real human languages they had never studied, and the crowd from every nation understood them (Acts 2:6-11). In Corinth, believers prayed in tongues that nobody present understood, which St. Paul calls uttering "mysteries in the Spirit" (1 Corinthians 14:2).

Both forms have the same source and the same direction. The source is the Holy Spirit, who gives the gift "to each one individually as he wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). The direction is God. Paul says plainly that a person speaking in a tongue "speaks not to men but to God" (1 Corinthians 14:2). Tongues are first of all a way of praying.

Hold two truths together. Tongues are a real gift, promised by Jesus ("they will speak in new tongues", Mark 16:17), practised by the apostles and still given today. Tongues are also the gift Paul ranks last in his list and spends a whole chapter putting in order. Drop either truth and you fall into a ditch: fear that forbids what Scripture allows, or pride that makes a gift into a badge.

2. Tongues in Acts: Pentecost, Cornelius and Ephesus

The Book of Acts records speaking in tongues three times, and each time it marks the Holy Spirit falling on a new group of believers. Read them in order and you watch the Gospel break out from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, with tongues as the sound of each breakthrough.

Pentecost: known languages (Acts 2)

Fifty days after the Resurrection, the Spirit came on the disciples with a sound like wind and tongues like fire. Jews from across the known world, Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Egyptians, Romans, Cretans and Arabs, heard the disciples "telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God" (Acts 2:8-11). These were real languages, understood by real foreigners. The Fathers saw in this the undoing of Babel (Genesis 11): pride scattered the nations by language, and the Spirit gathered them again.

The first tongues in Christian history were praise. Then Peter preached in plain speech, three thousand were baptised, and the Church was born (Acts 2:14-41). Tongues opened the door. Preaching, repentance and baptism walked through it.

Cornelius: the Gentiles (Acts 10:44-46)

While Peter was still preaching in the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, "the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word." The Jewish believers with Peter were amazed, "for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God" (Acts 10:44-46). This settled one of the biggest questions in the early Church: God was pouring out his Spirit on Gentiles too, and Peter at once asked who could refuse them baptism (Acts 10:47).

Ephesus: disciples of John (Acts 19:6)

In Ephesus, Paul found about twelve disciples who had received only John's baptism. He baptised them in the name of the Lord Jesus, "and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19:5-6). Baptism, then the laying on of hands, then the gifts. Catholics recognise in that sequence the pattern of Baptism and Confirmation, and Acts 8:14-17, where Peter and John lay hands on the baptised Samaritans, is one of the classic texts the Church reads for Confirmation.

The pattern in Acts: tongues accompany the Spirit's arrival, they are praise directed to God, and they sit inside the Church's life of preaching and sacraments.

3. What 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 Teaches

First Corinthians 12 to 14 is the longest teaching on tongues in the Bible, and its message is simple: tongues are a genuine gift, one among many, and love must rule how they are used. Read the three chapters as one argument.

Chapter 12: one gift among many

Paul lists nine manifestations of the Spirit: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, various kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:8-10). All are "inspired by one and the same Spirit" (12:11) and given "for the common good" (12:7). No member of the body can say to another, "I have no need of you" (12:21). In his second list, tongues come last (12:28). Then he asks a string of questions that expect the answer no: "Are all apostles? Are all prophets? ... Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?" (12:29-30).

Chapter 13: love above every gift

Right in the middle of his teaching on gifts, Paul writes the most famous chapter on love ever penned, and he opens it with tongues: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (13:1). Tongues without love are noise. Tongues, prophecy and knowledge will pass away, and love never ends (13:8). Anyone who wants tongues and skips chapter 13 has misread the passage.

Chapter 14: order in worship

Chapter 14 is Paul's set of rules, and they are clear:

• Desire the gifts. "Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy" (14:1).
• Tongues build up the speaker. "He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church" (14:4).
• Paul wants tongues for all and prophecy even more. "Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy" (14:5).
• Pray to interpret. "He who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret" (14:13).
• Paul himself prays in tongues. "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue" (14:18-19).
• Two or three, in turn, with interpretation. "If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God" (14:27-28).
• Do not forbid, and keep order. "So, my brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues; but all things should be done decently and in order" (14:39-40).

"Do not forbid speaking in tongues" is an apostolic command. So is "decently and in order". The church that forbids tongues disobeys the first half. The meeting where twenty people shout in tongues with no interpreter disobeys the second. Obey both.

4. What Is Praying in Tongues?

Praying in tongues is the private use of the gift: a believer prays to God in a language given by the Spirit, usually without understanding the words, for his own building up. Most people who have the gift use it this way far more than in public, and this is the form Paul describes when he talks about his own prayer.

Paul explains what is happening inside the person: "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also" (1 Corinthians 14:14-15). Notice his answer. He keeps both. Prayer with the mind (the Our Father, the Psalms, the Rosary, your own words) and prayer with the spirit (tongues) belong together in one life.

Romans 8:26: when you do not know how to pray

Romans 8:26 is about every Christian, tongues or no tongues. The Spirit prays in all the baptised, in silence, in groaning, in tears. Many people who pray in tongues experience the gift as one concrete form of this: they come to the end of their words for a sick child, a dying parent or a broken marriage, and the Spirit keeps praying through them. Paul also urges believers to "pray at all times in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18; compare Jude 20), and tongues are one way to live that.

Those who pray in tongues usually describe it as calm and fully under their control: they can start and stop at will, speak quietly or sing, and stay aware of where they are. That fits Paul: "the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32). Real praying in tongues is never a trance and never a loss of self-control.

5. What Does the Catholic Church Teach About Speaking in Tongues?

The Catholic Church teaches that tongues are a genuine charism of the Holy Spirit, given for the good of the Church, never required for salvation, and always subject to the discernment of the Church's pastors. Catholics are free to ask for the gift and free to live holy lives without it.

The Catechism names tongues directly. It calls charisms "special graces" and says that "whatever their character, sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues, charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church" (CCC 2003). It teaches that charisms "are to be accepted with gratitude by the person who receives them and by all members of the Church" (CCC 800), and it adds the guardrail every Catholic needs: "No charism is exempt from being referred and submitted to the Church's shepherds" (CCC 801). The Second Vatican Council taught the same balance in Lumen Gentium 12: charisms, ordinary or extraordinary, are to be received with thanksgiving; extraordinary gifts are not to be sought rashly; and judgement about their genuineness belongs to the Church's pastors, who must test everything and hold fast to what is good.

Where Catholics meet this gift

Most Catholics who pray in tongues met the gift through the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a movement that began among students at Duquesne University in 1967 and has been encouraged by every pope since Paul VI, today served by the Vatican body CHARIS. The wider charismatic movement carried the same experience into Anglican, Lutheran and other historic churches from the 1960s onward. Those pages tell the movement's story. This page stays with the gift itself.

Three Catholic convictions

1. Tongues are never required for salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, received in Baptism and lived in charity (Ephesians 2:8; CCC 1257). Paul's own question, "Do all speak with tongues?" (1 Corinthians 12:30), expects the answer no. A Catholic who never prays in tongues lacks nothing needed for heaven.
2. Tongues are no proof of holiness. Countless canonised saints never prayed in tongues, and the Corinthians had tongues in abundance while tolerating incest and drunkenness at the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 5, 11). Holiness is measured by charity.
3. The Church judges. Your parish priest, your bishop and the Church's teaching are the safeguard that keeps a real gift from becoming a cult. A Catholic who receives this gift receives it inside the Church and for the Church.

That third point is good news. You can ask boldly because the Church is there to catch you if you go wrong.

6. The Pentecostal Initial Evidence Doctrine

Classical Pentecostal churches teach that speaking in tongues is the "initial physical evidence" of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The Assemblies of God's Statement of Fundamental Truths says the baptism of believers in the Holy Ghost is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues. On this view, every believer who receives the baptism in the Spirit will speak in tongues at that moment, even if the gift is rarely used afterwards.

Pentecostals build this from Acts 2, 10 and 19, where tongues are the visible sign that the Spirit has come. They answer Paul's "Do all speak with tongues?" (1 Corinthians 12:30) by distinguishing two things: tongues as the one-time sign of Spirit baptism, open to every believer, and tongues as an ongoing public ministry in the congregation, given to some. Our guide to Pentecostal beliefs and churches covers the doctrine's history and the denominations that hold it.

The Catholic response

Catholics honour the Pentecostal hunger for the Spirit and disagree with the initial evidence doctrine. Acts records three moments; it never commands that every outpouring look the same. When the Samaritans receive the Spirit in Acts 8, Luke mentions no tongues, and when the believers are filled in Acts 4:31, they speak the word of God with boldness. Most charismatic Catholics, many charismatic Protestants and some Pentecostal bodies agree: tongues are a welcome gift, and nobody should be told he lacks the Spirit because he has not spoken in tongues.

If you have come from a Pentecostal church and carry fear that you were never "really filled" because tongues did not come, hear this: the Spirit was given to you in Baptism and Confirmation (CCC 1265, 1302-1303). Ask for more of him with confidence, and leave the shape of his gifts to him.

7. Is Speaking in Tongues Biblical Today? The Cessationist Case, Answered

Speaking in tongues is biblical, and nothing in Scripture says the gift would stop before Christ returns. Cessationists, Christians who believe the miraculous gifts ended with the apostles, disagree. Their case deserves a fair hearing, so here it is at full strength, and then the answer.

The cessationist case, stated fairly

• 1 Corinthians 13:8-10. Paul says tongues "will cease" when "the perfect comes". Some cessationists read "the perfect" as the completed New Testament canon.
• A foundation laid once. The Church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 2:20). A foundation is laid once, so the sign gifts that confirmed the apostles' message (Hebrews 2:3-4; 2 Corinthians 12:12) belonged to that founding generation.
• Tongues as a sign to Israel. Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11 and says tongues are "a sign for unbelievers" (1 Corinthians 14:21-22). Some argue the sign was fulfilled when the Gospel went to the Gentiles.
• Church history. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on 1 Corinthians, admitted the passage was obscure because the gifts it described no longer happened in his day. St. Augustine wrote that tongues were signs suited to the Church's beginning. B. B. Warfield's Counterfeit Miracles (1918) and John MacArthur's Strange Fire (2013) made the modern case.
• Modern tongues look different. Linguists generally find modern glossolalia lacks the structure of a human language, while Acts 2 describes real languages.
• The fruit of excess. Cessationists point to real abuses: chaos, manipulation and elitism.

The answer

• "The perfect" is the Second Coming. Paul explains himself two verses later: "now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (13:12). Face to face is the vision of God at Christ's return. Until then, the gifts remain.
• Paul's command still stands. "Do not forbid speaking in tongues" (14:39) is in the same canon cessationists defend. Scripture never limits it to one generation.
• Joel's promise covers the whole age of the Church. Peter says the outpouring of the Spirit is "for you and for your children and for all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him" (Acts 2:39).
• Paul describes two kinds of tongues. 1 Corinthians 14:2 describes tongues nobody understands, spoken to God, and 13:1 mentions "tongues of angels". That modern prayer in tongues does not match a known human language fits Paul's description.
• The Fathers describe gifts continuing. St. Irenaeus, writing in the second century, said that in his day many brothers in the Church had prophetic gifts and spoke through the Spirit in all kinds of languages (Against Heresies 5.6.1). Chrysostom and Augustine describe what they saw in their own day; neither taught that God had forbidden the gifts forever.
• Abuse calls for correction. Paul answered the abuses in Corinth with order, love and interpretation, and he kept the gift. So does the Church (CCC 801).

The Catholic Church holds that the gifts continue and that they are tested. That is 1 Corinthians 14 in one sentence.

8. How to Speak in Tongues: Step by Step

You speak in tongues by asking God for the gift, desiring it for his glory, opening yourself to the Spirit through prayer and the sacraments, and yielding when he moves, while accepting that the gift is his to give. Here is the plain path. Do the first step today.

Step 1: Get right with God

Repent first: "Repent, and be baptised ... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). Carrying serious sin? Go to confession this week. Never confirmed? Ask your parish about Confirmation, the sacrament of the Spirit. Let God clean the vessel he means to fill.

Step 2: Ask

Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Luke 11:9), and then he named the gift: the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask (Luke 11:13). So ask. Out loud. Today. Ask for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and ask for the gift of tongues if you desire it. A father is pleased by a child who asks.

Step 3: Desire the gifts

Paul commands it: "earnestly desire the spiritual gifts" (1 Corinthians 14:1). Ask yourself why you want this gift. To pray better and praise God when words run out? Good. To impress people? Leave that motive at the cross. Lumen Gentium 12 warns against seeking extraordinary gifts rashly, and the answer is a pure motive and a humble heart. Want the Giver more than the gift.

Step 4: Pray for the baptism in the Holy Spirit

The ordinary Catholic doorway is a Life in the Spirit Seminar: a course of several weeks, run by Catholic charismatic prayer groups in many parishes, that walks through the basic Gospel, repentance and the promise of the Spirit, and includes a session where the team prays over each participant for a release of the grace already given in Baptism and Confirmation. Many Catholics first prayed in tongues during or after that prayer. Find one through your parish, diocese or a local Catholic charismatic prayer group faithful to the Mass and the bishop. If none exists nearby, ask a priest you trust to pray with you.

Step 5: Yield

When you pray, and especially when others pray over you, praise God aloud in your own words: thank you, Jesus; glory to you, Father; come, Holy Spirit. At Pentecost the apostles "began to speak ... as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4). They spoke; the Spirit gave the words. Many describe the gift beginning as a few unfamiliar words rising quietly in prayer that they chose to speak out in faith. If that happens, speak them to God without fear. If it does not, never invent it. Keep praising in your own language. Both please God.

Step 6: Keep praying

Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow so that we would "always pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1). Ask again tomorrow. Ask after Communion, at adoration, in your car. God loves a heart that keeps knocking.

Pray that prayer every day this week. Then build a daily rhythm that keeps you asking: Pro's audio-guided prayer sessions and devotionals give you something to pray morning and evening, so you never come to God empty-handed. $49 once, 30-day money-back guarantee. Or start free with a prayer written for your situation from our prayer generator.

9. What If You Ask and Nothing Happens?

If you ask for the gift of tongues and it does not come, you have lost nothing and you have done nothing wrong. The Spirit gives "to each one individually as he wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11), and Paul's question "Do all speak with tongues?" (12:30) expects the answer no. A delay or a different gift is no verdict on your faith, your holiness or your salvation.

If someone told you that you lack faith because you have not spoken in tongues, that person was wrong. If you were pressured or shamed in a prayer line until you produced something, you were mistreated. Your worth before God was settled at the Cross.

So what do you do? Keep asking, with peace. Look for the gifts God is giving you right now: a hunger for Scripture, a love for the poor, a desire to pray, an ability to encourage, a heart for teaching children. Those are charisms too (Romans 12:6-8). Paul ends his teaching on gifts by pointing to "a still more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31), and that way is love. Every Christian can walk it today.

Some people pray for years and receive the gift later in life. Some never receive it and become saints. Either way, the asking draws you closer to God, and that was the point all along.

10. Common Fears About Speaking in Tongues, Answered

Most fears about tongues come from bad experiences or bad teaching, and Scripture answers every one of them. Here are the fears people actually carry.

"What if I am making it up?"

Then stop, and keep praying in your own language. God needs no help to give his gifts. Test it over time by its fruit: more love, more peace, more desire for God. If it feels forced, empty or performed for others, set it down without guilt.

"What if it is demonic?"

Jesus answered this fear himself. If a son asks his father for a fish, will he give him a serpent? "How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Luke 11:11-13). A believer asking the Father for the Spirit, in a setting faithful to Christ and the Church, is asking a good Father for good things. Avoid occult practices and groups that despise the Church, and take real concerns to a priest. Our guide to spiritual warfare covers the enemy's real tactics.

"What if I lose control?"

You will not. "The spirits of prophets are subject to prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32). Real tongues can be started and stopped at will. Anything that overrides your will, frightens you or harms you is no gift of God; leave that setting.

"What if my church forbids it?"

Obey your pastors in public worship and pray privately in peace. Paul said uninterpreted tongues belong between you and God (1 Corinthians 14:28), and the Church asks that public use be ordered and discerned (CCC 801).

11. How to Discern Real Tongues: Fruit, Order and Humility

Real tongues are known by their fruit, by their order and by the humility of the person who has them. Speaking in tongues is a sign of neither holiness nor salvation. Jesus warned that on the last day many will say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" and he will answer, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:22-23). Gifts can coexist with a heart far from God. Only fruit proves the root.

Test 1: Fruit

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). Is the person who prays in tongues growing in these? Is the group growing in charity, honesty and kindness? "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16).

Test 2: Order

Measure public tongues against 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 and 14:40: two or three speakers, in turn, with interpretation, decent and in order. Does the meeting lead toward the Eucharist and Scripture? Does it submit to the parish priest and the bishop (CCC 801)?

Test 3: Humility

A person who boasts about tongues has already failed 1 Corinthians 13. Watch for these warning signs: a two-tier church of "Spirit-filled" and ordinary believers, pressure or coaching to produce tongues, contempt for Christians without the gift, tongues linked to donations or a "breakthrough offering", and leaders who answer to nobody. Our guides to false prophets and the prosperity gospel go deeper.

12. How to Grow in Praying in Tongues

You grow in praying in tongues by using the gift daily in private prayer, joining it to prayer with your mind, asking for interpretation, and keeping the whole of your spiritual life rooted in the Church. Paul told Timothy to "rekindle the gift of God that is within you" (2 Timothy 1:6). Rekindle yours.

1. Pray in tongues a little every day. A few minutes at the start of prayer, in the car, while walking (1 Corinthians 14:18).
2. Pray with the mind too. Follow tongues with Scripture, the Psalms, the Rosary and your own words (1 Corinthians 14:15), so your prayer stays anchored in the Word.
3. Sing in the Spirit. "I will sing with the spirit" (14:15). Sing quietly in tongues with worship music.
4. Pray for interpretation. "He who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret" (14:13). Ask God what you are praying, and test whatever comes to mind.
5. Intercede. When you do not know how to pray for someone, pray for them in tongues and trust Romans 8:26. Many use the gift this way for the sick, the dying and the lost.
6. Stay sacramental. Mass, confession and adoration keep you joined to the vine (John 15:5).
7. Stay accountable. Belong to a faithful prayer group or see a spiritual director.
8. Seek the higher gifts. Paul wants you to prophesy even more than to speak in tongues (14:5). Our guide on the gift of prophecy shows you how to begin humbly.

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