What is the Gift of Diverse Tongues?
Let us look at those passages in some detail:
For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom…to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:8,10
…And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28.
…Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues (languages)? Or do all interpret? 1 Corinthians 12:30.
Naturally, the answer to these rhetorical questions would be: “No, all do not.”
Prayer Language versus Communication Language
In 1 Corinthians 12:30, Paul was speaking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the earlier part. These specific spiritual gifts were given to believers to use at different times for building up the church. Just like there is the gift of prophecy, healing, and working of miracles, etc., so also there is the gift of speaking in diverse languages, and the gift of interpreting diverse languages.
This is different from the gift of praying in an unknown language which the speakers themselves do not understand, but this is the general for all believers we saw earlier.
Christians who are baptized in the Holy Spirit should pray in another language different from what they can understand. But Christians who have the gift of speaking in one or more languages have the ability to speak in multiple human or angelic languages. These include languages they never learnt and communicate with people in it. The ones who do not have this particular gift at work can only speak in the language that the Holy Spirit gives them for when they pray to God.
Next article, we will look at how the gifts should manifest. Like the stories of people speaking languages, they do not know for many months while in a foreign country and that not while preaching but in normal daily conversation!