The gift of speaking in tongues is often described as the ability to speak in heavenly languages: the languages of angels or of the Holy Spirit Himself. Does this belief stand up to close Biblical scrutiny?
THERE IS NO RECORD OF ANGELS OR THE HOLY SPIRIT SPEAKING IN AN UNKNOWN LANGUAGE
You can search the Scriptures and not find one example of angels or the Hoy Spirit speaking or praying in tongues. They always speak the language of those they are talking to. Look at the descriptive scenes of events in heaven in the book of Revelation, including those interpreted as demonstrating the presence of the Church, and you will find no reference to an unknown tongue or a heavenly tongue.
Even in the book of Acts, in which apostles and disciples were filled with the Spirit, angels were only heard to speak the language of the hearers. When an angel released Peter and other apostles from a jail one night, shortly after Pentecost, the angel simply said:
“Go, stand in the temple courts, and tell the people the full message of this new life” (Acts 5:19-20).
No mention is made of a heavenly language here, and the apostles understood every word that was said, as we do when it’s translated for us. Peter did not talk back to the angel in tongues. There was no mysical discussion. Instead the angel drew attention to the one important message of the new Christian life: he said nothing about tongues.
Later an angel appeared to Philip, and instructed him to “Go south to the road-the desert road-that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26). Again, there are no mysterious tongues spoken here-just plain, understandable instruction.
LANGUAGES OF ANGELS?
When Paul said, “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13) he was speaking hypothetically and was not describing the norm.
IF TONGUES CAN BE A WASTE OF BREATH THEY CANNOT BE THE WORDS OF GOD OR OF ANGELS, AND THEY CANNOT BE POWERFUL HEAVENLY LANGUAGES
If tongues really expressed the words of the Holy Spirit or of angels, or it they are powerful languages, Paul would never have made such statements as these:
Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction? (1 Corinthians 14:6).
You will just be speaking into the air (verse 9).
In the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue (verse 19).
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time (verse 27).
PAUL WOULD NOT LIMIT THE WORDS OF GOD
If, as is claimed, tongues are the very Spirit of God speaking or praying through the believer, why would Paul limit their use and say they are just words spoken into the air? Why would he tell the Holy Spirit to sit down and be quiet as he did here?
If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God (1 Corinthians 14:28).
The reason Paul required interpretation of tongues was that nothing at all was accomplished by tongues without interpretation. This is strong indication that tongues do not involve a powerful spirit language.
TONGUES EXPRESS THE SPIRIT OF THE SPEAKER, NOTHING MORE
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding (1 Corinthians 14:14-15.
Paul is saying that speaking or praying in tongues is not a good thing to do if you and others don’t understand what you’re saying. Paul says that if I pray in a tongue, I may be giving thanks or some other sentiment “well enough”, but my thoughts will be more fruitful if I and others understand them. In other words, it’s better to speak or pray in the language of those who will hear what I say, so that they can be blessed. This is all a consequence of the fact that the gift of tongues was/is the miraculous ability speak in another human language as a sign or for the benefit of the hearer.
THE END OF CESSATION
Paul said that tongues will cease (1 Corinthians 13). So even if the gift of tongues did not cease in the first century, as tongues speakers today insist, cessation still looms, at some time in the future. Why then would Paul make such a statement if tongues are the words of the Holy Spirit, or the very languages used by angels in heaven? Will the Holy Spirit and the angels stop speaking? Of course they will not. So logic requires that the gift of tongues does not involve Holy Spirit or angelic languages.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 