How to tame the tongue

At the great risk of sounding the stereotypical Pentecostal, I’d like to delve into the often mysterious gift of tongues. I do this largely on account of the fact that this particular gift of the Spirit is so often shrouded in mystery; due to this lack of revelation concerning it the church has, I think, missed largely on some very great and powerful blessings from God.

The book of James declares that of all the parts of our body, the tongue is like the rudder or bit that steers the direction of our entire life (3:3&4). The book of proverbs also declares that the tongue has the power of life and death (18:21). Thus the tongue is perhaps the most powerful member of our entire body.

As a general whole, the church sees the gift of tongues as a gift which should never be used without interpretation (1 Cor. 14:27), or evangelizing in a language foreign to the speaker (Acts 2). Certainly these are biblical truths, however, if we see the gift of tongues merely as such, we are selling ourselves short of this very powerful gift of God.

1 Corinthians 14:4 says: He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself… (NIV), so we see that there is also value in tongues spoken privately before God. I have been asked, “Well, what is the point of that?” In response to that I would ask: “What is the point in attempting to minister to anyone if you, yourself are not edified in the Lord?” If we have nothing to give from the Lord, how can we claim to be ministers? If we are not built up and edified in our selves, how can we build up and edify others?

Paul also boasts that he spoke in tongues more than any of the Corinthians (1 Cor. 14:18) which is saying a lot because the Corinthian church was known for being enamored with the gift of tongues. One of the main reasons that Paul wrote this epistle was because of the fact that the Corinthians were so enamored with tongues that they were neglecting the other gifts of the Spirit, and using tongues improperly by using it publicly with no interpretation. For Paul to claim that he spoke in tongues more than them all as boldly as he did, reveals that he must have been using the gift almost constantly in his own life. However, he clarifies that IN THE CHURCH he would rather speak intelligibly so that others could comprehend.

Thus there is a clear distinction between tongues used publicly and tongues used privately between oneself and God (1 Cor. 14:2). Great, but how does it really benefit us to speak in tongues privately?


The book of James states that no man can tame the tongue, but that it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison (3:8). Now here is one great implication: it says that no MAN can tame the tongue. So then, who can tame the tongue? Only God. If then tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 12:10), it is a gift wherein the Spirit speaks through us in another language. Clearly no MAN has the ability to speak in a language which he does not know.

If the tongue is like the rudder of our entire lives, and we are called to live by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16 & 25), then should we not give God the helm to our lives? How can we expect to live by the Spirit if our tongues are let loose to be: “a world of evil…” which “…corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:6 NIV)

Rather we should let the Holy Spirit have control of our tongue when we are not otherwise using it to praise Him with our understanding (1 Cor. 14:15), in this way God can tame our tongues, and steer our lives in the direction of His perfect will. The bible tells us to pray without ceasing (1Thess. 5:17). Yet we know that our minds must often be otherwise occupied, so then should we for this reason cease to pray? Not by the word in Thessalonians. With the gift of tongues we are not praying with our minds, but with our spirit (1 Cor. 14:14), thus we have the ability to pray without ceasing, for we can still pray when our minds are otherwise occupied.

Remember that we will be judged by every idle word that comes from our mouth (Matt. 12:36). If we are not allowing the Lord to tame our tongue, and to steer our lives, how can we claim that we are living by the Spirit? How can we, indeed, keep in step with Him (Gal. 5:25)?