Praying in the Spirit: Just What Is the Nature of the Prayer Language?
Tongues-speaking has been called a love language because it results in praise, adoration, worship, and exaltation of our beloved Lord.
Up to this point I have used several words to designate tongues-speaking. These include heavenly language, prayer language, praise language, devotional language, heart language, spirit or soul language, and transcendent language. Such language is heavenly in the sense that it is neither carnal nor earthly (1 Corinthians 14:14; some readers may be reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:1 here: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels …”). It is prayer, praise, and devotional language in that it is offered to God (1 Corinthians 14:2,16, 28). It is actually called thanksgiving in I Corinthians 14:16. And tongues can be considered a “personal” prayer language, not in an elitist sense, but in the sense that Paul instructs the Corinthians to keep their tongues between God and themselves and not to share it with other hearers unless there is an interpreter (I Corinthians 14:2, 28).
Tongues-speaking is a spirit or heart language in that it does not originate in our understanding but in our spirit (I Corinthians 14:15). For the same reason, charismatic Presbyterian J. Rodman Williams calls it a transcendent language (Gift, pp. 29, 133): It transcends the limited human capacities of earthly languages. It would seem that its personal edifying value also transcends that of prayer in our native tongue. It has also been called a love language because it results in praise, adoration, worship, and exaltation of our beloved Lord.
Foreign vs. Unknown Languages
Tongues is the hallmark of a phenomenon that has motivated Christians to read their Bibles more faithfully, fellowship more happily, attend church more regularly, pray more fervently, witness more effectively, work more committedly, love more sincerely, and care about others more passionately.