Are Prayer Tongues Scriptural?

Mike,
Please comment on these scriptures for me.

Act 19:6  And when Paul had laid [ his] hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues (G1100), and prophesied.
Act 10:45  And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 10:46  For they heard them speak with tongues (G1100), and magnify God….
1Co 14:18  I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
1Co 14:39  Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues (G1100).

Guess I am still hung up on this “tongues” subject. It sounds to me like there was still a prayer language, not to be spoken in the church without an interpreter, etc. At Cornelius’s home, they possibly all spoke the same language. Would you straighten me out? Do you think Paul was saying that he spoke many more languages than the rest of them?

Thank you for your time, when you get it.
YSITC,
F____

Hi F____,

I understand this struggle because I have endured it myself. I hope this is of some help in your understanding of what happened on the day of Pentecost. What happened then was, according to Peter, the very same thing that happened at Cornelius’s house, and there is no reason to think that it was not the same in every instance.
As I point out in this e- mail, there simply is not one scripture as a Biblical basis for speaking in unknown tongues. The fact that Paul says “my understanding is unfruitful” and “in the spirit I speak mysteries” in no way proves that Paul or anyone with the gift of tongues had an ‘unknown angels tongue’. What it does prove is that the people who spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost did not understand the language they were speaking. But that does not make it any less a language. We are told that those speaking were speaking “in our own language”.

Act 2:8  And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

As you can see in the verses you have sent me, the number for the word ‘tongues’ is G1100, and the word is glossa, and it means a language. You cannot interpret a nonexistent language. There is no need for a nonexistent language because there would be no way of “interpreting” that language. The tongues of scripture are intended to be “spoken clearly… for a sign to the unbelievers,” and then they were to be “interpreted” for the benefit of the believers also. We are even told that it is incumbent upon the person with the gift of tongues to seek out an interpreter before he speaks in that language as a sign to an unbeliever, and if there is no interpreter available, then the person with the gift is told not to speak in that language at all.

1Co 14:27  If any man speak in an [ unknown] tongue, [ let it be] by two, or at the most [ by] three, and [ that] by course; and let one interpret.
1Co 14:28  But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.

We are not told to speak first and then find out if there is an interpreter, instead we are told “If there be no interpreter let him keep silence” Do any of those who practice this doctrine follow these instructions?
Yes, the holy ghost did cause people to speak in other tongues, and I certainly would never “forbid anyone to speak in tongues”; known or unknown. But I always demonstrate with the scriptures, that there is no scriptural basis for speaking in something that is not a tongue, and is instead a counterfeit of what happened on the day of Pentecost in Act 2. Yes, the holy ghost was given after believing and being baptized in many instances, like at Samaria in Act 8 and Ephesus in Act 19. But that just demonstrates that newborn babes are still carnal. It does not demonstrate that anyone spoke in unintelligible syllables, and there is no reason to believe that the language of prayer is any different than the languages of Pentecost.
I hope this helps you to understand this subject. If not please let me know what is still unclear.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike