Every religion has one! For the Muslims it's Arabic. For the Hindus it's Sanskrit. For central Asian Buddhists it's Tibetan. For the Catholics it's Latin. For the Jews it's Hebrew. What does it do for them all?
1. It separates the common man from God! It gives the message that God does not really speak your language. If you want to know him properly you have to learn another one. Scriptures read, or prayers spoken or prophecies uttered in the ordinary language you use every day are not really holy. God wants you to learn a holy language if you want real communication with him. All this contradicts the incarnation. Jesus was made flesh, our flesh. He was wholly human and he spoke our language.
2. It creates a superior priestly caste who know the sacred language. They have arrived. They can feel and act superior. Their knowledge gives them power and influence. In history and even in the present this has often been translated into considerable financial gain.
Paul was the most educated of the New Testament writers. He could have written his letters in Hebrew, Classical Greek, Contemporary Greek (known as koinee - the common language) or Latin. He did not say, "I can only write in Hebrew, because it's the language of all God's previous revelations." Nor did he choose to write in Classical Greek, even though it might have sounded more educated and prestigious. He didn't want to sound holy. Nor did he want to display his knowledge. He wanted to communicate the truth of God in the clearest possible way. That for him meant the every day language of the people to whom he was writing.
Paul studied the scriptures in Hebrew and benefited greatly from them. He also spoke to God in tongues - languages inspired by the Holy Spirit. But he wrote to the Corinthians, 'I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.'
Jesus spoke to the people in parables, but still in simple and plain language. The problem was not that they could not understand the words. The words were easy enough. A child would know and understand all the words in the story of the Good Samaritan. Rather his hearers were blind to the spiritual truth and reality that lay behind the words.
The fact that Moses spoke Hebrew does not mean speaking Hebrew will make us any more holy. The fact that Tyndale, Wesley and many other past men of God spoke old English does not make old English a special holy language. And, my friends in other parts of the world, the fact that many Christians speak English does not mean that English words are holy! Don't fill up your messages with foreign words. Don't put Jesus out of the reach of your brothers and sisters who don't understand English! Don't make them feel inferior because they have less education. Do what God does. Speak to people in their own language.
Thank God for the gift of speaking in tongues. But remember its primary purpose is not public use, but private edification. Thank God for the benefits that knowledge of Greek and Hebrew can provide, but let's keep them also in their right place. They are not for padding out messages when there is no revelation from God or inspiration from the Holy Spirit.
What a joy it is to hear a new-born believer, who knows nothing
of religious jargon or the in-language of the group praying in
natural words given by the Holy Spirit. I heard one such, who
scarcely knew the word amen, shout "Ditto, ditto"
at the end of a prayer!