gifts: speaking in tongues

2007 oct 7: feast of our lady of the rosary

"my SOUL proclaims the greatness of the lord,
my SPIRIT exults in god my savior!"
- Lk 1:46-47

i've always wondered whether there's a difference
between soul and spirit. my professors in the seminary
gave me the impression that they can be interpreted to
mean the same.

recently, i read in the introductory portion of the christian
community bible (2005) that the hebrew concept of the human
person is non-dichotomous, i.e., they viewed it as a whole:
body, flesh, heart, soul. in contrast, the greeks viewed the
human person as dichotomous, i.e., there is a material body
and a spiritual soul, "oftentimes different from the spirit" (p. 30).
st. paul clearly demarcates these elements in saying: "... may
you be completely blameless, in SPIRIT, SOUL and BODY...."
(1 thes 5:23).

in the charismatic renewal movement (i've undergone
"baptism in the spirit" 3x already in different communities!),
we have been consistently taught that it in the praying in
tongues (one of the gifts of the Spirit), it is the human SPIRIT
praying directly to God. is it is a supernatural phenomenon
because even the person praying cannot understand
what he is uttering but communication happens in the spiritual
level between a human being and God. to interpret what is
uttered, one has to either have the gift of interpretation or
know and understand the language being used.

re: "future glory" (rom 8:18-30)
vv26-27 "... the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit INTERCEDES with sighs too deep for words. [27] and god, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of god."