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“Tongues” Is A Sign, Part 6

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Lesson 6: Comparing Different Gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14)

The New Testament teaches that every Christian is given spiritual gifts and these gifts determine the shape of our service to God.

1 Peter 4:10 says three things:

  • Every person has received a gift.
  • The gift is best used in ministering to the community – “one another.”
  • Doing so makes the best use of the grace God extends to us.

That is easy to understand. The problem is there are two types of gifts.

  • Some are “supernatural” and some are “natural.”
  • Some are sensationally demonstrated and some are expressed through practical skills.
  • Some display the power of God alone and some display God’s power working through the abilities of His people.
  • Some gifts are very exciting and appealing while others are more mundane.

But all of them are “spiritual.”

Paul mentions both kinds in 1 Corinthians 12. In fact, he makes a very clear statement of his subject, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant,” (v. 1).

Before we go further let’s define our terms more specifically. What is a spiritual gift? What qualifies to be called a spiritual gift? There are several facts to consider. [Read more…] about “Tongues” Is A Sign, Part 6

“Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 5

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Lesson 5: Comparing The Principle To The Experience – Acts 18:24-19:7

It is very possible for a person to know they are wrong but not understand why or what to do about it. The Bible implies this psychological dilemma when it refers to non-Christians as “lost.”

Like getting sand in your eye – Jesus talked about a beam – you only have a vague sense of where you are and where you’re going.

The same thing is true when it comes to religious truth. A person can know that one thing is wrong without knowing what is right. This can be particularly frustrating if the tradition you follow has been historically true to God.

This was the case with the Jews in Jesus day. They knew that God had led them in the past but they also knew that God had done very little with them for several hundred years (approximately 400). They had been used to a regular diet of prophets, priests and miracles. Silence for so many years was a threatening state of affairs. They looked for and needed a fresh manifestation of God which Jesus was but unfortunately, when He came they were looking in the wrong direction.

There’s no excuse for that. The Scriptures are full of references giving details of his coming and even suggesting the timing but all of this information only got in the way of their religious agenda. Jesus was more of an inconvenience than an answer.

Israel had become obsessed with following a set of rules as if the rules were God. They were really just doing their own thing, changing and adding laws as they pleased. Once one set of rules became “easy” they stiffened things up by expanding the regulations. That was their way of feeling a sense of commitment.

That, of course, describes the nature of all religion. “Rules” make us feel “in.” The more aligned with the rules one is the more “in” they think they are.

This was why John Baptist’s message had such an impact. The Jewish leadership had become oppressive and the Jewish masses knew something was wrong but no one knew how to address the problem or had the courage to speak up.

To the greater populace John was fresh. To the religious establishment he was a challenge to the status quo. [Read more…] about “Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 5

“Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 4

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Lesson 4: Comparing The Principle To The Experience (Acts 9:32-11:18)

Speaking in Tongues was a miracle so to talk about tongues is to talk about the miraculous.

That partly explains why people are so bewitched by this experience. It is natural for humans to be fascinated by miracles of any kind even when they happen to others. The prospect of “experiencing” one personally multiplies the fascination. And although tongues are usually represented as something everyone can experience the Bible says exactly the opposite.

Paul rhetorically made this point when he asked, “Do all speak in tongues,” (1 Corinthians 12:30). The answer is obvious.

Tongues is defined as the ability to speak in an unknown language miraculously. That is, the person who spoke in tongues was enabled by God, miraculously, to speak a language they did not already know in the hearing of people who did. Tongues was a three-way miracle.

God miraculously enabled person A to speak in tongues in the hearing of person B. Person B was the focus not A and in every case God wasn’t revealing a truth, He was emphasizing one that had already been revealed.

Another point that is rarely made is the fact that the use of tongues was more for the person hearing than for the person speaking.

It was a miracle used to convince the hearer to accept a truth he or she had already heard but had difficulty processing. In the case of tongues, Hebrew believers were being convinced to accept the fact that God is no respecter of persons. Anyone, including Gentiles could be saved. Tongues was the mechanism used to emphasize this point.

Tongues were spoken several times in the New Testament and, according to Paul, served this very specific and short lived purpose. Once the purpose was served, tongues were no longer needed.

That is really true of all miracles. God doesn’t pass them out like Halloween sweets and they have little to do with alleviating pain or rewarding faith. They are intended to serve God’s purposes not satisfy our need to feel special.

They don’t happen just because you “want” one and it is misleading to suggest faith is the determinant factor. They serve specific purposes, they may make a point but they are always strictly under God’s control.

Of all the miracles in the Bible tongues illustrates this truth best.

  • No one ever expected to speak in tongues.
  • No one even knew they were possible.
  • No one ever prayed for this experience.
  • And after they happened no one talked about them.

The meaning was obvious to the first generation of believers, most of whom were Jewish. Tongues wasn’t an issue until years after the fact.

They happened only when God allowed and they made the same strong statement every time… [Read more…] about “Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 4

“Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 3

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Lesson 3: Comparing The Principle To The Experience – Acts 8

So far in this series we have done two things: established a basic principle for understanding tongues and then used that principle to analyze the first historical event when tongues were spoken.

  • The principle is: tongues are for a sign to unbelievers not believers.
  • Tongues were first spoken miraculously in Acts 2:1-13.

In Acts 2 the unbelievers were the Jews who refused to believe the Old Testament prophecies pointing to Christ. They were believers in one sense and unbelievers in another. The Bible was revered (making them believers) but they stopped short at accepting Christ (making them unbelievers). Along with the Old Testament prophecies attesting to Christ, they also rejected the avalanche of evidence from Christ’s ministry, all of which shouted His Messiah credentials.

Because the term “unbeliever” is also associated with any person who is not a Christian, Acts 2 wasn’t as clear an example as other events when tongues were spoken. Those who heard tongues in that passage became believers not only in Christ but also in a ministry transition.

Other examples bring more clarity to the discussion.

With these thoughts in mind we proceed to the next occasion on which tongues were spoken in judgment against unbelief, Acts 8:1-25. [Read more…] about “Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 3

“Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 2

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Lesson 2: Comparing The Principle To The Experience – (Acts 2)

The Bible contains both historical and technical information. Some books are more history than others (Acts) and some include more technical information (Romans), but all the books of the Bible represent some history and some technical information.

In order to understand any particular teaching in the Bible you must understand both: history and technicalities.

The history includes culture, language, circumstance, etc. and, let’s face it, they did things in Jesus day we would never do in ours – such as knocking a hole in the roof of a friends house to gain access to Jesus. Without the technical data, we might conclude that the best way to approach Jesus is through a hole in the roof.

Historical events without explanations are open to any meaning a person would like to impose on them.

Can you imagine how Abraham-sacrificing-Isaac would be interpreted if we didn’t have technical data to explain it? Fortunately, we weren’t left in the dark. No space to discuss it here but for a full read on that event go to this post.

For now, suffice it to say that bare history is not enough. We can’t understand the history without the passages that explain the history.

Paul used this history-plus-technical-information approach to explain tongues and a lot of his information came from the Old Testament not the New.

That makes since. “Tongues” was a Old Testament mechanism (sign) used to rebuke Israel in both the Old and in the New Testaments. The circumstances were different but the principle was the same. “Tongues” (foreign languages) were used in both instances to convince obstinate, unbelieving Israel that they were working against rather than with God.

In the Old Testament the sign was manifested when Israel was taken captive by Assyria. In the New Testament the sign was manifested when the followers of Jesus, the Man they threatened and eventually killed, spoke in foreign languages on the Day of Pentecost. They were shocked on both occasions. In each case God had their full attention.

Hebrews understood the purpose of signs but Gentiles did not. They had no background or knowledge that could help them know how to respond to this type of phenomena.

It is, therefore, no surprise that Paul’s explanations were directed at Gentile not Jewish believers. He was speaking to people who had little, if any, knowledge of the Old Testament.

And to help bridge the knowledge gap and simplify the issue, Paul condensed his explanation to one short statement which we must use to interpret the “tongues” experience. That principle is found in I Cor. 14:22 and briefly stated is:

Tongues are a sign to unbelievers not to believers.

We discussed the principle thoroughly in part one. Now we must apply the principle to the first historical occasion when tongues were spoken in the New Testament, Acts 2:1-13. [Read more…] about “Tongues” Are A Sign, Part 2