Are tongues for today?

[irishman]

The Gift of Tongues

Are Tongues for Today? There is much controversy over this question in the church today. Let’s take a close look at the gift of speaking in tongues.

Part l
“Sign” Gifts:
Certain gifts were given to the early church as signs to the people that something supernatural has happened. They were “attention getters” so that the multitudes would take notice. These “sign gifts” were needed during the inception and building of the church, and were given by Him for that purpose. Most of them are OBviously signs to the people, Jew and Gentile alike, that God was at work in their midst. One of the sign gifts was the gift of miracles (1 Cor. 12:28), and were given to the church for their edification, or to draw attention to the principles and oracles of the Lord. Let’s delve a little deeper into the gifts:

“1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?”

Paul asks some very significant questions here, which demand an answer. Why do you suppose he asked these? It was because of the misunderstanding and misuse of the gifts. Now, keep in mind that all of these are sign gifts, but a few function in a permanent capacity, while others have spent their usefulness, as we shall soon see. Paul lists a certain order here, but it may not have been necessary; no matter how he listed them, we would wonder if there was an order of importance to them, so we shall pass over that quickly. Remember, these were given to the church for a specific reason, no matter what order we list them.

The first three we can relate to quite easily as the Bible clearly defines a need for them in the church today (teachers) and the inception of the early church, although we no longer see apostles and prophets as the early churches did in today‘s churches. They have fulfilled their mission, and are no longer needed in that capacity. The real study though is not for these offices, but for the gifts given, and specifically the “sign gifts”.

“And after that miracles”… Miracles were a sign that God was in the work, whatever it may have been. We do not see the gift of miracles today, because we have the testimony of God’s Word, and believe by faith, but when the church was very young the multitudes needed a little convincing that the Lord had sent the messenger, or that He was Miracles were used in by the apostles and prophets to point others to the God of Heaven, and to do what the Word of God, the Bible, does today in our churches. The church was an entirely new concept for the Jews as well as the Gentiles, it was a “mystery” that God was revealing and would not have been believed by the word of the prophets only. You do not hear of the blind being healed today (John 9), or the lame being made whole as Peter and John saw at the gate of the temple (Acts 3:3-10). If this were to happen today, the world would know about it almost instantly through the media and the internet. There is no great healing going on today, except that of the healing by God through the prayers of a faithful man which “availeth much” (James 5:16). Miracles are no longer for the church today, except by a special act of God for His own purposes. No man will hold meetings to perform miracles and flaunt the gift openly, claiming a “special anointing” from God. We have covered the next gift, the gift of Healings also.

Now, we have “helps, governments, diversities of tongues”, and this brings us to the crux of the matter in question, “Do all speak with tongues?” First, realize that these “tongues” were merely different languages, and were never used in the Bible as some sort of ecstatic heavenly language as some teach; any time the word “tongues” is used in the Bible it refers to other languages spoken by foreigners to the area, as in “Isa 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” I must reiterate, that tongues were for a sign to the Jews that God had accepted those whom had received the gift, just as He did the Jews on the day of Pentecost. They knew that the Lord had given them a special gift, and when they saw that He had given it to others also, they knew that He had chosen the Gentiles too. There were only three instances in the Book of Acts where they were said to have received the Holy Ghost, and spoke in tongues, and all three were significant to the Jewish nation.

The first was, of course, Pentecost, where the apostles (only twelve of them) spoke to a mixed multitude in their own tongues, and three thousand were added to the church on that day. There were some fifteen countries represented there, and all men heard in their own language. Some believe that the miracle was in the hearing of the multitudes, and not in the speaking of the apostles, but that does not say much for the “cloven tongues like as of fire” that fell upon them. I believe that Pentecost was the first inception of the Holy Spirit and was evidenced buy the speaking in tongues.

The second time was at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10), where it is OBvious that the Jews were “astonished” that God would give to Gentile dogs the same commission He had given His people, the Jews:

Act 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
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, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Act 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

These Jews never would have accepted Cornelius without the witness of God, and the sign of the gift of tongues. God had shown peter that salvation is given freely to all.

Then the third mention of tongues as a sign were concerning the disciples of John the Baptist. In Acts 19:1-6 we read,

Act 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Act 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Act 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Act 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Act 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Act 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

These also received the Holy Ghost, and spoke in tongues. The sign was for the acceptance of these followers of John, and were given to show that God had accepted them as well as the apostles. This was the message to Cornelius in the dream he had, (in Chapter 10) and the fulfilling of it. It is only fair to say that there were other times the Holy Ghost was given, but these are the only three that mention tongues with it. The answer to Paul’s question in the 1 Cor. 12:30, is a definitive “No” all do NOT speak with tongues.


Part ll
Now let’s back up to an earlier passage in 1 Cornthians:

1Co 12:4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
1Co 12:5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
1Co 12:6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
1Co 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
1Co 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Here Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, lists certain gifts that the Lord has given to the church as “tools” for the ministry. His point is not necessarily to emphasize the gifts as much as it is to explain that every Christian has some gift that allows him to be of service in the Lord’s work. The gifts themselves are secondary to the theme of the chapter. The sign gifts were still in effect in the early church as they did not yet have the complete Word of God; it was still in the making. Though they are all given by the same Spirit, they are also distributed as it pleased the Lord, “to every man severally as He will”. The opening verse of this passage begin with the testimony that these are given by God (the Holy Spirit), and it closes reminding us that they are distributed by Him also, as He sees fit. Some He has given the ability to interpret the tongues, but not to all, they were to do things in order and not in confusion. The tongues were to edify the church; they were messages from God, the same messages that we have all received in the Word of God, and therefore they have run their course. It is as if they are a team, and everyone has to do his part for the success of the entire team. The Lord emphasizes working together for a common cause.
“Tongues” are merely other languages, and not some mystical form of speaking, as some believe and teach. When the early church was being formed, there was a great diversity of people attending services, and the need was OBvious. Today, we have churches that are geared toward those who are not multi-lingual; it seems that most foreigners in America today have a congregation of their own, among their peers. Tongues are not needed today for that reason also; they have served their purpose and have come to the end of themselves.
The “charismatic“ churches of our day seem to believe that tongues are edifying the body, and that they have some new revelation for the church. Friends, “there is no new thing under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). Furthermore, the “prophecies” they share are not usually predictions of unknown future events as much as they are passages of scripture that anyone who reds his/her Bible can discern for themselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit. It is an exaltation of the speaker, as the “prophet” of God, and not the exaltation of Christ.

[Covenanter]