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Confusion over the nature and purpose of the gift
of tongues has been used by Satan to wreak havoc upon the
spiritual effectiveness of the body of Christ. This is an
extremely important subject because a proper understanding and
use of spiritual gifts is critical in God's plan for the growth
and unity of the Church. Satan has placed his deceitful finger
upon this important cog that turns the wheels of genuine
productive ministry.
In order to shed some light upon this subject, we
must understand the true biblical nature and purpose of the gift
of tongues.
The Biblical Nature of Tongues
The spiritual gift of tongues is mentioned in
Mark 16:17, Acts chapters 2, 10 and 19, (possibly inferred in
chapter 8), and 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14.
There is abundant evidence in the Bible to show
that the gift of tongues was known languages and not
ecstatic unintelligible utterances. The Greek word
translated tongues is the word glossa. Associated with
this word is the verb diermenuo, meaning, "to interpret."
It is used with glossa meaning "to translate." It is used
to infer translation from one language into another (2
Corinthians 14:5, 13).
In Acts 2:4, "They spoke with other tongues," the
word translated "other" is heteros. It is used to
indicate that what was being spoken was another kind of
language. but still a known language. There are many different language groups on earth.
There is no indication that it was a language different from any
other language in its nature. There is no indication that what
was spoken on the day of Pentecost was “heavenly languages” or
angelic language. It was just other languages!
That tongues were known languages is also
verified by Acts 2:6, "Each heard in his own dialect (dilektos). Dialect is used only with known languages. There is
little reason to believe that the biblical gift of tongues was
anything other than languages that were not previously
learned by the speaker or by the hearer.
The word "unknown" in reference to tongues in the
King James Version of the Bible is not in the original text but
was added by the translators in an attempt (they thought) to
make the text clearer. Obviously, the addition only serves to
confuse.
The Biblical Purpose of Tongues
What
exactly was the gift of languages designed by God to accomplish?
The one clear passage in the Bible that reveals the purpose of
the gift of tongues is found in Paul's letter to the
Corinthians.
"In the law it is written: 'With men of other
tongues (languages) and other lips (speech) will I speak to this
people; And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me, says the
Lord. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe
but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but
for those who believe." (1 Corinthians 14:21-22; additions mine)
A Short Background
Paul penned the words found in 1 Corinthians
12-14 to correct the Corinthian church because of their
misunderstanding and obvious misuse of the gift of languages.
Most of what he said about the gift in that book was intended to
control its use not to encourage the church to
continue to use them.
Paul introduced his teaching on the special
purpose of tongues with this warning, "Stop being childlike in
your understanding...." (1 Corinthians 14:20a). The letter to
the Corinthians was necessary because the entire church was
acting childish in their knowledge of the truths that Paul had
taught them for some eighteen months. Divisions over moral
problems, personality clashes, cliquishness, and leadership were
all signs of fleshly childish activity. These attitudes spilled over into
their misunderstanding of the gift of languages. The obvious
cure was to understand exactly what the gift was, why it was
given, and how it was to be used.
The gift of languages was intended by God to be a
sign. A sign is a symbol, something that could be seen (or heard)
and understood, and was used to reveal a hidden truth. It is
interesting that the Jews always sought signs (1 Corinthians
1:22).
This sign gift was directed only to those who
did not believe. Who were the unbelieving recipients of the
sign, and what did they not believe? The only accurate way to
discover the answer is to be true to the text and go back and
investigate the context of the Old Testament passage that Paul
quotes. If we do this, we can begin to bring into focus the true
nature and purpose of the gift of tongues.
Isaiah 28
The passage quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians
14:20-21 is taken from Isaiah 28. He did not pull this passage
out of the air by chance. The context in Isaiah finds Israel
safely in her land but in rebellion against God. God sent
Isaiah, His prophet, to warn the Jews that Samaria – a part of
Israel – was going to be disciplined for their sin against God.
Their priests and prophets were drunk and incapable of judgment.
Their tables were full of vomit and filth (Isaiah 28:7-8). God
chose the Gentile nation of Assyria as His disciplining rod to
carry out this judgment. Hoshea, the king of Israel, had been
paying tribute to this Assyrian nation, specifically to their
king named Shalmanezzar IV. Hoshea decided that he was paying
too much. So he stopped sending the tribute! He then entered
into an agreement with Egypt to stand with him against the
Assyrians (2 Kings 17:4). Shalmanezzar discovered his plot and
attacked Israel. The siege and battle lasted approximately three
years. Shalmanezzar died and Sargon II took over and finished
the job.
Before Assyria attacked Israel, God had spoken to
the Jews time and time again through Isaiah. Their response was
to chide Isaiah with these words.
"For whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom
shall he make to understand the message? Those who are
weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." (Isaiah
28:9)
They said you give us God’s word “precept upon
precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little." They rebelled because Isaiah was
speaking to them like children, but they could not miss God’s clear
intentions. God had sent Isaiah to warn Israel of impending
judgment. At the heart of every message was that if Israel would
shape up God would restore their land and bring in His kingdom,
giving them peace and rest.
But Israel did not heed God’s message. So God
sent the Assyrians into their land (Isaiah 28:1)
God was
foretelling through Isaiah that He was going to send people of
other languages – namely Assyrian Gentiles – who spoke a
language that hurt their ears. Their being in their land and speaking
that language that hurt the ears of the Jews was a sign that they were
under the judgment of God. Even then they did not repent and
turn back to God. Again, the Gentile language in their land was
a sign to Israel that they were under the judging hand of God.
They were a nation in unbelief.
Pentecost
It was
no surprise that God began the church on the Jewish festival, the
Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Nor did God just pull the gift
of tongues (languages) out of the air to announce the coming of
the Spirit at Pentecost. All through the Old Testament the Jews celebrated Pentecost, or the
Feast of
Weeks, by waving two loaves that had been baked into bread on one
sheet (Leviticus 23:22). This was predicting that eventually two
different people groups were going to become one body. The day
of Pentecost brought to light a new program from God. It marked
the formation of the church – the body of Christ - a new
creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). It was formed
because Israel had rejected God’s plan for them.
It was, likewise, no surprise that
God used languages on this special day. Think for a moment of
the Tower of Babel. It was there that God confused languages in
order to scatter people into various language groups that they
might cease their plotting against Him.
He would again use
languages in a miraculous way, not to divide people but to bring
them together into one body.
At
Pentecost in Acts 2, like in Isaiah's time, the Jews were once
again under the disciplining hand of God. Jews were at Jerusalem from all over the world.
Fifteen language groups are mentioned. When the Spirit of God
was given, they began to speak in the amazing sign gift of tongues.
People from all over the known world began to speak languages
they had not learned and others understood these languages that
before were unknown to them (Acts 2:5-8). They were Jews but speaking
Gentile languages. Up to this point, God had used only the Jews
and the language of Hebrew to communicate His message to the
world. Now God was going to open the floodgate. This sign
was to show that the gospel was going to be spoken to every
Gentile nation in their language. The language barriers were
coming down. Gentiles were going to finally understand God’s
life giving truth.
Those who respond to the gospel by faith are no
longer Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free, or male or female. They
become one new man! This spiritual body is being formed by
means of the Holy Spirit’s work of baptizing each believer into
permanent union with Christ's body (1 Corinthians 12:13; 1
Corinthians 12:27). The Baptism of the Holy Spirit happens to
every believer the moment faith is placed in Jesus Christ, not
to just a select few. This is how we become a part of the body
of Christ. Though the word “baptism” is not found in the
Pentecostal event, before Pentecost Jesus promised that it would
happen. He said to His disciples “you shall be baptized not
many days from now” (Acts 1:5). Following Pentecost Peter said
that it had happened. He said following a recreation of the
event “then I remembered the word of the Lord how He said, “John
indeed baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the
Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 11:16).
Jews would never have believed that Gentiles were
now being factored into the plan of God. This is why God used
all the amazing signs that accompanied the
giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
God used the sound of wind, the
fire, and the supernatural gift of languages, to break down the
barrier. The verifying sign of tongues is
mentioned also in Acts 10 and 19 and possibly inferred in
chapter 8. In every case Jewish apostles had to be present to
personally validate the event. Peter and John were sent to
Samaria in Acts 8. Peter was present in Acts 10 and Paul in Acts
19. Peter wrote,
“If therefore God gave them (Gentiles) the same gift as He gave
us (Jews) when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ who was I
that I might withstand God?” (Acts 11:17).
Again, Pentecost also brought to light another
significant event. It marked God's judgment upon the disobedient
nation of Israel. It is because of Israel's blindness to God's
truth and failure to accept their Messiah that God judged them
and brought the church into existence (Rom. 11:11).
Here is the major point of why Paul referred to
Isaiah 28 in 1 Corinthians 14. The circumstances in Israel on
the day of Pentecost were pretty much the same as they were in
Israel in Isaiah's day. Israel as a nation was
once again in rebellion against God. She had destroyed most all
the prophets that were sent to her and had rejected and helped
to crucify the greatest Prophet of all, the Lord Jesus Christ
(Matthew 23). God was ready to set Israel aside as a nation and
bring in a new day when Jew and Gentile would come together to
form one new body – the church (Ephesians 2:11-16; Ephesians
3:5-6).
Rome, not Assyria, was used as God’s disciplining
rod. What more appropriate sign could God have chosen than
Gentile languages in order to jog the memory of the unbelieving
Jews motivating them to repent and turn to Him and to warn them that judgment had come and a new day was upon
them? The Romans did destroy Jerusalem a short time later and the Jews were
scattered all over the world.
The sign gift of foreign Gentile languages would
be a wonderful, clear symbol to unbelieving Israel that they had
not repented, and that God was now setting them aside as the
nation whom He had chosen to spread His message to the world. In
Israel's place He was going to begin to speak His message to the
world, not in Hebrew, but you guessed it, in Gentile languages.
Therefore, God's special purpose for the
sign-gift of foreign languages was to warn the unbelieving Jew
of imminent judgment and dispersion and to alert both the Jew
and Gentile that God was – by means of the gospel and the
baptizing work of the Holy Spirit – forming a new body called
the church, or the body of Christ. After the Jews had been
dispersed throughout the world and the church had been firmly
established and brought to maturity, there was no more need for
the sign gift of tongues. So it ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8).
What is
being used today by many as “the gift of tongues” does not
square with the nature and purpose of the gift of tongues taught
in the Bible.
Sources
New American Standard Bible
Robert B. Thieme, Jr.
John MacArthur
S. Lewis Johnson
Bible Knowledge Commentary New Testament
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