PEOPLE ARE TALKING –
IN TONGUES!
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 12-14
INTRO.:
A. Many “Christians” and “churches” are “speaking in tongues” today. This phenomenon used to be confined to Pentecostal and/or Charismatic churches, but today even Methodist, Episcopal (!) and Roman Catholic (!) churches are dabbling in the “sign gifts” of 1 Corinthian 12, or a counterfeit thereof. (Interestingly, “tongues” are often practiced in pagan non-Christian religions and cults also!)
B. The question is, is this a revival of the Bible gift of tongues? You might also ask, is this “Charismatic Movement” of the Spirit of God or another spirit? Are we who do not speak in tongues missing out on a blessing or are we less spiritual? Do the “full-gospel” churches possess something more than Bible-believing churches of the past and present possess? (The very term “full gospel” suggests that all others are missing out on something.) Is speaking in tongues a sign of the “baptism of the Spirit”? What saith the Scriptures?
I. THE PURPOSE FOR TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
1 Corinthians 14:20-22 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. 22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
NOTE: According to the above passage tongues were given to the early church to speak to “this people” – obviously the Jews. v. 21
🪔Tongues were given as a “sign” to unbelieving Jews. (“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” 1 Cor. 1:22)
🪔Tongues are never given as a “sign” to Christians or to those “which believe.” v. 22
🪔Every time tongues show up in Scripture (a grand total of only five places! – Acts 2, 10, 19 & 1 Cor. 12 & 14), there are unbelieving Jews present.
🪔If tongues are not human languages how can they be a “sign” to unbelieving Jews?
II. THE DEFINITION OF TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
A. The Bible definition of tongues is simple and stated clearly in the Scriptures: they are known human languages.
Acts 2:8-11 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
NOTE: The same word for tongues in Greek is used in 1 Corinthians. The Greek word is glossa and simply means language. In fact Paul argues that the use of tongues is senseless unless it can be understood.
1 Corinthians 14:27-28 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
1 Corinthians 14:13-15 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
1 Corinthians 14:18-19 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. (More about the concept of an “unknown tongue” later)*
B. In the Bible the gift of speaking in tongues is speaking in a known, recognizable human language, by the Spirit of God, without the person ever having had the benefit of human instruction.
NOTE: The present day definition of tongues is in sharp contrast to the biblical definition and usage. Today those who speak in tongues do NOT claim to speak in any known human language, but rather in “ecstatic utterances” or unknown sounds and babblings. What is presently called tongues does not have the character or construction of human language. Thus, today’s tongues speaking does not fit the biblical definition. Those who attempt to duplicate the gifts of the Spirit in the power and energy of the flesh produce babblings, not languages. Remember, the devil is a master at counterfeiting the works of God.
Speaking in an unlearned foreign language is a miracle or “sign” – gibberish is not!
💥It seems that the King James Bible translators, under providential guidance of the Holy Spirit, may have anticipated the present day confusion concerning tongues. They inserted the word “unknown” (identified in most copies of the KJB by the use of italics) to make a distinction between what was a fleshly abuse of the legitimate gift of tongues in the early church as well as what we are witnessing in charismatic circles today.
💥The Corinthian church was the most carnal of all the N.T. churches and needed a strong rebuke from the Apostle Paul regarding their abuses of the “sign gifts”. Thus Paul spends an entire chapter (14) outlining guidelines for the correct nature and use of the legitimate gift of tongues and lays down principles which identify the false use of tongues. (See the principles under point IV - “The Regulation of Tongues in the Bible”)
III. THE NEED FOR TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
NOTE:
✨For 400 years, between the O.T. and the N.T., there was no revelation from God. This gift (and other “sign gifts”) were given to authenticate the Gospel preached in the N.T. during the church’s infancy, until the Bible was completed (“…when that which is perfect is come”). Charismatics make this passage refer to Jesus’ second coming. Note the neuter “that” rather than “He” used in the text. It is not referring to Jesus, or the masculine pronoun would have been used. The only two perfect things on the earth in this age are the Holy Spirit, Who indwells every believer, and the Bible, the Word of God.
✨The sign gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, like the miracles done by our Savior while on earth, were given to prove that the messengers and this new Gospel were sent from God. It was God’s stamp of approval upon the message the men of God were preaching in the early church. These “sign gifts” are no longer needed to authenticate the message we preach because we have the completed revelation of Scripture.
✨All of the nine “sign gifts” (1 Cor. 12:4-11 “pneumatika”) were given as temporary, spectacular, supernatural evidence of God’s approval of these men and their message, much like Moses’ miracles were evidence of God’s calling him to lead Israel out of Egypt. If you learn to think of these gifts as “sign gifts” much confusion is removed. Other gifts with the same name, though without the same “sign” significance (e.g., wisdom, faith, etc.), are permanent gifts given to the church and are available today.
✨The “sign gifts” are temporary and are located in 1 Cor. 12.
The “service gifts” are permanent and are located in Romans 12. The “speaking gifts” are mixed, i.e., two are temporary (apostles and prophets) and two are permanent (evangelists and pastor/teacher) and are located in Ephesians 4.
✨Please notice that tongues are NOT mentioned in the N.T. epistles, except in 1 Cor. where Paul writes condemning the misuse of this gift in the most carnal of all the N.T. churches. With the emphasis on tongues-speaking in the Charismatic churches, one would expect that it would be a major doctrine spoken of in all the major N.T. epistles. (Church Age doctrine is forged from the epistles, not the Gospels or the book of Acts.)
IV. THE REGULATION OF TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
🔅Paul wrote chapters 12-14 in Corinthians to give detailed instructions on the proper use of the gift of tongues and to set guidelines which would stop the many abuses of this gift. What follows are six principles designed to regulate the gift of tongues.
1. The Principle of Maturity:
1 Corinthians 14:18-20 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
NOTE: Undue preoccupation with tongues indicates spiritual childishness. It is much better and more edifying to speak with understanding in a language all present will understand. Paul had the gift of tongues, but realized that it was for the infancy of the church. He was instructing the Corinthians to grow up!
2. The Principle of Edification:
1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
NOTE:
🔆Spiritual gifts were never given for self-glorification, but rather for the edification of others.
🔆The sign gifts were never to be used unless they would strengthen someone else.
🔆Music (“a psalm”) must edify (that excludes most contemporary Christian music of today which appeals to the flesh, not the spirit), doctrine must edify, etc.
🔆No one is receiving any of the things listed in this verse today!
🟣The revelation of God’s Word is completed and the canon of Scripture is closed.
🟣All doctrines have been revealed.
🟣There is no need for the interpretation of tongues if tongues are no longer an available gift.
🟣Certainly tongues, as they are practiced today in churches are not edifying to anyone, since no one can understand the babbling that passes for tongues-speaking.
3. The Principle of Number & Order:
1 Corinthians 14:27 & 40 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
NOTE: A limit of two or three speaking in tongues in a given service is a scriptural rule often violated in Charismatic circles. Sometimes it is bedlam when many speak in tongues at once. (Bedlam is also the rule in many charismatic services where people are “slain in the Spirit” – a totally unbiblical practice! Chapter and verse, please!) People speaking in tongues were to wait their turn (“…by course” i.e., not all together). And of course the Holy Spirit is not the Author of confusion, so everything in the church must be done “decently and in order.”
4. The Principle of Interpretation:
1 Corinthians 14:27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
1 Corinthians 14:7-11 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
NOTE:
💦Here is another rule which is constantly violated in Charismatic circles: viz., people speaking in tongues without an interpreter. The tongue must be interpreted. There is no point in speaking anything if those to whom you are speaking cannot comprehend it. The babble prevalent in tongues speaking churches is not only in an unknown human language, it cannot even be understood by the person speaking it, nor by anyone present! “Hasta la shondai, untie a bowtie” or “Honda, mitchubitchi, toyota, and hitachi” have no spiritual meaning! Neither does the “vain repetition” of today’s tongue speakers!
💦If you listen to the same tongues speakers again and again (not recommended!), you will hear the same meaningless phrases repeated over and over. They have no meaning, no syntax, no grammatical rules, no linguistic structure and no one to interpret! What folly!
5. The Principle of Silence:
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
NOTE: The context of the above verses deals with tongues speaking. It is obvious that women were never to be permitted to speak in tongues. Not only do they do so in charismatic churches, but they are even elevated to the office of pastor!!! (“…the husband of one wife”!!!!????)
6. The Principle of Prohibition:
1 Corinthians 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
👉No one was to prevent another person in the Corinthian church to speak in tongues. Though these Christians were childish and immature, God tolerated them as a father tolerates a child playing with his toys. This prohibition would apply as long as the gifts lasted. It would have been a serious thing to stifle even an immature Christian in the use of a genuine spiritual gift.
V. WHY DO PEOPLE TODAY DESIRE TO SPEAK IN TONGUES?
🔅Because of spiritual immaturity. (1 Cor. 14:18-20; 13:11)
🔅Because of ignorance of God’s Word. (1 Cor. 14:37-38)
🔅Because of a sincere desire to have a “deeper experience” with the Lord.
NOTE: (The tragedy is that many churches fail to teach and preach sound doctrine and “feed the flock” so the people search for some new thing or some richer spiritual meaning to their lives, and the devil supplies it via a counterfeit.) This is why many born-again people get involved. Remember sincerity alone is insufficient to produce spirituality. Others get involved because they are not content with God’s prescription for spirituality, which is HARD WORK: study, prayer, service in the local church, suffering, persecution, etc.
CONCLUSION:
Often people ask: “How do you explain the modern speaking in tongues?” For whatever it is worth, here is my personal belief, based on 50+ years of Scripture study, personal knowledge, experience in the ministry, and observation, as well as common sense:
1. It is the emotional “ecstatic” experience of sincere, but ignorant-of-the-Word people seeking after some “deeper experience.”
2. It is the product of mass-suggestion that unless you “speak in tongues,” you are not spiritual and may not even be saved, or Spirit-filled.
3. It is the product of mass-hypnosis in highly-charged, emotional meetings where hysteria, and not the Holy Spirit, is in control.
4. It is people following other people and doing what is expected in their environment. (“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”)
5. It is the “sheep mentality” of believing the preacher/teacher without searching the Scriptures for oneself.
6. It is the counterfeit, by Satan, of a Scriptural gift, given in the Church’s infancy and long since dead.
🚫🔱CHRISTIANS BEWARE! The growing Charismatic movement is detrimental to spiritual health. It stifles what God really wants to produce in the believer’s life. The self-centered, self-indulgent Christian is not pleasing God. Those who indulge themselves in “gifts” which do not edify others are not acting scripturally. If you are looking for YOUR gift, look in Romans 12, not 1 Corinthians 12!
🚫🔱CHRISTIANS BEWARE! Satan is subtle. Today much tongues-speaking is hidden in Charismatic circles so as not to alarm or alert the unsuspecting believer. They do not want to scare or run off those who come in from outside their circle. The trend today is for the tongues, healing, etc. to be practiced after the main services in the church in a side room. If it were a legitimate Spirit-given and directed gift, it should be encouraged, not discouraged, in public services!! The believer is admonished to “try the spirits” (1 Jn. 4:1) and to test every man and movement by the unchanging Scriptures.
🚫🔱CHRISTIANS BEWARE! The canon of Scripture is closed, so there is no new revelation; beware the preacher who claims to have a revelation or “word of knowledge.” The Church’s foundation was laid centuries ago by the “apostles and prophets” (Eph.2:20), and does not need to be laid again. The gift of healing was given to a few men in the infancy of the church to authenticate their message, and is not given to any man today (obviously God is in the healing business, as the Great Physician, but He does not share that ability with men in this age of a completed revelation, nor does He need to do so.) The gift of tongues was used to win unbelieving “…Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5), and never given to believers as a “sign” of anything.
INTRO.:
A. Many “Christians” and “churches” are “speaking in tongues” today. This phenomenon used to be confined to Pentecostal and/or Charismatic churches, but today even Methodist, Episcopal (!) and Roman Catholic (!) churches are dabbling in the “sign gifts” of 1 Corinthian 12, or a counterfeit thereof. (Interestingly, “tongues” are often practiced in pagan non-Christian religions and cults also!)
B. The question is, is this a revival of the Bible gift of tongues? You might also ask, is this “Charismatic Movement” of the Spirit of God or another spirit? Are we who do not speak in tongues missing out on a blessing or are we less spiritual? Do the “full-gospel” churches possess something more than Bible-believing churches of the past and present possess? (The very term “full gospel” suggests that all others are missing out on something.) Is speaking in tongues a sign of the “baptism of the Spirit”? What saith the Scriptures?
I. THE PURPOSE FOR TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
1 Corinthians 14:20-22 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. 22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
NOTE: According to the above passage tongues were given to the early church to speak to “this people” – obviously the Jews. v. 21
🪔Tongues were given as a “sign” to unbelieving Jews. (“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.” 1 Cor. 1:22)
🪔Tongues are never given as a “sign” to Christians or to those “which believe.” v. 22
🪔Every time tongues show up in Scripture (a grand total of only five places! – Acts 2, 10, 19 & 1 Cor. 12 & 14), there are unbelieving Jews present.
🪔If tongues are not human languages how can they be a “sign” to unbelieving Jews?
II. THE DEFINITION OF TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
A. The Bible definition of tongues is simple and stated clearly in the Scriptures: they are known human languages.
Acts 2:8-11 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
NOTE: The same word for tongues in Greek is used in 1 Corinthians. The Greek word is glossa and simply means language. In fact Paul argues that the use of tongues is senseless unless it can be understood.
1 Corinthians 14:27-28 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
1 Corinthians 14:13-15 Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
1 Corinthians 14:18-19 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. (More about the concept of an “unknown tongue” later)*
B. In the Bible the gift of speaking in tongues is speaking in a known, recognizable human language, by the Spirit of God, without the person ever having had the benefit of human instruction.
NOTE: The present day definition of tongues is in sharp contrast to the biblical definition and usage. Today those who speak in tongues do NOT claim to speak in any known human language, but rather in “ecstatic utterances” or unknown sounds and babblings. What is presently called tongues does not have the character or construction of human language. Thus, today’s tongues speaking does not fit the biblical definition. Those who attempt to duplicate the gifts of the Spirit in the power and energy of the flesh produce babblings, not languages. Remember, the devil is a master at counterfeiting the works of God.
Speaking in an unlearned foreign language is a miracle or “sign” – gibberish is not!
💥It seems that the King James Bible translators, under providential guidance of the Holy Spirit, may have anticipated the present day confusion concerning tongues. They inserted the word “unknown” (identified in most copies of the KJB by the use of italics) to make a distinction between what was a fleshly abuse of the legitimate gift of tongues in the early church as well as what we are witnessing in charismatic circles today.
💥The Corinthian church was the most carnal of all the N.T. churches and needed a strong rebuke from the Apostle Paul regarding their abuses of the “sign gifts”. Thus Paul spends an entire chapter (14) outlining guidelines for the correct nature and use of the legitimate gift of tongues and lays down principles which identify the false use of tongues. (See the principles under point IV - “The Regulation of Tongues in the Bible”)
III. THE NEED FOR TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
NOTE:
✨For 400 years, between the O.T. and the N.T., there was no revelation from God. This gift (and other “sign gifts”) were given to authenticate the Gospel preached in the N.T. during the church’s infancy, until the Bible was completed (“…when that which is perfect is come”). Charismatics make this passage refer to Jesus’ second coming. Note the neuter “that” rather than “He” used in the text. It is not referring to Jesus, or the masculine pronoun would have been used. The only two perfect things on the earth in this age are the Holy Spirit, Who indwells every believer, and the Bible, the Word of God.
✨The sign gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, like the miracles done by our Savior while on earth, were given to prove that the messengers and this new Gospel were sent from God. It was God’s stamp of approval upon the message the men of God were preaching in the early church. These “sign gifts” are no longer needed to authenticate the message we preach because we have the completed revelation of Scripture.
✨All of the nine “sign gifts” (1 Cor. 12:4-11 “pneumatika”) were given as temporary, spectacular, supernatural evidence of God’s approval of these men and their message, much like Moses’ miracles were evidence of God’s calling him to lead Israel out of Egypt. If you learn to think of these gifts as “sign gifts” much confusion is removed. Other gifts with the same name, though without the same “sign” significance (e.g., wisdom, faith, etc.), are permanent gifts given to the church and are available today.
✨The “sign gifts” are temporary and are located in 1 Cor. 12.
The “service gifts” are permanent and are located in Romans 12. The “speaking gifts” are mixed, i.e., two are temporary (apostles and prophets) and two are permanent (evangelists and pastor/teacher) and are located in Ephesians 4.
✨Please notice that tongues are NOT mentioned in the N.T. epistles, except in 1 Cor. where Paul writes condemning the misuse of this gift in the most carnal of all the N.T. churches. With the emphasis on tongues-speaking in the Charismatic churches, one would expect that it would be a major doctrine spoken of in all the major N.T. epistles. (Church Age doctrine is forged from the epistles, not the Gospels or the book of Acts.)
IV. THE REGULATION OF TONGUES IN THE BIBLE:
🔅Paul wrote chapters 12-14 in Corinthians to give detailed instructions on the proper use of the gift of tongues and to set guidelines which would stop the many abuses of this gift. What follows are six principles designed to regulate the gift of tongues.
1. The Principle of Maturity:
1 Corinthians 14:18-20 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all: Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
NOTE: Undue preoccupation with tongues indicates spiritual childishness. It is much better and more edifying to speak with understanding in a language all present will understand. Paul had the gift of tongues, but realized that it was for the infancy of the church. He was instructing the Corinthians to grow up!
2. The Principle of Edification:
1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
NOTE:
🔆Spiritual gifts were never given for self-glorification, but rather for the edification of others.
🔆The sign gifts were never to be used unless they would strengthen someone else.
🔆Music (“a psalm”) must edify (that excludes most contemporary Christian music of today which appeals to the flesh, not the spirit), doctrine must edify, etc.
🔆No one is receiving any of the things listed in this verse today!
🟣The revelation of God’s Word is completed and the canon of Scripture is closed.
🟣All doctrines have been revealed.
🟣There is no need for the interpretation of tongues if tongues are no longer an available gift.
🟣Certainly tongues, as they are practiced today in churches are not edifying to anyone, since no one can understand the babbling that passes for tongues-speaking.
3. The Principle of Number & Order:
1 Corinthians 14:27 & 40 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
NOTE: A limit of two or three speaking in tongues in a given service is a scriptural rule often violated in Charismatic circles. Sometimes it is bedlam when many speak in tongues at once. (Bedlam is also the rule in many charismatic services where people are “slain in the Spirit” – a totally unbiblical practice! Chapter and verse, please!) People speaking in tongues were to wait their turn (“…by course” i.e., not all together). And of course the Holy Spirit is not the Author of confusion, so everything in the church must be done “decently and in order.”
4. The Principle of Interpretation:
1 Corinthians 14:27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
1 Corinthians 14:7-11 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
NOTE:
💦Here is another rule which is constantly violated in Charismatic circles: viz., people speaking in tongues without an interpreter. The tongue must be interpreted. There is no point in speaking anything if those to whom you are speaking cannot comprehend it. The babble prevalent in tongues speaking churches is not only in an unknown human language, it cannot even be understood by the person speaking it, nor by anyone present! “Hasta la shondai, untie a bowtie” or “Honda, mitchubitchi, toyota, and hitachi” have no spiritual meaning! Neither does the “vain repetition” of today’s tongue speakers!
💦If you listen to the same tongues speakers again and again (not recommended!), you will hear the same meaningless phrases repeated over and over. They have no meaning, no syntax, no grammatical rules, no linguistic structure and no one to interpret! What folly!
5. The Principle of Silence:
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
NOTE: The context of the above verses deals with tongues speaking. It is obvious that women were never to be permitted to speak in tongues. Not only do they do so in charismatic churches, but they are even elevated to the office of pastor!!! (“…the husband of one wife”!!!!????)
6. The Principle of Prohibition:
1 Corinthians 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
👉No one was to prevent another person in the Corinthian church to speak in tongues. Though these Christians were childish and immature, God tolerated them as a father tolerates a child playing with his toys. This prohibition would apply as long as the gifts lasted. It would have been a serious thing to stifle even an immature Christian in the use of a genuine spiritual gift.
V. WHY DO PEOPLE TODAY DESIRE TO SPEAK IN TONGUES?
🔅Because of spiritual immaturity. (1 Cor. 14:18-20; 13:11)
🔅Because of ignorance of God’s Word. (1 Cor. 14:37-38)
🔅Because of a sincere desire to have a “deeper experience” with the Lord.
NOTE: (The tragedy is that many churches fail to teach and preach sound doctrine and “feed the flock” so the people search for some new thing or some richer spiritual meaning to their lives, and the devil supplies it via a counterfeit.) This is why many born-again people get involved. Remember sincerity alone is insufficient to produce spirituality. Others get involved because they are not content with God’s prescription for spirituality, which is HARD WORK: study, prayer, service in the local church, suffering, persecution, etc.
CONCLUSION:
Often people ask: “How do you explain the modern speaking in tongues?” For whatever it is worth, here is my personal belief, based on 50+ years of Scripture study, personal knowledge, experience in the ministry, and observation, as well as common sense:
1. It is the emotional “ecstatic” experience of sincere, but ignorant-of-the-Word people seeking after some “deeper experience.”
2. It is the product of mass-suggestion that unless you “speak in tongues,” you are not spiritual and may not even be saved, or Spirit-filled.
3. It is the product of mass-hypnosis in highly-charged, emotional meetings where hysteria, and not the Holy Spirit, is in control.
4. It is people following other people and doing what is expected in their environment. (“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”)
5. It is the “sheep mentality” of believing the preacher/teacher without searching the Scriptures for oneself.
6. It is the counterfeit, by Satan, of a Scriptural gift, given in the Church’s infancy and long since dead.
🚫🔱CHRISTIANS BEWARE! The growing Charismatic movement is detrimental to spiritual health. It stifles what God really wants to produce in the believer’s life. The self-centered, self-indulgent Christian is not pleasing God. Those who indulge themselves in “gifts” which do not edify others are not acting scripturally. If you are looking for YOUR gift, look in Romans 12, not 1 Corinthians 12!
🚫🔱CHRISTIANS BEWARE! Satan is subtle. Today much tongues-speaking is hidden in Charismatic circles so as not to alarm or alert the unsuspecting believer. They do not want to scare or run off those who come in from outside their circle. The trend today is for the tongues, healing, etc. to be practiced after the main services in the church in a side room. If it were a legitimate Spirit-given and directed gift, it should be encouraged, not discouraged, in public services!! The believer is admonished to “try the spirits” (1 Jn. 4:1) and to test every man and movement by the unchanging Scriptures.
🚫🔱CHRISTIANS BEWARE! The canon of Scripture is closed, so there is no new revelation; beware the preacher who claims to have a revelation or “word of knowledge.” The Church’s foundation was laid centuries ago by the “apostles and prophets” (Eph.2:20), and does not need to be laid again. The gift of healing was given to a few men in the infancy of the church to authenticate their message, and is not given to any man today (obviously God is in the healing business, as the Great Physician, but He does not share that ability with men in this age of a completed revelation, nor does He need to do so.) The gift of tongues was used to win unbelieving “…Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5), and never given to believers as a “sign” of anything.