PROMOTERS OF THE Charismatic Movement
often claim to receive messages from God. They say, "God told me..." or
"God's message for the church is...." But are their statements true? Does the
Lord have more to say to the church than what He has already given in the written Word of
God?
Zealous tongues-speakers often ask non-Charismatics why
they do not seek the "baptism of the Spirit" which, they claim, is evidenced by
"speaking in tongues." If someone were to ask the Charismatic who spoke in
tongues, "What did you say when you were speaking in tongues?" he would usually
say, "Oh, I have a prayer language. I don't know what I was praying, but it sure was
wonderful, and you can't imagine the power it has!" Is this what the gift of tongues
entails? Is this gibberish that is spoken and even promoted today the same "gift of
tongues" given to the early church in the days of the apostles?
We firmly believe that the Bible reveals otherwise. When
studying I Corinthians 12-14, one must not assume that the tongues spoken in the early
church and the tongues movement of today are identical. A truly Biblical understanding of
the nature and purpose of tongues in the early church can only be obtained when this false
presupposition is set aside.
The primary purpose of the special, revelatory gifts of the
Spirit was to provide the early church with Divine direction and instruction in New
Testament church doctrine. These gifts also provided assurance that what was being spoken
through these supernatural communications, in fact, was of God and not of a false spirit.
Spiritual gifts of this sort were also essential in determining whether or not the
knowledge received conformed to apostolic doctrine. The gifts of discernment, word of
knowledge, tongues, interpretation of tongues, visions and prophecies were all intended to
supply the whole church with this essential ministry. Gifts of hearings and miracles
served to authenticate the church's message. Until the completed New Testament Scriptures
were canonized, these God-given gifts were essential to the stability and edification of
the early church.
Now here was the problem many who were blessed with these
gifts edified themselves, but they failed to share the blessing of the communication they
received with others so that the latter would also be built up in the Faith, or
"edified." God intended for spiritual gifts to "profit withal"
(12:7;14:5)-the entire fellowship of believers, not just those with certain gifts.
Jealousy and misuse resulted from this incomplete form of Divine revelation, which was
only "in part" (13:10), that is, God's Word was revealed in portions as the
gifts were exercised. But what follows in the text is "a more excellent way"
(12:31) - a perfect way.
Love Was Lacking in the Exercise of Spiritual Gifts
What was missing in the practice of these special,
spiritual gifts? Godly love was terribly lacking. Anyone with a revelatory gift should
have been concerned with sharing his message from God with others for their edification.
These gifts were of no real value unless they were used for the betterment of others. Love
provides the proper, godly motivation that makes spiritual ministry just that-a ministry.
Tongues, prophecy, the gift of knowledge, miracles of
faith-all of these amounted to nothing unless they were exercised in love, that is, they
were used to benefit others (13:1, 2). Some among the Corinthians were selfishly trying to
bring glory to themselves by boasting and reveling in their gifts, caring little about
God's reason for giving them the gift in the first place-for the profit of all in the
church (12:7; 14:12). True spirituality will always manifest itself in a genuine
selflessness and a heartfelt desire to be of help and blessing to others.
The Holy Spirit ministers gifts to believers for the
benefit of others in the body of Christ. This is an important truth. God rejects a showy,
self-aggrandizing form of "spirituality"-it is "nothing" (13:2). All
outward acts of charity or religious piety are likewise of no consequence apart from the
proper motivation of love for God and for those to whom He has called us to minister (v.
3). How easy it is to fall into the trap of assuming God is more concerned with what we
do instead of why we do it. But motives and methods are important, for God weighs
the spirit of every supposedly "good" work (Prov. 16:2).
The blessed truth found in I Corinthians 13 (the "love
chapter") regarding godly love is actually a rebuke leveled at the carnal Corinthian
believers who failed to understand that their spiritual gifts were to be used for the
edification of others. In these verses we have not so much a definition of love's
qualities as a listing of what love is not (its antonyms) that characterized those
in Corinth who ungraciously gloried in their unique "gifts."
True, Spirit-wrought love is manifested in kindness,
patience, selflessness and godliness. These traits were lacking in Corinth because the
sensational nature of these gifts resulted in personal attention for the one with the gift
(13:4, 5). Pride ruled many of these "gifted" saints, and whenever pride rules,
then tempers flare and contentions abound (Prov. 13:10). Watch out for self-proclaimed
spiritual giants.
When selfish interests persist, there will always be a
"short fuse" (no "bearing all things" or "enduring all
things") when it comes to believers' treatment of one another (vv. 6, 7). This pride
results in a strange form of joy when others fall ("rejoicing in iniquity") or
do not measure up to one's self-defined standard of spirituality. Instead of believing the
best concerning others, the worst is assumed. Instead of rejoicing in, and hoping for,
what is true, error and falsehood are perpetuated. Yet God's love changes all this
"Self" is dethroned, and the edification of others becomes one's top priority.
"In Part" Revelation Was put Away
The reason why love excelled even above the unique gifts
of the Spirit (13:8) was because of the temporal nature of the latter. Revelatory gifts
would cease, but the Divine graces of faith, hope and charity would continue throughout
the Church Age as signs of the Holy Spirit's vital ministry. False teachers commonly
promote the erroneous belief that the sign of the Spirit's power is speaking in tongues.
Not so! The sign of the Spirit's presence and power is genuine, Biblical love at work (1
Jn. 3:14). Love continues; tongues have ceased.
Herein lies the Corinthians' shortcomings: Temporal
spiritual gifts were not only used in an unloving way, but they were even exalted above
the more excellent gifts of the Spirit that would grace the saint and glorify Christ long
after the prophecies, tongues and word of knowledge gifts had ceased to exist. Revelatory
gifts provided only partial revelation with respect to God's truth concerning the mystery
of the Church and the dispensation of grace; through tongues, prophecies, etc., the
Corinthians only knew "in part" (v. 9). Their understanding of what God would
have the Church to know was partial, sporadic and even sometimes withheld by those
self-serving believers who limited their revelatory gift to their own edification. But
what was to follow these spiritual gifts was the final work of Inspiration-God's written
Word, which would render unnecessary the temporal gifts that the Corinthians foolishly
exalted (v. 11).
When God's final revelation was given, providing the Church
with a full understanding of His will, then that which only provided understanding
"in part" would be "put away." Paul illustrates this vital principle
using the example of a child's developmental growth in understanding the world around him
(vv. 9-11). Paul is prophesying here about the soon-to-be discontinued revelatory gifts
and the coming "perfect" Revelation that would give the Church full
understanding (vv. 10, 11).
What is "that which is perfect" (v. 10)? It is
certainly not the Second Advent of Christ, for the word "that" is an impersonal
pronoun and Christ's Second Advent does not fit the context of these verses-the subject
being the revelation of New Testament truth to the early church. "That which is
perfect" is the Word, the completed canon of Scripture.
Partial understanding, seeing "through a glass
darkly," vanishes in the light of God's Word. It is a mirror wherein, even now, we
behold the glory of the Lord and know ourselves even as we are known of Him (2 Cor. 3:18;
Jas. 1:23-25). Paul says, "Now I know in part..." (v. 12), but when the canon of
God's Word is finished, It will contain His completed storehouse of knowledge (2 Tim.
3:16,17). The time was at hand for the Corinthians to put away the special revelatory
gifts they so enjoyed and to submit to the final, written authority of the Scriptures,
which even then were being circulated among the churches (1 Thess. 5:27; Col. 4:16).
We have the Bible; we need nothing else. There is no
revelation forthcoming that will serve as an addendum to what God the Father has
"spoken unto us by His Son" (Heb. 1:1, 2). How was this final conveyance of the
Word of God to man, through Jesus Christ, to come about? Read carefully the prophecy Jesus
gave to His disciples (who would later become some of the human writers of the New
Testament Scripture) in John 16:1-15. It was needful for Christ to ascend to the Father,
for in so doing, the Holy Spirit would descend and guide the disciples "into all
truth" and reveal to them "things to come" (v. 13). Notice all
truth. Whose truth? God's truth - all of it! New Testament prophecy would be revealed to
them (Matthew-Revelation is the fulfillment of this promise). Christ would be glorified
and magnified in this Holy Spirit-inspired Revelation of God to man (v. 14). Jesus said,
the Spirit "shall take of mine [divine truth of the things pertaining to Jesus
Christ] and shall shew it unto you" (v. 15).
Although the apostle Paul was not present when Christ
conferred this prophetic promise to His disciples, the events in Paul's life, calling and
ministry reveal that he, too, was inspired by God's Spirit as he penned Holy Scripture.
The inspiration of the Gospels (Jn. 14:26 cf. Lk. 1:1-4), the epistles (2 Pet. 3:1, 2, 15,
16; 1 Thess. 2:13; 1 Jn. 4:6) and the totality of the "faith which was once delivered
unto the saints" (Jude 3 cf. vv. 17-20; Eph. 2:18-3:5; 1 Cor. 14:37) was forever
finished when the apostles and prophets (such as Mark, Luke, and Jude) had finished their
prophesied ministry of penning, by the miracle of inspiration, the New Testament canon of
Scripture. With the passing of the apostolic age, so also passed the need for and the
purpose of the revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Tongues Were Understood by the One Exercising the Gift
Millions are deceived by assuming that the tongues
practiced in Charismatic circles (cults and pagan religions also boast in their
"tongues speaking") are identical to the tongues in the early church. This is a
false assumption. The tongues of the Bible were legitimate languages (Acts 2:4-8), They
were also understood by the one exercising the gift. A careful exegesis of the rebuke to
the Corinthians regarding the misuse of the gift of tongues reveals this fact. It is
significant to note that prior to the Azuza Street revival at the turn of the 20th
century, this was the common interpretation. Matthew Henry says, "All Protestant
commentators, with only one exception, interpret this chapter [12] to show that those who
spoke in a tongue, understood themselves what they spake" (Commentary on the Holy
Bible, by Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, 1710).
The problem today with the interpretation of this text by
so many is that they automatically assume that the nonsensical gibberish being passed off
as "tongues" by the 20th century Pentecostals/Charismatics is the same
"tongues" that were operative by the Holy Spirit in the Corinthian assembly. Not
so! The present-day tongues speaker is not even a close counterfeit.
Some modern translations even provide an incorrect
interpretation of this text that the underlying Greek text does not warrant. For versions
to substitute "mind" for "understanding" in verse 14, or to
presumptuously write that the tongues speaker "does not understand what he is
praying" is to translate the text with a preconceived, faulty assumption. This is
dishonest scholarship and is a prime example of how the new versions actually alter a
vital doctrine. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons the Charismatic heresies so often go
unchecked is because the new Bible version used by the one who is trying to refute the
error is itself a tarnished and deficient "Sword of the Spirit."
The one who spoke in a tongue understood what he was saying
or praying as he uttered the language previously unknown to him. Confusion occurred,
however, when the tongues speaker himself did not make the communicated message known
afterwards (14:13b) or when he failed to have an interpreter (vv. 27, 28). As a result,
those who heard the utterance were not edified; he was the same as a barbarian (or
foreigner) as far as their understanding was concerned (vv. 711). The one speaking was
edified by what he spoke in the same way as those in the church were edified and built up
when they heard God's truth spoken through a prophecy proclaimed in their native language
(v. 4). Edification required understanding in both cases.
The same was true for one praying in a tongue (vv. 15-17).
He did not utter senseless, unintelligible, ecstatic gibberish; the vocalization of lucid
words comprised the prayer. We know this because the Bible says that if those listening
had been able to understand the language of the one praying, then they would have been
able to say "Amen!" to what he was praying. However, they could not join
in because of the language barrier, not because the prayer was composed of ecstatic
utterances devoid of comprehension. The speaker was "giving thanks" (v. 17). Can
a person express such specific praise without articulating words? Impossible!
The misuse of genuine, Spirit enabled tongues in the early
church resulted from selfish edification that did not desire to seek the edification of
others as well (v. 6). God gave revelatory gifts to instruct all in the church, not
just the one with the spiritual gift (12:7). If the assembly did not comprehend the
message, then the understanding of the speaker was "unfruitful" because
only he was edified. The tongues speaker was to provide for the interpretation (14:13,
27-28) so others would profit from his understanding.
God desired for all in the early church to understand His
messages given through tongues and prophecies (14:12, 19, 26-3 1). Gifts were not to be
used selfishly. Unless someone were present to interpret the message, the speaker himself
should pray "that he may interpret" (v. 13), that is, "pray with the purpose
of interpreting what he said" (Charles Hodge, First Corinthians). Otherwise,
the speaker's understanding would be "unfruitful" as far as others were
concerned, for they were not edified (vv. 13,14). Proper use of tongues would benefit the
whole assembly with God's instruction.
What about an "angelic tongue" claimed by
Charismatics? The "tongues of angels" in 13:1 speaks of the heavenly nature of
the subject matter conveyed, not the incoherent, nonsensical mechanics of the
communication itself. Where in the Bible is an angel's message anything other than
something easily understood by the hearer? Nowhere in God's Word does an angel communicate
in a language not understood. Nonsensical "worship" of God and edification apart
from understood truth are totally foreign to Scripture.
So what is happening in today's "tongues
movement"? Is it orchestrated, psychological manipulation; or pretended, willful
self-deception; or even demonic manifestation? It is difficult to say. But is it the
Spirit-wrought tongues that were practiced in the early church? Definitely not.
