Clarifying
Speaking in Tongues (part 2)
[1st
Corinthians chapter 14, verses 18-40]
In
last week's lesson we managed to get through the first portion of
First Corinthians 14, and so today I will take up where I left off.
You will recall my pointing out certain “teachings” within
certain denominations, sects and even cults (God forbid) regarding
speaking in tongues that are incorrectly being disseminated within
and outside of the greater Christian church. Today I will continue to
use the apostle Paul's own words to instruct you all as to what is
and should be considered to be orderly and reverent worship of Christ
as the Son of God, as well as the original and correct definitions of
the Spiritual gifts. I will begin at verse 18.
“I
thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. But in the
church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct
others than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, stop thinking
like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be
adults. In the Law it is written: 'Through men of strange tongues and
through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even
then they will not listen to me, says the Lord'. Tongues, then, are a
sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is
for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes
together and everybody speaks in tongues, and some who do not
understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you
are out of your mind?
But
if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while
everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a
sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will
be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, 'God
is really among you!” (1Cor. 14, verses 18-25 NIV)
To put this in a nutshell (if that's even possible with
Paul's writings), churches are not going to get any new converts or
believers by prophesying, which means to accurately and decisively
declare the Word of God. But, we can gain new believers and
additional saved souls by speaking in other languages by speaking in
the native language of those who are listening. A non-believer or
first-time visitor will be able to clearly see and hear the Spirit of
the Lord, with the Spirit being manifested in any one of a number of
different ways according to the “gifts of the Spirit” that we
went over last week. On the other hand, I have actually been in
churches where people stood up and prophesied all at once, with no
one there to interpret, assuming what they were saying actually made
some sense in another language. I thought it was rather strange that
up to several dozen people or more would be speaking in tongues all
at the same time as if they were competing with each other in some
childish game of spiritual leapfrog. This is nowhere near what the
Bible says about speaking in tongues!
Needless to say, I did not go back to any of those
churches, and if you stumble onto one of them in your search for a
church home, don't be shy about getting out of there at your earliest
opportunity. Many of these speak-only-in-tongues-and-nothing-else
churches, upon closer examination, turn out to be cults. I have had
the misfortune of learning this the hard way, because it was just
such a church that broke up my first marriage. So now you have been
warned so you don't make the same mistakes I made all those decades
ago.
It is quite apparent from Paul's writing in these few
verses of chapter 14 that the Church has had a problem with these
kind of denominations almost from the start. It's just that Paul's
words so closely parallel my own experience with many of these
so-called “charismatic” churches during my 22 years as a
born-again Christian. The Word of God is not something to be taken
lightly or trivialized over. The Bible is not just another book sold
at Barnes and Noble or Amazon. Each and every word within it is
sacred, holy and sanctified and must be taken very seriously.
Therefore I say that any teaching of the Bible that is inaccurate or
misleading – assuming that the incorrect teaching is being done
unknowingly – is a very serious matter indeed. And anyone who
teaches the Bible in such a premeditated way so as to control and
manipulate people, such as in a cult pretending to be a church –
and unfortunately there are a disconcerting number of those as well –
will be found guilty of apostasy at best, or blasphemy of the Holy
Spirit at worst, when it comes our time to stand before the throne of
Judgment. And Jesus said that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit – where
someone deliberately defames God or twists and perverts the Bible's
teachings in such a way as to enrich themselves or to do damage
within the church, or who refuses to believe that Jesus was the Son
of God – is the only sin that cannot be forgiven. And if Jesus said
it, you had better believe it, because He cannot lie. I will now
continue at verse 26.
“What
shall we say then, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a
hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an
interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of
the Church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two – or at the most
three – should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If
there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church
and speak to himself and God. Two or three prophets should speak, and
the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation
comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.
For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed
and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of
prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” (1
Corinthians 14, verses 26 thru 33 NIV)
It
is clear from this quotation that the apostle Paul is giving the
early church an example of what a church service should look like and
how it should proceed. Everyone is to use the Spiritual gift that God
gave them to the best of their ability and as they feel led by the
Spirit. If someone is speaking in tongues, they should do so quietly
to themselves unless there is another there to interpret. Prophecy,
or proclaiming the Word of God as it applies at that moment in time,
can be done without 2nd
party interpretation, but praying in tongues aloud cannot, and should
never be done in a disruptive or distracting manner.
The next two verses Paul mentions that, in his opinion,
women should be silent in the church, with the conducting of the
service being the exclusive domain of the men. First, let us keep in
mind that these words were written nearly 2,000 years ago, and the
world back then was a very different place – downright primitive by
today's standards, as were many of the people. But let's also keep in
mind that part of the message of the Gospel of Christ was that all
humankind enjoyed unconditional equality in the sight of God. Jesus
ministered to, healed and cured men and women alike, as it is well
documented throughout all four gospels. So, I am going to
respectfully (in God's sight) decline to cover these two verses in
this lesson on the basis that I, another follower of Jesus, do not
share Paul's opinion on this subject. I try to treat both genders
equally as I live my daily life so that I might better emulate Christ
who has saved my soul and who rules my life. Gender equality is more
than an idealistic goal. It's scriptural, as it is written: “You
are all sons/daughters of Christ through faith in Christ Jesus, for
all of you who who were baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves
with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3,
verses 26-29, NIV). And now I will finish up this lesson with the
final few verses of chapter 14.
“Did
the Word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has
reached? If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let
him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command.
If he ignores this, then he himself will be ignored. Therefore, my
brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in
tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
(1 Corinthians 14; verses 36 - 40 NIV)
So, Paul is saying that what he is writing is the truth
because he was led by the Spirit as he wrote his letters to the
Corinthians, the Romans, Galatians and others that we will cover in
the future. Anyone who refuses to go along with the order of worship
as Paul has explained it will be ignored if they try to speak out of
turn or otherwise unduly dominate the discussion within the service.
“Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way”. We are
all adults and so we should know what it means to be fitting and
orderly in a service. And we should always do so out of a reverence
for God that is highlighted by a sense of awe and worship. But there
is one more important thing to consider. We don't have to be in a
church to pray to God, or to praise Him, or to worship Him. We as
believers and followers of Jesus can praise, worship or pray to Him
anytime and anywhere. To be at worship and to be giving God praise is
the very essence of a Spirit-filled worship service, and it's a frame
of mind that we should try to be in every day. So let's all work on
this starting today, and use what we learn as we grow to live a
better life for Jesus.
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