The Speaking in Tongues Claim
The churches of Christ
Greet You
(Romans
Text:
Mark 16:15-20
Loved
ones, there
are many claims made by men
that are
not in
harmony with the plain teaching of the Bible.
When
human claims conflict
with the teaching of the Bible,
we may
rest assured
that the claims are false,
for the
Bible is
Right (Psalm 33:4).
There
are two major
views within the community of “Christendom”
relative
to the
nature of speaking in “tongues.”
The
“Pentecostals,”
or “charismatics,” contend that
the gift
of tongues
constituted a type of “heavenly language,”
a series
of
unintelligible sounds that are unrelated
to
normal human
speech.
By way
of contrast,
others argue, with much greater force,
that the
gift of a
“tongue” was simply the divinely imposed ability
to
communicate the
Gospel of Christ in a human language
that the
speaker
had not been taught by the ordinary education process.
The
“human
language” view is supported overwhelmingly
by the
biblical evidence.
For many
years, men
have claimed
to speak
in tongues
by the power of the Holy Ghost,
and in
recent years
a few brethren of the Lord's church
have
gone off after
this tongue speaking claim.
We are
surprised at
these brethren
who
became members
of the Lord's church
through
their
obedience to the Gospel of Christ.
It is
surprising
that they were members of the church so long
before
God decided
to use them in the way of speaking in tongues.
We
wonder why God
waited so long
before
starting them
to speak in tongues?
If
speaking in
tongues is so important,
why
didn't God
start them speaking as soon as they obeyed the Gospel?
What
profit is
tongue speaking in this day and time, anyway?
If other
nations
are now being taught
the word
of God in
their own respective language,
what
profit is
derived from speaking in tongues?
Be it
remembered
that speaking in tongues was for the purpose
of
teaching other
nations, and was therefore profitable.
God does
not, and
never has engaged in things of no profit.
Through
His prophet
Isaiah, God said, “I am the Lord thy God
which
teacheth thee
to profit” (Isa. 48:17).
Through
His judge
and prophet Samuel, God warned the Israelites,
“Turn ye
not aside:
for then should ye go after vain things,
which
cannot profit
nor deliver, for they are vain” (1 Sam.
God’s
people
have always been condemned
when
they walk
after things that are of no profit.
James
asked, “What
doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith,
and
have not works? Can faith save
him?” (James 2:14-16).
In First
Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, the Holy Spirit guided Apostle Paul
gives a
discourse
on the miraculous spiritual gifts
that
were necessary
during the 1st century infant stage of the church.
In First
Corinthians
12:8-10, the nine gifts of the Spirit are listed (READ).
Verse 7
points out
that "the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to
every man
to profit withal."
Unfortunately,
due
to the carnal nature of the Corinthians,
those
who were
blessed to receive one of these 9 spiritual gifts
began to
abuse them
by exhaling one gift above the other.
Paul
therefore had
to show them a “more excellent way” in chapter 13.
This was
the way of
love, and he declared that without love
the use
of these
gifts would profit them nothing (vs. 1-3).
Turn in
your Bibles
to First Corinthians 14.
In this
chapter,
Paul makes an effort to stop the abuses
and give
the
Corinthian brethren a better understanding
of the
gift of
prophecy, and regulate the gift of speaking in tongues.
Paul
tells the
Corinthians that the miraculous gift of prophecy
was more
profitable
than the gift of tongues (READ vs. 1-2).
For your
understanding listen to this expanded version of verse 2:
“For he
who speaks
in a foreign language [when no interpreter is
present],
is not
speaking [meaningfully] to men, but [only] unto
God; for
no man [in
the audience who is of an alien language]
understands
[what
is being said]; he [the speaker] is speaking
mysteries
[that
which the listener cannot comprehend by virtue of
the
language
barrier], even though he speaks in the spirit.”
He goes
on to say
in verses 6-9 (Read).
These
verses again
prove that those who spoke in tongues
were
speaking in a
language that could be understood.
It was
not some practiced
jabber that no one understood.
When
Christ sent
His 12 apostles out under the limited commission,
He told
them to
"go NOT in the way of the Gentiles, and into any city
of the
Samaritans
enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep
of the
house of
Israel."
He gave
them power
to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers,
raise
the dead,
cast out devils and said, "Freely ye have received,
freely
give"
(Matt. 10:5-8).
But
there is no
record that He gave them power to speak in tongues.
Why? Why
didn't He
give them power to speak in tongues?
The
answer is
clear: speaking in tongues would have been of no profit,
for they
were sent
only to those of their own nation.
But
when
Jesus went to Golgotha's rugged summit
and was
suspended
on the Old Rugged Cross and died,
breaking
down the
wall that discriminated between Jews and Gentiles,
and was
taken down
and buried in the heart of the earth
where He
remained
for three days and three nights
and got
up the
third day with all authority in heaven and in earth,
He told
His
disciples to "Go and teach all nations" (Matt. 28:18-19).
How
could
they teach all nations
if they
could not
speak the language of the different nationalities?
Here is
where the
tongues are profitable;
yes,
here is where
they were needed to carry out the Master's directive.
Beloved,
the
tongues were promised
for the
purpose of
teaching different nationalities
and
confirming the
word.
The
proof is in the
Great Commission.
Turn
now to the
text that was read during the Scripture reading
(Mark
16:15-20).
After
having
told His disciples to go and preach the Gospel
unto
every
creature, and that those who believed
and were
baptized
would be saved,
He
promised them
that they would speak with "new tongues" (vs. 17),
which
was the only
way they could preach the Gospel
to every
creature
as He had commanded them.
But
He said
further in verse 18, "They shall take up serpents and if they
drink
any deadly
thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay
hands
on the
sick and they shall recover.”
Isn't
it
strange that these fellows who claim to speak in tongues
will run
like a
sage hen from a snake?
Isn't it
strange
that all who are bitten by a poisonous snake today
either
die or come
close to dying?
Not
long ago
some fellows died who drank deadly poison.
They
died because
they were ignorant
of the
teaching of
the Word of God.
The
record says,
"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them,
He was
received up
into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
And they
went
forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them,
and
confirming the
word with signs following" (Mark 16:19-20).
Why
can't
these blind claimants see
that the
Word has
already been confirmed (Heb. 2:2-3),
and our
job is to
hear, believe, and obey it?
Jesus
said,
“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent
me draw him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
It is
written in
the prophets, And they shall all be taught
of
God. Every
man therefore that hath heard, and hath
learned
of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:44-45).
You
see,
after a person hears, learns and believes the Gospel,
Jesus
will give
that person eternal salvation
when
they obey Him
by repenting and being baptized (Heb. 5:8-9).
And then
another
thing, let’s go back to First Corinthians 13:8.
Here
Paul points
out that tongues were only temporary,
for he
said,
"Whether there be tongues, they shall cease.”
In verse
10 He told
them WHEN the gift of tongues would cease,
for he
said,
"When that which is perfect is come, then,
that
which is in
part shall be done away" (vs. 10).
But what
is that
which is perfect?
David
answers in
Psalm 19:7.
He said,
"The
law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul."
The Lord
was at
that time in the process
of
revealing His
perfect law of freedom to the apostles and prophets,
for Paul
said in
verse 12, "For now we see through a glass darkly
(in
other words, it
isn't clear to us at this time), but then face to
face:
now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also
I am
known" (1
Cor. 13:12).
In other
words, at
that time miraculous spiritual gifts were necessary
because
God’s New
Testament law was fragmentary, not fully revealed.
But when
completely
revealed, it would be as plain as man
looking
face to
face with man.
As the
NT Law of
the Lord was revealed,
the
apostles and
prophets wrote it
that we
may read
and understand it (Eph. 3:1-5).
So
now, those
who look into the perfect law of liberty,
and
continue
therein, will be blessed in our deeds (James 1:22-25).
Now
here’s another
point from First Corinthians chapter 14
that
these
so-called modern day tongue speakers seem to overlook.
When
those in the 1st
century really spoke in tongues,
only men
were
allowed to do it, and they had to do it by course,
that is,
one at a
time (READ 1 Cor. 14:27-28).
This
passages says
that only 2 or at the most 3 were allowed to speak,
and one
had to tell
what was said.
If they
had no
interpreter, they were not allowed to speak in the church.
So far
as the women
were concerned,
God has
never
permitted a woman to speak in tongues.
I heard
one
preacher say that God knew
that one
tongue was
enough for a woman!
Help me
Lord, I’m
getting in trouble now.
Look
down to verses
34 & 35.
Paul
said,
"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 anything, let them ask their
husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak
in the
church"
(verses 34-35).
But,
what is he
talking about?
From the
context of
all 3 chapters (12-14),
we have
clearly shown
that he is talking about prophesying,
spiritual
revelations, and speaking in tongues.
These
are the
subject of chapter 14,
and no
one can
ignore the subject and rightly divide these verses.
Even
some of our
brethren have ignored the subject,
and they
have a
hard time trying to explain these verses.
If we
were to
ignore the subject,
we
couldn't preach
to another man's wife,
for it
said,
"If she would learn anything,
let her
ask her
husband at home" (vs. 35).
We
couldn't even
preach to an ignorant man, for verse 38 says,
"If any
man be
ignorant, let him be ignorant."
Let's be
honest now
and not ignore the subject
of the
14th chapter
of First Corinthians.
Again,
we must
remember that tongues mean language,
and not
a practiced
jabber (Acts 2:6-14).
During
the 1st
century infant state of the church,
God, by
the Holy
Spirit, enabled some to speak
in
different kinds
of tongues (or languages)
in order
to teach
the different nations.
We
should always
remember that the apostles
could
not carry out
the Great Commission to teach all nations
as the
Lord had
commanded them
until
the Holy
Spirit came to guide them (John 16:13).
In Luke
24:47-49,
Jesus said, "That repentance and remission of sins
should
be preached
in his name among all nations,
beginning
at
Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.
And
behold, I send
the promise of my Father upon you:
but
tarry ye in the
city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”
He
also told
them that they would receive power,
after
the Holy
Ghost is come upon them (Acts 1:8).
This
promise was
fulfilled on the great day of Pentecost (Turn to Acts 2).
On
that day
the Spirit gave the apostles the power
to speak
in the
“unknown” tongues.
The
Bible says in
Acts 2:4, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and
began to speak
with other tongues, as the Spirit
gave
them
utterance."
Other
tongues
simply meant another language.
Notice
verse
6, "Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came
together,
and
were confounded, because that every man heard
them speak in his own language."
This
clearly shows
that tongues mean language.
But let
us notice
the next two verses.
"And
they were
all amazed and marveled, saying one to another,
Behold,
are not all
these which speak Galileans? And how hear we
every
man in our
own tongue, wherein we were born?" (vs. 7-8).
Can't
we see
it?
In verse
six he
called the tongues language,
and in
verse eight,
he called the language tongues.
In
the strict
sense of the matter,
there is
no such
thing as an altogether “unknown” tongue.
There is
not a
tongue (or language) that is not known to somebody.
The
teaching here
is that to different nations it is unknown.
That
is why
they were confounded and amazed.
They
heard these
Galileans speak their language.
About
sixteen or
seventeen different nationalities
heard
them speak
their language (vs. 9-11).
This
was not
a practiced jabber,
but a
language that
they heard and understood (verses 8, 11).
How
unlike the
claimants of today.
On
the day of
Pentecost they saw the tongues sitting on them (Acts 2:3).
The
Bible says,
"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues
like as
of fire and
sat upon each of them."
The word
“appeared”
means to come into sight.
The
Moffett
translation says “they saw tongues like flames,
one
resting on the
head of each.”
Have
you seen
tongues sitting on anyone's head?
To ask
this
question is to answer it.
Surely
we all know
that this was the beginning
of the
Gospel of the
Christian dispensation
and the
beginning
of everything required a miracle.
We
are aware
of the fact that God is the same God,
but we
must
remember that God began everything
with the
extraordinary,
after
which He
established a law of propagation
by which
each thing
was reproduced.
It
would make
as much sense to ask God
to form
another man
out of the dust of the earth
and
breathe into
his nostrils the breath of life
so he
can become a
living soul,
and make
him go
into a deep sleep
and take
a rib from
his side and make another full grown woman,
as it is
to ask Him
to give men
direct
power by the
Holy Spirit to speak in tongues.
Why
is it
that all of our Pentecostal or charismatic friends
that
claim to speak
in tongues must train their missionaries
to speak
the
language of the people to which they are being sent?
Loved
ones,
the supernatural measure of the Holy Spirit
was
given only to
the apostles and prophets
and
those on whom
they laid their hands.
What
apostles laid
hands on those who claim to speak in tongues today?
Think
about it
friends.