Primary Text: 1 Corinthians 12:10
Well, here we are at the gift of tongues. To be perfectly honest with you, I’d just as soon skip this one, since I’m sure that everyone who reads it will find something to disapprove of; I’m tempted to turn “comments” off for the first time ever… but I won’t. Let’s just be real clear: I’m not pushing a doctrinal agenda with this study of spiritual gifts, for if I were to do that, I would just say that the “miraculous gifts” ceased after the generation of the apostles, and then I would list the “proof texts” that I had to memorize in Seminary that… prove no such thing; they prove that this might have been the case. Since I had a Masters in Rhetorical Discourse before I ever set foot in a Seminary, I was trained in the analysis, construction and deconstruction of argumentation; I quickly saw that the case for that position isn’t very good. With that said, the case for the opposite extreme is even weaker in my view. In recent years, I have gone looking for evidence on the issue, and I have found some. Is this evidence conclusive? Well, that’s up to you to decide for yourself.
Here’s what I propose to do here: I’ll give you a thumbnail version of what I’ve found, in the context of this study, and then you can either investigate further, accept my conclusions, or reject the whole thing; it’s all fine by me. I think you’ll agree that this is reasonable and fair. I have only one request of you: Please don’t leave me comments with long lists of proof texts (out of context; they’re always out of context) and the reason is that I know the proof texts on the main doctrines about this already, and you might tempt me to put them into context and write up a bunch of posts that you really won’t like… so please let’s not go there today. Of course if you just want to say I’m crazy, that’s fine as always. 🙂
OK, let’s do this!
The gift of tongues is the ability to speak in a language that you never learned and communicate a divinely anointed message from God to unbelievers; its purpose is for the extension of the local church.
Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers…
1 Cor. 14:22
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.
1 Cor. 14:1-5
Once again, the bottom line according to Paul is: Does it build up the church; is it for the common good… or does it cause confusion and division? (See also 1 Cor. 14:22-25)
There would appear to be two aspects of this gift in Scripture, tongues as a means of communicating the gospel to non-believers in their own language, as we see throughout the book of Acts, and as a “prayer language” in private prayer. Consider this example:
A preacher friend of mine who spent many years in the mission field told me this story…
He and another guy were posted on a small island in the South Pacific in the early ‘90’s, and I must apologize for I have forgotten which one. The other man spoke the local language, but my friend did not. One time, the other guy’s father, a prominent preacher in the US was coming for a visit; he was going to preach there in a Sunday service, and the local people were quite excited to have a real preacher from the US visit. The Christians invited all of their non-Christian friends; this was a big occasion in their small community. Picture this: the room is packed, the father is going to preach in English, the son is going to translate; anticipation is very high. When the time came, both father and son went up front and the father began to preach, while the son waited to translate. After two or three minutes, the son sat down. When the message was finished, many came forward and all were thrilled, but the father was a little confused. “I thought you said these people didn’t speak English,” the father said to the son afterward.
“They don’t” was the son’s reply. “Dad, they heard you in their own language; you spoke like a native.”
My friend heard the whole thing in English.
Now I wouldn’t have believed this story if I hadn’t heard it from someone I knew personally to be very reliable, and even so I went to another man I highly respect who had been a long time in the mission field. I told the story and asked him what he thought. He smiled and said, “Don, you have no idea what goes on out there, things nobody back home would believe. This sort of thing happens more than you can imagine. Next time my son comes home for a visit, you should ask him what he deals with out there.” His son is a missionary on New Guinea, and confirmed it on his next visit, about a year later.
Now you tell me what I’m supposed to do with this. Do I conclude that these three brothers (actually there are several more who have confirmed this since) whom I personally know to be trustworthy are lying because God can’t do this based upon inclusive textual evidence?
As a private prayer language, tongues are outside of my personal experience, yet there it is in the text: What shall we conclude? Here is what I know for sure: God meets us where we are, He created us and knows us better than we know ourselves. Each of us is different in many ways with our own perspectives, personalities and relational tendencies. Some of us are relatively unemotional about most things and relate to God on an unemotional level much of the time, while others are more emotional and passionate in relationships and in their prayer lives. Some of us can put most any feeling into words; others not so much. In my personal devotions, my prayer language is English, and as in other relationships it is not generally overly emotional. Does that mean that your prayer life and personal devotions must be the same as mine? Or maybe that means that God can only have relationship with you in the exact same way that He does with me?
I think not.
Cautions about the gift of Tongues
•Viewing it as the sole evidence of being filled with the Spirit
•Insisting that everyone speak in tongues
•Bringing confusion or division into the body of Christ
•Developing a spiritually superior attitude
The gift of tongues must build up the body of Christ or it is not a gift of the Spirit ! Well, now I’ve irritated everyone! Please take a moment to notice that these kinds of cautions are listed for all of the gifts; why would tongues be different? In fact, these attitudes do not build the Body of Christ, they create divisions, tear it apart and pit brother against brother, and if you doubt me, just open your eyes and have a look around!
Evidence that someone may have this gift might include…
•You have spoken in a language unknown to you but known by your hearers, and people were saved as a result.
•You speak to God in a private prayer language and you sense His presence in a powerful way.
A final thought: Tongues and the miraculous gifts in general are very rare, but then miracles by their very nature have always been rare. The miraculous signs of Jesus drew big crowds because they were not commonplace, but rarity in and of itself, does not mean they aren’t real, they’re just rare.
OK, that’s about long enough for one post! Sorry about the length of this one, but I’m afraid this is a long subject and I’ve only done a thumbnail here. Next time, we’ll take a look at the gift of miracles; see you then!
Life Project Blog 
Brave post and well argued – my research took me through the Greek sentence structure and then the same route to spread the gospel to unbelievers therefore I remain sceptical about much of the evidence produced to support the understanding that the gift is common and in all.
Great post and courageous –
Thank you Mark, I appreciate it; should be an interesting day!
Don, I really appreciated the way you presented this. I am one who personally believes in tongues and have for most of my life. I like how you pointed out the concerns for tongues is the same as the rest of the gifts and is for building the church. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Tom, I appreciate your comment very much!
Don
You aren’t crazy LOL. You recapped the very reasons why I think tongues ,as used for the most part today, are not the tongues as demonstrated during the time of the Apostles. Your concerns were right on the spot. Especially relevant is what you quoted about who tongues are for: they are not for believers, but unbelievers. And if they were to exist, they would be, as you said, the ability to speak in a previously unknown language.
God can still do anything He wants to do. His power has never become limited, but He may have limited how He chooses to use it.
The real issue is that the tongues practiced today, for the most part, don’t resemble the tongues you describe; not only that, but they hit exactly all the dangerous practices you listed.
And I’m not sure I would call tongues and private prayer language the same thing, really. Seems those are probably two different subjects.
I won’t pile you up a bunch of proof texts, I promise. You know them all I’m sure as you said. You said tongues may have stopped. I say they likely have, with the qualifier that God is still God and omnipotent. And to throw my own controversy in, I would maintain that we can’t say the tongues as practiced for the most part today have stopped; they never really existed that way. Now, my turn to get bombed I guess!
I have loved this series, keep it up!
Wally it would seem that we pretty much agree on this issue 🙂
One time I attended a church for many years and sat in the front row as is my custom. There was a gentleman who sat near me and on occasion I would hear him quietly praying in tongues. On the other side of him sat another gentleman who told me that he thought it very odd that no one ever spoke in tongues at our church. I have always wondered if maybe he had the gift of interpretation and did not know it.
Could be… it would be hard for us to say I suppose
I have had many experiences using a ‘prayer language’ in my private prayer time. It is a powerful Spirit experience and there is a close presence felt to God.
Rick I really appreciate that you shared that; thank you. As I mentioned in the post, that has never (up to today anyway) been my experience, but how can I question yours? It’s just crazy to fight over things like that, when we are called to be One in him!
Thanks again, Rick!
Oh love you Don ~ let’s just say…Ivory Soap and it floats…loved the absolute summary ~
“God meets us where we are” ~ Amen :Y
Thank you Y!
Don,
I appreciate your approach as being fair to Scripture. It’s unfortunate we like the Corinthian church have used the same (whatever Paul meant by tongues) to cause the same disunity in the body of Christ.
Gary Sorrells
Thank you Gary, I appreciate that and wholeheartedly agree.
I agree. It was used to spread the gospel to “the unbelievers, not the believers”. How else did they travel so extensively and were able to preach immediately?
Exactly!
“To the law and to the testimony”! Great study, Don! And not just because I agree with you so closely. We must have the same teacher. : )
Could be!:)
Well you have not offended me……. this is by far the best I’ve hear on the subject. Well done.
cate 😀
Well bless your heart, thanks!
Hello, how do you walk the gifts out in your life?
How does one apply them?
Excellent question that requires a very long answer, I’m afraid. Since you brought it up, I’ll add a post, maybe two, at the end of the study to tackle it. for now, the short answer is that it all depends! (Isn’t that helpful?) Truly, it’s a little different for everyone, and there are some variables such as opportunities available, spiritual maturity level, and knowledge base. For myself, and many others what really happens is that we come to understand why we are strongly desiring to serve in certain areas and quit holding back or hesitating, and then God does the rest. It is much like being suddenly empowered to do something, and then just going for it.
Yeah, I know this isn’t very complete! I’ll try real hard to explain it better when we get there… 🙂
Like Rick, I to have had this experience and continue with it today. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you shared it, thanks!
I had a Pastor friend many years ago and he told me a story that happened to him. He went to a coffee shop for a coffee and met a couple of guys from Sri Lanka. As they were having a conversation and he was giving them the gospel at the same time, they asked him when he learnt their Sri Lankan language. He replied that he had never learnt it. They became Christians.
I’m glad you shared that Steve, thank you. Amazing stuff!
Thanks for sharing that amazing testimony Don about speaking in tongues.
Along the lines of “are the sign gifts and miracles still for today?” I recently read an inspiring book by Tom Doyle called “Breakthrough.” It’s about the work Christ is doing to reach people in the Middle East, especially those from Muslim backgrounds without access to a bible (and for whom conversion to Christianity can mean severe persecution or death). The Lord has been appearing to many in dreams and visions, asking them to forsake Allah and follow Him. Many people are coming to Christ as a result.
Inspiring stuff all round. 🙂
It surely is!
Well said Don! God bless.
Jennifer
Thank you Jennifer!
“Tongues … are very rare” Don, good article except for that phrase. Both the public gift of tongues and private prayer language are NOT rare these days. The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life reported that Pentecostals and charismatics make up more than a quarter of all Christians, and Pentecostals and charismatics make up more than 8 percent of the world’s total population. Of those, 50 to 60 percent speak in tongues either as a public gift or private prayer. This is millions of people… not rare. I am one of them, by the way. I attend an Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Thanks for this series.
Thank you for the information Bette 🙂
Excellent post! It seems you navigated through that minefield flawlessly.
LOL, well shall see… 🙂
Personal story here: Our church was studying the spiritual gifts a number of years ago. When it came time for the gift of tongues, our pastor asked a person who spoke in tongues to come to the front and use their gift. The pastor then asked for three people to come forward and tell the speaker and pastor what the interpretation was. All three people gave the same translation. Had their been different interpretations, then it would be known that the message was not for the congregation. Our pastor outlined, that in order for someone to speak in tongues in a public service, the person who believed they had a “tongues” message had to approach the elders, who would then ask for an interpretation, and then the message could be delivered. If no one had an interpretation, the “speaker” was asked to sit down. There never was another time of someone coming forward, but I felt that it was clearly laid out what was required. I also felt that the demonstration was “biblically” done and was edifying for the church.
Thank you for covering this whole topic of spiritual gifts (and other series you have done). Thank you too for doing so with grace and love.
Thanks for sharing this illuminating story; it’s much appreciated
I did not believe in this for many years – God revealed to me by giving me the gift of tongues now just 2 years ago- transformed my prayers & life. I think too many use this and other doctrines as dividing factors when they shouldn’t. I was not offended at all by your post. On my blog I shared my experience on this topic on “Prime Time”.
Thank you, I appreciate your sharing this!