THE GIFT OF TONGUES
One of the most deviding things in our churches today in the body of Christ is weither or not the charasmatic church has gone one step forwards towards God by seeking the spiritual side more by seeking tongues and the baptism of the Spirit as they call it. The reason i say it causes division is that a whole other denomination has sprang up because of this adding another different church we can choose to attend with different beliefs. Paul stated in the letter to the Corinthians that we should all be of one mind and one belief instead we break off from each other instead of comparing to the word and discussing and choosing what God would have us do.
This message is about this subject.
The church today teaches tongues in this way: tongues is the ability to pray to God without understanding what is being said, it is to be asked for in conjunction with the baptism of the Spirit, it is for anyone who will ask, it is for self edification, only by speaking in tongues do you have the baptism, and women mostly speak in tongues in their church.
Now lets look at what the bible says about tongues and then we will discuss it. First the bible says tongues was a sign to the unbeliever especially the jew since it was a sign meant for their hearing as Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22. Once the jews heard this they knew it was a sign that God was about through with their covenant. He was tired of their disobedience.
Secondly tongues was a real language miraculously given to a person to speak to others by God. Acts two even lists the languages spoken by the apostles. The other times it was done in front of the jews so they could hear that the gentiles and others received the same Holy Spirit as they. The gentiles were given the jews languages. Three is that tongues was given as a sign gift to prove Gods power and not to use among everyday congregations who spoke the same language. This goes against the whole purpose. It was a way to communicate between believers of different languages especially in the port city of Corinth. Today people claim to be speaking tongues in congregations where everyone speaks the same language. Its not called for.
Tongues and the other gifts of the Spirit were given for the profit of others as 1 Corinthians 12:7 states. A gift from God helps others and is not intended for ones on pleasure. It is to edify others and not you. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul told the people it was edifying them but was not the purpose of it. He goes on in verse 20 to show them they were using this like children in malice. It was to be used like grown men he goes on to say as God intended it and that was mainly for a sign to the lost and for communication. He even said to the lost you look mad if you just speak in tongues of no understanding. It was to be in order as well and with only a few in each instance. Today there is sometimes more than 10 or even 100 in some cases trying to speak in tongues at the same time. There also is never an interpreter and never a real language being recognized today unlike in the first century. Women are also the main ones in charasmatic churches speaking in tongues and the bible stated that they not speak in tongues in church if you keep 1 Corinthians 14 in context. This verse is totally ignored in todays churches. As I just stated, there must be an interpreter or you must pray for an interpretation or keep quite. This principle is totally ignored in todays church. Paul said he would rather speak 5 intelligible words than 1000 in an unknown tongue. Wow. This is a teaching in itself. They also say it is a prayer language which not only is not taught in scripture but goes against the reason for a Spiritual gift. It is for anothers profit. Your gifts are to profit others not self. Paul is teaching that if you can pray in Spirit then do it for others so they can learn from you. This is the teaching here but is it to be used to someone who doesnt understand you otherwise you just speak to them in the language you both speak. Its not about looking Spiritual its about communicating the word of God and the gospel.
The baptism of the Spirit is the main way they teach the tongues gift. The baptism is to be saught and speaking in tongues is the evidence. It is also for every believer they teach. What does the bible say?
1 Corinthians 12:13 is clear; your baptism in the Spirit is what saved you in the first place. All believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit. Baptism is just a word that means you have been clothed or it is upon you. We all have the Holy Spirit upon, clothed, or in us. Beware of how people try to make words more than what they are to teach different things. Baptism of the Spirit is not a seperate event like charasmatics teach but is our salvation experience. Romans 6 explains this. Also not everyone received the gift of tongues. 1 Corinthians clearly teaches that God gives us the gifts and its not up to us. Its his purposes and his will not ours.
Tongues in the word was also never asked for. God gave the gift as he pleased. No one ever asked to speak in tongues in scripture. Tongues was associated with Peter also who had the keys to the kingdom signifying tongues was associated to the jews as the sign of salvation. Peter was present when the jews spoke in tongues, samaritans, and gentiles. He was to be associated with this as a sign to the jews that all the people were accepted by God as part of the new covenant governed by the Holy Spirit. This is why Peter had to be present in those situations.
Paul also in his teachings taught to seek the greater gifts that edifys the church. He was clearly teaching these Corinthians to go another route. They were trying to look spiritual instead of being a tool for God to build up others.
Tongues like the other miracle gifts spoken about in Mark 16 seem to have passed or not been used by God very shortly after the church was established. Today tongues is the main sign or miracle gift being copied by others maybe because it is harder to disprove. Surely people arent being raised from the dead, healed by a healer, free of snake venom, free of poison injury, and so on. Hebrews 2 even seems to suggest the sign gifts had passed with the Apostles. Paul was even said to have been given special gifts by God in Acts 19 making him different than other followers. Maybe it was because he was recognized as an Apostle born out of season. He seems to be the last to have these gifts. Not being able to heal certain companions such as Timothy also leads me to believe this thaught is correct. Paul undoubtably couldn't heal Timothy but was relegated to pray for healing like we do today.
There is probably a lot more we can say about this teaching but always look at teachings and compare them to the word. Also always look for motive. Most of Churches that teach false ways are usually centered around them and not the gospel message and witnessing the gospel to others. These Churches usually stay within themselves, have little bible study, and also do not stand on a lot of doctrine principles. They tend to call it seeking the Spirit and create a whole other teaching around spirituality. Remember the word of God is not our final authority but our ONLY authority. Stick to it and stay clear of cloudy teachings. There are good people in these churches just simply misguided. Becareful however that your misguidedness doesnt go to the heart and cause a love to the church you attend more than Gods word. Always be fair to God. Not our needs or our emotions but His word should be our guide.
This message is about this subject.
The church today teaches tongues in this way: tongues is the ability to pray to God without understanding what is being said, it is to be asked for in conjunction with the baptism of the Spirit, it is for anyone who will ask, it is for self edification, only by speaking in tongues do you have the baptism, and women mostly speak in tongues in their church.
Now lets look at what the bible says about tongues and then we will discuss it. First the bible says tongues was a sign to the unbeliever especially the jew since it was a sign meant for their hearing as Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22. Once the jews heard this they knew it was a sign that God was about through with their covenant. He was tired of their disobedience.
Secondly tongues was a real language miraculously given to a person to speak to others by God. Acts two even lists the languages spoken by the apostles. The other times it was done in front of the jews so they could hear that the gentiles and others received the same Holy Spirit as they. The gentiles were given the jews languages. Three is that tongues was given as a sign gift to prove Gods power and not to use among everyday congregations who spoke the same language. This goes against the whole purpose. It was a way to communicate between believers of different languages especially in the port city of Corinth. Today people claim to be speaking tongues in congregations where everyone speaks the same language. Its not called for.
Tongues and the other gifts of the Spirit were given for the profit of others as 1 Corinthians 12:7 states. A gift from God helps others and is not intended for ones on pleasure. It is to edify others and not you. In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul told the people it was edifying them but was not the purpose of it. He goes on in verse 20 to show them they were using this like children in malice. It was to be used like grown men he goes on to say as God intended it and that was mainly for a sign to the lost and for communication. He even said to the lost you look mad if you just speak in tongues of no understanding. It was to be in order as well and with only a few in each instance. Today there is sometimes more than 10 or even 100 in some cases trying to speak in tongues at the same time. There also is never an interpreter and never a real language being recognized today unlike in the first century. Women are also the main ones in charasmatic churches speaking in tongues and the bible stated that they not speak in tongues in church if you keep 1 Corinthians 14 in context. This verse is totally ignored in todays churches. As I just stated, there must be an interpreter or you must pray for an interpretation or keep quite. This principle is totally ignored in todays church. Paul said he would rather speak 5 intelligible words than 1000 in an unknown tongue. Wow. This is a teaching in itself. They also say it is a prayer language which not only is not taught in scripture but goes against the reason for a Spiritual gift. It is for anothers profit. Your gifts are to profit others not self. Paul is teaching that if you can pray in Spirit then do it for others so they can learn from you. This is the teaching here but is it to be used to someone who doesnt understand you otherwise you just speak to them in the language you both speak. Its not about looking Spiritual its about communicating the word of God and the gospel.
The baptism of the Spirit is the main way they teach the tongues gift. The baptism is to be saught and speaking in tongues is the evidence. It is also for every believer they teach. What does the bible say?
1 Corinthians 12:13 is clear; your baptism in the Spirit is what saved you in the first place. All believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit. Baptism is just a word that means you have been clothed or it is upon you. We all have the Holy Spirit upon, clothed, or in us. Beware of how people try to make words more than what they are to teach different things. Baptism of the Spirit is not a seperate event like charasmatics teach but is our salvation experience. Romans 6 explains this. Also not everyone received the gift of tongues. 1 Corinthians clearly teaches that God gives us the gifts and its not up to us. Its his purposes and his will not ours.
Tongues in the word was also never asked for. God gave the gift as he pleased. No one ever asked to speak in tongues in scripture. Tongues was associated with Peter also who had the keys to the kingdom signifying tongues was associated to the jews as the sign of salvation. Peter was present when the jews spoke in tongues, samaritans, and gentiles. He was to be associated with this as a sign to the jews that all the people were accepted by God as part of the new covenant governed by the Holy Spirit. This is why Peter had to be present in those situations.
Paul also in his teachings taught to seek the greater gifts that edifys the church. He was clearly teaching these Corinthians to go another route. They were trying to look spiritual instead of being a tool for God to build up others.
Tongues like the other miracle gifts spoken about in Mark 16 seem to have passed or not been used by God very shortly after the church was established. Today tongues is the main sign or miracle gift being copied by others maybe because it is harder to disprove. Surely people arent being raised from the dead, healed by a healer, free of snake venom, free of poison injury, and so on. Hebrews 2 even seems to suggest the sign gifts had passed with the Apostles. Paul was even said to have been given special gifts by God in Acts 19 making him different than other followers. Maybe it was because he was recognized as an Apostle born out of season. He seems to be the last to have these gifts. Not being able to heal certain companions such as Timothy also leads me to believe this thaught is correct. Paul undoubtably couldn't heal Timothy but was relegated to pray for healing like we do today.
There is probably a lot more we can say about this teaching but always look at teachings and compare them to the word. Also always look for motive. Most of Churches that teach false ways are usually centered around them and not the gospel message and witnessing the gospel to others. These Churches usually stay within themselves, have little bible study, and also do not stand on a lot of doctrine principles. They tend to call it seeking the Spirit and create a whole other teaching around spirituality. Remember the word of God is not our final authority but our ONLY authority. Stick to it and stay clear of cloudy teachings. There are good people in these churches just simply misguided. Becareful however that your misguidedness doesnt go to the heart and cause a love to the church you attend more than Gods word. Always be fair to God. Not our needs or our emotions but His word should be our guide.
posted by Stacy at 1:31 PM
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