BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 29 March 1993
FORBID
NOT TO SPEAK IN TONGUES
By Allon
Maxwell
|
The "Pentecostal"
church at Corinth, had many serious problems. Not the least of
these was their lack of knowledge about the vital differences between real gifts
of the Holy Spirit and the false gifts which had crept into their midst. There were false
apostles amongst them, who Paul bluntly described as agents of Satan, disguised
as servants of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These false apostles
had introduced another Jesus and a different Gospel. Those who had allowed
themselves to be led astray by this false teaching, had received a different spirit
which was not the Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) There was disorder
and confusion in their meetings, resulting from the exercise of the false "gifts"
which accompanied this false spirit. One major source
of this disorder was the unhealthy preoccupation with the false "gift"
of tongues which was dominating their meetings. Their childish behaviour,
(1 Corinthians 14:20),
had left them open to well-deserved accusations of madness. (1 Corinthians 14:23) God could not possibly
be the author of this confusion, or of the "gifts" which caused it.
There was a great
need to restore decency, order, and peace. (1 Corinthians
14:40) However, even though
it was obvious that not all at Corinth was of the Holy, Paul's cure for the problem
was not to forbid speaking in tongues altogether. (1 Corinthians 14:39) That would also eliminate the genuine,
if it was present. Instead, he placed
limits on it, which imposed responsibility on the Corinthians to "grow up"
in their discernment of what was from God and what was not. If we accept that
Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit, we must also assume that these limits are
actually God's limits, rather than Paul's. We must also accept that these limits
are still valid today, as God's way of dealing with the Corinthian problem, should
we encounter it. PAUL'S CONTROLS
If he cannot interpret
and no one else can either, then the speaker is to remain silent.
The madness of all praying in tongues at once, is not to be
tolerated at all. Nor is the madness of all singing in tongues together, to be
tolerated. The mere addition
of music to something already condemned by Paul, only serves to compound the confusion!
With these controls,
it will be possible to remove most of the counterfeit from any Corinthian situation.
Outside Paul's limits it is obviously not from God. There remains now
only the problem of a counterfeit tongue accompanied by a counterfeit interpretation. This would have
to be dealt with in the same way as the potential problem of counterfeit prophecy. The hearers are
charged with the responsibility of weighing what is said. We are not to surrender
our minds in blind acceptance that all "spiritual gifts" are automatically
from God. Instead, we are encouraged to test the spirits to see whether they really
are from God. (1 John 4:1) Neither Tongues
nor Prophecy are to be forbidden or rejected out of hand. Instead, all is to be
put to the test as to whether it is from God, or not. The good is to be
retained and the false rejected. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22) Those who search
for God with all their heart will perceive the Divine wisdom in this. God invites
the active participation of His children in the search for truth. We are required
to worship with our minds as well as our hearts. HOW
DO WE DECIDE WHETHER TONGUES, The gift of distinguishing
between true spirits and false, (1 Corinthians 12:10),
if present, (and if valid!), would certainly help. However, I do not
believe that we are helpless without this gift. Nor do I believe that it is meant
to stand alone, or bypass other clearly defined Biblical standards for measuring
the validity of "spiritual gifts". TEST NO. 1 - THE
DIVINE LOVE Paul's primary test
for the validity of any gift, is spelt out in some considerable detail, in Without this love,
no gift has any meaning at all. Without this love,
God has had no measurable influence in the life of the person claiming the gift.
The person is nothing. The gift is useless. This love, along
with the rest of the fruit of the Spirit, is the infallible mark of the Spirit's
presence. (Tongues is not.) Without this love,
which is the foremost fruit of the Spirit, how can we believe that the Holy Spirit
is present in any gift which is claimed. TEST NO. 2 - OBEDIENCE The Holy Spirit
is given to those who love Jesus and obey Jesus. (John 14:15 & Acts 5:32) Those who do not
obey, do not love Jesus at all. (John 14:23-24)
John bluntly labels those who claim to know Jesus, whilst disobeying, as liars,
devoid of the truth. (1 John 2:3-6) It should be obvious
that no man or woman, wilfully devoid of the truth in this way, should be given
credibility or support for any claim that they have received a gift from the Spirit
of Truth. TEST NO. 3 - BIBLICAL
TRUTH IN THE SPEAKER The Holy Spirit
is the Spirit of Truth. A mature grasp of
Bible truth, amongst godly elders of the church, (Titus 1:9), will always be at the forefront
of any recognition of false gifts. The gift of tongues
described in Mark 16:17, is one of the signs by which Jesus
confirms to the hearers, his approval of the Gospel message, spoken in His name. However, if we recognise
in the speaker, the presence of dangerous false teaching which denies the teaching
of Jesus Himself, or the Holy Spirit's teaching about Jesus, with potential to
lead the hearers astray, we may be sure that the gift is NOT a confirmation from
Jesus, of anything! We are not to give
our blessing or our recognition, or our support, to such ministries or "gifts".
(2 John 7-11) Bible truth about
who Jesus is; about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God; about the real Christian
hope of the resurrection; about sin and righteousness and Judgement; about remission
of sins through baptism; and about life changing radical obedience to Jesus; are
all too important to ignore, in assessing the validity of claims for gifts of
the Holy Spirit. False prophets,
with a false message about fundamental Bible Truth, are not inspired by the Spirit
of Truth, but by the spirit of error. (1 John 4:6) I have been told
too many times by people who claim the gift of tongues that because I believe
in the ONE TRUE GOD who Jesus calls Father, and reject the Trinity, I am not really
a Christian. Why should I accept
the validity of any "spiritual gift", in anyone who labels as heresy,
what I KNOW to be truth? TEST NO. 4 - BIBLE
PURPOSE IN THE MESSAGE ITSELF A false prophet,
with a false tongue, interpreted, but inspired by something other than the Spirit
of Truth, can be expected to fail somewhere to measure up to the test of conformity
with the Word of God. Somewhere, somehow,
we can expect that a false gift of tongues will fail in the fundamental purpose
of edifying the church for the common good of all, in a real way. Mature believers,
familiar with the voice of the Shepherd, will quickly detect the voice of the
stranger, and refuse to follow. (John 10:1-5) IS THERE A REAL
THING AT ALL? Because Paul did
not forbid tongues entirely, it is, I believe, a valid assumption that there must
have been real gifts of tongues present in Corinth, side by side with the counterfeit. Otherwise, there
would seem to be little point in allowing tongues to continue at all. What Paul did do,
was teach us how to discern between the true and the false, choosing the good
and refusing the evil. After applying Paul's
standards, prayerfully, and so far as I know, in honesty and openness of heart
before God, I am convinced that by far the majority of the speaking in tongues
that I have personally encountered amongst Pentecostals, is false. I encourage those
who read this, to accept their own responsibility to search out THE TRUTH for
themselves, from the one who gives the Spirit of Truth. |