What a joy it is to have you in our Bible study today, friend. Someone called the other day and asked why he (or maybe it was a she, I don't remember now), being a Christian, could not receive the Holy Spirit and talk in tongues like the people did on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two. So, that's our subject today. We want to help that viewer and perhaps others all we can to understand what tongue speaking in the New Testament really was all about. Thanks for joining us.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, my friend for inviting us into your home to study the Bible with you. We are honored and feel very keenly the responsibility to lead our study in the way that God would have us to go. We believe the Bible is the only revelation of God's will for us. And if it were not for what the Bible says, I wouldn't even be here every week. I wouldn't have anything to offer you or to say to you. We pray God will bless our study together and that you will be blessed as we are.
We have received a request from a person who seems to be an honest seeker of truth. I really don't know whether this was a man or woman; I honestly think it was a woman, but it doesn't really matter, does it? It's the question that interests us and so we are going to study the question. She asks why she can't seem to have the faith--or whatever it takes that others seem to have-- the faith that would enable her to speak in tongues as others do, and as the people did on the Day of Pentecost in Acts, chapter two. So, that is what our study is about today.
If you think you might want a free printed copy, or an audio cassette tape or CD of the study, you may have it, as I said, free by writing us: In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. In the event you would prefer to call, use our toll-free telephone number and that number is 1-800-321-8633. Or, if you like you may read it, or hear it or even see it again in its entirety on our website searchtv.org. Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now as we sing; then I'll be back for Bible reading and prayer.
Our scripture reading today is from the book of Acts, the second chapter, beginning in verse one. “Now when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” We read through verse four. And now we will go to God in prayer. Holy and heavenly Father, we are so thankful to You for the revelation of Your will. And there are some things that are difficult of understanding, and many of us find different things that are difficult for us to grasp about what You are teaching in Your word. So we pray Your blessings upon us as we study this passage and others relating to it today, and so that we may learn and know that what You are having to say to us about tongue speaking in the church. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!
Tongue speaking was a wide-spread phenomenon in American religion in the 20th Century. Until only the last decade or two, almost all religious television programming was by those who preached and practiced tongue speaking. By their persistent use of the media, that movement just about invaded all denominations. So that the average "unchurched" person might have thought that tongue speaking was the generally accepted practice of all faiths. However, in more recent years other groups have awakened to the value of television as an educational, information medium as well as the entertainment, and they have been producing some religious programming that have dispelled that notion. As a matter of fact, that was one of the stated purposes for the beginning of this program: "To help restore credibility to the religion of Christ that had been lost in the sensationalism and the commercialism of much of religious television programming." This program, now in its 28th year, along with the moral failure and the fall of some of the giants in the tongue speaking movement-- and the rise of another kind of preaching, has at least slowed the pace, and thwarted the growth of that doctrine.
So then, what does the Bible say about tongue speaking? First of all, it says: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction (or training) in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for all good works" (2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17). From that reading then we learn three things: the scriptures are the "God breathed" word of the living God; secondly, the scriptures are authoritative and; thirdly, they supply sufficient teaching to the man of God for every good work in which he should be involved. The Bible doesn't admit of any "private interpretations" (2 Peter chapter 1, verse 20). "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." Neither does the Bible admit to any further "revelations" (Jude 3). It is the faith once for all delivered to the saints. It's complete as it is, as the inspired revelation of God. It is able to save the soul (James 1:21). "It is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among the sanctified" (Acts chapter 20, verses 32). It is a living message for men living right now (Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12). Thus, it is relevant to today's life on planet Earth. For those reasons, then, the Bible will be our sole authority in our study of tongue speaking in the church.
Well, there are many different and often conflicting ideas about the incidents of tongue speaking in the New Testament. Of that occurrence on the day of Pentecost that we read about a moment ago, especially, some think that it never really happened. It's merely a mistake in Luke's account of the exciting events of that day. But so far as Bible believers are concerned, there are two interpretations. One is that it is the miraculous gift of speaking in languages or dialects (foreign languages or tongues) in which a person has not been studied or trained. The other is the belief that it is an utterance of a "prayer language," or a "language of worship, in thanksgiving, and praise." These people continue to use it as the "proof of Holy Spirit baptism." Some say it is an unintelligible utterance, but others say it is a communicable language of angels. And it will be our task today to try to determine from the Scriptures, which of these is correct. Let's begin with the first mention of the phenomenon in the New Testament and work our way through the Book.
It’s in Mark chapter 16, verses 15 through18 Jesus said in the great commission, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow them that believe. In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." This is the only direct reference Jesus ever made to tongue speaking. What did He mean? Was He speaking of a foreign language that the speakers had not studied? Did He mean some sort of an ecstatic utterance of some kind or other, perhaps similar to that experienced by the pagan religionists of that day? Did He mean a "prayer language;" a "heavenly tongue?" Well, we simply can’t know from that text itself, can we now? No one can say with absolute certainty what He meant from that text alone. So let's go on to the next Bible passage that mentions tongue speaking.
And that is in Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 8, and it describes the event of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost. It says in verse one, "When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they (now according to the last verse of the preceding chapter, remember now God did not divide it into chapters and verses, we did that; but that just refers to the twelve) they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they (the apostles) were sitting. Then there appeared unto them (that would be the apostles) divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them (the apostles). And they (the apostles) were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them (that would be the apostles again) utterance.” Now I've inserted the word "apostles" in these places because a careful and accurate reading indicates that this baptism of the Holy Spirit was upon the apostles, and the tongue speaking was done by the apostles, not the 120, or the multitude as some seem to hold to. Now, we'll resume the reading in verse five: "And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under Heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these men who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?” Well, there is no doubt about it, friend, these "tongues" were the languages or the dialects of those other nations from which the multitude had come. The words "tongues," in verse four, and "language," in verses five and six, or six and eight I should say, are used interchangeably. So then, the tongues with which the apostles spoke were not a "prayer language," or "a heavenly tongue," but the languages of men of other nations; and there can be no question about that, can there now? That comes from a careful observation of what is taught in the text.
Well, the next biblical reference to tongue speaking is in Acts chapter 10, verses 44, 45, and 46 at the house of Cornelius. Peter was the preacher again. His sermon is reviewed in the preceding verses. Then the Holy Spirit tells us, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, and as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days." By this manifestation, God demonstrated His approval of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentile people, and that salvation is extended to them, too, and His acceptance of them into the kingdom. Peter said later that God "gave them the same gift as He gave us..." That is in Acts chapter 11, verse 17. So if the tongues of Acts 2 were given to the Apostles at the beginning of the Christian era, were languages of other men, to which conclusion we already came, aren't we to conclude that Cornelius and his Gentile friends spoke with the tongues of other nations, too?
Well, the next reference to tongue speaking in the scriptures is that of the Ephesians, and Paul came there to Ephesus and found twelve men who had been baptized wrongly. Yes, that's right, people can be baptized, but baptized by the wrong authority (that would be the vote of the church), for the wrong purpose (as an outward sign of an inward working of grace), or in the wrong way (by sprinkling). But when Paul questioned them about it, they were immediately baptized in the name of Jesus Christ; baptized again, properly this time. Baptism is just that important, my friend. If it isn't done in the right way the first time, it needs to be done again, correctly. Then the Scripture says, "And when Paul had laid his hands on them, they spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts chapter 19, verses 1 to 7).
All we know about the tongues from the Bible up to this point, friend, is that they are the other languages, and we have no reason to think that this incident is any different from the others. When Christ commissioned the twelve apostles, He promised them that they would speak with new tongues. When that gift came upon them in Acts 2, it was the power to speak in the languages of men which they had not been taught or they had not studied. So Christ must have been referring to that kind of tongue speaking. And in every incident in the scriptures up to this point wherein men spoke in tongues, we have found nothing, absolutely nothing that would indicate that they did anything else.
Well now, this brings us to 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13 and 14, all of which are a discussion of spiritual gifts. They are enumerated in chapter 12, beginning at verse one; the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, and working of miracles, and prophecy, discerning of spirits, and different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Each gift was given to an individual Christian for the profit of all the other members of that church. No one Christian received all the gifts, but they were distributed to different ones in the church according to the will of the Holy Spirit. Those receiving the gift of tongues received it, not for their own pleasure or for their own praise of worthiness, or for their own profit but for edifying or building up the whole church. Some of these gifts were being abused. And jealousies, strifes and divisions rose among them over these choicest gifts. And some were saying that those who didn't receive the more glamorous gifts, (such as tongue speaking as an example) they were not of the body. Well, did you ever hear anything like that in all your life? Well, listen to the explanation of the doctrine of "born again Christians" as though some Christians are born again and others are not. So in chapter 13, Paul is directed by the Holy Spirit to tell them that love is superior to any of them.
And in chapter 14 he corrects some of those abuses, especially the abuse of the tongue speaking gift. In this chapter only in the Bible (and only in the King James Version) do we have the words "unknown tongue." But, in most printings of the King James Version, the word "unknown" is italicized to indicate to the reader that the word did not appear in the manuscripts, but was added by the translators. So far as the Lord is concerned, they were not "unknown tongues"-- meaning unintelligible, ecstatic utterances. They were unknown only in the sense that the one who spoke them had never been trained in those languages in which he was empowered of God to speak. Tongue speaking on the Day of Pentecost was not because of the great faith of the speakers, but the Holy Spirit speaking through the apostles to the convert and their audiences. Now let us pray. Holy Father, we are thankful to You for this teaching on the use of tongues in the New Testament and what they were for and the limitations that were put upon them. We thank You, Father, for all this teaching and we pray that in our conclusion now we can come to the right conclusion and help some people that may be having difficulty with this question. In Jesus’ name we pray it, Amen!
My friend, in every instance of tongue speaking in the scriptures, the people did not speak in "a prayer language," "a heavenly tongue" or an "ecstatic utterance,"-- but the languages of other nations, and there is nothing in the three chapters to indicate any difference. We know from this study in 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14 that the concept of the "ecstatic speech," or the "prayer language," or "the heavenly tongue" is not that which was practiced by the New Testament Christians. That there was a gift of speaking in tongues in the infant church, there isn’t any doubt. We have seen that from the scriptures. It was the gift of speaking in the languages of other people, languages they had not studied for the sake of the world or-- international evangelism-- speaking the word to people who spoke other languages, and that was why it was given. I want to close with the reading of this summary from W.E. Vine's Expository New Testament Words. He says, "There is no evidence of the continuance of this gift after Apostolic times nor indeed in the latter times of the apostles themselves; this provides confirmation of the fulfillment of 1 Corinthians 13 and 8, that this gift would cease in the churches, just as would prophecies and knowledge in the sense of knowledge received by immediate supernatural power, as in chapter 14, verse 6. The completion of the Holy Scriptures has provided the churches, he says, with all that is necessary for individual and collective guidance, instruction and edification." That is on page 143.
If you think a further study of the subject would be profitable for you and you would like to restudy what we have said, you may have a free printed transcript or an audio cassette or a CD by mailing your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083; or by e-mail searchtv@searchtv.org. And our toll-free telephone number for this use is 1-800-321-8633. Oh say, we do hope that you have been encouraged and inspired; and you will want to attend the meetings of the churches of Christ near you somewhere, and where the Bible is respected as God’s word, and it is preached as God’s word, and it is obeyed as God’s word. Well, we hope you will do that, too. If you need to know the address of the nearest congregation near you, we would be happy to be that help for you. Simply use the address or the telephone number that we gave you a while ago and ask us for such information, and we would be glad to provide it. God bless you now. We love you.
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