Troublesome Topic: Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:22 & 23

HOW DOES THIS VERSE FIT WITH THE REST?

Here the comparison is between proper public tongues and prophecy. Public tongues (similar to what happened on Pentecost), is for unbelievers because it is intended to convince them to believe in Jesus. In contrast, prophecy (exhorting or admonishing about one’s spiritual condition) is for believers because it assumes one is ready to obey.

The need for the miraculous is made clear by the use of the word which does not mean simply “a sign,” but rather “a miraculous sign.” Satan’s counterfeit has eliminated the miraculous, enabling men and women to control the expression of the “gift” without having to depend on God’s spirit to do what mere man cannot do. Therefore, such action is not a gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.

WAS THIS A CONTRADICDTION?

Just prior to this verse Paul said that tongues served to persuade the unbeliever, but here he contradicts that – unless the first one was talking about true public tongues as seen at Pentecost, and here he is addressing the counterfeit form of tongues, which is also public, but which lacks the power of the Holy Spirit.

WHICH ONES ARE THE IDIOTS?

Notice that the counterfeit does not convince unbelievers to trust in Jesus, rather it convinces them of, well, uhmm, something extremely embarrassing. Notice that he placed the word “clueless” (we get our word “idiot” from this word) in their minds by asking “What if some people come to your meeting who are not just unbelievers, they’re clueless about all things spiritual?” Then, after setting them up by putting this picture of clueless people into their minds, he hits with the harsh truth that they, the Corinthian believers, are the “clueless idiots!” Even a person that is considered clueless (an idiot) has enough sense to evaluate the situation and determine that “These people are worse off than I am – they’re raving mad.”

If it seems like Paul was really hard on the Corinthians, he was!

MORE ABOUT THE COUNTERFEIT

If you can turn something on and off at will, it is not from the Holy Spirit. We cannot control Him; He must guide and empower us!

True tongues is something that cannot be learned by repeating a phrase. If it can be taught by one human to another, it is not from the Holy Spirit. I have had people explain to me how to speak in tongues, and I have had someone try to teach me how to do it. True tongues is not something that can be coached.

Let’s compare this to other gifts for ministry. We try to teach people how to preach, teach, evangelize, serve, give, etc, but one can usually tell the difference between one who has been trained in something, and one who has been gifted by God in that area.

While there are varying degrees of Spirit empowered preaching and evangelism, a miniature version and a full-ledged version, if you will, public tongues has no secondary, or small-scale iteration. Public tongues in Acts was always a miracle, it was not a case of someone gifted in speaking several languages. Although there had to have been such people back then, God did not choose any of them; He chose to communicate His message through a miracle.

Private tongues, as I define it, is also a miracle, it is something God does. However, I believe there is something that gets close to private tongues and that is occasionally groaning or weeping in prayer. But we cannot call groaning or weeping in prayer true tongues unless the Holy spirit takes over and all we have left is unintelligible utterances. Then again, when someone today offers to teach you how to speak in tongues, it is not groans and tears that they are talking about.

If someone says or implies that everyone should speak in tongues, he is violating the principle that everyone does not receive the same spiritual gift. Most of chapter 12 of I Corinthians (vv 8-30) is dedicated to this principle. Such a strong emphasis on this principle may indicate that some of the Corinthians were trying to convince the entire congregation that everyone should speak in tongues.

The problem comes from not handling our gift in love. If we are anointed by God, no one should remember very much about us, they should remember what God did; It is about Him, not us. We are only the messengers; God wants them to focus on the message, and so should we.  They should remember the ONE the message came from, but not the _one it came through.

Ignoring the topic of tongues does not unite, it only unites those that already agree with those ignoring tongues.

As a side-note – In the Scriptures we never find someone falling backwards when confronted by God or His Spirit, only falling forward before God. Falling forward is an act of the will and a symbol of submission.

We respect the power and effectiveness of a gift of the Holy Spirit and honor God’s sovereignty over such gifts by staying as far as we can from any counterfeit of those gifts, be it false generosity, staged healings, helping others for the wrong reasons, redefining of prophecy, or speaking in tongues in a way that violates the rules for spiritual gifts.

WHAT IF SOMEONE’S EXPERIENCE SEEMS TO POINT TO MODERN TONGUES AS VALID AND PROPER?

Have you had experiences or heard stories about times that God seems to have honored the modern use of tongues by granting healings or other miracles? Is this proof that the modern use of tongues is not a counterfeit? For now, I encourage you stay focused on what the Bible says about this topic; do that by continuing to move through this study. After we have a full picture of what the Word of God teaches on the matter, we can reconsider this question (I will do so after verse 40).

WE SHOULD ASK OURSELVES THE FOLLOWING:

In my spiritual life, do I sometimes choose one of Satan’s many counterfeits because it looks easier than the other options? How can I more accurately discern Satan’s counterfeits?

Do I trust and follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance in my life, even if it’s unpleasant and hard?

Am I happy to be God’s messenger without getting any credit or attention? What can I do in my life to serve more frequently as God’s messenger?

The next lesson in the Mid Length and Short Series on Tongues is Precepts about Tongues from I Corinthians 14:26-28