The Gift of Tongues, Part 1

Tom Shrader introduces a multi-week study of 1 Corinthians 14 by surveying the troubled context of the Corinthian church and outlining the key questions the chapter must answer about spiritual gifts. He distinguishes the legitimate biblical gift of tongues—a known human language spoken as a sign to unbelieving Jews—from the ecstatic, unintelligible prayer language he argues was imported into Corinth from surrounding pagan worship. Drawing on 1 Corinthians 12–14, he contends that Paul's overarching goal in this chapter is to correct the counterfeit, affirm the authentic gift, and demonstrate the superiority of prophecy—the clear proclamation of God's Word—as the gift that actually edifies the church.

“God's given you a spiritual gift, a special enablement to perform a function in the body of Christ with effectiveness and efficiency, and he gave you this gift for one reason—to edify the body, for the common good, to build up the body.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: 1 Corinthians

Recorded: 2002 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 52 min

Themes: tongues, spiritual gifts, prophecy, church order, worship, discernment, biblical truth, edification, confused about tongues, charismatic background, new believer, questioning spiritual gifts, seeking discernment, church member, young adult, navigating doctrinal controversy

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 14:1-9, 1 Corinthians 14:2, 1 Corinthians 14:4, 1 Corinthians 14:5, 1 Corinthians 14:13, 1 Corinthians 14:14, 1 Corinthians 14:18, 1 Corinthians 14:21-22, 1 Corinthians 12:7, 1 Corinthians 12:30, 1 Corinthians 12:31, 1 Corinthians 13:8, 1 Corinthians 1:12, 1 Corinthians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 11:3, 1 Corinthians 11:30, Isaiah 28:11-12, 2 Timothy 3:16, Acts 2, Acts 17

Theological Themes: cessationism, pneumatology, gift of tongues, charismatic gifts, biblical languages, sign gifts, sola scriptura, corporate worship

Full Transcript

Introduction

Please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I know from some of you — I had a good number of emails this week saying, "I'm praying for you as you prepare to teach this passage." That is so encouraging. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Those of you who have read ahead and know 1 Corinthians 14 know that it is a topic that is somewhat controversial, not necessarily at East Valley Bible Church, but in the body of believers today.

As you glance at 1 Corinthians 14, you quickly see that Paul is dealing with the issue of tongues. I want to be very deliberate tonight and really take time. We will spend at least 20 of our 35 minutes on introduction, because I want to paint this picture very clearly. I think we can work through the passage relatively quickly, thoroughly, and accurately, but we need to have the background of what Paul is saying. It looks as though this series will take three weeks rather than two, but whatever it takes, here we go.

Key Questions This Series Will Answer

As we look at this chapter, several questions come up. First, why does God give spiritual gifts? Remember the context: 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 are all about spiritual gifts, so we want to understand the purpose of a spiritual gift. Second, does the Bible give us a clear definition of the gift of tongues? As we read chapter 14, we want to know what Paul says and whether we can derive from it what biblical tongues really are.

Third, has the biblical gift of tongues ceased? You have your Bible open there in chapter 13, verse 8, where Paul said tongues shall cease. We know from the Greek text that the indication is they will literally just pass away. Some say that has already happened; others say it has not yet happened. Fourth, is the gift of tongues different from a heavenly prayer language? Let me spend a moment here, because these are two different things.

The biblical gift of tongues is when someone stands up and speaks in a language that is known somewhere in the world but unknown to the speaker. God speaks to that person — and we will look at what He is trying to accomplish when He does that — and someone else interprets, or the people themselves understand in their own language. That is the biblical gift of tongues. When someone stands up and utters something that is not a known language, or when someone alone suddenly breaks into this utterance — and I am going to use a word that sounds pejorative, though I do not mean it that way — what I would call gibberish, meaning it is not a known language, is that the same thing? Obviously I have already suggested that the answer is no, and I want to make that distinction clear.

I will try throughout this study to use the phrase "the biblical gift of tongues" or "the gift of tongues" when speaking of the legitimate gift that Paul acknowledges. When I speak of a "prayer language," I am referring to what I believe is a counterfeit that crept into the church at Corinth. We will talk about that more tonight. Additional questions we will address include: Does the biblical gift of tongues described in Scripture match what we see around us today? My suspicion is that no one here has ever actually seen the biblical gift of tongues. Does the gift of tongues represent evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? I was watching a teacher the other night who said that if you do not speak in tongues, you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit — is that right? Is the biblical gift of tongues meant for every believer? There are some who teach that if you do not speak in tongues — meaning pray in tongues — you may not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit at all. And finally, where in the Bible do we see an appropriate example of the gift of tongues?

Those are the questions we are going to try to answer, along with others, as we work our way through this chapter. My suspicion is that it would be good to come back at the end of our final week and answer every one of them directly. Many will be answered even tonight, but hopefully everything will be clear to us by the time we finish this chapter.

Background on the Letter and the City of Corinth

Because we have been away from the book for a while, and because so many of you have joined us since we started 1 Corinthians, let me give you a little background. This book is better described as a letter. Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and the date of the letter is 55 AD. Paul is in Ephesus when he writes back to this church, which he had visited before arriving in Ephesus. That date is very important to me, because it demonstrates that this letter is early in the New Testament canon. For example, when Luke writes in the book of Acts about the speaking in tongues that takes place at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, that is seven or eight years after this letter. That becomes very significant, and we will return to why.

Corinth is a city with two histories. It flourished in ancient times, was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, and was rebuilt by the Romans in 44 BC. It was populated in various ways, including by scoundrels and freed slaves from Rome. The city was located in a strategically important position, and Corinth became an important

The City of Corinth

Corinth's physical location is the reason it became such a significant city. As people traveled and navigated around ancient Greece, especially for purposes of business and commerce, they could go around the southern part of Greece, but it was a treacherous route. Historians said that sailors never made that trip until they had first prepared their will. The other way to navigate it was to go over to a little four-mile isthmus, unload the boats, move them over land, and put them back in the water. That saved travelers 250 miles, all sorts of danger, money, and risk. So all of a sudden Corinth exploded as a city.

Corinth was not only strategically located but also a cosmopolitan city — something like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami all rolled into one. It was a business center, a political center, and it was filled with pagan worship. The most notorious example was the temple built to the goddess Aphrodite. There were thousands of temple prostitutes who worshiped there and would come down into the city at night. The people in this town were notoriously wicked.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul writes to this church: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminates, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God — and such were some of you." It was a wicked place, and so it only makes sense that the people who came together out of that background would have a very sordid history.

The Church Reflects the Culture

About every six months at this church, I ask everyone who became a Christian after age 18 or 21 to raise their hand, and the number of hands that go up is remarkable. If you have lived in this culture as a pagan for 21 years — through high school, into college, and out into the world — and you were not a Christian, you have got dirt from the world all over you. That is simply the reality.

It happened not long ago at Priority Living. I was standing talking to a guy, and he pointed across the room and said, "Does that guy come here often?" I told him the man was here almost every week. He said, "You've got to be kidding me. That guy is the biggest puke I've ever seen in my life — a total derelict." Not long after, the man he had been describing came up to me, pointed to the first guy, and said, "Does he come here?" I told him he had just started. He said, "Let me tell you about that guy."

That is what the church is, if you have been around the world. We are saints, but we were sinners, and some of us did it very, very well. Here is what I say all the time: if you do not think sin is fun, you are not doing it right. It is fun — but it is not fun for long. As Scripture says, it is only for a season. There were wicked people in Corinth, just as there are wicked people in the wicked country we live in today. That much makes sense.

The Structure of 1 Corinthians

This is an important outline that we used in the very first week of this series, and I think it is powerful background necessary for understanding what is happening in 1 Corinthians 14. Even though this is a fairly lengthy letter covering 16 chapters, there are really only three parts. There is an opening of nine verses. There is a closing that runs from chapter 16, verse 5, to the end. The rest of the letter — in essence, 15 chapters — is written to a church that is completely messed up.

The church at Corinth was Christian. Paul treats them as Christians. But they had nothing but problems, and this letter was written to continually correct and instruct them. Every one of the key issues they got wrong.

He begins with unity. In 1 Corinthians 1:12 he says some of them were claiming to follow Paul, some Apollos, some Peter, some Christ. They were split, selfish, ambitious, and living in the flesh. As a result, the church was in factions — fractured rather than unified as God would have it, a body joined together in love, purpose, and mission.

Servanthood as the Antidote to Division

The antidote to that kind of fracture is found in what naturally happens when you are in the midst of hurt: your eyes turn inward onto yourself. One of the great ways to escape that self-centeredness is to begin to serve. That is why Paul talks about servanthood. He is not saying not to judge sin. He is saying not to judge one another. He is saying to get your eyes off each other, and if you are going to look at each other, serve each other. That word "minister" in the Greek literally means to serve. Once you begin to serve one another, a bond forms between you.

Morality and Marriage in the Corinthian Church

The Corinthians were also deeply struggling in the area of morality. In 1 Corinthians 5:1, Paul writes: "It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not even exist among the Gentiles — that someone has his father's wife." Paul is saying that the pagans do not even tolerate what this church is tolerating. There was a man in the congregation sleeping with his own mother, and Paul's response was direct: that sin had to be dealt with.

Then Paul turns to the subject of marriage. His first point on that topic was that, in certain respects, it is better to remain single than to be married.

Overview of 1 Corinthians

Because you can serve God better. But most of you are going to be married because you just need it physically. You need the sexual aspect of marriage. It is interesting that at the very beginning of chapter 7, he reprimands them. He says this: in marriage, the husband's body belongs to the wife, and the wife's body belongs to the husband. So don't be depriving each other. He means there ought to be sexual intimacy. Don't discontinue sexual intimacy, because it opens the door for Satan to tempt you. A very practical letter.

Then he talks about liberty. We learned more about eating meat sacrificed to idols than we ever thought we wanted to know when we studied that. But the point was simply this: you have freedom. You were bought at a price. So Paul says, let me give you some advice. Don't enslave yourself to men, but you are free. You have great freedom in the body of Christ. Take advantage of it. Paul says, when I'm with the Greeks, I'm a Greek. When I'm with the Jews, I'm a Jew. What he is saying is, I will be as accommodating as I can. I never violate my conscience. I never go contrary to the Word of God, but I want to eliminate all the barriers I can so that I can relate to people and have the opportunity to preach the gospel. Great freedom.

There was active in Greece, but especially in Corinth, a very radical feminist movement, and the women were usurping the role of the men. Paul wrote this in chapter 11, verse 3: "I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ." There is the order. God is the God of order. God has order in the church — the elders rule, and so forth. In the government, the government rules and citizens obey. At the workplace there is order. And God has an order in the family: husbands love your wives, wives submit to your husbands. God is the head of Christ, and Christ is the head of the family. That is God's order. Paul said, you have gotten this all out of line, and it needs to be corrected.

It is not just there. The disorder even comes into the Lord's Supper. Paul said that even the Lord's Supper was being abused in this church — even the Lord's Supper had become an occasion for a drunken, raucous party. So much so that in chapter 11 he says, examine yourself, and make sure you come in a manner that is worthy. Verse 30: "For this reason many among you are weak and sick and a number sleep." He said, some of you have misused the Lord's Supper, and consequently you are feeble, you are sick, and some of you have died. God had literally said they are coming home — He was not going to put up with that anymore. That is how bad it was around the Lord's Supper.

Chapters 12, 13, and 14 deal with spiritual gifts, centered on the idea of the body, and we will come back to that. Chapter 15 addresses the resurrection, and Paul tries to correct them there. Then he devotes four verses to giving and money, and then he closes out the book. This is a hugely important point: Paul makes the point again and again that this church in Corinth has everything backwards. They have distorted everything they have touched, and counterfeits and fakes have moved in all over this church.

Key Passages on Spiritual Gifts

Here are some key passages I want you to look at. I mention these because they will help you as you try to answer those questions. I assume that all those questions and everything you see on the screen is now posted on the website, so as you work through the questions, these verses will be helpful.

Here is the first one: chapter 12, verse 7. "To each one has been given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Here is what he is saying. Each person receives a spiritual gift. If you are a Christian, you have received a spiritual gift — a special enablement to perform a function in the body of Christ with effectiveness and efficiency. You have one. God has given you a spiritual gift, and He gave you this gift not to draw attention to yourself, not to pump you up. He gave you this gift for one reason: to edify the body, for the common good, to build up the body. That is the point of the spiritual gifts.

The Purpose of Tongues

Paul tells us the purpose of tongues. Here it is in verses 21 and 22. He quotes loosely from Isaiah, chapter 28, verses 11 and 12: "By men of strange tongue and by lips of strangers I will speak to this people, to the nation of Israel, and even so they will not listen to me." Paul said, God is going to use these tongues, these languages — He is going to use people other than the nation itself, speaking to the Jews, to proclaim God's judgment on the Jews. So if you are trying to figure out what tongues are for, there it is. See it in verse 22? "So then, tongues are assigned not to believers, but to unbelievers." We are trying to figure out the biblical gift of tongues. Why would God give it? He gave it primarily as a sign to unbelieving Jews.

Now Paul interjects here the idea of prophecy, and you are going to see today that this is a prominent point. When he speaks of prophecy, he does not mean telling the future, although in their context that may have been some of it. What he is talking about is an accurate proclamation of this Word — declaring, being able to say, "Thus saith the Lord." We will talk more about that in a moment.

Here is another passage that is very important. Paul is talking about tongues and says, "I wish that you all spoke in tongues, even more that you prophesy, unless he interprets." Here is the point: I wish that you prayed in tongues, but there had better be prophecy, otherwise the church is not edified. If there is not an interpreter, you keep quiet. I was watching television the other night. There was a man with a large Pentecostal charismatic church, and he had these people all worked up and ready to go, and he —

The Counterfeit Versus the Biblical

Whatever was happening in that service — everyone standing, speaking simultaneously, dancing, moving all over the place — I don't know what that was, but it wasn't biblical tongues. That much is clear. A sign to the unbeliever? The unbeliever is looking at that and turning the channel. There was no interpretation taking place. Whatever it is, it isn't biblical tongues.

The next passage is important: "Therefore, let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret." Paul is saying that if a tongue is being spoken and there is no interpretation, it simply makes no sense. Pray for interpretation. "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful." Something is going on inside — the heart is engaged — but the mind has checked out. It doesn't understand what is happening.

Paul asks, what is the outcome? What do we do then? His answer is that he never disconnects his spirit from his mind. God never calls us to do that. They always hang together. So Paul says: if I pray in the spirit, I will pray with my mind; if I sing in the spirit, I will sing with the mind. He never, ever disconnects those two things.

Four Things Paul Is Doing in 1 Corinthians 14

With that background — and especially with the understanding that Paul is writing to correct this church — let's look at the first nine verses of chapter 14. Before we do, here are four points that frame the whole chapter. First, Paul recognizes that there is a legitimate gift of tongues. Second, Paul is explaining the purpose of that gift and how it is to be used. Third, he is attacking the counterfeit. Fourth, he is demonstrating the superiority of prophecy — proclaiming the truth — over the gift of tongues. There may be other things Paul is addressing, but those four are primarily what he is dealing with in this chapter.

Pursue Love, Desire Gifts

Verse 1: "Pursue love." In chapter 12, verse 31, Paul ends that chapter saying, "But pursue or desire earnestly the gifts, but especially the greater gift." Then all of chapter 13 is a discussion on love. Verse 31 of chapter 12 and 1 Corinthians 14:1 bookend that chapter on love. The instruction here is to hunt down love, chase after love, intensely pursue love. As we saw when we looked at chapter 13, if you have all the gifts and you don't have love, you are wasting your time.

"So pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts." Remember who Paul is writing to — not a single person, but a body. He is saying: you pursue your gift, you pursue your gift, you pursue your gift. He is not telling each individual to pursue all the gifts. God has given you a gift; find out what that gift is. The verse continues: "especially that you may prophesy." Paul is emphasizing prophecy here because when prophecy is exercised — not foretelling the future, but proclaiming the Word of God — something happens to the church. He is comparing and contrasting, I believe, the false gift of tongues — the so-called prayer language — with prophecy.

Prophecy Versus Tongues: Verses 2–4

Verses 2 through 4: "For the one who speaks in a tongue doesn't speak to men but to God, for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But the one who prophesies, to him he speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, the one who prophesies edifies the church."

Prophecy is superior because it edifies the whole body. What Paul means by prophesying here is proclaiming the truth — standing up and declaring it. The closest parallel today would be expository teaching. Calvin called it "a peculiar gift of examining revelation," by which he meant the revealed Word. When Paul speaks of prophecy, he is talking about understanding God's view of man as we open this book — seeing what God says about man, how man interacts with God, the sinfulness of man.

That is edification. The word itself combines two Greek words, one meaning house and one meaning build. It builds you up. It exhorts you — that is, it comes alongside you. It comforts you. This is exactly what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16 about Scripture: "All scripture is inspired by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and training, that the man of God may be equipped for good work." Scripture tells us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right. That is Paul's point. Prophecy is good because it edifies the body. And remember what we saw as the purpose of spiritual gifts — to build up one another.

Approaching Verse 2 Honestly

Now let's look at verse 2. This is a key verse, and I want to be as fair as I can possibly be about it. I have had the advantage of nearly a month of study preparing for this chapter. I tried to approach it without bringing my prior conclusions along, though that is almost impossible — everyone comes to a text with some view already formed. When I finished that pursuit, I arrived at the same conclusion I started with.

After that, I did something I do not often do: I went and read and studied the men who hold a different view than mine. I got hold of some recordings and listened to them carefully. These are the men who would say there is a prayer language.

The Case Against a Private Prayer Language

I'll go ahead and give you my view. I don't think there's any such thing as a prayer language, and I really don't think you can support it from scripture. Those who say that there is a prayer language primarily support it from three verses: First Corinthians 14:2, 14:4, and 14:14. Here is what they say: if the one who is speaking speaks in a tongue, he doesn't speak to men, but he's speaking to God. So they say, here's this person speaking in a tongue, but he's not speaking to men — he's speaking to God, edifying himself. And at the same time, in verse 14, "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays." What they build out of this is that there is a prayer language — probably not a known language, but gibberish — being used simply to pray to God. The speaker is edifying himself, with his mind not engaged. That may sound like a weak argument, but that is the argument being made, and I don't find it very convincing.

Tongue vs. Tongues: A Key Interpretive Distinction

Here is a general rule that is helpful in interpreting this passage. Paul moves between the word "tongue," singular, and "tongues," plural. Generally, when he uses the word "tongue," I believe he is referring to the counterfeit. When he uses the word "tongues," he is speaking of the legitimate gift. When he uses the word "tongue," he is talking about a prayer language — and that is what is going on in that church.

They are in the middle of a pagan culture, and all of the false pagan worship practices include this kind of gibberish. Today, if you go to the false churches — the Mormon church — they are praying in tongues. The Hindus are praying in tongues. The Buddhists are praying in tongues. The Eskimos pray in tongues. They are praying in tongues all over the place. These are all counterfeits of what was once the real thing, and that is not unusual at all.

Remember, this is a church that is struggling, and Paul is reprimanding them. Do not separate this from the context. Paul is reprimanding them and saying, essentially, you cannot get this stuff right. You are chasing this sign gift, this great gift, and those who don't have it are incorporating into the church this gibberish they have seen modeled around them in the surrounding culture.

"Speaking to a God" — A Closer Look at the Greek

Now consider this. A person who speaks in a prayer language, Paul says, doesn't speak to men but to God. Some scholars suggest that a better translation is possible here, since in the Greek there is no definite article before "God." A better rendering might be that they speak not to men, but "to a god" — much as it is translated in Acts 17, when Paul comes into Athens and sees the statue to an unknown god. I called one of the Greek scholars here in town and asked him about that, and he said it is a legitimate interpretation, though not necessarily the one he would choose. I think it is an interpretation that belongs there.

Paul is saying: if you are out there praying in some unknown language, you are not speaking to men — which was the whole point of the gift of tongues, wasn't it? You are not speaking to men; you are speaking to a god. Nobody knows what you are saying. You don't know what you are saying. You are speaking mysteries — and he doesn't mean profound, revealed truth. You are simply speaking in a way that is not understood.

Edifying Yourself vs. Edifying the Body

Drop down to verse four. Paul says you are edifying yourself. But consider the topic we are looking at: spiritual gifts. What was the point of spiritual gifts? To edify the body, not yourself. I think Paul is saying, get this out of here. It has no place in the church.

Look at verse five: "Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues." Here is the legitimate gift — notice the plural. I think Paul is using hyperbole here. Back in chapter 12, verse 30, Paul said, "All do not have the gift of healing, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?" Paul understands that not everybody is going to have the gift, and God does not give the same spiritual gift to the whole body. What Paul is saying in verse five is that there is a legitimate gift of tongues, and it is a good thing.

Look at verse 18. Paul says, "I thank God that I speak in tongues" — plural — "more than all of you." Paul is saying: listen, there is a legitimate gift of tongues, and I have it. I wish you had it, but not all of you will. Even more, I wish that you had prophecy — that is what is truly edifying. That is even more important. Paul would rather have them edifying the body than exercising a sign gift directed at unbelievers. If there is no interpretation, the church is not edified.

Tongues Must Communicate

"But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?" In other words, if tongues are going to be present in the church, they ought to have at their core this proclamation to unbelievers. They are not used primarily for teaching. If they don't make any sense, why include them?

Here is why I am so confident that is what Paul is saying. He gives us an illustration, and the illustration has to make sense because it is there to emphasize the point. He writes: "Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or the harp?" Take a musical instrument — it is a lifeless thing, yet when it is coordinated by a composer, there is rhythm and structure and harmony and order. The music itself communicates. When you listen to Mozart's Requiem, even if you had no idea what it was, you would sense how

The Importance of Distinction

That moment is solemn, and that movement — you can't miss it. When you listen to the Messiah, you are swept away in that Hallelujah Chorus. You see the majesty. But if there is no distinction, it is like a single tone. If Janice sits down at this piano, it is one thing. If I sit down, that is something else entirely.

That is tongues. It is a purling — just noise, with no distinction. Nobody knows what it means. It is total disorder, total chaos. That is the whole point Paul is making.

You have this person going on and on in a language he does not know what he is saying, and you do not know what he is saying either. It is all over the place. It does not fit. Paul is essentially saying: get it out of here.

"For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, how are they going to prepare for battle?" This man stands up with his bugle trying to signal a charge, but he is just playing random notes and everyone is confused. Do they advance? Do they retreat? Is it time to eat? No one knows — he is just blowing on the bugle.

"So you also, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air."

The Biblical Gift Versus the Imported Prayer Language

Stop there. Here is what Paul is saying. Paul is saying there is a legitimate gift of tongues, but he is also saying that into this church an imported tongue — a so-called prayer language — has been brought in. Let me try to bring some closure to that tonight.

There is no question in my mind that there are people in this church — not a large number, but some — who in the privacy of their home, with no agenda and no desire to campaign on this, pray in what they consider a spiritual prayer language. I do not know exactly what that is, but it is not biblical tongues. I do not know whether it is something from the enemy, whether it is psychological, or what it is. What I do know is what it is not: it is not biblical.

God is not going to have you sit in a closet and produce gibberish that means nothing, disconnecting your mind from your spirit. That makes no sense. So we have developed some definition of what the biblical gift of tongues actually is, and what the purpose of spiritual gifts are — we will pick up right there next week.

Personal Reflections and Pastoral Care

I want to be honest with you. There has been a steady flow of people who have come to me today — at least a dozen — who said they came from a charismatic or Pentecostal background, and that this teaching was deeply freeing to them. They described being in churches where people were asking, even pressuring them, to speak in tongues. One person admitted to faking it, simply doing something just to get the pressure to stop.

I also want to be careful here. I am developing a friendship with a man who is remarkably intelligent and who prays in a prayer language. He is far smarter than I am. But I told him plainly: I do not follow the biblical argument you are making. I simply do not see it.

It seems clear to me that what Paul is dealing with throughout this entire letter is problem after problem after problem. And when he arrives at the gift of tongues, he is addressing yet another problem — a false, ecstatic language has been imported into the church, one that does not pass the biblical test and requires a person to disconnect his mind from his spirit. God is not going to ask you to do that.

I know this is difficult for some of you. I know for some it is entirely new. For others, you are wondering when we will be finished with this subject. I hope it is helpful. I do not take this lightly. This is serious material, and even when we have a little fun with it along the way, I carry the weight of it. I take it very seriously.

Closing Prayer

Father, help us. I pray that we always approach this with a spirit of humility. God, I understand that for some, this is genuinely painful. I pray that what I have taught is accurate — I believe it is, and I believe Your Word teaches it. Now let it touch our hearts. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.