I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
I'm also blogging at:
Personality™
Church Marketing Sucks
January 30, 2004
Speaking in Tongues
Filed under: Hot Topic
Among several, the dictionary defines tongues as:
A spoken language or dialect.
Speech; talk.
The act or power of speaking: She had no tongue to answer.
Speech or vocal sounds produced in a state of religious ecstasy.
Style or quality of utterance.
Wayne Grudem, in his book Systematic Theology, defines tongues as "prayer or praise spoken in syllables not understood by the speaker."
Grudem makes a great introductory point... "We may wonder why God would give the church a gift that operates in the unseen, spiritual realm and that is not understood by our minds. One reason may be to keep us humble, and to help prevent intellectual pride."
In 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 Paul talks about bringing order to the use of tongues. "If anyone speaks in a tongue, two - or at the most three - should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God." There sure are a lot of Pentecostal/charismatic churches that could use this one! I think this is my big rub with speaking in tongues. It seems to be such an emotional time, and if it is not happening
to you, you wonder what must be wrong! Or if it is happening to you, your closeness to God is now better than ever (and everyone else). It just seems a perverted approach.
1 Corinthians 14:22-23, "Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand[1] or some unbelievers come in, will they not say
that you are out of your mind?"
Michael Cortright from Michigan outlines 11 benefits of speaking in tongues:
1. To edify you - 1 Corinthians 14:4, Jude 20
2. To speak to God divine secrets - 1 Corinthians 14:2
3. To speak the wonderful works of God - Acts 2:11
4. To magnify God - Acts 10:46
5. To pray perfectly - Romans 8:26,27
6. To give thanks well - 1 Corinthians 14:17
7. To have the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit - Romans 8:16
8. To know you are a joint-heir with Christ - Romans 8:17
9. To strengthen you with might in your inner man - Ephesians 3:16
10. To be a sign to unbelievers - 1 Corinthians 14:22; Mark 16:17
11. Rest to the soul - Isaiah 28:11,12; 1 Corinthians 14:21
Grudem has great insight into the issue of "not all speak in tongues." He convincingly argues that tongues are not for everyone just as the rest of the gifts of the spirit are not for everyone. According to 1 Corinthians 12:11, the holy spirit "apportions to each one individually as he wills."
Conclusions
I think tongues is a way to communicate with God - in private. Sometimes you don't have the words to pray, or sometimes God impresses stuff on your heart and you don't know details, but you feel a burden. Tongues can be a great way to speak in a language that God understands.
Regarding public use of tongues, I think of rare instances where its usefulness is appropriate.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.bradabare.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/211