Spiritual Gifts - Part
20
Charles E.
Wigg
He then goes on to
show them that in playing with tongues, they were dabbling with what was
dangerous, (as children often do), and that they needed to grow up, and to use
the mind that God had given them. Nevertheless in malice they were to be like
babies, innocent and free from malice. What a reproach this verse is to so many
today! I am sorry if my saying so offends any of my brethren, but we would do
well to heed what the scriptures say.
Paul then goes on to
say that the real gift of tongues was for a sign to the Jews, especially, (as on
the day of Pentecost, when devout Jews heard in their own tongue and dialect in
which they were born), the great things of God being spoken, which had never
before been spoken, except in the (sacred), Hebrew tongue. It was a sign also to
those who were as yet unsaved amongst the Gentiles, but the foolish Corinthians
were playing with this phenomenon, like children with a toy, and in the public
meetings of the Church! Let us remember that in writing to the Galatians Paul
uses even stronger language when he says “O foolish Galatians who has bewitched
you”,(Galatians 3:1) In contrast prophesying (as previously explained), is
commended, rather than discouraged.
The Apostle then goes
on to show in verse twenty-three, the absolute folly of everyone speaking in
tongues, that if a person who is unlearned, or an unbeliever, (or as J.N.Darby
translates it), a simple Christian, comes in , and hears this senseless babble
going on, “will they not say you are mad?”. But how different if all who speak
in the power of the Holy Spirit in prophecy the secrets of the hearts of those
that come in are made manifest, they are convicted by all who speak, and they
will fall down and acknowledge that God is amongst you of a truth.
From verse twenty-six
to thirty-three Paul denies what so many emphasise today. I refer to those who
demand that all should speak in tongues. Or pray audibly at the same time, thus
to create a Babel or confusion. Such he says, is not of God, as He is not the
author of confusion, but of peace in all the Assemblies of the
saints.
Thus no more than two
or at the most three were to speak in a language foreign to those gathered, and
then they were only to do so if there was a person present who was able to
interpret (accurately, no guessing), what those persons said into the language
understood by those present. The Corinthians came short in no gift, God had
provided (and will still provide), all the gifts that were needed for the
effective functioning of the local church. There is no need for a ‘Pastor’ or
“Minister” to preside, because such only displace the Holy Spirit. Thus they
were to come together with exercise, for we are told that “each of you has a
Psalm, (testimony), etc”. However it is not like that today, and this is
probably because of the introduction of the principle of the “clergy and the
laity”, with the result that many are no longer exercised to contribute to the
welfare of their brothers and sisters.
In verse twenty-nine
we are told that of the prophets (two or three only), are to speak and that the
rest of the congregation are to judge whether what was said was in keeping with
God’s word, and from God. Today we hear of people, (men and women), barking like
dogs, crowing like roosters, falling over backwards, and laughing
uncontrollably, yet all is claimed to be of the Holy Spirit! Yet if any sober
minded believer dares to question such practices, they are told that they have a
‘critical spirit’. May the Lord help us to refute all such things as not being
of God, or according to His word, regardless of what men may say of
us!
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