FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
THE GIFTS
OF THE SPIRIT – XXI
THE GIFT
OF DIVERS KINDS OF TONGUES - I
1 Corinthians 12:10 …to another diver kinds of
tongues…
Today,
we come to the most controversial of the gifts of the Spirit. In the church, there are many who believe
that speaking in tongues is of the devil.
Many believe it no longer exists.
Many believe it is an essential part of the life of the believer. Many believe it is real for today, but do not
have it in their life. There is one
thing that connects all of these groups regarding this gift; and that is, they all
believe something. Their experience will
never rise above their belief.
Virtually
all believers still believe that IAUE can give supernatural insight to someone
(word of wisdom); can give someone information/knowledge they did not know from
natural sources (word of knowledge); can use a person to pray for and heal the
sick (gifts of healing), can discern the presence of the Holy Spirit or of an
evil spirit (discerning of spirits), can speak words that will bring
supernatural comfort or instruction to another (prophecy); but they don’t call
them gifts of the Spirit; because that would necessarily mean they would have
to endorse the legitimacy of all nine of the gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12…and
that would include “divers kinds of tongues.”
Why
do you suppose this gift has so much opposition? I believe it is because people are afraid of
it. It is “not natural,” and you do not
know what is being spoken. It appears to
be utter nonsense; and to even try to participate with this gift would be
unbearably humiliating. So, that brings
us to the killer of all things good and holy in our life: pride. I am not going to deal with this issue of pride;
because those who continue to entertain it are content to live their lives in
rebellion against IAUE. The first
command we are given to obey is “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” If we are still struggling with that very
first of commands; trying to understand the gift of divers kinds of tongues is
the least of our concerns.
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow
them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues;
Everyone
is familiar with “the Great Commission”
(Matthew
28:18-20);
but few realize that those three verses did not comprise the entire message
Messiah gave to his disciples before departing to sit at the right hand of
IAUE. First, his apostles and close
disciples had to be reproved for their UNBELIEF in the resurrection of the
Master (Mark
16:11-14; Matthew 28:16-17; Luke 24:11,25,41).
Then
they had to be told what BELIEVERS would do in his name. The first two things that believers would do
are 1) cast out demons, and 2) speak with new tongues.
Now,
tell me, just how instrumental do you think Messiah regards this gift of divers
kinds of tongues when he lists it as the second evidence of being his disciple?
It
is important at this juncture that we define some terms. “Divers kinds of tongues” is like “gifts of
healing.” There is more than one form of
expression of this gift. People tend to refer to this gift as “the gift
of speaking in tongues.” That is not
correct. It is “kinds of tongues,”
or “different kinds of tongues.” This
gift is a specific enablement of grace to empower us to do the will of IAUE, as
are all the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12. It has a variety of ways in which it
manifests in the believer and in the church, today. We will address this more specifically, next
week.
This
gift was first manifested on the day of Pentecost in fulfilment of Isaiah’s
prophecy.
Isaiah 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to
understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the
breasts.
10 For
precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another
tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom
he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is
the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the
word of IAUE was unto them precept
upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and
be broken, and snared, and taken.
This
phrase in Hebrew, “precept upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,” was a rhyming phrase (tsau latsau,
tsau latsau, kau lakau, kau lakau. These words had become a drinking song which
the Hebrews sang when they were full of wine as a way of mocking and ridiculing
the words of the prophet.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as
the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout
men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came
together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his
own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one
to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue,
wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites,
and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and
Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts
of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our
tongues the wonderful works of Elohim.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in
doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These
men are full of new wine.
This
was a direct fulfilment of Isaiah 28, which introduced speaking in tongues to
the New Covenant age. They came speaking
with “stammering lips and another tongue,”
and the people mocked them, likening their speech to the words of a familiar
drinking song.
Many
times through the years I have heard it said; I have even read it in books that
have been written, that the miracle on the day of Pentecost was not that the
disciples spoke in tongues; but that the people HEARD them speak in their own
language. They say the miracle was in the hearing, not in the speaking. Such
unbelief and fear encompasses many people such that they have to disregard the
clear statement in v. 4, that they SPOKE with other tongues; and cower in false
comfort in the statement in v.8 that they HEARD in their own languages. Of
course they heard in their own languages.
The disciples were speaking in their languages, by the supernatural
utterance of the Holy Spirit. This is a key to understanding this
gift. They spoke. The Holy Spirit gave them utterance. (We will come back to this later in the study
of this gift.)
Before
we analyze the treatment Paul gives to this gift in 1 Corinthians 12-14, I
would like to address the most common error regarding this gift; and that is
found in the commonly heard phrase, “The
baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.” Many preachers and teachers, even entire
denominations refer to an experience which they call “the baptism of the Holy
Spirit,” and state that the evidence of having received this experience is
speaking in tongues. This simply is not
true. It is not true either in the teaching
of the Scripture regarding this event (which is a real event); nor in the testimony
of the experience of those recorded as receiving the experience in the
Scripture.
We
have dealt with this issue in prior posts; but let me restate, the baptism of
the Holy Spirit is the experience that ALL believers have when they initially repent
and place their faith in Yahushua Messiah as their savior and master. The new believer is immersed into the Holy
Spirit and emerges from the Holy Spirit a new creature in Yahushua Messiah; and
thereby becomes a member of the Body of Messiah. The experience that these teachers and
preachers mistakenly refer to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit is actually the
event whereby the disciple receives the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. These two functions of the Holy Spirit is
plainly revealed by Paul.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into
one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free;
and have been all made to drink into
one Spirit.
Peter’s
message on the day of Pentecost climaxed with this declaration:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Yahushua Messiah for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
IAUE
responded to their repentance by baptizing them in the Holy Spirit which
introduced them to the Body of Messiah.
Water baptism was the believers’ corresponding action of faith to
confirm their death to their former life and to embrace their new life in
Messiah. THEN they would receive the
Holy Spirit; who is referred to in Scripture as “the gift of IAUE.” You cannot put new wine (the Holy Spirit)
into an old wineskin. One must first
become a new wineskin. Then and only
then may one receive the new wine (Mark 2:22).
Speaking
in tongues also is not the evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit. Though the original apostles and disciples in
the upper room spoke with tongues when they were filled with the Holy Spirit,
there is no reference that the 3,000 people who responded to the gospel that
day spoke in tongues. Not long
afterward, there were 5,000 who responded to the gospel (Acts 4:4). There is no
reference to their speaking in tongues. When
Phillip went to Samaria and the whole city responded to the gospel and was
baptized (Acts
8:12), it
was some time later when Peter and John came to Samaria and laid hands upon the
believers that they received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; but there is no
mention of their speaking in tongues (Acts 8:17). We
do see, however, that in the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:44-46) and the Ephesian
disciples (Acts
19:6),
both of these groups did speak in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit.
The
evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues. The evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit is
power (Acts 1:8). When a person receives
the Holy Spirit, though they do not necessarily HAVE to speak in tongues…they
get to speak in tongues…every single one.
Mark
16:17 And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my
name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
We
will discuss this further next week.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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