One of the greatest areas of division among Christians has been, and continues to be, the issue of spiritual gifts. In particular the gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesy. I plan to explore these areas over several blog posts. This post is going to look at the biblical attitude towards speaking in tongues and prophesying.

Attitude may seem like a strange place to begin the discussion, why not start with definition or purpose? I will look at both of these, but since there seems to be such a contrast in attitudes towards tongues and prophesy I think its important to begin with attitude. Two opposing attitudes is that of obsession and extreme and suspicion and rejection. This blog post in particular will look at the texts which deal with a correct attitude towards speaking in tongues and prophesying.

  1. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14:1.
  2. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 1 Cor14:39.

Context

Paul has been writing to the church of God at Corinth in order to bring some teaching and correction to particular situations. Some of the issues he addresses are divisions in the church, sexual immorality, guidelines for worship, teaching on the resurrection and teaching about spiritual gifts. The book of 1 Corinthians deals with spiritual gifts more specifically than any other book in the new testament.

 Chapter 12 lists some of the key spiritual gifts and explains why they are important in the church. Paul uses the example of the physical body, which is one body with many diverse functions. So the church is one body but each member has diverse functions. Each part supports the whole as does each Christian with their various gifts. The purpose of the gifts is primarily to strengthen and support the church.

Chapter 13 deals with the correct motives for the use of spiritual gifts. This of course is the famous love chapter. Paul teaches that that it is possible to be serving God and using ones gifting but at the same time remain loveless. There can be a multitude of wrong motives for using spiritual gifts but the primary motive must be love. Wrong motives does not mean the gift is not from God it just means it is being used for the wrong purposes.

Chapter 14 zooms in on two particular gifts, the gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesy. Paul goes into great detail in defining both of these gifts and laying down guidelines for their use in the church meeting. It seems that the Corinthian believers were a selfish group of people and their selfishness influenced how they used the gifts of the Spirit. Paul seems to be correcting self indulgence which he has corrected already in other areas of their collective life. Paul concludes by describing how the collective meeting should function and how the different gifts can be used for the benefit of the church.

What attitude did Paul expect the believers to have towards speaking in tongues and prophesy?

Its amazing how many bible believing Christians distort what Paul actually says about speaking and tongues and prophesy. Some bible believers try to say Paul was correcting pagan practice and that the tongues and prophesy were not a gift from God. Others lift chapter 13 out of context and try to conclude that Paul was saying that the gifts of speaking in tongues and prophesy were of no real importance. Others think that Paul was dealing with gifts that were only temporary and which he expected to soon pass away.

Lets look at what Paul actually says. In the midst of correction about function and motives Paul tells us what attitude he expected the believers at Corinth to have towards spiritual gifts.

  1. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. 1 Cor 14:1.
  2. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 1 Cor14:39.

The Holy Spirit, speaking through the apostle Paul is saying to the church at Corinth;

  • Earnestly desire spiritual gifts
  • ESPECIALLY prophesy
  • Earnestly desire to prophesy
  • Do not forbid speaking in tongues

Are we seeing the picture here? God the Holy Spirit expects us to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. God the Holy Spirit expects believers to especially seek to prophesy. God the Holy Spirit reinforces how serious He is by saying ‘earnestly desire to prophesy’. In addition to this there is a warning not to forbid speaking in tongues.

As a younger believer it amazed me, and it still does, how otherwise excellent bible teachers could become masters in missing the point when it came to these biblical passages.The usual argument goes like this.

  • These were instructions for valid gifts which existed at that time but no longer exist today, they were temporary and only needed to establish the church and until the scriptural revelation was complete.
  • Any expression of the gift of tongues today is a counterfeit. At best its emotional babble and at worst demonic deception.
  • The genuine gift of tongues is the ability to speak in other languages therefore unintelligible tongues are false.

I’ll deal with each of these arguments when I explore the definition of the gifts of tongues and prophesy. Just now though, in the light of scripture these arguments boil down to one thing. They are a direct disobedience to the clear command of scripture to eagerly desire prophesy and to not forbid speaking in tongues.  

Who were these verses written for? Was it only the Corinthian believers? Only for that time? What other verses can we do that with if we can do that with spiritual gifts. What is to stop us doing that with teaching on holiness or the resurection? It is amazing how conservitive bible teachers can go against their own practice and take a liberal approach to hermenuetics when it comes to these texts.

Its amazing how those who forbid tongues and prophesy, who claim they have such a high view of scripture do so on the basis of no scriptural evidence whatsoever. They have a preset notion, which is shaped by history, experience and tradition, and they impose these influences into the text of scripture. History because the church was not experiencing the gifts for hundreds of years. Experience because they have not experienced it nor has the church for a long period of time prior to the early 1900s. Tradition because they exalt the opinions of the reformers more than they do the word of God. They want to crucify catholics for claiming the infalibilty of the Pope but they will quote Luther and Calvin in the next breath as if they were somehow infallible!

But ‘the perfect has come’ some will respond.

1 Cor 13

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Many cessationists try to make this verse say something which it clearly does not. They claim ‘the perfect’ is the completion of the scriptural revelation or the full canon of scripture. Is this what Paul was speaking about? Is it not instead speaking of the return of Christ when the new eschatological kingdom shall be ushered in? Did knowledge pass away with the canon of scripture? Of course it didn’t. Do we ‘know fully’ now that the canon of scripture is in place? The only people who would claim that would be the proud and the deceived.

When will we ‘fully know’? as we are now ‘fully known’? When we stand in the glorious presence of Jesus Christ without sin. If this is talking about scripture the personal statement would not make sense. Scriptural knowledge does not ‘fully know’ you as you partially know it. No. Jesus fully knows you and one day you will fully know Him, if you are saved. Prophesy is given that we might know something of Him. Scripture is given for the same purpose. But one day we will know him fully.

The second reason why this interpretation does not make sense is that it does not follow Paul’s argument. Paul is leaving instructions for the church. These instructions would be past on from one generation of Christians to another. As we know it would also be passed from church to church down through the ages. These were instructions on how to approach the gifts of the Spirit. If they were about to pass away Paul’s argument is a waste of time and pointless. His argument would have been very different. It would have been along the lines of ‘forget these gifts they are on the way out. Instead he exhorts the church to pursue them even more.