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The gift of tongues- a singular gift that enables a man to speak with plurality of tongues. |
Sing F Lau: It's the gift of tongues; it wasn't the *gift of ears*
The gift of tongues- a singular gift that enables a man to speak with plural tongues.
It was said: "True Biblical Pentecost tongues would mean that I speak in English, and, as I speak, a believer who speaks and understands German hears my words as if I spoke German, and another believer who speaks French hears my words in French, while a third believer who speaks Greek hears as if I spoke in Greek. The Holy Spirit provided miraculous simultaneous translation from one known human language, Galilean, into seventeen other known human languages."
Comments:
This understanding is a novelty indeed; I’m
hearing it for the first time.
It is quite contrary to the plain testimony
of the Scriptures. Consider these passages:
Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
i. And they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost
- they were endowed the spiritual gifts by
the Holy Spirit; they had received the Spirit before, as the Spirit of adoption
ii. And [they] began to speak with other tongues
- as a direct result of being filled with the
Holy Ghost.
- They speak with other tongues, THAT IS,
besides, and different from that in which they were born and brought up, and
usually speak. They began to SPEAK various languages, one spoke one language,
and another, another language. The same person speaks with various tongues,
sometimes one language, and at other times another language.
- These are the new languages, Christ told
them they should speak with, Mark 16:17 such as they had never heard, learned,
nor known before.
iii. "as the Spirit gave them utterance"
- The
occasion was special and the opportunity unique – Pentecost. Devout Jews from
all nations under heaven (i.e. everywhere they had been scattered, and settled in the vast Roman Empire)
were gathered in Jerusalem. Thus, for the occasion, the Spirit specially guided
their speech.
- The Spirit of God guided them to speak on
the wonderful works of God in saving His people, Acts 2:11, the great doctrines of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
- Even though they speak in different
languages, yet in a very orderly and distinct manner, so as to be heard and
understood by the people - because the Spirit gave them utterance.
[14/04/2021, 12:32] Sing
Acts 2:6 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?
- When the news of the Apostles speaking with
other tongues was spread, multitudes of those devout Jews gathered; they were
astonished.
- They heard the uneducated Galileans
speaking their languages; the uneducated Galileans DID SPEAK their languages;
they were heard, and understood by them.
- Behold, are not all these which speak
Galilaeans? Yet they were able to speak our languages.
- The cause for amazement and marvel WAS
the fact that the uneducated Galileans SPOKE the foreign languages.
- The cause WASN’T that the Galilean tongue
was miraculously changed into, and heard AS many other languages; that’s just
fiction!
- The miracle was the gift of tongues; the miracle was not the gift of the ears, nor a language morphing into another in transmission from the speakers to the hearers.
Act 2:11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear
them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.*
- “We do hear them SPEAK in our tongues”: the
Apostles spoke different languages, plural tongues.
- What tongues they spoke, were the same
tongues heard by the audience.
[14/04/2021, 13:10] Sing
It was said:
“Thanks so much for the kind and encouraging
note. I believe that the description to which I referred in Acts 2 is quite
literal. The miracle of tongues that the Spirit empowered and administered
appears in His immediate translation. The disciples spoke in Galilean, but
people from the 17 languages named heard in their native language. That is the
miracle.”
Comments:
- There was no immediate translation; no
translation was needed. They spoke their languages and were plainly heard, and
were understood as speaking of the wonderful works of God in redemption in
Jesus Christ.
- The 12 apostles speaking different
languages were able to address all the FOREIGN Jews with foreign tongues.
- There were 17 regions named, NOT 17
languages.
It was said:
I believe the situation in 1 Corinthians 14
was perhaps an attempt to duplicate that miracle. However, Paul specifically
requires a translator, and, even with a translator, he imposes a limit on the
number of people speaking in a foreign language. The miraculous factor, I
believe, is missing in 1 Corinthians 14. Paul requires an interpreter, Verse
27, but none was needed in Acts 2 because of the miracle of the Spirit’s
administration.
Comments:
- It wasn’t an attempt to duplicate the
miracle of tongues. It was the genuine exercise of the gift in the church
assembly.
- If the miracle is indeed the way he has
understood, the need of translators is completely redundant!
- Apostle Paul was dealing with speaking in
tongues in the context of a church gathered for public worship. There must be
orderliness.
- Orderliness in public worship requires TWO
things: The number permitted to speak in tongues, and there must be an
interpreter. This was when the gift of tongues was still in operation; the gift
has since ceased.
1Cor 14
27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let
it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one
interpret. 28. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the
church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
Imagine a church meeting in Corinth in AD60. Let's say some Hokkien businessman visited a church; someone in the church was moved to speak in the Hokkien tongue for the visitors' sake. But if there is no interpreter/translator, he should shut up! Why? The rest in the church didn't know Hokkien! The church is NOT edified if there is no translator. Read 1Cor 14:1-5.
