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The Gift of Tongues, No. 4
BD30-01© Berean Memorial Church of Irving, Texas, Inc. (1971)
Shall we bow in prayer please? Oh mighty God, we are grateful to thee that
we have the written Word of God; that thou hast given us this
revelation through holy men of God who were led by the Holy Spirit of God to
record for us that which we need for now and for all eternity. We
thank thee that we have a completed canon
of Scripture, that the right books are in that Bible, and that thou
hast brought us into a knowledge of the truth through this Word. We pray now as we spend these moments
together searching the Word of God that it may be fruitful. We pray that thou will give us physical
capacities, spiritual insight, and the ability to concentrate so that
thy Son would be glorified in that which we share of this thy Word upon which
we must live moment. For we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
The gift of tongues. This is the fourth increment in this series. I had a remark recorded to me this week made
by a man who said that lately tongues, as satanic today, is blasphemy
of the Holy Spirit. And he was very serious and very ominous as he said it. Now of
course the only way to decide whether this is true is on the basis of
what Bible doctrine teaches, what the Word of God teaches, concerning
tongues, as to whether tongues labeled as a satanic enterprise is blasphemy of the
Holy Spirit. Obviously the opinion from the
experience from some doctrinally disoriented ding-a-ling doesn’t
decide anything. You needn’t be impressed by dramatic remarks such as that.
Another man told me about a report from one of his relatives
of a tongues meeting in a church where the power really broke out. It broke out so dramatically in this church
in Dallas this past week that all the women fell over in the aisles and
lay on the floor all over the auditorium. It
was so dramatic that they had to run out and get towels because the
short skirts made everything look so immodest, while they were desperately
trying to cover up what the Holy Spirit was doing.
This was the kind of delusion, and in this church this lady
said, “We’ve had ladies once in a while fall over. We didn’t
have the whole group.” I don’t know—maybe they had
pre-meeting refreshments and they ate something. Nevertheless they’ve got a problem, but
it’s not a problem from God the Holy Spirit.
Now the old line denominations, of course, who have gotten
into tongues are trying to dignify this. They are trying to put it in a very orderly fashion. You can attend a church here in Dallas where
they know something about doctrine where they practice tongues, and
where they are very careful to obey everything that 1 Corinthians 14 lays out as
the ground rules for speaking in tongues. Only three people at the most can speak.
They do it one-at-a-time, very orderly. And all of this is kind of a cover-up to show,
“You see. We can do this the way the
bible says.” Well, that’s true. You can do this the way the Bible says you
should, except this is something that God is no longer doing.
So, we have studied tongues in Acts. Now we are beginning to examine the three
main chapters in the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is the only other New Testament book
of the 21 New Testament epistles which refers to the practice of tongues. So, speaking in tongues obviously did not have
a very prominent place in the New Testament church. It is very prominent in the Pentecostal
movement today but it was not prominent in the New Testament church. We have references in Acts, four at the most,
and then you have the reference in 1 Corinthians, and that’s it. There is (also) a questionable reference in
the book of Mark.
Paul gives these three chapters 1 Corinthians because of the
abuse of tongues in the Corinthian church, and because the abuse of
this gift was a serious offense. There were three
main errors in Corinth relative to tongues. First of all, they gave the gift a prominent place. Paul, when he lists the value of the various
gifts, we have seen, places tongues at the end of the list. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 and verse 28-29
tongues always comes at the end. In the list of spiritual gifts which are given in Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4, and
Romans 12, tongues doesn’t even get into the running of the list at all.
The second thing they did wrong in Corinth was that they
gave prophecy, exposition—revelations from God, a minor place. 1 Corinthians 12:31 urges the Corinthians to
seek the best spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1, 5 urge desire for prophecy which is one of the best
of the spiritual gifts because it gives information and understanding from God.
It was a source of Bible doctrine. Unless someone is present to interpret a
tongue in the New Testament church, it wasn’t of any value
whatsoever. It was useless because the message was lost. If tongues is interpreted, then it
is a source of edification just like prophecy or any other gift.
The third mistake they made in Corinth was that they
exercised the gift of tongues in the wrong way. They were allowing people to speak in the auditorium
without anybody being there to interpret and to confirm what the speaker said. It wasn’t enough for him to get up and
say, “Now this is what I have said.” Someone else who knew that foreign language had to stand up and say,
“This is what this brother has said.”
They were also allowing women to use tongues in the church
services, and I doubt that the women ever had the gift of tongues, so
what they were practicing was in the tradition of the fake tongues that we have
today. Paul condemned that. Women are not to stand up and deliver
messages from God within a worship service. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 14 to give instruction in
how to handle tongues—the technique and the procedures. Of course, that was only applicable to the New
Testament church where tongues were a bonafide gift.
The principle of interpretation that we’re following is
this: The book of Acts clearly defines tongues
as known foreign languages that existed in the world at that time. When we get to the book of 1 Corinthians, we
bring this gift over with that understanding as the same gift. The apostle Paul never indicates that
he’s talking about any kind of a different kind of tongues gift when he gets to 1 Corinthians.
Now the Pentecostalist will tell you, “Yes, in Acts they
spoke in foreign languages, but in Corinthians they were speaking in
ecstatic happy-talk utterances and it was a different kind of tongues. This is false. The
very same words were used in the Greek. There is no indication that the
apostle Paul is referring to anything other than what has always been the case in the New Testament relative to tongues.
So, the abuse of this gift in the Corinthians church which
was particularly rich in spiritual gifts was the result of their
extremely carnal nature of life. This was a carnal church. This was a congregation that was
way out in disorientation relative to the Word of God. Therefore, tongues was an easy element to
creep in and to be distorted among them. This is the same thing that happens today. Wherever you find tongues being practiced
with zeal and zest, you will almost inevitably find people that are out
of the running when it comes to doctrinal understanding. They’re
just out of it. They don’t know up from down. They are ignorant when it comes to the Word of God.
Now the Corinthian church had a large Jewish population. They were in contact with
the commercial center of Corinth. Many Jews from all parts of the Roman Empire would come there to do
business, so it was natural that the tongues gift should be active (exercised) in the
Corinthian church because, as you remember, it was a sign particularly
to unbelieving Jews. They proclaimed the gospel in native dialect to these Jewish merchants. In time, the tongue speakers, because of
their carnality, began to degenerate to positions of pride in the local church. They viewed their spectacular gift
as a sign that they were a special breed of spiritual people, which they were not. Your spiritual gift indicates nothing about
your spirituality. You can be the biggest clod when it comes to spirituality and have the most
magnificent spiritual gift. Now you won’t exercise that gift. It will not produce divine
good. It will not be fruitful of eternal reward for you, but you will have the gift without being spiritual.
So, tongues practiced in the church service at Corinth had
turned the services into bedlam. There were people speaking at the same time and they gave no heed to the
requirement that there be someone to interpret. Some
perhaps were standing there like the women imitating in ecstatic
gibberish just like the heathen priests were used to doing under satanic control. Paul writes 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 to
correct this condition.
1 Corinthians 12:11 tells us, “but all these (gifts) worketh
that one in the very same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he
will.” It is God the Holy Spirit who
decides sovereignly who gets what gift, so it’s no honor to the
recipient and no sign of merit within him.
Then in 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, we found that Paul compares
the body of Christ, the church, to the human body, with all of its many
parts which affect each other, and the need of all the parts for one another,
just like the need of the parts of the human body for one another. The spiritual gifts, he points out, are given
for the edification and the uniting of this body of Christ.
Some gifts were temporary. They were to be in effect in the infancy stage of
the church, until the New Testament canon of Scriptures were complete, and until they were
established, then they phased out and passed off the scene. Tongues is a sign to the unbelieving Jews
confirming that God was now working in Christianity instead of Judaism,
and it had served its purpose in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem, and that part of the
purpose of the sign gift was over.
What revelations came from God directly through tongue
speakers have been completed because these have now been recorded in
the Scriptures. Revelation 22:18-19 indicates that nothing more is to be added to that book, and that same
principle applies to all New Testament scriptures. It is closed. The canon
is closed. There are no other books to be written. There is nothing to be
added. The revelations that used to come through tongues are now finished and recorded, so there’s no
point for that gift in that respect.
1 Corinthians 12, beginning at verse 27, states the team
principle as it applies to the body of Christ: “Now ye are the body of Christ and members in
particular.” “Ye are” in the Greek is plural, meaning all
Christians as a whole. None are left out. “members in particular”
means literally members individually: each of
you with a specific function in the body of Christ; and, each of you
placed in a certain local church for exercising your specific function through
your specific gift within that local group as a part of the body of Christ.
You can’t just join any local church. God has a local church for you. Now if you phase out of the local church that
God has for you, you are guilty of sin, and you have a sin to confess,
and then God has to pick up your life and try to re-do it and try to re-make it
and try to re-weave it into something significant, which he does by grace,
because you’re now in the wrong local church, and you take a second-class
position relative to your Christian experience and to your rewards because you
have phased out of the local church that God said, “Here is where I
want you.” When people phase out of a local church, they
had better have a good reason for doing it because they have a great
deal at stake. God the Holy Spirit places us into the body of Christ. That expression
of our gift is through one local assembly. So, you are members individually. The spiritual gifts are given to meet your
particular function within the body of Christ.
In verse 28 you have the principle applied: “And God hath set some in
the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then
gifts of healing, helps, governments, and diversity of tongues.” Here it is God the Holy Spirit that is
referred to. “Hath set” is the Greek word “tithemi.” “Tithemi”
is a word which means “to place,” or maybe “to appoint”
sometime. “To appoint,” or “to place,” or “to set,” and
God has done this in a certain order. This is in the aorist tense which means it was at a
certain point in your experience when you were set with that gift, and that is, of course, at
the point of salvation. It is in the middle voice which means that you yourself are benefitted as a result of
having been given this gift at your salvation. It’s
in the indicative mood which is the mood of reality declaring that
these gifts are for real. You actually have them and you can use them.
Then Paul goes on and he lists those in order of their value: first, second, third, etc.—the
gifts in order of their merit in the New Testament church. Now why does Paul do this? I
want you to remember what you are talking about. The minute he took up his pen and
began writing 1 Corinthians chapter 12, he took up the subject of
tongues. He’s trying to straighten out the abuse of
tongues. When you get to chapter 13, what is he talking about? Well,
you’re going to say “love.” That’s
OK if you know what that means. But he’s still
talking about tongues in chapter 13. When he gets to chapter 14, he’s still talking
about tongues. So, why here in chapter 12 should he bring this in—the order of the value of the gifts?
Well, obviously he puts tongues at the bottom of the pile,
and he’s trying to point out to these people, “You people
are majoring in the most minor gift of all—the one that brings the lease edification,
and, the one that is the least value to the local assembly. And you’re ignoring gifts like prophecy and
like teaching which are the most valuable of the gifts to your personal edification and to your
eternal future and blessing and reward. So, the
reason he brings this up is to show the relative merits of the gifts
that they’re seeking. It’s of value
to unbelieving Jews, but it is of very little value within the local church service.
In verses 29 and 30, he points out that every believer does
not possess every spiritual gift. Why does he do that? I remind you that when
he asks these questions (like, are all apostles?), that the Greek
indicates that the answer is “no.” The Greek
asks a question in such a way that it tells you what the answer should be. And here it asks it in such a way, “Are
all apostles?” And the answer is “no.” We
would say in English, “Everybody is not an apostle, is he?” No. “Everyone is not a prophet, is he? And so on. And of
course this applies to the public assembly, and of course it applies to everybody privately as well.
So, why does he do this? Again to point out that everybody in the local
church is not going to be speaking in tongues. And that’s what
he gets down to: “Do all speak in tongues?” And the answer is
“no.” Now today Pentecostalism says, “Yes. Everybody should speak
in tongues because it’s the sign that you’ve been baptized with the Holy
Spirit, and God want’s everybody to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Well, the mistake there begins with the fact that
every Christian is baptized into the body of Christ at the point of salvation (1
Corinthians 12:13). So, everybody is baptized by God the Holy Spirit. It’s not a separate
work. Tongues has nothing to do with
being an evidence of that placing into the body of Christ. There are gifts which some of the Christians
have and some of the Christians do not have. Tongues is not a universal gift among believers and
it was never intended to be. Some of these gifts are leadership gifts. Obviously the chiefs
are going to possess the leadership gifts—not the Indians. Some of these gifts were more spectacular,
such as tongues and healing and miracles and interpretation, but these were temporary gifts.
There are two relationships for the Christian that I hope you have straight in your mind. One is a
positional relationship. This is positional truth. Every believer is
baptized into the body of Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you are your own priest. At the point of salvation, you became chief
of your own soul relative to your spiritual development. Every one of you as a chief and a priest of
God is in full-time Christian service. You are His ambassador. But
there is local church order and truth also. Here we have lines of authority. We have pastor-teacher, we have elder boards, we
have service boards, and we have administrators, and so on. And boards can cause an awful lot of trouble in a
congregation if they ignore the chain of command or they try to act as administrators.
This is one thing at the Christian School Administrator’s
conference that was stressed very very strongly. Our school board must never try to act as
administrators. If you are in a school, they said, where the board insists on hiring the teachers, spending the
money, and running the school, get out of it. You have a disorderly arrangement and it will never
work. This is true in the local church as well. Boards approve policy that
administrators recommend. Boards supervise, but boards do not administer.
Some men who are fine (men) in the pews become a terror of
devastation to a congregation when they get upon the board if they
don’t understand the relationship of boards to the lines of authority within
the local church. This is true of church
members too who can make havoc if they decide they’re going to
play chiefs instead of Indians within the local church. Now you are a chief relative to your own personal
priesthood, but you have lines of authority that God and the congregation through the
leading of the Holy Spirit appoint you to within that congregation. And that is to be respected.
So, verse 31 brings us to a more excellent way. After having said all this,
and bringing all this background, the apostle Paul comes to verse 31 in 1 Corinthians 12
and says, “But covet earnestly the best gifts.” The Greek word here is “zeloo.” “Zeloo”
means to desire or to strive for with great energy. It is something that you are to pursue. What are you to pursue? Well,
you are to pursue what he calls the best or the most valuable gifts as per this list that he gave you in
verse 28.
Now this might seem to contradict what he says in verse 11
where it says that God the Holy Spirit gives the gifts. He’s the one who decides. But I remind you again that the word
“covet” is also second person plural and it means “you all,” as a
church body, covet for your local congregation these specific gifts that will bring
maximum edification to the believers. It is
right for the church to pray for that kind of gift—that God would
send in people with the specific gifts for edifying and for administering and
for carrying on the work of that local church.
So, it is wrong to seek a particular spiritual gift for
yourself personally, but it is right to do so in behalf of your
congregation. This is in the present tense which means you are constantly, and we are constantly through the
church age, to be seeking the most valuable gifts. Of course, in our day the most valuable gift is the
pastor-teacher gift because this is the source of maximum edification to the saints. If that gift breaks down, or if you lack that
gift along with teachers in the assembly, you’re in a heap of
trouble from the word “go.” It is active which
means that the congregation as a group should make it its business to be praying
for those gifts, and it’s imperative. It’s
a command—not optional. Any time you
look around this assembly, as we are looking now in order to appoint Sunday
school teachers, it is right that we should pray and say, “God, send us
people who can teach.” We have all kinds of
positions at this time of the year to be realigning the work for teachers and
leaders to be coming in. Now it is right to ask God
to send us people that have those gifts to perform those functions. It is not only right, but it we’re commanded to do so.
Now Paul’s point is that the seeking of the tongues gift and
desiring what is of the lowest value to the congregation has led to
carnality, or perhaps it was because of carnality. These people were slim on Bible doctrine. They were short on doctrine and they were
long on carnality. Then he goes on and says, “But zealously covet the best of the gifts,” and yet
he says, “show I unto you a more excellent way.” This
is the Greek word “deiknumi.” “Deiknumi”
is a Greek word that means you’re going to be shown something as a
result of information that you get. You’re going
to be shown something by being told something, by being informed.
So, the apostle Paul says, “Now I’m going to show you a
better way of living, a better way of Christian life than the carnality
and the raging of tongues and the disorder that you’ve been carrying on
within the Corinthian church. I’m going to show you
where the real action is, where the real values lie. You people think that it lies in your
spectacular gifts, your tongue-speaking and your healing and your
miracle working and your interpreting. You’re wrong. There is something that is
crucially of value to you but it is not those gifts.” Then he picks up the fact that he’s
going to inform them. He’s going to show them
through doctrinal information something about tongues. He says, “to you.” This
in the Greek is a dative of advantage. It’s going to be of advantage
to them.
Then he says what he’s going to show them is going to be “huperbole,”
from which we get the word “hyperbole” in English. It means “superior” or supreme. It means way out beyond. Paul
says, “I’m going to tell you something that is really way out there. The
greatest thing—par excellence—that’s the word for it. Literally the word means “throwing
beyond.” Beyond anything with any comparison whatsoever. What’s he
going to do? Paul is going to show the Corinthians a way of living that is exceedingly better than their
carnality, something that will avoid the abuses that they have entered relative to tongues.
Now this way is beyond comparison for the Christian life. This superior that he speaks of is
made known to us in chapter 13. Actually
at least the last part of verse 31 should have been put with chapter 13. It’s the first introductory remark to
chapter 13 and it is the key to chapter 13. What he is going to tell them as the par excellence way is being filled with
the spirit. That’s what 1 Corinthians 13 is all about. If you want to give a title
to 1 Corinthians 13, call it the chapter on spirituality on spirituality or the
great Bible chapter on being filled with the spirit. That’s what 1 Corinthians 13 is all about. While Christians do not possess every
spiritual gift, he is going to show them something that they all can and should
possess, and that is to be filled with the spirit. This constitutes spirituality in the church
age. A spiritual Christian will not seek for himself nor about the tongues gift. He will produce edification for the church with his gift.
That was the problem. Paul put his finger right on the issue. He says, “I know what the trouble is in
Corinth. I know why you people are abusing this gift and maybe some of the other gifts. It’s
because you don’t’ understand what spirituality is all
about. Some of you kooks have taken off with your
emotionalism and you’re all out of touch with what God is
thinking and what God feels and what God’s choices are, and you’re operating on
the emptiness of your emotions. You’re trying to think
with your emotions. Now,” Paul says,
“I’m going to make something known to you through information to get that
straightened out.”
What is the nature of spirituality? I think you all know that at the point of
your salvation every Christian is regenerated. He is given a living human spirit. He is indwelt. God the
Holy Spirit takes up residence in your body. He is baptized by the Holy Spirit into union with
Jesus Christ from which he can never depart. He is sealed. He gets the Holy Spirit’s
stamp upon him that he is destined for heaven. The seal can never be broken. He
is given spiritual gifts for service. All of this happens at the point of salvation. Now no Christian is ever commanded to seek
these things. You will never find in the Bible where you are ever told to seek to be indwelt, to seek to be
baptized, to seek to be sealed, or to seek for spiritual gifts. While you may be admonished to call upon the
Lord, and in that way to seek regeneration, we also know that God calls us even to that.
But not every Christian is filled with the spirit, and we are called to seek this. We are told
constantly to be seeking to be filled with the spirit of God. This is what constitutes spirituality. To be filled with the spirit means to be
spiritual. And you are filled with the
spirit by confessing all known sins to the Father. If you are not filled with the spirit, you as
a Christian are controlled by your old sin nature and the Bible
declares you to be carnal. Now that constitutes spirituality. Every Christian can do
this, and every Christian can be filled with the spirit so that he is
controlled by God the Holy Spirit. Then he will imitate God. When he is
controlled by the old sin nature, he imitates Satan. A Christian at any moment therefore is either
spiritual or carnal. He’s either in, he’s with it, or he’s out.
Now a spiritual Christian will imitate God as Ephesians 5:1
says. He will glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:14). And he will fulfill the Mosaic
Law (Romans 8:3-4). Now let’s get something straight about the law. The
Christian is not under the Mosaic Law, but through the Holy Spirit he
is able to fulfill the standards of the Mosaic Law. A Christian who is subject to Jesus Christ finds
that the character of Christ is produced in him as a result of his being filled with the
spirit.
Morality
What is the place of spirituality in God’s plan? It is for believers only. It is not possible to be spiritual without
regeneration. So, don’t try to impose
your Christian standards on unsaved people. Spirituality is not the same as morality. A Christian is not spiritual because
he’s moral, because he keeps the Ten Commandments. It is possible for a Christian to keep The Ten
Commandments and to be very moral, and be the most unspiritual person you can imagine. Spirituality will include morality, but
it’s not the same thing. It goes beyond it. Christianity is not a matter of
being moral. It’s a matter of a relationship to Jesus Christ. Morality
is a byproduct of the relationship but it’s not spirituality. There’s no power in morality for right
living. You can be a very moral person and have very little power for spiritual expression. The power of Christianity is found in the
filling of the Holy Spirit.
Now morality is necessary for the orderly function of society and for the preservation of humanity, so morality applies to
unbelievers as well as believers. These rules of conduct apply to unbelievers relative to murder and theft and
so on. But spirituality is only for Christians, not for the unbeliever. The morality of an
unbeliever comes from the strong side of his hold sin nature. A Christian has this old sin nature, so he
can produce the same morality from his strong side. Spirituality is much more than morality.
Remember that Paul said he was a very moral person (Philippians 3:4-6). At the same time he
was the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul had self-righteousness. But
a Christian who is filled with the spirit does not pursue a self-righteousness. Spirituality cleanses the soul but morality does nothing.
Now, in the plan of God the relationship is the key. Salvation is
being rightly related to Jesus Christ as per John 3:16. Spirituality is
being rightly related to the Holy Spirit (1 John 1:9). The good works of the old sin nature have no
place either in salvation or in spirituality. So, when we get to the end of 1 Corinthians 12, and
he says, “I’m going to show you a more excellent way,” this is what he is talking
about—this more excellent way of spirituality, over against the carnality that has
characterized the Corinthian Christians. The way of life of being filled with the spirit as
over against their being under the control of the old sin nature.
1 Corinthians 13
So, we begin 1 Corinthians 13: “Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels.” Now this word “though” is the word “if.” “If I
speak with the tongues of men and angels.” And as we
have learned, there are certain classes of “if” in the
Greek. This is the third-class condition and it
means, “Maybe I will and maybe I won’t.” What Paul is saying is, “Not that there is a
tongue that angels speak that people can speak.” Now angels
probably have some language. But he is not saying that he speaks in an angel language. He says, “Just suppose
that I could.” These people were crazy for talking in tongues. He says, “OK, suppose that I can talk in
all the foreign languages on the earth. Suppose that I can go even better than that—I
can speak languages that are not on earth, like angels talk. He’s not saying he does. It’s a
“suppose so” condition—third-class. If you could do
this, Paul’s point is, “So, what? What then?” These people would consider
it very great in Corinth if they could speak in angel talk.
Now it is this verse into which the Pentecostalists today
read the justification for their gibberish. When they come to 1 Corinthians, they say,
“You see? Here in 13:1 it’s not foreign languages. It’s heavenly
talk. It is ecstatic utterances. It’s angel talk that Paul is talking
about. So, there are two kinds. This talk they justify for their private
devotion and utterances. But Paul uses the same word here (“glossa”) that he used in Acts. In the New Testament the word
“glossa” always means foreign languages. In Greek
literature it could have meant ecstatic utterances, but never in the
New Testament usage. And Paul just carries right over from the experience in Acts as if everybody understood what
the word meant, and there is no indication that it is anything other than human
foreign languages, something that someone can understand. He’s
using the same word. We have no indication that this is anything
different than what we found in Acts. As a matter of fact, in 14:21, where he refers to the sign, the purpose,
of the gift of tongues, he clearly declares that it is tongues and other lips. He clearly declares that it is known
languages that he is referring to in this whole context.
Love
So, he says, “If I should speak with the languages of men and
of angels, and have not love.” “Have
not” is present, meaning habitually I do not have. And the word that he uses now in Greek is our
old friend “agape.” “Agape” love has no emotional content whatsoever. “Agape”
love is the love that God gives us. It’s God’s divine love. This is the love
in John 3:16 that the Father has for the unsaved. It’s a mental attitude free of ill will. It is the love
of John 50:9 of the Father for the Son. It is the love in Romans 5:5 of
God’s divine love which it says he has placed in our hearts, meaning our mentality,
by the Holy Spirit. It is a mental attitude love—not an emotional love.
Now this love can only be possessed under a certain condition. A Christian possesses this
love. Galatians 5:22 gives the fruit of the spirit. This is point number one,
the first segment. Love is the summary
of the fruit of the spirit which constitutes the character of Christ. You cannot have the character of Christ, you
cannot have this type of love unless you are in the condition of being
filled with the Holy Spirit. Under the filling of the Holy Spirit you have this love.
So, therefore what Paul is talking about is the same thing
when he speaks of this “agape” love, he’s talking
about spirituality or about being filled with the spirit. Everywhere
through here you could substitute the concept of being filled with the
spirit for the word “love.” Now that
is very important that you should understand this. There are a lot of stupid things said about this
chapter because people don’t understand the context of what Paul is talking about. He is trying
to hit the tongues abuse. He is trying to explain that being filled
with the spirit is the crucial thing—not pursuing some
spectacular gift. He’s going to go on to point out that no gift
is worth anything unless you have this condition of being filled with the spirit.
So, love refers here to something produced by the filling of
the spirit. It’s part of the fruit. It’s the first segment. Paul says morality produces human emotional
love that has no spiritual impact. Because “agape” love comes through the
Holy Spirit it has great impact on the outside. So, 1 Corinthians 13 is
dealing with spirituality, the filling of the Spirit. And it says that exercising any spiritual
gift apart from the spirit is worthless.
He says, “I am become.” This is the Greek word “ginomai,” and it
means to become something you are not. Now what had they become? They had become carnal instead of
spiritual. It’s in the perfect tense
which indicates that they continue in this condition from the past. At salvation they began being filled with the
spirit. They began spiritual; they
sinned; they went carnal; and, they continued in that. “I have become something I was not.” I have become carnal which I was not before
when I was spiritual. It’s the
active voice meaning that they do something themselves to lose their spiritual
status. Sin—unconfessed sin—loses spiritual. This is indicative, the mood of reality.
Then he says, “I have become as sounding brass.” This means the
banging of metal that was used
in the market in order to get attention for the peddler for his wares. The carnal Christian practicing tongues in
the service in Corinth was just getting attention to himself like
somebody clanging two pieces of metal together. Then he compares it to a tinkling cymbal which is
not the musical instrument in our splendid Berean Boys Band in the percussion section.
It is rather a metal basin. When you strike two of them together it gets
a screechy kind of sound like when somebody rubs his fingernails on a
chalkboard. This word “tinkling” is
“alalazo.” “Alalazo” is a word which is used of
what the professional mourners did when somebody died. They would call
them in to screech and to howl and to moan.
Now what Paul is saying is, “I don’t care if I’m not
spiritual. I’m like somebody banging some metal together. I’m like
somebody scratching his fingernails on a chalkboard and making a screeching
sound, and I am absolutely nothing.” The tongues
gift is not the big thing. Being filled with the spirit is the thing. This is the
more excellent way relative to spiritual things. Apart
from the filling of the spirit, tongues is just noise. Any eloquence of any speech of any kind is worthless.
Now the nothingness is pointed out in verse 2. “And though I have the gift
of prophecy.” Again “if” is third
class—“Suppose I do.” “Prophecy”
means bringing direct revelation from God. I understand mystery. I know the values of
various doctrines. I have all knowledge. I’m able to classify doctrines. I have all faith so that I can move
mountains. Again, “If I have,” not that I do remove mountains. Every now and
then we have some idiot who’s trying to get some faith to remove
a mountain instead of getting himself a bulldozer. God is not saying He’s going to remove
mountains through your faith. He says, “Suppose so.” This is a
“suppose so” case. “If I had that much faith that I could just
believe. “Oh, if I just believe that mountain is going to move it’s just going to get up and start
trucking out of there all by itself. I could just believe.” How many times have you
been told just to believe, man? That’s what you need. Just believe. Have faith.
Well, Paul says there were idiots in the Corinthian church
who were doing that too. He says, “Suppose
I had that kind of faith but I don’t have the filling of the
spirit, (then) I am nothing.” This is the Greek word
“eimi.” This is the verb for status quo. It’s a being in a state
of carnality. You notice in verse 1 he became nothing. In verse 2 he stays
nothing, in his carnality. (There are) no lasting
eternal effects produced by his carnal exercise of his gifts. And he mentions all of these various kinds of
gifts—communicating gifts—prophecy. It’s
nothing. Information gifts—mysteries and
knowledge. They’re nothing. Operation gifts—faith. They’re nothing.
So, the Corinthian Christians using their tongues apart from
the filling of the Holy Spirit under a status of spirituality have
produced exactly nothing—no divine good, just human good. When we’re carnal,
we bat zero. When we’re spiritual we can bat 1000.
Then he goes on to verse 3—the nothingness of the production. “And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor.” Again, “though”
is “if,” suppose so. Feeding the poor is the right thing
but it’s done in the wrong way when it’s done in the
motivation of carnality—a sacrifice done in the wrong way. “And though I
give my body to be burned.” This is martyrdom—very dramatic, a sacrifice. Again “though” indicates not that you
should give your body to burn—suppose I do. It’s an “if”
suppose-so case. Here’s an illustration of extreme sacrifice
that most people would admire. People admire giving material things and martyrdom—highly commendable.
God says they’re absolutely worthless. It profiteth me nothing if I am not under the
status quo of being filled with the spirit.
The heathen will give himself in such sacrifices. Now and then we her of some Buddhist in
Vietnam immolates himself—burns himself alive, to make a point. Worth nothing. Carnal
Christians are merely competing with unbelievers on their human-good ground and they probably can’t do
as well. So, if I have not love, I have not the filling
of the spirit, it propheteth me nothing—no divine good. Notice verse 1: “I
have become nothing.” Verse 2: “Because I am not filled with the spirit, I am
nothing.” Verse 3: Because I am not filled with the spirit, I am
profited nothing by what I do. Everything I do is useless and
pointless.” The tongues devotees in Corinth were out of
line in their general living because they were operating on the old sin nature.
Now look at the expression of the characteristics of being
filled with the spirit—these descriptive phrases in just these
next few verse 4 through 7, and apply these to tongues. It says, “Love (being filled with the spirit)
suffereth long.” That means it waits its turn to speak in
tongues rather than barging in any time. That’s what they were not doing in Corinth.
It says it is kind. The tongue speaker does not say things
deliberately to hurt the believers, but to edify them. It says, “It envieth not.” It doesn’t covet the tongues gift because
somebody else has it. He isn’t jealous of that other person. “He has that
tongues gift. I want that spectacular gift.” It says, “It
doesn’t vaunt itself.” It doesn’t put its nose up in
the air and go around saying, “I’m spiritual,” and
have a look on its face like it’s smelling a bad odor. And you
have a feeling that you’re it because you’re unspiritual.
You don’t talk in tongues. “Nor does it puff itself up.” The tongue recipient is not proud of having
the idea that there is some personal merit in him. “It does not
behave itself unseemly.” Tongues were done decently and in order. It has no such things as women falling on the
floor all over the congregations so they have to rush out to get towels
to cover up their immodesties. “It seeketh
not its own.” It is never for self-edification and private use.
Have you gotten that straight? Tongues is never for private use. You never use
tongues in the closet. You never use tongues in prayer. You never use tongues
privately by yourself to pray. We’re going to see a little more about that. Tongues
always had to be used in the open assembly. So, it is not for itself. “It
is not easily provoked.” Tongues is not
angered by resistance that may come to the message that the tongue
speaker brought. “It thinketh no evil.” Tongues message is from divine good
expressions and for godly actions. “It rejoiceth not in iniquity.” It is
delighted in the godliness that the spirit of God produces. It is grieved by evil. Its
message reflects this. And then it says, “It rejoiceth in truth.” It
welcomes divine revelation. It’s positive toward the Word of God. And
finally, “It doeth, it believeth, it hopeth, and it endureth all things.” Now
this is the exercise of the gift of tongues under the status of
spirituality.
That’s what the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 13 are all
about. The more excellent way is to be filled with the spirit. And when these
Corinthian Christians are filled with the spirit, they will not be
carrying on the abuses that verses 4 through 7 spell out that they were guilty of
relative to tongues. Now these abuses would apply to other gifts just as well. When
you’re filled with the spirit, you bat 1000.
Dr.
John E. Danish, 1971
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