Redefining of Spiritual Gifts Today
1/23/2000
GRM 664
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh
Transcript
GRM 6641/16/2000
Redefining of Spiritual Gifts Today
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh
I want to continue the theme we were talking about this morning, relating to the matter of spiritual gifts and look at the issue of the gifts themselves, some of the issues related to the gifts and then as time allows some of the specific gifts also. It’s an area that is seeing a great revival, if I can put it that way, in the church today. In fact the leading edge of church growth is involved in what they see as a revival of certain of the gifts that down through church history had been viewed as over or no longer existing. Two books that I’ve referred to before that were recently published written by Peter Wagner are on this subject. One is called The New Apostolic Churches and the other is called Church Quake. Peter Wagner for many years was professor at Fuller Seminary and is one of the leading figures in the church growth movement. And let me just remind you of a couple of his comments. New Apostolic Churches tells you something about what he has to say about the gift of apostleship, and his belief that this gift is present again in the churches. The name I have settled on for the movement is the new apostolic reformation and individual churches being designated as new apostolic churches. And he goes on to say he believes that this new reformation is every bit as radical and important as the Protestant reformation under Martin Luther 500 years ago.
In my judgment views of leadership and leadership authority constitutes the most radical of the nine changes from traditional Christianity that are taking place. The main difference is the amount of spiritual authority delegated by the Holy Spirit to individuals. He goes on to talk about these apostles and a basic theological presupposition in new apostolic as contrasted to traditional churches is that supernatural power tends to open the way for applying truth, rather than vise versa. What you see here now is that the miraculous, the apostolic takes precedent over the truth. And first you have the demonstration of apostolic power, apostolic authority, and apostolic miracles and then you have the truth flowing out of that. So no longer is the truth central. Key in what they do, you know, sometimes say that those who define the terms win the battle and they redefine terms such as apostle and that they move building on their new definition which is not a biblical definition. In his second book, that book was done in 1998, Church Quake was published in 1999, and he elaborates on more detail on some of these issues and he has a chapter on apostolic ministry. The most radical difference between what I am calling new apostolic Christianity and traditional Christianity revolves around the amount of authority the Holy Spirit is perceived to delegate to individuals as opposed to groups, boards, or committees and so on.
What is an apostle? Here’s the definition I have been using for the spiritual gift of apostle. The gift of apostle is the special ability that God gives to certain members of the body of Christ, to assume and exercise general leadership over a number of churches, with an extraordinary authority in spiritual matters that is spontaneously recognized and appreciated by those churches. Now one think that ought to immediately grab you and it’s hard I realize as you listen and I’m reading, there is no mention of truth at all. It has to do with authority, and immediately you have an appeal to my flesh. I sort of like this. I might not mind being an apostle. You have extraordinary authority in spiritual matter. That is spontaneously recognized and appreciated by churches. What do you mean spontaneous? I know what spontaneous combustion is. Spontaneous apostleship? The key word in my definition is authority. He does put a disclaimer in here. It’s become clear to me as I’ve observed this that this definition applies to many, but not all apostles. So he’s not even sure how to define apostle. He’s just sure they are present.
Are there apostles today? Now listen to this because this is us and what we’re going to talk about in spiritual gifts. Although their number has been diminishing significantly over the last couple of decades, some Christian leaders still consider themselves secessionists. They hold the position that many of the spiritual gifts that were in operation in the first century church were designed by God so that their use would cease with the close of the apostolic age and with the completion of the New Testament cannon of scripture, and that is exactly the conviction of this church, the teaching that we believe is biblical. I thought it was interesting that he said that our number has been diminishing significantly over the last couple of decades. We’re becoming the dinosaurs of the church. And he is right. The church has progressively moved to adopt the practices and methods that at one time they recognized as unbiblical and stood against. But you know, as we’ve noted before also, one of the most effective strategies of the devil is his relentless opposition to the work of God, and we stand against it, and we stand against it, and he backs off. Then he attacks again and we’re a little wearier. We look for ways to make adjustments, to alleviate the pressure, then maybe he backs off again. Then he comes at it again and we look a little harder, how can we adjust. And so the process goes on, and the church as adopted many of the methods that he’s advocating in these two books. He is right, the Evangelical Church has adopted much of the methodology. I realize many of these churches have not yet adopted what he has advocating, as apostolic methods and practices. But the Evangelical church is on that road, they’re simply not as far down that road many of them, as he is at this point. But it is just a matter of time. The foundation is being laid by the mellowing of the emphasis on truth, a softening of the way truth is presented, so that authority is being moved away from the word of God itself to our experiences, and our perceptions.
He has some interesting things here that we don’t have time to read, but let me. . . How does an apostle gain authority, how do you get to be an apostle. I was sort of interested in this. Some who have not yet understood the question of authority, attempt to dismiss the issue by using the term self-appointed apostles. And I would use that. I think these men are just self appointed. The implication is that the so called apostolic office has no basis other than an eternal desire for an imposing title or for undue power. Took the words right out of my mouth. Now listen to this argument. If such were the case, however, apostles would have very few followers, and there would be no movement we could label the new apostolic reformation, pure pragmatism. If these men were only self appointed, no one would follow them. I find many people following the teachings of Joseph Smith in the Mormon Church. Many people following many cults today. The Rev. Moon has a multitude of followers. The Church of Scientology, I just received one of their publications this week, beautifully done, has great resources and wealth. People evidently have been taken in. This idea that if you get a number of followers, that validates your apostolic authority. I mean would you not think that there would be an embarrassment, in the Evangelical realm, to even offer such a subject argument?
He mentions in his first book that he believes this is the first book been published where he can refer to a man has taken to himself the title of apostle. And so there is apostle so and so in here and there are many of them. This book has many stories of apostles and here is Apostle John Eckhart in Chicago, Illinois, and you go on to apostle so and so and so and so. Now you tie this with the increasing ignorance in the Evangelical Church, we are not too far from the day when Christians will confront these men, claiming to be apostles, and they look and say, well you know, they seem to be sincere. They seem to be effective. They seem to be reaching many people. Why don’t we accept the apostleship? I mean Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and there’s no doubt that apostles were the center and foundation of the church that He established in New Testament times. Why would He not continue that or raise them up again in anticipation of His coming again? Unless we are thoroughly grounded in what the scripture says on these matters, we find ourself being swept along, and biblical ignorance opens the door to a host of theological errors and the corruption of the church.
So I want to look with you at some of the matters related to the issue of spiritual gifts. Before we get into it, let me just make reference to that verse I just quoted from Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. How many times have I heard that quote or seen it quoted in the context. That means you have to accept that there would be all kinds of gifts today. Jesus Christ is unchanging in His person and His character. That does not mean He does the same thing in the same way. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but for 33 years He walked this earth in a physical body. You could sit down and eat fish with Him. You could get in the boat and ride with Him. He is not present that way today. That does not mean Jesus Christ is not the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is in His character and nature. He will some day rule and reign in glory over the earth personally present. He is not doing that today. Well if He’s the same today as He will be tomorrow, why is He not? I mean if you just stop and think, I was going to say it’s a dumb argument, but that wouldn’t be nice. It’s stupid. I mean we shouldn’t tolerate that approach to scripture. You just grab a verse and whirl it around and throw it out and there. Now we know why we have apostles and why we have miracles. That doesn’t prove there’s not miracles. But that verse doesn’t add anything to the discussion quite frankly. Have to go to the word and say what God is doing today and how He is operating.
So I just want to walk through some of the gifts, and I want to start with the gift of apostleship, since that is the gift that is being revived today. And as Robert Schueller developed the methodology of the Seeker Service, that whole approach that has infiltrated the Evangelical Church, just give it time, so I think with the revival of this emphasis on apostles, we’ll see this, so we need to be clear. The whole issue of temporary gifts and being a secessionist, believing that some gifts ceased, they were for the foundation of the church, they for the time of the apostles, but they do not continue on, I think, can be established biblically. And that’s what we must do. I do not see any real effort in these works to establish biblically the truth, but it comes from experience and the claims of people.
The gift of apostle: There is no doubt Paul was an apostle, again some of his letters claiming to be an apostle. We have studied the book of Galatians and in the first chapter Paul claims to be an apostle and have apostolic authority and an apostolic message. Several things characteristic of an apostle and thus characteristic of Paul: Galatians, Chapter 1, since we’ve been doing the book of Galatians, just after Corinthians, Galatians, Chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through the agency of man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead. He was an apostle by virtue of personal appointment by Christ. So the divine appointment of the apostle was essential. No. 2, the apostle received his message directly from Christ. Wagner and those in this movement make the key element in the gift of apostle exceptional authority over the churches. Well, the Apostle Paul had exceptional authority, but it was in the context of the message that he preached. You don’t find the Apostle Paul just walking around using his authority as a pope. He had a message from God. And so in Galatians, while we’re still in Galatians, down in verses 11 and 12, I would have you know Brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from man nor was I taught it but I received it through a revelation from Christ. Key aspect in the gift of apostle was the recipient of revelation from God. Now you see the track we’re on. Not just a matter of having authority, but it’s a matter of being able to speak as the spokesman of God, not with the Holy scriptures but with a message directly from God. As you read the accounts of these men filled with what God told them to do. And you have men now that have authority beyond the scripture because they have a message that is not limited to the scripture. So you open the door to the apostolic gift again, you open the door to revelation. The Apostle Paul claimed that, that he had a message that was directly given him from God, and so was absolutely authoritative, that’s involved in the apostolic ministry.
No. 3: An apostle had to have seen Jesus Christ after His resurrection from the dead. I Corinthians, Chapter 9, verse 1, Am I not free, am I not an apostle, have I not seen Jesus, our Lord. That’s the proof. I personally saw Jesus, because Acts, Chapter 1 says the apostles were to be eyewitnesses of the truth. I testify to the truth, but I am not an eyewitness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have never seen the resurrected Christ. I can’t declare to you a testimony on the basis of my first hand experience. I believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. I believe it because of the testimony of the apostles that has been recorded under the direction of the Holy Spirit, these men who were eye witnesses of the truth. In I Corinthians, Chapter 15 Paul talks about the post resurrection experiences of Christ. Not every one who saw Him after His resurrection was an apostle. But to be an apostle you had to have seen Him. In verse 4 of I Corinthians 15 as Paul unfolds the gospel, death, burial and resurrection. He was buried, verse 4, He was raised on the third day. Verse 5, He appeared to Cephas, Peter, then to the twelve, then to more than 500 brethren at one time, most of who will remain until now, a few have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. You get the idea there that Paul says this is the last of those appearances. Last of all, He appeared to me. I am the exceptional case. The Damascus road recorded in Acts, Chapter 9 Christ appeared and confronted the Apostle Paul. That qualified him. Last of all, He appeared to me.
I take it after Paul there are no apostles. He even saw himself as unique in the work of God.
Connected to this, the 4th characteristic or point that needs to be kept in mind, the apostles had the power to perform miracles. II Corinthians, Chapter 12, verse 12 Paul says the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles. Certain other men may have had the ability to do miracles. Here though clearly it is connected to the ministry of apostles. As you go through the book of Acts and I wrote down the verses, but we’re not going to take the time to do it, you find miracles occurring in the context of apostolic ministries, sometimes in the ministry of prophets. Why so? The apostles are leaders for the new church, they are receiving new revelation from God. How are people to know that this is not just another cult that has come on the scene? Their ministry is validated by the ability to do signs, wonders, and miracles. I want you to note for where we’re going from here that signs, wonders, and miracles are connected with apostles. The signs of a true apostle were performed among you. Now if signs, wonders, and miracles are being done by all kinds of believers everywhere they cease to be a sign of a true apostle. It’s irrelevant, apostles may do them, but so does everybody else who is a believer. But here Paul says that the demonstration of a true apostle is with signs, wonders, and miracles. You do need to look at one other passage in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 2. Hebrews, Chapter 2, verse 3, how should we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, Jesus Christ spoke of these matters, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. So you have those who directly received it from Christ. God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will.
So you see these gifts, particularly the sign gifts, miracle gifts, are associated with the receiving and passing on of new revelation from Christ. New revelation, in this sense, this adds to the revelation that we had was our Old Testament. Now we have new revelation. It’s validated by signs, wonders, and miracles according to Hebrews 2, 3, and 4. So we’re opening the door, this whole doctrine. We’re reviving the gift of apostleship. Once you accept that, then they can go to scripture to demonstrate apostles do signs and wonders and apostles have new revelation from God. Well, you can’t argue, that’s right about apostles. So you have to be careful you don’t let them establish a foundation that is not on scripture, and what we have to start out with is, is it possible that there are apostles present today. Did you see personally Jesus Christ after His resurrection from the dead? That’s required. Then you have to answer how come Paul said he was the last who have such an appearance and now you’ve got it. All in saying, next to the last He appeared to me, the last of all to me. So I think we really need to establish what an apostle is. I think Wagner redefines apostleship in a way that he just goes on then. It’s special exceptional authority. All right, now we’ve established that. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. That may be your definition. Let’s go to scripture and see what the scripture says an apostle is. He does have exceptional authority and that is connected inseparably with the message that has been given him directly from God, and that is why Ephesians, Chapter 2, verse 20 says the church is being built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. In I Corinthians, Chapter 3 Paul says he has laid the only foundation that can be laid. Now we need to be careful how we build upon the foundation. Now we’re bringing apostles back in to the picture. Are we redoing the foundation? Why do we need apostles? We build upon the foundation they established. We study I Corinthians, we’re building on the foundation established by the Apostle Paul, the truth given through him by Christ in the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
So absolutely essential that we be clear on what the scripture says about the gift of apostleship and are careful of our handling of it. So on the gift of apostleship I would say it was a gift that ceased with the death of John, the last of the apostles, the last living apostle, as he received the concluding revelation from Christ that is our book of revelation, and completes the message of God. We don’t need new revelation. We need a knowledge of the revelation that has been given. We do not need the gift of apostleship today. And you can’t break it out and say well, our apostles don’t receive divine revelation, they just have the authority. Well you’re either an apostle or you’re not, and soon as you start to redefine it, you don’t have a New Testament apostle.
Talk about the gift of prophesy, I was going to go to another gift, we’ll go to prophesy since I had mentioned that. Ephesians 2:20 says we’re built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and what was the gift of prophesy in the New Testament. It involved receiving direct revelation from God and communicating it to others. That doesn’t mean that every time an apostle or a prophet spoke they had new revelation. We find Paul repeating himself in some of his letters. He was repeating revelation he had received in addition, perhaps, to new revelation. Obviously Paul taught a lot with all his travels, and we have only a portion that the Spirit directed to be recorded as inspired scripture. But involved in the ministry of a prophet was the reception of revelation from God, and that’s why prophets are joined with apostles in Ephesians 2:20 as the foundation of the church. We won’t go through the book of Acts and see the various prophets and even prophetesses with the four daughters of Philip who are called prophetesses in Acts, Chapter 21.
God’s direct action is involved in the gift of prophecy. He speaks to His prophets. Go to the book of Acts. I need to at least look at one or two references with you. In Acts, Chapter 16 there you find a ministry going on with Paul and others, but verse 6, you see here how God works. They were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. You have God’s direct intervention in things. And if you go through the book of Acts you see that kind of reference in the connection to the ministry of apostles and prophets. Now in this sense you could say that all the apostles possess the gift of prophecy, in the sense they received direct revelation from God and gave it to others, but not all prophets were apostles. You could be a prophet who received direct revelation, but you did not have the gift of apostleship which did involve that authority in establishing the churches in all in other places. And Paul says the apostolic gift was the most important gift given to the church at the end of I Corinthians, Chapter 12.
Now in this context you have to be careful about redefining the gifts. There are some who would say well, you know, we have prophets today, that’s what preachers are. Now there’s one aspect of the gift of prophecy not present in today’s preachers and that is direct revelation, but prophets are speaking forth, the revelation is already given. Well, then you’re not an apostle. I mean we have to be careful, let the New Testament tell us what New Testament apostles were. New Testament apostles got direct revelation, so they are not like New Testament preachers in that sense, because I don’t have any new revelation from God. I am taking the revelation that has been given and passing it on to you. But I have no new revelation. So I’m not a prophet, I’m a teacher, preacher, an exhorter. There are other gifts that would be associated with the communication of the word. But being a prophet is not one of them and you’ll find this in some writings of some very good men. But I don’t think you can redefine the gift to make it different than it was in the New Testament and thus say it’s present today. As soon as you do that, you’re going to be in trouble, because then there are going to be people who want to redefine the gift of apostleship and then say it’s present today. But if you redefine it it’s not the same gift. I’m not part of the foundation of the church, so I’m not a prophet. I’m building upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. So we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the error that opens the door for confusion in the church.
I take it it’s temporary in character, because it involves direct revelation also. While we’re on this vain, miracles, these gifts, miracles, healing I would see in the context of apostolic ministry, they’re the signs of a true apostle. They are validating evidences, Hebrews 2, of those who received the word from Christ and passed it on to us. I don’t know how you can get around that, miracles, the ability to do supernatural things. You understand people didn’t run around all through scripture doing miracles. There are periods of miracles. Moses, delivering Israel from Egypt, was a time of great miracle manifestation, the time of Elijah and Elisha in Israel’s history was a time were many miracles were done by these prophets. The time of Christ and the apostles was a time of great miracle manifestation. But, you know, it’s not like all through the Old Testament you just go from one miracle to the other. Now you see the supernatural there as God is at work in it all, but I’m talking about performing miracles and doing miracles like Moses did in the presence of Pharaoh like Elijah and Elisha did, like Christ and His apostles did.
There you can define those periods of miracles. Some people think that just because they God’s people they were running around doing miracles. Everybody in Israel who was a believer wasn’t running around doing the same kind of miracles Moses did in the presence of Pharaoh. In fact Moses didn’t do that all the time and not every prophet that came on the scene ran around doing miracles, like Elijah and Elisha did, and then obviously with the coming of Christ it was a time of miracle manifestation as the Messiah was present. And then with His rejection the new revelation that has been given that is our New Testament that is validated by those miracles. And I think we find miracles consistently done in connection with the ministry of an apostle. Often said, well look, there were these miracle gifts in the church at Corinth, but Paul wasn’t there when he writes the letter. Well no, but the church at Corinth is a result of the apostle’s ministry, and the presence of miracle gifts going on in the church at Corinth was a reminder to them of Paul’s apostolic authority and the authority of the message that he had as he wrote his letter. So it was a result of apostolic ministry, even though the apostle was no longer present there. They were the result of his ministry and he uses that argument with them. All people that are questioning his apostleship, the Corinthians shouldn’t been doing that because they’re a result of his ministry. And when he says the signs of a true apostle were performed among you, they have ongoing evidence of that there.
Again, that’s foundational as the church is being established and the unity of the church is established under the authority of the apostles and the message they have been given. Why would we need new apostles today? We have their message. We haven’t been gifted to communicate that message, and the authority comes from that message and the ministry God has given.
I’d put the gift of healing in that same category. It’s a miracle gift. I believe God heals. I do not believe the gift of healing is present today, where men walk around, put their hands on somebody and heals them, speak the word and they’re healed. Now I’ve heard the stories and read the stories and you’ve heard them and read them. I’d don’t believe we have those miracles going on in that way. I believe God heals in answer to prayer today, the prayers of His people. That’s different than Paul and Peter, walking around, speak the word, and miracle occurs that no one can deny and it’s evident to everybody. Nobody can deny that man was born lame, never walked, and he’s jumped up in front of the crowd and he’s dancing around here, and nobody can deny there’s been a mighty miracle. Even the unbelievers are boxed in. So there is no question here, nobody just, who has a pain in their back walking across, throws their crutches away and shows they can walk across the stage, with a little bit of a limp. And as their faith continues to grow their healing will too. That’s not New Testament healing. All right.
I don’t have all the answers for all the trickery that goes on, and I’m aware that the greatest miracle worker, apart from Christ Himself, will be the Anti-Christ and the false prophet in Revelation 13, as we’ve looked at, and their miracles will deceive the whole world. So I’m talking about miracles that are produced by God to bring honor to Himself. So if a man came along and did a miracle, I still don’t believe it’s from God.
You say, oh boy, you are in trouble. Well no, I have the word of God, that’s enough. And if they won’t believe Moses and the prophets, they won’t believe the One who has raised from the dead and that was proved because Christ died and was raised from the dead and the Jewish leaders still didn’t believe. So we don’t need miracles and it wouldn’t change one unbelieving heart, because if they won’t believe the message of Christ, they won’t believe the miracles.
Let me jump to the gift of tongues before I use up my time. This is another gift that I think can be clearly established as of its nature and thus demonstrate that it does not exist.
If I was going to be dealing with someone arguing over whether your gifts have ceased, certain gifts, I would probably focus on apostleship and tongues. Once you’ve established that certain gifts are not present, then you’ve opened the door, at least the possibility that others are not. Now the gift of tongues, part of the problem we get is we don’t really go to scripture and find out what was the gift of tongues. A person running along, babbling wasn’t the biblical gift of tongues. That was practiced in the ecstatic pagan religions of the day. I’ve referred to this on other occasions. There is a grammarian who spends his life studying speech and so on, who has written a book on this subject, studying various kinds of ecstatic speech and he find it in all kind of cultures and all kind of religions, and all kind of paganism. Ecstatic speeches is a normal phenomenon, babbling kind of speech. He’s got all this drawn out, showing the characteristics of the speech patterns and all of that. So ecstatic speech is not new, it wasn’t new in Paul’s day. You read commentaries, the time and writings of the time, Paganism of the time, practice babbling ecstatic speech. So just because some one stands up and starts to mumble and babble doesn’t mean I have to believe that the gift of tongues is present. I don’t even believe that’s what the biblical gift of tongues was. Seems to me it is clearly established in scripture, that the gift of tongues was the ability to speak in an earthly language that you had never studied or learned. If I would start to speak in Spanish and I was speaking to you fluently in Spanish and you understood Spanish, that would be the gift of tongues. Or you didn’t understand it but somebody had the gift of interpretation and they never understood Spanish, but they understood what I’m saying. That would be the gift.
Go to Acts, Chapter 2, and we use the law of first reference here where it is a pattern that the first use or reference establishes the meaning that will subsequently be identified with that use of that word or phrase. A tongue, glossa, the Greek word, so we have glossa laleo, glossa, tongue; laleo, to speak, to speak in tongues. Glossa laleo, as we’ve carried over into English, just the Greek word, compounded word. It’s used, and we won’t take the time to go through it, but other places used through the book of Revelation, tongues. People of every tribe and tongue and nation will be in glory. Well, what’s he mean. Well, from every tribe on the earth, every nation on the earth, every language on the earth. That’s how the word tongue is often used through the scripture, used of your physical tongue, and then used of the words that come from your tongue. We could say, what tongue is he. Well, he’s French. We mean what language does he speak. In the book of Acts, Chapter 2, the Day of Pentecost, the first of tongue speaking appeared. Example, first time tongues occurred. Verse 4, They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, there’s our word, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Down in verse 11, people said we’re amazed and they go on through all these
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, and a few from Mesopotamia, all these areas. Down to verse 11, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them in our own tongues. It was obviously a language, he spoke of all the different groups that are here. I mean we hear them speaking in our language. This is amazing. The language to which we were born. He also uses the word in this context not only glossa tongue, but he uses the word dialect, dialektos, we just have it in English, dialect. Look at verse 6, When this sound occurred the multitude came together, and were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language, same dialect. So you have another word here that’s used of earthly language. You have glossa and you have dialect. Were hearing them in their own language. Verse 8, How is it that we hear each of them in our own language to which we were born?
There is no doubt in Acts, Chapter 2 the gift was, the ability to speak in a language. The apostles didn’t know all these languages. But they’re standing up, speaking in one language, then another, then another, then another and people are amazed. They saw this as a supernatural phenomenon. That being the case, Acts, Chapter 10 and verse 44, While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers, would have been Jewish believers, who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles. How did they know? For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Let me tell you, for the Jews their experience of receiving the Holy Spirit involved what? The ability to speak languages. Do you think these Jews would have accepted just babbling speech like was practiced by pagan religions of the time? Ah ha, these Gentiles are trying to pull a fast one, they’re still pagans and they have the same kind of babble speech. In fact, when Peter gives his account back in Jerusalem in Chapter 11, verse 15, As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did on us at the beginning. The same thing was reproduced so we know that they spoke in the same kind of language as you had in Acts, Chapter 2. No chance at all that the Jews would have accepted babbling, ecstatic kind of speech, as genuine. I wouldn’t have been the same experience they had in Acts, Chapter 2.
So the gift of tongues is established. Where’s the gift of tongues, to speak in a language you didn’t know.
Come over to I Corinthians, Chapter 14, and look at verse 21. In the context there was a problem with tongues. They were exalting this gift because of its spectacular nature. Verse 20 Paul says, Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; but yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers, I will speak to this people, even so they will not listen to Me, says the Lord. And what he’s done here is quote from the Old Testament and Isaiah, Chapter 28, verse 11 and 12. What was Isaiah immediately referring to when he spoke the message of God and told the Jews by the men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers, I will speak to this people? The Assyrians were going to conquer the Northern kingdom, and when you hear the Assyrian language being spoken to you, you will know you were under the judgment of God. The presence of that foreign language in Israel was a testimony God was judging the nation for their unbelief. And that’s true with the speaking of tongues here. What happens in Acts, Chapter 2? Tongues are spoken in Jerusalem in the presence of Jews, which is a testimony of what? The nation Israel has come under the judgment of God again, and it has been set aside in the plan of God and He will now build the church. Doesn’t mean that He’ll never resume His program any more than when He exiled Israel into Assyria and later the Southern kingdom to Babylon, that that exile meant the end. Well Israel is in a time of exile again and the speaking of those foreign languages was a testimony to Israel of the judgment of God.
In I Corinthians, Chapter 12, note in verse 10 the different gifts, to another the effecting of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, kinds of tongues. Down in verse 28, end of the verse, kinds of tongues. Come over to Chapter 14 again, verse 10. There are a great many kinds of languages, that word kinds. Down in verse 28, wait a minute, that doesn’t look right. I don’t see the word kinds there, do you? At any rate, those words kinds that we found so far, it’s the word Genos. We bring it over into things like genealogy, pronounced the g, the soft g, as we bring it over and the Greek word is Genos is the way we would bring it over. It means nationality, race, kindred. It’s translated nation in Philippians, Chapter 3, verse 5. So there are different nationality of tongues is basically what he says. Different nations have different languages. That’s in the context of I Corinthians 12, kinds of tongues. There are different nationalities of tongues. We understand that today. There’s different nationality languages, yes. The French speak French, Spanish speak Spanish, Americans speak English. I mean on we go. Different nations get identified with different languages. That’s what he’s saying here. All of this to say, as we work through the scripture, first I have to establish what is the biblical gift of tongues. Going no further I have to say the gift of tongues does not exist today. And I’ve shared with you before a number of years ago John Sherell, who himself is Pentecostal or charismatic toward the world presenting tongue speaking meetings and listening to people in different countries, taking recording equipment and so on, and by his own admission, the book he published on the subject, he was not able to find evidence anywhere that anyone was speaking in an earthly language. So to me it’s a dead issue. I think there are other reasons like the miracle gifts and so on associated with apostolic ministry. And I realize you hear second hand experience and Sherell tried to trace those down. Oh, my mother-in-law aunt’s landlady speak in Hebrew, never learned it. He tried to trace that down, find out he could never validate it, and he was doing it as one who believed in the gift. But he has to admit he hadn’t found it. That didn’t mean he didn’t believe it, but he said his knowledge to this point, he’d not been able to find anywhere and validate it. He had heard all the second and third hand accounts himself, but when he got there with his equipment, sat down, he had his recording analyzed by linguists to see if perhaps the structure of language was here. What they found is the same thing Semaran found in his book, people who speak in ecstatic speech are putting together the syllables and sound of their native language. And furthermore those syllables and sounds don’t have the makeup of a true language. And they work through the details of what marks a language off a language and there’s none of those characteristics that are found there. So you’re just making meaningless sounds and those sounds even are that which are native to you according to the language which is your language.
So we have the fraudulent, so you say, well, why don’t you believe in tongues? Because the scripture says this is what tongues is and nobody’s doing it. At least that would be a starting point. I would have other reasons I would want to seriously evaluate whether this is genuine or not in light of the demonic work in the world, but the fact that there’s no place to go to find even what could pass as a real case. That makes it a dead issue, so why does so much of the church accept it? Because I want to and can the experience be bad. Well, of course it can if it’s not biblical. You know you don’t want to open up the door because if it’s not genuine then you’ve opened the door to the work of the devil and he’s demons in corrupting the church. And it’s like Paul told the Corinthians in Chapter 10, An idol is nothing but what you have to be careful of is when you join in worship of an idol you join in the worship of a demon, and you don’t want to be caught fellowshipping with demons. There are doctrines of demons and the devil corrupts the truth of God and I don’t want to share in that work. So the church ought to be prepared and have its foundation clear, want to go back, I want to analyze the scripture. I don’t want to be fixed, no, we never believe that, no, it’s not my. . . I have to go back, if I’ve missed what the scripture says, I want to analyze it.
But you know, when I put it together it’s clear. There were certain gifts that will not continue on. Now there are gifts that do continue on for the ongoing ministry of the church. Paul did not delegate Timothy as an apostle, but Timothy was responsible to take the message that Paul had received as an apostle and teach it to other men. No indication he becomes an apostle. Paul never tells him, Timothy, now you’re an apostle, I’m about to die and you are the apostle in charge. Doesn’t happen. Could have helped Timothy if he had apostolic authority and position and revelation directly from God, but he doesn’t. He had to act on the basis of Paul’s.
So that’s as far as we can go with this tonight. But I just want us to be prepared. This will continue to move into the church as the other methods of the church growth movement have. They will be impressive. Churches are seeing spectacular growth like we have never seen, and it makes you wonder. Maybe there’s something to it, maybe we shouldn’t be so narrow, maybe we. . . Well, we have to be biblical and the truth of scripture has to be the foundation upon which we build, or we’re building on sand and it will not last. Let’s pray together.
Thank you, Lord, for the revelation that you have given in your word. Thank you for the presence of the Holy Spirit who teaches us and instructs us. Lord, I pray that we might be a church that is biblical, faithful to the word. May we be careful not to be faithful to our traditions and our own personal beliefs and convictions. But, Lord, my we be faithful to your word. May we be open to any changes that are to come about because we have misunderstand the word. We need to make any changes that your word would have us make. But, Lord, we need to be faithful to change. May we guard against change in your word to fit the mood and tide of the day. Lord, again we than you for the privilege of being your church in these days. Thank you that we stand together with many, many people across this country and around the world who are faithfully proclaiming Jesus Christ. May, Lord, you be honored by our faithfulness to you and your word. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
You have been listening to the bible teaching of Gil Rugh. Gil is senior pastor at Indian Hills Community Church in Lincoln, Nebraska.