1. Tongues were a sign of judgment against Jewish unbelief as a nation
With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., God's judgment on Israel had been executed and the tongues gift as a sign of coming judgment on Israel was no longer relevant.
"Wherefore, tongues are for a sign NOT to them that believe, but to them that believe not"... 1 Corinthians 14:22.
"In the law it is written, with men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people (Jews); and yet for all that (all the tongues) will they (Jews) not hear me (warning ignored), sayeth the Lord". 1 Corinthians 14:21.
Tongues here clearly are a warning to the Jews that they ignore.
1 Corinthians 14:21 is quoting from:
i) Deuteronomy 28:49 where God warns of judgment coming from "a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand".
ii) Jeremiah 5:15. "Lo I will bring a nation upon you from afar...a nation whose language thou knowest not..." (612 BC) Hence, Babylonian tongues warned Jews of coming judgment.
iii) Isaiah 28:11,12. "With another tongue will he speak to his people." (712 BC). Here, Assyrian tongues warned the Jews of coming judgment.
iv) Isaiah 33:19. "Thou shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive: of a stammering tongue that thou canst not understand".
Here the absence of foreign tongues will be a sign that Israel is under God's blessing. Paul applies the Jewish unbelief of Isaiah 28:11, 12 from 712 BC to the first century Jewish unbelief. "This people", "they", "them that believe not" all refers to Jews. There were many Jews at Corinth who did not believe (Acts 18). Hence, tongues were a sign of future judgment to the Jews.
2. There are three major outbreaks of miracles in Scripture:
i) Moses and Joshua (1441-1370 BC) of about 71 years duration.
ii) Elijah and Elisha (870-785 BC) of about 85 years duration.
iii) Christ and the Apostles (28-70 AD) of about 42 years duration.
Continuous miracles in the Bible are the exception, and do not occur always but in three periods.
The miraculous gift of tongues occurred from 30-70 AD.
3. Tongues belonged to the infant days of the church.
"But when I became a man, I put away childish things" 1 Corinthians 13:11.
Tongues (along with prophesy and knowledge) would cease when the church became mature. The childhood days of the church ended, when Israel as a nation was judged. Then there was no longer any need for a sign to authenticate the apostles' message (Mark 16:17-20) which started the church. Nor was there need for a sign against the extinct Jewish nation.
The gifts of tongues, miracles, healing, etc. had stopped by 70 AD, but of course God still performs miracles and heals as He chooses today in answer to prayer. Since some foundational gifts were temporary, tongues, a lesser miraculous gift, was temporary also.
4. Tongues authenticates the apostles' message as from God.
"And they (apostles) went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs (tongues, healing, exorcism, etc.) following. Amen. "Mark 16:20"'
Today the need for tongues has ceased. God has authenticated the apostles and the New Testament that they penned. This proves the temporary nature of tongues.
5. Hebrews 6:5 shows that the only other age of miracles will be the Millennium described as "the powers of the age to come".
Q. What are the powers?
A. The word rendered "powers" is "dynameis" in Greek, which is the usual New Testament word for miracles. These people had tasted, experienced, or witnessed the apostles' miracles.
Q. What is the "age to come"?
A. A common Hebrew expression for the millennium where the Messiah will rule as King on earth.
Q. Why therefore are miracles referred to as "powers of the age to come"?
A. Because they would not characterize the church age (which Hebrews 6:5 was quoted in), but the millennial Kingdom age to come.
6. Hebrews 2:3, 4 shows miracles (such as tongues) to be in the past tense, and not continuously being experienced by the Hebrew Christians of 64 AD.
"How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which:
1) At the first began to be spoken by the Lord (Jesus' 3 year ministry) and
2) Was (past tense) confirmed (same as Mark 16:20) unto us (second generation Christians) by them (apostles and first generation Christians) that heard him (Jesus Christ),
3) God also bearing them (the apostles, not us or every generation of Christians) witness, both with signs (eg. tongues, miracles, healings, etc.) and wonders, and with divers miracles (miracles belonged to the apostles, not to every Christian. II Corinthians 12:12), and gifts of the Holy Ghost (eg. the temporary miraculous gifts), according to His own will".
a) Notice the phrase "at the first". This gives the time element which governs all these signs, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost.
b) All Greek verbs in Hebrews 2:3, 4 are in the aorist tense indicating a past completed act which can never be repeated.
7. This is also seen in Acts 11:15, where Peter describes tongues at Cornelius household, not as a regular occurrence weekly in every church, but only something that happened last time at Pentecost (Acts 2) "as on us at the beginning".
and described in that way in v. 19, 20.
"And these signs shall follow...them (apostles because the context of v. 11, 14 shows unbelieving apostles four times) that believe; ...they shall speak with new tongues. v. 17.
"This refutes the Charismatic idea that everybody who believes all through the Church age should speak in tongues, lay hands on the sick and they shall recover, etc., because this belief only refers to the unbelieving apostles in v. 11-14 who refused to believe in Christ's resurrection (v.11). This continues as part of Christ's rebuke to the apostles' for "their unbelief and hardness of heart" v.14.
If we fail to read the entire context of Mark 16:9-20 we may get the impression that the v. 17, 18 sign gifts apply to all believers. There is good evidence that "them that believe" refers to only the apostles. Why?
9 comments:
This is a view that I have long held -- that tongues are not for today. It is refreshing to find someone else who shares my opinion. It's really too bad that some current day churches are teaching this incorrect theology and leading thousands of people astray.
Nice to see you back. Great information and so very true. We have been trying to tell our children about this tongues-problem and you have given us lots of discussion points to start from.
It is interesting to read all of the verses that truly make me aware that tongues was only a gift for ancient times and not for today. It is such a shame that so many are being misled and will have to face the final judgment as deceived people instead of Christians. We can only hope that somehow this horrific error of interpretation will cease before it is too late.
We always knew deep down that there was something wrong with a church that puts such a huge emphasis on everyone speaking in these heavenly languages that nobody understands. Having read your blog and looked up the Scriptures that you mention have made it imperative that we get out of our current church. We never were given the ability to speak in tongues and as such, were looked down on as not being spiritual enough to receive this gift. Give more money, give more time was the battle cry from the pastor to try to get us this "gift" which we now know is just not a gift for current days. Thank you.
What an incredible eye-opening blog. Our church is teaching this as "required". We cannot continue to worship in a non-biblical church.
If these Scriptures really refer to tongues only being a gift for a short while, then our children are involved in a deceptive organization. We are trying desparately to get them out of this Victory church but to no avail. Thank you for taking the time and we hope that your children will see the light sometime soon.
I knew that we were being taught something unbiblical. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I have now read everything in your blog that relates to tongues and I am going to get out of my church today. I do not want my family to end up in hell because we believed something so untrue.
We are appalled that we have been taken in by this phenomena that is the cornerstone of our church. We never were given the gift and only pretended to have it. When people started interpreting our "tongues" we knew that we had a problem because we were just making sounds and noises. We are no longer attending the church and are looking for a true Bible believing church in our city. Thank you for putting this out.. it confirmed our worst fears!
Only the foolish could be taken in by such nonsense! Or so I thought until my husband came home from a meeting and starting "talking" to me in another language. It was nothing but grunts and groans. Now he is full blown into a Vineyard church and our family is falling apart. I am supposed to be "supportive" and "submissive" but how can I do this when I believe what he is doing is wrong. I am going to try to get him to read your blog.
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