Page 125 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT

The law of first mention is an important rule of Bible was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 28:11-12 that
interpretation, and the first time we see the exercise of was directed to the Jews.
tongues in the New Testament is in Acts 2. Here we see “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he
that the gift of tongues was the miraculous ability to speak to THIS PEOPLE. To whom he said, This is the
speak in a language that one had never learned. rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and
“Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear” (Is.
came together, and were confounded, because that 28:11-12).
every man heard them speak IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE. The miraculous tongues was a sign to the
And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one unbelieving Jews that God was speaking to all nations
to another, Behold, are not all these which speak of men and calling them into one new spiritual body
Galilaeans? And how hear we every man IN OUR OWN composed of both Jews and Gentiles. “This people”
TONGUE, wherein we were born? Parthians, and refers to the Jewish nation to whom the prophet Isaiah
Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in was speaking.
Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in
Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, Each time we see the gift of tongues exercised in the
and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers book of Acts Jews were present (Acts 2:6-11; 10:46;
of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we 19:6). On the day of Pentecost and in Acts 19 it was the
do hear them speak IN OUR TONGUES the wonderful Jews themselves that spoke in tongues. Fernand
works of God” (Acts 2:6-11). Legrand, a former Pentecostal, makes this important
At least 14 or 15 different languages are mentioned observation:
here. These were normal earthly languages spoken by “It is worth noting that wherever the sign appears, it is
men in that day, and the Jewish disciples were able to always in the presence of JEWS, and where we do not
speak in these languages even though they were not find Jews, as in Athens or in Malta, neither do we find
their native tongues and they had never learned them the sign. ... It is in the very nature of the sign that we
and never before spoken in them. find the nature of their unbelief. ... The sign
There is no reason to believe that the gift of tongues denounced or corrected their lack of faith concerning
the salvation of those who spoke languages that were
mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12-14 is any different from foreign to their own, that is, the Gentiles. .... But this
that mentioned in the book of Acts. In both places the was precisely what the Jews did not want to believe. In
tongues involved speaking in earthly languages that one fact, they were ‘contrary to all men: forbidding us to
had never learned. speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved’ (1 Th.
The same Greek word “glossa” is used for both. This 2:15-16). ... The idea of now being made one with
word refers to the tongue itself (Mk. 7:33) or to a foreigners was more than the first-century Jews could
language spoken by the tongue. stand. The thought alone was enough to fire up their
Hebrew atavism. Yet that was the first thing they had
Second, biblical tongues were a sign to unbelieving to understand and finally admit. So God gave them the
Israel regarding the founding of the church and they best sign possible to make them understand what they
ceased when this purpose was completed. could not or would not believe; HE MIRACULOUSLY
Another foundational truth about biblical tongues is MADE JEWS SPEAK IN THE LANGUAGES OF
that they were chiefly a sign to Israel that God was FOREIGNERS. IN SO DOING, GOD PUT JEWISH
extending the gospel to all nations. Note the following PRAISE INTO THESE PAGAN TONGUES. ...
teaching that Paul gave to the church at Corinth: “A simple but attentive reading of the Bible reveals the
“Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit scenario of fierce Jewish opposition towards everything
that was not specifically Jewish. We see Jonah who
in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. hates the men of Nineveh to the point of disobeying
In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and God. ... In his frustration he goes as far as asking for
other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all his own death. If Nineveh lives, may Jonah die! ... This
that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore spirit of opposition and unbelief will only be reinforced
tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to over the centuries. The Jews belong to Yahveh and
them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for Yahveh to them, in a closed circle of bigotry; everyone
them that believe not, but for them which believe” (1 else is cursed. ...
Co. 14:20-22).
The Corinthians were abusing the spiritual gifts and “Daring to suggest that people with a tongue different
from their own could benefit from the goodness of
were particularly enamored with tongues. As spiritual God, was to risk one’s life. They led Jesus to the top of
infants (1 Co. 3:1), they were “showing off” to one a hill to throw Him off because He had just said: ‘many
another. Paul tells them to stop being children and to be widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the
men by understanding the true purpose of tongues. It heaven was shut up three years and six months, when
great famine was throughout all the land; but unto

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 125