Saturday, July 28, 2018

Gibberish Tongues Debunked

 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place,
and all speak with tongues,
and there come in those that are unlearned,
or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
1 Corinthians 14:23
 
"In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul continues the discussion of spiritual gifts by focusing on speaking in tongues versus prophecy.
However, the real issues are:
(1) who is to benefit in a worship context; and
(2) disorder creates problems in the worship service.

The discussion of tongues must be understood against this background.
Who is going to benefit from the exercise of this spiritual gift—the gifted person only or others also (14:2–6, 9)?
Paul is clear: The goal must be to edify the church (vss. 4, 5, 12, 17, 26).
Furthermore, for outsiders the impression must be avoided that church members are out of their mind (vs. 23). Verses 27 to 40 discuss the problem of disorder in the worship service in Corinth.

Paul points out that since spiritual gifts can be controlled by the recipients, only two or three persons should speak in turn and that an interpretation should be provided. If these rules are not maintained, speaking in tongues has no place in the worship service of the Corinthian church. The same is also true for prophecy (vss. 29–32). Thus, the context makes it clear that the issue is the abuse of spiritual gifts."
EkkehardtMueller/PD

* Tongues was speaking a foreign language. Not the Gibberish of the modern charismatics.