695
THE KING’S BUSINESS
THE GIFT OF TONGUES By HENRY W. FROST
desire that all should speak with tongues (1 Corinthians l4:5). And it is to be re membered that Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church representatively, and thus that he was also addressing all of the Churches of that time, and the whole Church of all time. But it is to be observed that the Scrip tures emphasize the fact that the gift of tongues was not a general but a special one, and that its manifestation was entirely and always subject to the sovereign will of God. It is clear that all believers had the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20); but it is equally clear that not all believers had or were to have the manifestation of the Spirit in the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:28- 30). Also, those who had the gift of tongues did not have the gift of all tongues, for there were “diversities” of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). Also, some who had the gift of tongues did not have the gift of interpreting tongues ; and some who had the gift of interpretation did not have the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12: 10, 30; 14:13, 27). In other words, what was true at Pen tecost, in connection with the gift, remained true, namely, that those who spoke in tongues did so only as the Holy Spirit gave them -utterance (Acts 2:4), and as that Spirit divided to every man severally as he willed (1 Corinthians 12:10, 11; Hebrews 2:4). In observing the various cases when the gift of tongues was granted to believers, it becomes apparent that the Spirit thus mani fested Himself in a threefold manner. First, there was the gift to the individual, to be exercised and enj oyed as between himself and God alone (1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, 28) ; second, there was the gift to one or more believers in behalf of other believers (1 Corinthians 14:5-9, 12-17, 26) ; and third, there was the gift to believers in behalf of unbelievers (Acts 2 :5-ll). It is to be noted,
\A 7H EN the Apostles received and exer- cised the gift of tongues at Pentecost, they could not have known,- since no Old Testament prophecy had spoken of the .mat ter,- whether the gift was exclusively Jewish and was then and there exhausted, or whether it wàs also Gentile and would be further extended and more widely applied. But subsequent events made -it plain that God had large purposes in respect to the gift, and that these were related to persons who were distinctly in the Church pe'riod and of Getrtile blood. For, while Pentecost was never duplicated—it being unique in many particulars—the Holy Spirit renewed it in this respect, that He later manifested Himself in the speaking with tongues, in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:45, 46), amongst certain believers in Ephesus (Acts 19:6), in the assembly at Corinth (1 Cor inthians 14:26), and most of all, in the per son of the Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 14: 18). ' A close reading of the New Testament Scriptures brings one to the conclusion that the gift of tongues, having been granted to the Apostolic Church, first as a special dis- pensational sign in the Jewish period and then as a general spiritual gift in the Gen tile period, was never withdrawn, and was intended—not as a dispensational sign but as a spiritual gift—to be continued through out the Church period. This conclusion is reached by observing, first, the absence of any teaching which looks toward the„ with drawal of the gift, and second, the presence of various passages which imply that it was meant to be a continuous one. In illustra tion of the last, it is to be noted that Paul in writing to -the Corinthians instructed them not to forbid the exercise of the gift (1 Corinthians 14:39) ; that he exhorted the assembly to covet all spiritual gifts, inclu sive of the gift of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:1, 31; 14:1) ; and that he expressed the
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker