unbeliever not the believer. It is for a missionary purpose — not as a sign of spiritual growth. “In the law it is written, With men of other tongues LAID ON THE ALTER Laid on Thine altar, O my Lord di vine. Accept my gift this day, for Jesus' sake, I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine, Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make. But here I bring within my trembling hands, This will of mine, a thing that seemeth small, Yet Thou alone, O Lord, canst under stand How, when I yield Thee this, I yield mine all. Hidden therein, Thy searching gaze can see Struggles of passion, visions of de light. All that I have, or am, or fain would be, Deep loves, fond hopes, and long ings infinite; It hath been wet with tears, and dimmed with sighs, Clinched in my grasp, till beauty hath it none; Now from Thy footstool, where it vanquished lies. The prayer ascendeth, "M a y Thy will be done." Take it, O Father, ere my courage fail, And merge it so into Thine own will, that e'en If in some desperate hour my cries prevail. And Thou give back my gift, it may have been So changed, so purified, so fairer grown, So one with Thee, so filled with love divine, I may not know or feel it as my own But gaining back my will, may find it Thine. and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Where fore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe
Tongues (continued) prophecy. This is defined for us in the first verse: “Follow after charity (love) and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” The Christian is not to become a victim of the flesh, but is to seek that which is spiritual. This warning of the Apostle is most strategic. To further emphasize the importance of the primary gift, “I would that you all spoke with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying” (v. 5). Paul in effect declares to the Corin thian church: “If you all spoke with tongues, it would be wonderful. But you don’t. Now, if I were to choose a gift for you, instead of choosing tongues, I would choose the gift of prophecy. The reason is very simple. When you speak for God men can understand and be blessed.” Verses 2 to 4 lend even greater focus to this. Something else needs to be pointed out clearly. The word “unknown” in this chapter means that it does not occur in the original text. Since the translators of the Authorized Version were not certain as to the nature of the word, unknown was inserted. I be lieve this was a real error. When I speak to you over the air, I do so in English. If I should use French, Ger man or Greek, it would be of little value, except to the possible few who understand one of these languages. With English I am able to exhort you to a better life, to comfort you in a time of disappointment, or to help you to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is brought out in verse four, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifi- eth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.” So, if you choose a gift, select prophecy, whereby you could teach, exhort and comfort the church. A point that many of the “tongues” people miss is explained in verses 21 and 22, where Paul points that speak ing in an unknown language is for the
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