THE KINO’S BUSINESS
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judgment of God was manifest in such cap tivity. “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.” : ‘‘Tongues,” then, are a sign, a token of the displeasure of God. It is difficult to see how Israel could delight themselves in their captivity and in being in subjection to a foreign nation. It is difficult to see how the people of God today should over-exalt themselves in a gift of this kind. Should Christians < re joice in and-exult over this gift? Should they covet it and seek to bring the whole church into its possession ? Indeed, is it not true that this gift was intended to be manifested only in an infidel and unbeliev ing environment? If this be true, is it not altogether out of place in a Christian assembly (cf. xiv. 21-25) ? The gift of tongueS was evidently a transient, passing thing. “Whether there be tongues, they shall cease.” Those famil iar with thè Old and New Testaments know that miracles are not scattered promiscuously throughout the Scriptures, but are grouped in certain critical and strategic places. Certain supernatural signs are recorded at the inauguration of new epochs of history : for example, at the advent of Christ ; at Pentecost, the_ birth day of the church (Acts ii ) ; and at the admittance of Cornelius, the first fruits of the Gentiles, into the church (Acts x, xi). Some things were necessary at the estab lishment of Christianity which were not necessary afterwards. For example, we are told in Ephesians ii. 20 that the church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” In Ephesians iv. 11 we are told that Christ gave unto the church apostles and prophets. We certainly know that the office of apostle and prophet does not now exist—that it has passed away because the need for that office has passed away. Further, it was necessary that the apostles had seen the Lord; hence that office has passed away (Acts i; 1 Corin thians ix). The apostles and prophets,were th e ,foundation of the church, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner Stone; but
we are not now living in the time of foun dation laying; consequently there is no need for the office of apostle and prophet. We are living in the day of the super structure (cf. Ephesians ii. 19-22). It is remarkable to note in this connec tion that no such prominence was given to this gift of tongues in any other church save in the church at Corinth. This import ant truth Paul distinctly enunciates (xiv. 33, 36-40), (c) Paul’s Rebuke of the Manifestation of the Gift of Tongues at Corinth. Paul lays emphasis on the gift of tongues here rather than on any other gift because the Corinthians made so much of it on account of its loudness and show; and in placing such emphasis, they were like little children who love noise, novelty, and display rather than that which edifies, builds up, lasts, and has reality (xiv. 21 ). Paul asserts that this gift was practi cally useless for edifying purposes (xiv. 1 , 2, 4, 9-11). It was like “talking in the air.” In its manifestations at Corinth it was a species of barbarism. It resembled gib berish. It “invited the ridicule of the shameful.” It built up the faith of no one. Even the man himself possessing the gift did not understand it. It was a personal, selfish thing (xiv. 14, 17). It was the poorest and least of all the gifts of the Spirit', To speak five words with the understanding—in other words, to give a brief testimony that should be understood—was a far better thing than to be able to speak ten thousand words in a tongue (xiv. 1-5; 18, 19, 23-25). It seems that, in some measure at least if not mostly, this gift-was intended for private devotion, to be exercised at home rather than at public meetings (xiv. 28). The manifestation of this gift at Corinth had brought the services of the church into bad repute before the world (xiv. 22-25). What sort of a religion is it which leaves out sense, understanding, decency, sobriety, and order ? Not the Christian religion, surely. The plain, calpi interpretation of the Word of God, intelligently and with the
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