ing. This mark God supplied in the form of miraculous gifts of the Spirit, such as tongues. Once this new truth has become established, how ever, there was no longer any need of such miraculous manifestations. In an objective, written revelation such as the Bible is, the necessity for widespread miraculous gifts of the more sensational type is removed. For this reason, after the completion and recognition of the New Testament canon, there was no longer a place for au thenticating signs; the truth now stood in authentic form, and the confirmatory signs could add nothing to it. There is today the popular conception that signs were utilized to gain attention; while they did do this, their actual purpose was to authenticate the message being spoken (I Cor. 14:22). Miraculous signs, then, served their purpose in the period of transition from the old economy to the new. Paul alludes to this characteristic of tongues when he says, “Whether there be tongues, they shall cease” (I Cor. 13:8). He illustrates the manner of the gift’s cessation by means of an illustration drawn from human development: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things’ (I Cor. 13:11). Certain behavior habits and mannerisms belong to the early states of life, and the gifts enumerated in verse eight fall into this class, according to the writer. But as one begins to reach adulthood and maturity, the earlier habits drop by the wayside. These habits do not leave the person suddenly, but rather gradually. Thus in the analogy the writer does not speak of the cessation of tongues at the time of Christ’s coming; instead he speaks of their fading off the scene after the church has devel oped sufficiently to render them unnecessary. As indi cated previously, this stage was reached when the church came into possession of the written Word. Such principles could be greatly multiplied, but these will suffice for the present discussion. It should be emphasized that these principles are not by way of placing a limitation upon what God can do. Rather, they are simply a recognition of the limitation which God has chosen to place on Himself through His Word. If in His dealings with men, He was chosen to use certain means, it is the proper responsibility of men to seek to abide by the principles which He has set up. To be sure, God may in isolated instances choose to use miracu lous signs at the present time, but the widespread practice of them must be reserved for the periods that are critical in His dealings, with the human race. In the confusion of the present hour, it behooves the child of God to examine the Word of God very carefully in connection with the gift of tongues in order to under stand “what the will of the Lord is.” Such a course is far better than seeking after a particular emotional ex perience or an unusual manifestation that will attract attention to oneself. Such a course will yield far more fruit for Christ in the light of eternity.
ceived Christ as Saviour. The words “as he will” in I Corinthians 12:11 point to the sole basis on which the Spirit bestows this gift. Likewise in 12:18 it is God’s desire that is the criterion for who receives the gift; and judging by the past tenses of the verbs, this dis pensing of gifts is made at the time a person first comes to Christ. (3) If tongues are taken to be a superior gift and one whose emphasis overshadows other gifts, it is not the Biblical concept of the gift. In I Corinthians 12:28 the spiritual gifts are listed in order of importance, and tongues are at the bottom of the list. Gn the basis of this listing the apostle advises the Corinthians in verse 31 to seek for their church “the best gifts.” Commenting upon this verse Charles Hodge writes, “Literally, the better gifts, by which is meant, as appears from 14:5, those which were the more useful. The Corinthians had a very different standard of excellence; and coveted most the gifts which were the most attractive, although the least useful” (The First Epistle to the Corinthians, p. 264). The whole outlook of the fourteenth chapter is that of the subordination of the gift of tongues. (4) If the manifestation of tongues comes at a period of history when there is no special necessity for authenti cating God’s messenger of His message, it is not the gift described in the Bible. This principle involves an under standing of God’s dealings throughout the various peri ods of Biblical history. It is generally agreed that signs and miracles are quite largely confined to particular time periods in God’s program of revelation. Most would agree upon the period of Moses as being one of these periods; the same is true of the period of Elijah and Elisha and that of Christ and the apostles. In these eras there was special need for authenticating the messenger and the message he preached. In Moses’ case, there was need for identifying the man who was the God-appoint ed spokesman and leader of the people. The crisis in this case was the bondage of Israel and their deliverance from it. Elijah and Elisha in the same way needed mirac ulous manifestations to prove them to be God’s official voice in a time of apostasy. The same characteristic, of course, is also observable in the ministry of Christ. As Peter declares, He was to the men of Israel “. . . a man approved of God . . . by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him” (Acts 2:22). The same confirmation was granted to the apostles and their associates according to the writer of Hebrews: “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will” (Heb. 2:4). The need in this third case was to authenticate a mes sage which set aside the Mosaic Covenant and instituted a new order under which new conditions were to exist. For example, a new body, the church, was to come into existence, and consequently, the men who proclaimed the new revelation as to this body needed some mark of authentication from God to show the truth of their teach
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MAY, 1963
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