The Ways of God in the Context of the Modern Tongues Movement

Banning Biblical cessationism? 1 Corinthians 13:8-12, James 1:17, James 1:25. 2 Corinthians 5:8.

 

As a Biblical cessationist, I hold the Biblical gift of tongues has been inoperative per 1 Corinthians 13:8-12. When the Biblical gift of tongues was God speaking per Acts 2:4, . . . to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And per 1 Corinthians 12, and per 1 Corinthians 14. The book of Revelation was yet future, Revelation 22:18.

 

I tend to agree with you JD.
But I'm not a cessationalist.
And I'm not convinced by the few passages that are often used to promote cessationalism.

Yet I do not believe that what is found in many Pentecostal churches are biblical gifts of the Spirit (granted, my experience is quite limited)
From what I've seen and heard:

• They are not being employed in a NT manner.
• I don't see the response to the gifts that I would expect.
• I observe a self-gratifying feeling of elation or release, rather than a glorification of God.

But JD, you asked: "Where am I wrong?"
I believe you've taken each of those verses out of context.

One could use them against just about any belief...Why even the gospel can cause division (Luke 12:49-56)!

So I guess that makes me a Continuationalist... I believe God can still empower people with gifts...
I don't believe it is prominent... God generally uses his people as the body of Christ to spread the gospel.

But I heard stories, told among missionaries and peoples of the third world, places where the gospel of Jesus is generally absent,
Stories of dreams, visions, appearances, that point seekers to Christ... direct them to people that can lead them to Jesus.

I find these reports hard to dismiss.

Rob

 

I remain a cessationist. Not to be a cessationist is not to affirm the written word of God to be the.sole word of God given to men.

 

But I wonder...

You see I'm not saying that extra-biblical revelation occurs. In that respect I am a cessationist.
God certainly will not annul any previous revelation and he won't provide additional revelation more than that obtained through the knowledge of Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:2).

But God has promised to reveal himself to those who seek him (Matt. 7:7-8).
In closed countries where the gospel is not present or very scarce, there are stories of the wondrous acts of God; dreams and visions directing people to Jesus.
These events do not have the authority of Scripture but fall under the umbrella of what has already been revealed.
Those that experience the phenomena are not prophets (they are not revealing an unknown truth).
And yet they are able to profess (witness) what was revealed to them.

I don't have direct contact with any who have had such event happen, but I do have an old college friend who works with Christians in Northern Africa.
He has told me stories of such events.

I don't believe the Pentecostal Movement is authentic.
But I also don't believe God has stopped working in our world today.

Rob

 

Romans 8:16, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: . . .

 

Not sure what this thread is doing in "Bible Versions and Translations", but to give it the proper slant for this forum, here is my input:

Glossa (γλῶσσα) in the NT should always, without exception, be translated as "language." And by that I mean earthly discernable language. That's what it means, not some impossible to understand babble, some divine or angelic language not understandable by living humans. The KJV translators meant "language" because that is what "tongue" meant in 1611.

There is not a shred of evidence that I have been able to find that the modern Pentecostal/Charismatic version of tongues existed either in the first century or in 1611.

 

We must distinguish between revelation and witness. Hypothetical: Say a missionary preaches the Gospel to an unreached tribe. If the tribe told him later he was speaking in their language when he was speaking in his own, that would be biblical tongues, but not revelation. Revelation is when one claims to have a direct prophetic message from God equivalent to Scripture, that is adding to the Word of God, since revelation has ceased.

Here's another word: guidance. This is when the Holy Spirit speaks to one person and guides their life, like when God called me to Japan. It was not Scripture, it was only for me. God guided me in His will, but it was not revelation, and not to be inscripturated.

Relevance: often tongues speakers claim to have revelation from God in their tongue, and they ask for an interpreter, who spews some nonsense that is not truth.