RedemptionAddiction said:
DHK
Where in the Bible does it say that tongues have passed away?
There are a number of reasons given in the Bible where it says tongues have passed away. Any one of them will provoke a great deal of discussion. However if anyone of them if true they should be accepted as a good enough reason to believe that tongues have passed away.
1. 1Cor.13:8-13 teaches that tongues have passed away.
Verse 8 says tongues shall cease. The rest of the passage explains when. The answer is when the canon of Scripture is completed (that which is perfect or complete) then that which is in part (temporary gifts) shall pass away. We have the completed Word of God; the temporary gifts of tongues, prophecy and reveletory knowledge mentioned in verse 8 are no longer needed. They have all ceased, and did so by the end of the first century.
2. Tongues, and other signs were used as a sign to authenticate both the apostles and the apostolic message during the first century.
Scriptural proof;
Hebrews 2:3-4 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
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God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.
--God bore witness to the Apostles with gifts of the Holy Spirit. Signs and miracles and the gifts were given to the Apostles to authenticate them and thier message that they were the true messengers of God.
2 Corinthians 12:12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
--Paul states what the signs of an apostle were.
The apostles and their close acquintances were all dead by the first century.
3. Tongues, specifically was a sign to the unbelieving Jew.
1 Corinthians 14:21-22 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord.
22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
--This is the most important and strongest argument in the Bible. It is the real purpose of tongues. It was the purpose of tongues on the Day of Pentecost, and so it was in the Corinthian Church, as it was in all the travels of Paul. There are only three instances of speaking in tongues in the Book of Acts. All three have Jews present. Tongues are a sign to the unbelieving Jew. These verses can't be any clearer.
Verse 21 is a quote from Isaiah 28:11,12. It is a fulfillment of prophecy. The Jews hated the Gentiles. They would have nothing to do with them. To have God's message preached to them through Gentile lips would be anathema. It would be a sign to them that this would be from God. They had already rejected the Messiah. They rejected the message on the Day of Pentecost. If they continued to reject the gospel message with this accompanying sign then they would receive certain judgement. That judgement came in 70 A.D. when Titus came and destroyed the Temple, and the nation of Israel was scattered. No longer were they a nation. They would not become a nation again for 2,000 years, until 1948. Tongues were a sign to the unbelieving Jews of the first century. They did not take heed to that sign. When that happened the sign was taken away; there was no more need for the sign. Its purpose was fulfilled.
4. The nature of tongues. Tongues means languages. Every time tongues is spoken it is in a real foreign language that someone can understand without interpretation. That is why it needs interpretation, for the rest that cannot understand. It had a defiinite purpose. Paul was given the gift, no doubt because of his many journeys into different lands. He would speak in their native tongue and perhaps it was translated back into Hebrew for the sake of the Jews that were present. He went to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles. Both language groups had to be addressed. Today there are no real tongues (languages) spoken. It is a bunch of "gibberish," or nonsense syllables run together.
These are the reasons, given in the Bible, why tongues have ceased.
DHK
