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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | speaking in tounges | 1 Cor 12:30 | azurelaw | 215110 | ||
Dear Mike, I hope the below from John MacArthur would shed some light for our understanding: ****** "For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God [lit. 'a god']; for no man understandeth him; however, in the spirit he speaketh mysteries." a. The Principal Purpose Violated What Paul is saying is this: "You people with your pagan ecstasies are not doing what all spiritual gifts were given to do--minister (or speak) to men. Rather, you are all wrapped up in speaking pagan mysteries in ecstatic speech to a god. Nobody can even understand what you're saying!" Paul's not referring to the mysteries (Gk. musterion) of God or the mysteries that he taught, he's referring to the mysteries of paganism. Now let me give you a basic, bottom-line truth: All spiritual gifts are given for the purpose of ministering (or speaking) to men. No spiritual gift was ever given for the purpose of ministering to God. All spiritual gifts are given to build up the body of Christ by ministering to the members of the body. God doesn't need us to minister a spiritual gift to Him--He's not incomplete! So Paul is saying, "You have fallen down on the basic use of spiritual gifts--their use among men to build up the body. The tongues speaking that you are involved in, however, is not for men, it's for a god." By the way, the word "God" does not have an article in the Greek (the anarthrous construction). And because of the context, I think it's better translated "a god" rather than referring to the true God. In other words, they were involved in ecstatic communication with some pagan god, and speaking in pagan mysteries. And they were violating the principal purpose of spiritual gifts--the fact that they are to be ministered to other people in the body of Christ. God certainly didn't need them to talk to Him in some ecstatic gibberish! ******* Shalom Azure |
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2 | speaking in tounges | 1 Cor 12:30 | Morant61 | 215129 | ||
Greetings Azure! I love Dr. MacArthur, but he has a major blind spot when it comes to spiritual gifts. He has proposed several very unusual positions in his various books about spiritual gifts. In one, he proposes that the plural 'tongues' refers to a counterfeit gift, while the 'singular' refers to the true gift. Yet, in 1 Cor. 14:18, Paul says, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you." Notice the plural form of tongues! Is Paul saying that he uses the counterfeit gift more than they do? :-) In the quote you cited, Dr. MacArthur argues that 1 Cor. 14:2 is saying that the Corinthians were speaking in a tongue to a pagan 'god', not 'God'. Yet, in v. 5 of 1 Cor. 14, Paul says that he would like every one to speak in tongues. Is he saying that he wants them all to speak to a pagan god, since that is what they supposedly were doing in v. 2? In fact, his argument about 1 Cor. 14:2 violates his own position since he also argues that the singular 'tongue' always refers to the true gift of God. Dr. MacArthur tries to hard to discredit tongues, and by doing so, he twists the Scriptures on this topic. The only point that 1 Cor. 14 makes about tongues is that uninterpreted tongues 'only' edifies oneself and in a public worship service the goal is to edify others. Thus, interpreted tongues is fine (in a limited number), but uninterpreted tongues should be kept to oneself. I would take anything Dr. MacArthur says about spiritual gifts with several grains of salt. On everything else, he is awesome. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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3 | speaking in tounges | 1 Cor 12:30 | stjohn | 215130 | ||
Hi Tim, I agree with you about MacArther, using a bad example to disqualify tongues. He really does a bad job on that one! But I have to agree with him that there are two kinds, genuine, and counterfeit. The one is useful in communicating the gospel to people of a different language, or tongue, (1 Cor 14:22a "So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers;" -Just like on the day of Pentecost- and I believe the only "legitimate" reason to speak in tongues.) and the other kind, which seems is nothing but ecstatic gibberish, that only serves to edify the one who thinks he is being spiritual by going along with a deceived crowd who says you gotta have it, to show the evidence of the Holy Spirit's baptizing. I've been there and it ain't pretty. Some were telling me I needed to practice speaking in tongues, and then the Holy Spirit would see my faith and soon take over for me. Talk about a bunch of hogwash! I almost fell for it! John |
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