Tongues and Interpretation

Posted on by korgrocker

“So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said. For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying.”
1 Corinthians 14:13-14 NLT

In the last part of 1 Corinthians 12:10, we find that Paul wrote, “ … Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said”. The problem with tongues was addressed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:2, “For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious”. It appears that at the Corinthian church’s public meetings, there was much tongue-speaking, and nobody had a clue what anyone else was saying, and Paul spent much of 1 Corinthians 14 saying why that was less than useful for the believers. But the Holy Spirit had all that in hand, and one of the gifts He supplied was the ability to interpret what a message in tongues was really saying. 

In my early years as a Christian, I attended a Pentecostal church where one man gave a message in tongues at every Sunday morning meeting. Fortunately, there was a lady there who had the gift of interpretation, and the church was able to hear what the message really meant. At the time, I was confused about why this was necessary, since I thought a prophetic message everyone could understand would have been more helpful. So why the need for a message in tongues? But we can never put God in a box of our own understanding; instead, we must be open to the Holy Spirit’s gifts.

“You will receive power when
the Holy Spirit comes upon you“

In Acts 2, on that memorable Day of Pentecost, we read that “all the believers were meeting together in one place”. There were 120 of them present, and I’m sure they weren’t there enjoying a social occasion for Hebrew dancing or joining together for a fellowship meal. Instead, they were there praying, because they remembered what Jesus had said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you …” (Acts 1:8a). The miraculous manifestations of tongues of fire, rushing winds, and sounds from Heaven were followed by: “And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability” (Acts 2:4). But these “other languages” didn’t need any interpretation because the messages in tongues were in languages that foreign visitors to Jerusalem could understand, because they were given in their native languages. 

In our churches, a message in tongues using a real, understandable language would not need an interpretation. Although such a tongue is not so common today, such a message is still given on occasion. But in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul was writing about messages in tongues, given in a language no one could understand because they were in the Heavenly language, uniquely given by the Holy Spirit to the person giving the message. Such a message would not be able to be translated because no one, not even the person speaking it, would have been able to discern words and sentences within it. In these days of AI and Google Translate, speaking out the message to the computer in front of them would have been pointless because there was no recognisable language involved. However, now we come to the Holy Spirit’s gift of interpretation, a supernatural manifestation that reveals the meaning of an utterance spoken in other tongues. It is not a translation of words, but an interpretation inspired by the Holy Spirit to communicate God’s message to the hearers. 

So in our church services today, we pray that the Holy Spirit would have the freedom to give the gifts for the benefit of the believers meeting there, and that there would be believers present who will have the courage to use the gifts in any way that God desires. 

Father God. You have given Your children good gifts, for which we are deeply thankful. We take these from You with our open hands, reverently and faithfully, and aware that by using these we can build up the church of which You have made us a part. We thank You for Your grace and love. Amen.

Languages

Posted on by korgrocker

“It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space. There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me. And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.”
1 Corinthians 14:9-12 NLT

There are indeed many languages in the world, and they create barriers between people groups who cannot understand each other. In a sense, it is tragic that the main form of communication between human beings is lost in the articulation of syllables. Paul was writing to the Corinthians, who used a form of common Greek in their everyday lives and when they met together for worship, but because it was quite a cosmopolitan city, other forms of Greek as well as Aramaic and even Hebrew would have been heard. And that is just in one city. In my home city of Dunfermline in Scotland, the predominant language is English with a Scottish accent reflecting Dunfermline’s location in the County of Fife, but other languages can be heard here from immigrants and tourists. And around Scotland, there are other variations on English, with accents in some places almost incomprehensible. In the Western Isles and parts of the mainland, another language is spoken: Gaelic. I recently heard that there are 89,000 Gaelic speakers and a further 132,000 with some degree of understanding. But why so many different languages, and how did we get the situation where, globally, there are over 7,000 of them? To find out, we have to turn to Genesis 11. 

At the time of the Flood, all the inhabitants were destroyed except for Noah, his three sons and their wives, and it was from these that the world was repopulated, as we read in Genesis 10:32, “These are the clans that descended from Noah’s sons, arranged by nation according to their lines of descent. All the nations of the earth descended from these clans after the great flood”. There are, of course, many who believe that the Flood was a local occurrence, and most parts of the earth were unaffected. But then the sedimentary geological formations in most parts of the world, together with their fossil records, have to be explained. For anyone interested in researching further, the film “Is Genesis History” is available on YouTube. 

But over the page from Genesis 10 we read, “At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there” (Genesis 11:1-2). The next few verses explain how the pride and arrogance of the people in the Babylonian region, and their attempts to become like God by building a tower planned to reach Heaven, were frustrated when He confused them with different languages. As a result, the people scattered and eventually populated the earth. Genesis 11:8-9, “In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world”. 

But back to 1 Corinthians 11, and Paul’s analogy of natural languages being as incomprehensible to different people groups as speaking in tongues would be in a church. Such tongues may have meaning, Paul said, but he wrote, “If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space”. This must have been a stark wake-up call to the Corinthians, bringing with it a generous dose of common sense. The Corinthians apparently overemphasised the gift of speaking in tongues, believing it had a special spiritual significance. But the form of tongues Paul was writing about was the one used for personal devotions. In 1 Corinthians 14:2, Paul wrote, “For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious”. 

Can I ask you a question, my reader?
Do you speak in tongues?

Can I ask you a question, my reader? Do you speak in tongues? Whether Christians “should” be able to speak in tongues is a matter of theological debate, but many Christians believe it is a valid spiritual gift given by the Holy Spirit for today. Some denominations emphasise the importance of the gift, believing it is still available today and a way to strengthen spiritual life and pray according to God’s will. Other Christians believe it is not a necessary gift for all believers and that not everyone receives it, as the Bible teaches that there are different spiritual gifts for different people. Personally, I believe that all Christians have access to the gift of tongues, and those without it should seek God through prayer, but it is possible that they will receive one or more of the other Holy Spirit Gifts, either in addition to or instead of it. Jesus said, “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:11). In faith, we come to God, asking for His gifts with thankful hearts. He will answer our prayers.

Dear Heavenly Father. We reverently bow before You today with thankful hearts, believing that You give us good gifts. We ask today for a fresh infilling of Your Holy Spirit and for the ability to speak in the Heavenly language that You have provided for each one of us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tongues and Prophecy

Posted on by korgrocker

“But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.”
1 Corinthians 14:3-5 NLT

There is a supernatural dimension to being a Christian. Through their relationships with their Heavenly God, Christians, believers in Jesus Christ, have access to a Heavenly toolkit of gifts that are just gobbledegook to a secularist, or an atheist who doesn’t believe that there is a supernatural element to human life at all. The average man (or woman) in the street may have a vague sense that there is another spiritual world, but it is largely inaccessible to them, mainly because they don’t really believe it exists. Such a person may look at a horoscope, or even just for a bit of fun, consult a card, palm, or tea leaf reader at a fair or other event. They may think that a person continues to live in a spirit form after they die, and is now in a place where they can look down on the world they left behind. They may even be fascinated by TV programmes made about ghosts, UFOs, aliens, and other supernatural beings or events. Still, in it all, they don’t really believe that there is a spirit world out there, because they can’t discern what it is by their five physical senses – sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Sadly, there are even people who call themselves Christian, people usually of a more liberal theological persuasion, who deny that there is anything spiritual and who have relegated the Holy Spirit to a vague feeling inside when they do something wrong or when they feel pleasure in a religious event. 

All of this brings us back to Paul’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit gifts, and, in the verses in 1 Corinthians 14 we are considering today, the gifts of tongues and prophecy. In most established denominations today here in the West, there will be no public declarations in tongues or prophecy. The liturgies don’t allow room for it, as the order of service is set out in a prayer book. Prayers are already in place, Bible readings included, and recommended hymns are sung, all to satisfy the demands of a religious day in the annual calendar, with content determined many years before. So what about a spontaneous prophecy or, horror of horrors, a message in tongues? There’s no place for that. But things were different in the Corinthian church, where the use of the spoken gifts of the Holy Spirit was commonplace to the point of excess. So Paul was trying to introduce some common sense and rationality into the proceedings there. 

Paul distinguished the gift of tongues into that which was for personal edification, and that for public hearing, but only if an interpretation followed it. It is clear from what Paul wrote that the more common tongue-gift was for personal use, because he recognised its value. Paul continued to write that he wished “you could all prophecy”, for the simple reason that a prophetic word was of value for building up the church. 

We need more of the
Holy Spirit and His gifts

In our Charismatic and Pentecostal churches today, there is room for the use of public tongues, interpretation and prophecy. Or there should be, because such churches are founded on the Word of God and know about the Holy Spirit’s gifts. More than that, they believe that the spiritual gifts are just as much for today as in the First century AD. But in these days where persecution is on the increase, we need more of the Holy Spirit and His gifts to encourage His church and build us all up, and the gift of prophecy is an important part of God’s plan for His church.

Dear Father God. Thank You for the good gifts that You have given Your children. As we aspire to receive more of You and more of Your gifts, we pray that Your encouragement, liberally laced with Your grace, love, and mercy, is poured out without limit. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Tongues and Interpretation

Posted on by korgrocker

He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”
1 Corinthians 12:10-11 NLT

Of all the spiritual gifts, “tongues” is arguably the most contentious, both to unbelievers and even other Christians. Some people question why such a gift is of any use. Others say that it can’t be valid because all the gifts died out at the end of the Apostolic age. Still others ridicule tongue-speaking Christians as being deluded and even possessed by an evil spirit. But those believers of a Pentecostal persuasion know the benefit of this gift today, putting it up there in a prime position with which they can worship and praise God. Today, in many churches, the gift of tongues will be heard, either in a public setting or on the lips of believers in their private devotions and prayers. 

There are three manifestations of the Holy Spirit gift we call “tongues”. The first is the gift of being able to speak in other world languages. On the day of Pentecost, we read what happened in that Upper Room in Jerusalem. Acts 2:2-4, “Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability”. In this very public setting, the Holy Spirit’s gift of tongues was indeed miraculous, granting the believers the ability to communicate with other Jews in their native language. We read in the next few verses, “At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!”” (Acts 2:5-11). There are two things to note about this gift of tongues: firstly, it was manifested as a valid language, such as English, French, Urdu, and so on, enabling communication between people who would otherwise have had no clue what each was saying. Secondly, the messages spoken in these languages communicated “the wonderful things God has done”, giving God the glory that He deserves.  

The second use of the gift of tongues is in a public setting, where believers have a gift of bringing a prophetic message in a language or tongue that would be incomprehensible unless someone had a gift of interpretation. The use of this manifestation of tongues seemed to be misunderstood in the Corinthian church, as we read in 1 Corinthians 14. In verse 9 of this chapter, Paul wrote, “It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space”. In verse 13, Paul wrote, “So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said”. Regarding the public use of tongues, Paul wrote, “So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. … ” (1 Corinthians 14:22a). 

The third use of the Holy Spirit’s gift of tongues is for personal edification. We read in 1 Corinthians 14:2, 4, “For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. … A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church”. Speaking in tongues as part of a believer’s personal worship will edify them, being as it is a spirit-to-Spirit form of communication. The believer’s spirit talks to God through tongues that bypass the believer’s thought processes. Romans 8:26, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words”. 

There are benefits, public and personal, in the Holy Spirit’s gift of tongues that many believers are missing out on. All believers have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, as we read in Acts 2:28, and that enables them, amongst other things, to speak in tongues. But the public manifestations of tongues are given to believers as one of the nine 1 Corinthians 12 gifts, to be used for the edification of the church. We thank God for His many gifts, for His love and kindness, and for equipping us for life in this outpost of His Kingdom on Planet Earth.

Dear Father God. We do indeed thank You for all the good things that You have provided for us. We worship and praise You today. Amen.

Evil Behaviour

Posted on by korgrocker

“So get rid of all evil behaviour. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”
1 Peter 2:1-3 NLT

Continuing his theme from the last chapter, Peter starts with a “so”. He ended the previous verse in chapter 1 with the reminder that the believers in the five provinces had heard the Good News. They had responded to the preacher and became believers, children of God. And because of that Peter introduced a “so”. There are consequences to being born again. We enter a phase in our lives where we have dual nationality. We are citizens of the country in which we are born or in which we live, but we are also citizens of the Kingdom of God. As children of God, as believers in the Word, we have responsibilities. Hence the “so”. 

As children of God we cannot continue to live our old sinful lives. Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception” (Ephesians 4:21-22). Paul wrote “throw off”. Peter wrote “get rid of”. But the message is the same. We pilgrims, regardless of how long we have been believers, must clean up our lives and live as we would expect the children of the living God to behave. So how to we go about this? Paul continued in Ephesians 4:23-24, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. We can’t clean up our lives on our own. After all, we read in Jeremiah 17:9-10a, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts …”. Only the Holy Spirit will bring about a transformation in our lives, but we have our responsibilities as well. We listen to the gentle whisperings of the Holy Spirit within us, and say a massive “Yes!” in response. It may take a while to reprogram our minds to conform to God’s way but persevere we must, because only He knows what is best for us.

Grace is a wonderful quality, and one that, coupled with love, will go a long way to correct our “evil behaviour”. We must think before we respond because in that way we allow God to help us to avoid, for example the “unkind speech” that Peter wrote about. Our tongues can be a constant problem to us, as James wrote in his letter. “Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way … In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (James 3:2,5-6).

We must also align our thoughts to God’s ways. Paul wrote in Romans 8:5-6, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace“.

The wonderful thing is that our relationship with our Heavenly Father is not benign and unfruitful. It is active and transforming. He is a loving Father who wants the best for all His children.

Father God. We embrace all that You have for us. Please help us to become more like Your Son Jesus. In His name we pray. Amen.

Spiritual Praying

Posted on by korgrocker

“Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”
Ephesians 6:18 NLT
“Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the Spirit, and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the Spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand.”
1 Corinthians 14:15

We are pilgrims marching along the corridors of life, fully equipped with our armour for defence against the devil’s attacks. And at all times in our journey we are in communication with our loving Father, who watches over us and leads and guides us. But the “in communication” bit is crucial. Carrying on the analogy of the Roman soldier, that has been in our thoughts over the previous few days, we have to be in contact with base, where our Father is. Imagine a modern soldier, who would normally be in radio contact with his fellow soldiers elsewhere, being suddenly unable to connect with them? In the decades after the 2nd World War, occasionally a Japanese soldier appeared on global media, having been discovered still at his post in remote terrain somewhere – he had been unable to make the connection with his base and learn about the change in circumstances. Unfortunately in our churches today there are people who have lost connection with their Base, but continue with their liturgies and customs regardless.

Paul was aware that communication with Father is of paramount importance. And the spiritual radio set God has made available to us is powered, not by batteries, but by the Holy Spirit Himself. And we pilgrims avail ourselves of that power and pray. We pray in the power of the Spirit. By allowing the Holy Spirit into our prayers, we immediately access what our Father in Heaven wants us to pray about. He leads and helps us in our prayers. How many times has a thought popped into my mind about someone or some issue and in the process of praying about it I wonder where the thought came from? It was the Holy Spirit of course, gently leading, gently reminding, gently nudging, helping me to pray in line with God’s will.

“Praying in the Spirit” can also mean praying in tongues. This is more contentious in some Christian circles, but nevertheless, to those who can speak in tongues, this is an important part of their prayer life. The implication of the verse from 1 Corinthians above, is that praying in the Spirit using tongues is not understood, even by the speaker. As a tongue-speaking pilgrim myself, I am aware sometimes of an urgent need to pray, but about what I do not know. Speaking my prayers in the Heavenly language God has supplied me with somehow makes sense, as I experience a lift in my spirit as it connects with God’s Spirit. A mystery perhaps, but somehow important and relevant to many Christians, including me.

Paul finishes the verse with the exhortation to be alert. We need to constantly be on our guards, always aware that the devil is constantly cooking up schemes to separate us from God, not just so we will end up in a blind alley somewhere, but because he will try and frustrate us in our efforts to share the Gospel with the lost world around us. So we pray for our fellow believers. Those in our churches and fellowships. Those in our countries. And especially for those being persecuted in other parts of the world. 

So I appeal to all pilgrims reading this today, including myself – we must keep our spiritual batteries fully charged up in the Holy Spirit. A life disconnected from God doesn’t work. We will instead end up in remote terrain somewhere, cut off from the very Life Source we need in these troubled days.