Thursday 24 October 2019

The Ministry of Kindness

Sadly, the world today is often a very unkind place.  Selfishness and hard-heartedness can be seen everywhere we look, and we don’t have to search very hard to find people going out of their way to hurt the feelings of others. 

Of course, there is nothing new about all this.  Human sinfulness has always meant that unkindness has been very common, both in words and actions. 

Today, however, it seems that the amount of unkindness, at least in words that are spoken, has reached an all-time high.  The reason for this is the existence of the internet.  It is now extremely easy to make unkind comments online about people that are widely read by others.  And this can often be done anonymously, meaning that someone who wants to be unkind needs no courage at all to do so.  The internet makes it clear that the world contains millions and millions of people who enjoy being unkind to others.

Kindness as fruit of the Spirit

Although we find ourselves surrounded by such a sea of unkindness, as Christians we need to be very different.  We should be the sort of people who not only avoid being unkind to others but who actually go out of our way to be kind.

In Galatians 5:13-26 the apostle Paul spends some time teaching the churches in Galatia about morally upright Christian living.  This passage includes his well-known description of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in v. 22: 
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

The items on this list are all very important moral qualities, and we should note carefully that kindness is one of them.  We must therefore not underestimate the value of kind words and actions in God’s sight.  To put it bluntly, God absolutely loves it when we choose to be kind to others, whether in word or deed.

Kindness need not be a burden

I think some Christians neglect the importance of kindness because they are afraid that if they repeatedly give to others in this way, they will lose out and it will become a burden.

This, however, is a mistake.

For a start, most kind words and acts take only a small amount of time and effort.  Usually, there is very little cost associated with kindness.

Secondly, even on those occasions when being kind is more costly, we must remember what the Lord Jesus says in Luke 6:38: 
“Give and it will be given to you.”

This is a key principle of life in this world.  Typically, when we give to others, God gives good things back to us in return. 

Thirdly, it is not just God who gives to those who are kind.  Kind people are almost inevitably liked and appreciated by others.  And they are the most likely to be the recipients of kind words and deeds themselves.

Determined to be kind

In a world, then, that is full of unkindness, Christians should be determined to be different.  When we see people acting selfishly and uncaringly, let us make a conscious decision not to follow suit.  And when we come across those who go out of their way to be unkind, let us be all the more eager to go out of our way to be kind. 


See also:




Christians Should Be Quick to Listen and Slow to Speak

Wednesday 16 October 2019

Does God Still Give the Gift of Speaking in Tongues? Part 2



OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

In part 1 of this article I argued that the Bible fits better with the position that God continues to give the gift of speaking in tongues than with the view that He ceased doing this long ago. 

I will now move on to look at objections that are made by those who say that God no longer gives this gift.  I am confident that each objection can be answered adequately. 

I mentioned at the beginning of the article that 1 Cor 14 refers to two different kinds of tongues.  First, there is tongues for strengthening the individual Christian.  And second, there is the tongue plus interpretation method of strengthening the local church.

As I also noted, the second kind of tongues is really just equivalent to a prophecy.  So the objections that are levelled against the existence today of this kind of tongues are almost exactly the same as the objections that are levelled against the existence today of the gift of prophecy.

In an earlier article, “Every Christian Should Desire the Gift of Prophecy,” I have given answers to objections to the existence of the gift of prophecy today, and I don’t want to repeat all that here.  Readers who are interested can find part 2 (the relevant part) of that article here.

In what follows I will concentrate only on objections that are made to the existence of tongues for strengthening the individual Christian.  So in the following discussion, when I refer to the gift of tongues, I will be thinking specifically of this kind of tongues.

Some of the objections will overlap each other to a certain extent, and so will some of the answers.

Objection 1:

The gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Cor 12:8-10, including speaking in tongues, are what are known as “sign gifts.”  These gifts were given by God in the first decades of the church to act as signs pointing to the truth of the gospel message while the church was getting established.  However, once the church was established, sign gifts no longer had any place in God’s purposes.

Answer:

There are several big problems with this argument:

(1) “Sign gifts” is not a biblical term, and even the concept is not a helpful one. 

To begin with, some of the gifts listed in 1 Cor 12:8-10, such as distinguishing between spirits (v. 10), don’t really seem to have all that much to do with pointing to the truth of the gospel message. 

Furthermore, even gifts that do often point to this have other purposes too.

For example, let’s think for a moment about the healing miracles that we read about in the book of Acts.  This book refers to some supernatural healings that served to confirm the gospel message (e.g., in Acts 3:1-10; 8:5-7; 9:36-42).  However, this was not all that these miracles did.  They also helped to build up those who were already saved in the faith.  And there is no doubt that part of God’s reason for working these miracles was simply because He loved people and wanted to free them from suffering.  To say that the Christians who worked the miracles in Acts had “sign gifts” is an unhelpful description.  These miracles were much more than just signs.

(2) To the extent that some gifts of the Spirit did function in the first century as signs pointing to the truth of the gospel, there is no reason whatsoever to think that these signs would be any less effective today.  The fact that the church is now well established is beside the point.

(3) There seems to be an unspoken assumption in this argument that God wants to do the minimum amount of giving gifts that is possible.  The argument seems to suppose that after the first few decades of the church, God said to Himself: 
“Phew!  Finally!  The church is now established enough that I don’t have to give gifts like tongues any more.  What a relief!”

But why would we assume that God wants to give these gifts as little as He has to?  There is no good reason.

(4) It is a least questionable whether the gift of tongues for strengthening the individual Christian should be understood as a sign at all.  It is true that in 1 Cor 14:22 Paul describes tongues as a sign for unbelievers.  But the focus in this verse is on tongues that are spoken out loud in Christian gatherings.  Tongues for strengthening the individual is normally a private thing.

Objection 2:

The gift of tongues was useful for a time when there was no New Testament.  However, once the NT was completed tongues no longer had any place in God’s purposes.

Answer:

Again, there are big problems with this argument:

(1) Those who argue in this way seem to be assuming that there is much more of a difference between the first century and today than there really is. 

In the first century, Christians had the Old Testament and the apostles’ teaching ministries.  Today we have the OT and the NT.  The difference between then and now is not that great, because the NT is full of the apostles’ teaching.  So if the gift of tongues was useful in the first century to complement the OT and the apostles’ teaching, it makes sense to think that it would be useful today to complement the OT and the NT. 

(2) The gift of tongues for strengthening the individual Christian is a mysterious thing that involves a deep work of the Spirit to build up that Christian in the faith.  The fact that the NT now exists is really beside the point as far as the usefulness of this gift is concerned. 

Objection 3:

Christians who say that God still gives the gifts of 1 Cor 12:8-10, including tongues, also accept Pentecostal theology on baptism in the Holy Spirit.  This theology claims that God usually baptises  Christians in the Spirit at some point after their conversion.  However, the Bible teaches that Christians are baptised in the Spirit at conversion.  Therefore, we should reject the idea that gifts are for today.

Answer:

It is true that Scripture teaches that Christians are baptised in the Spirit at conversion (1 Cor 12:13).  Nevertheless, there are some serious mistakes in this argument.

(1) It is simply not the case that all Christians who say that God still gives the gifts of 1 Cor 12:8-10 also accept Pentecostal theology on baptism in the Spirit.  Many who accept the gifts do accept this theology.  However, many others who accept the gifts reject this theology.

Some major figures in present-day evangelicalism who accept that gifts are for today but reject Pentecostal theology on Spirit baptism are D. A. Carson, Wayne Grudem and Sam Storms.

Should we accept that the gifts are for today?  Absolutely!

Should we side with Pentecostal theology on baptism in the Spirit?  Absolutely not!

Whether gifts are for today and whether Pentecostal theology on Spirit baptism is correct are two separate issues that mustn’t be confused.

(2) The logic of this argument makes no sense anyway.  Basically, the argument says that because a group of people believe something false, then another belief they have must also be false.  But this is illogical.  Just because Pentecostals make a mistake about baptism in the Spirit, it doesn’t follow that they must be wrong to say that God still gives the gifts of 1 Cor 12:8-10. 

Objection 4:

Between the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 20th, orthodox (i.e., non-heretical) Christians never claimed to be able to speak in tongues.  This shows that it was always a temporary gift.  It seems very strange to think that God allowed this gift to die out and then chose to revive it in our time.  Therefore, it makes sense to think that all claims to be able to speak in tongues today are false.

Answer:

I can only assume that those who use this argument haven’t taken time to research the matter.  In fact, there have been more than a few claims of speaking in tongues by orthodox believers between the 2nd and 19th centuries.

For example, Irenaeus, who lived c. 130 – c. 202, wrote: 
“...we hear many of the brothers in the church, who have prophetic gifts, and who speak all sorts of tongues by the Spirit, and who also bring to light the secret things of people . . .”  (Against Heresies, book 5, ch. 6)

Similarly, Tertullian, who lived c. 155 – c. 240, in a challenge to the heretic Marcion, wrote: 
“. . . let him produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer – only let it be by the Spirit, in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an interpretation of tongues has come to him . . .  Now all these signs can be provided by my side without any difficulty . . .”  (Against Marcion, book 5, ch. 8)

It is true that Tertullian speaks here about interpretation of tongues, which has to do with tongues used to strengthen the local church.  And, as I have said, in this part of the article I am defending the existence today of tongues used to strengthen the individual Christian.  Nevertheless, if one sort of tongues existed in Tertullian’s day, it seems highly likely that the other sort existed as well. 

It is not just in the first centuries of the church that there were claims by orthodox believers to have spoken in tongues.  For example, there is good evidence that some Huguenots, i.e., French evangelicals, claimed to be able to speak in tongues in the 18th century.

The idea, then, that between the 2nd and 19th centuries no orthodox Christians claimed to be able to speak in tongues is simply not true.

Objection 5:

If God continued giving the gift of tongues throughout the Christian era, we would expect Him to have done this as often as He did in the 1st century.  However, it can’t be denied that there have been relatively few claims of tongues in the following centuries as compared to the 1st century.  Therefore, this suggests that the claims there have been after the 1st century were all fakes or wishful thinking. 

Answer:

It is surely true that for at least most of the Christian era there have been relatively few claims of tongues as compared to the first century.  However, there are two important things to consider here.

(1) The Bible often makes receiving things from God conditional upon believing.  The believing is very important.  So when a Christian doesn’t believe that God wants to give a gift of some sort, it seems that He would very probably not give that gift, even if He wanted to. 

I would suggest that part of the reason why there has been a lack of tongues throughout church history is because most Christians wrongly believed that God had no desire to give this gift. 

(2) We need to recognise that the Holy Spirit is thoroughly mysterious, and it is a mistake to think that He must have chosen to do things in roughly the same amounts in each century of the church.

In 1 Sam 3:1 we are told that when Samuel was a boy, “the word of the LORD was rare in those days.”  Similarly, I think that even under post-Pentecost, New Covenant conditions, it is not all that surprising if there is considerable variation in how much the Spirit operates supernaturally from time to time.

That is not to say that over the centuries God has been inconsistent in His requirements or promises.  In all centuries of the church He has wanted Christians to seek the ability to speak in tongues.  But it is much too simplistic to say that we should expect God to give gifts in uniform amounts in each century of the church. 

Objection 6:

The principal Reformers in the 16th century, most notably Martin Luther, John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli, believed that God stopped giving the gift of tongues in the first century.  Because these men were giants of the faith, it makes sense to think that their views on this point were correct. 

Answer:

It is true that the Reformation was extremely helpful in some very significant ways.  But to assume that the Reformers were correct on everything of importance can’t be right for the simple reason that they differed among themselves on a number of key issues. 

There are unfortunately many Christians today who follow certain people in church history without questioning their beliefs nearly enough.  This is really a form of idolatry and it should be carefully avoided.  What matters is what the Bible teaches, not what certain Christian leaders have believed in the past.

Objection 7:

In churches that claim to use the gift of tongues, there is often a frenzy of emotion in worship services.  These churches also frequently support false teaching, such as the so-called “Prosperity Gospel.”

Answer:

It is true that many churches which use the gift of tongues make some big mistakes, as do all sorts of churches. 

However, to say that abuses and mistakes show that this gift is not given today makes no sense.  By the same logic, we should avoid anything that is abused or about which mistakes are sometimes made.

For example, teaching from the Bible is something that is often abused in our day.  Every Sunday there are thousands of so-called Christian leaders worldwide who say they are teaching from the Bible, but who are actually promoting heresy in one way or another.   

But this doesn’t mean that all teaching from the Bible is false!  It doesn’t mean that leaders on a Sunday should abandon giving biblical instruction to their flocks.  And the same applies to tongues.  To say that abuses and mistakes mean that there is no place for tongues today is illogical.

Wherever there is something that is from God, Satan will almost always try to counterfeit it.  He will also tempt Christians into using gifts, including tongues, in ways that are less than edifying.  And part of what it means to be a sinful human being is to make mistakes.  So even Christians with good intentions and motivations can get things wrong at times.   

Therefore, bad reports surrounding tongues in no way mean that God doesn’t give this gift today.   

Summing up

There are other arguments that are sometimes used to support the view that God doesn’t give the gift of tongues today, but I have given the most important of them.  In short, none of the objections convinces.   

TESTIMONY OF TONGUES

When we are forming our views on some aspect of the Christian faith, what the Bible has to say is far and away the most important thing to consider.

Nevertheless, listening to what Christians say they have experienced also has some value.  Being a Christian, after all, isn’t just about believing certain things to be true, although that is an important part of it.  It is a relationship with God.  Anyone who has been a believer for any length of time should have testimony of what they have personally experienced God do.  Some will have experienced a lot more than others, but we should all be able to tell others something of what we have experienced of God.

In this respect, it is important to listen carefully to Christians who claim that they can speak in tongues. 

In some Christian circles which deny that God still gives this gift there seems to be the idea that all believers who claim to speak in tongues are shallow, sensationalist and anti-intellectual. 

I think it is true that many Christians who use the gift of tongues do have these faults.  But there are a great many who don’t.  Many who claim to use this gift are very biblically minded and cautious about what they do and say.  We need to be careful not to tar everyone with the same brush.  That is really a form of false accusation, and God hates it when people are falsely accused.

For what it’s worth, I can speak in tongues myself, and I have been able to do this since 1988.  I have also led a few other Christians to begin speaking in tongues.

Nor do I believe that I am shallow, sensationalist or anti-intellectual.  Furthermore, when I see Christians who use the gift of tongues acting and speaking in these sorts of ways, I am the first to level criticism.  If you doubt this, have a look at some of my other articles.  Several of them of them are aimed at abuses and mistakes in Christian circles that use the gifts of 1 Cor 12:8-10.

I would therefore encourage readers of this article to take Christians like myself seriously when we say that we can speak in tongues. 

THE BIBLE COMMANDS US TO SEEK SPIRITUAL GIFTS INCLUDING TONGUES

In part 1 of this article we saw that the Bible suggests that the gift of tongues will continue until Jesus returns.  And in part 2 we have seen that there are no convincing objections to the existence of tongues today, and that we should take seriously the claims of Christians who say they have experienced this gift. 

All things considered, it makes sense for us to accept that God still gives the gift of tongues.

But we should do more than just accept this.  We are actually under obligation to seek gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, from God:

In part 1 I commented on 1 Cor 14:1, where Paul tells the Corinthian Christians: 
Pursue love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts . . .”

As I noted in my comments, the spiritual gifts Paul refers to in this verse certainly include the gift of tongues.  And I noted too that this command to desire gifts including tongues would have applied to all Christians at the time 1 Corinthians was written.

Whenever there is a biblical command that applied to all Christians at the time of writing, by far the most natural way of understanding it is as a command that applies to all Christians in all centuries of the church.  Therefore, anyone who claims that today we shouldn’t follow a biblical command that applied to every Christian when it was written needs to have a very strong argument indeed to support their view.

In part 1 we saw that the Bible doesn’t lead us to believe that God has ceased giving the gift of tongues.  On the contrary, we found that the evidence actually points in the other direction.  

This means that we have no excuse for not obeying the command in 1 Cor 14:1 to eagerly desire spiritual gifts.  And for those who don’t currently speak in tongues, this will include desiring this gift. 

Let all of us, then, who are following Jesus as Lord, be faithful in heeding what the Spirit says in this verse of Scripture.  We dare not disobey it.


See also:




Baptism in the Holy Spirit Takes Place at Conversion

Does God Still Give the Gift of Speaking in Tongues? Part 1

In 1 Corinthians 14 the apostle Paul spends some time teaching the church in Corinth about the spiritual gift that is commonly known as speaking in tongues. 

TERMINOLOGY

In the phrase “speaking in tongues,” “tongues” just means “languages.”  So in modern English, “speaking in languages” is actually a much better way of referring to this gift.  And in modern English versions of the Bible too “speaking in languages” is a better translation of the Greek.

Nevertheless, because the phrase “speaking in tongues” is so widely used, I will stick with this term in this article.  And when referring to an individual example of using this gift, I will use the term “speaking in a tongue.”

WHAT THIS GIFT IS

When someone speaks in a tongue, they speak in a language that they don’t understand with their mind.  The person’s spirit connects with their mouth to form words that have meaning, but their mind is not involved. 

Paul describes this situation in the context of prayer in 1 Cor 14:14: 
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive.”

THE PURPOSES OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES

In 1 Cor 14 Paul refers to two purposes of speaking in tongues.

Tongues for strengthening the individual Christian

First, he says that this gift is used for personal spiritual strengthening.

In verses 4-5 he states: 
4 The person who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the person who prophesies builds up the church.  5 Now I wish that you could all speak in tongues . . .”

Paul is explicit here that speaking in a tongue serves to build up a Christian who uses it.  And he is clear that he would like all believers to be able use this gift for this purpose.

Similarly, in v. 18 he says: 
“I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.”

Again, Paul stresses the usefulness of speaking in tongues for the purpose of personal spiritual strengthening.

Tongues for strengthening the local church

The second purpose that Paul gives for speaking in tongues is to strengthen the local church.

In v. 5 he tells his readers: 
“The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church might be built up.”

Here Paul is thinking of a situation where someone speaks a message from God in a tongue and then interprets the incomprehensible language into language that those listening can understand.  The result will be that the listeners are built up in the faith.

Similarly, in v. 13 he tells his readers: 
“Therefore, the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret.”

And then in v. 27 he says: 
“If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be two or three at most, in turn, and someone should interpret.”

This use of speaking in tongues referred to in verses 5, 13 and 27 is really the equivalent of a prophecy.  In a prophecy, a prophet speaks a message from God to the listeners in language that they can understand.  In a tongue plus interpretation, the same result is achieved in two stages.  A Christian speaks a message from God out loud in an unknown language, and then either the same believer or another interprets this into understandable language.

This is all extremely mysterious.  Personally, I have no idea why God would ever want to use this method of tongue plus interpretation, when it might seem that a simple prophecy would suffice.

INCREASE IN ACCEPTANCE OF THIS GIFT

In most of church history, the majority view among Christians has been that God ceased giving the gift of tongues at some point in the first century.

A big change came at the beginning of the twentieth century, however, with the origin of the Pentecostal movement.  Since then, an increasing number of believers have accepted that God still gives this gift today.  In fact, I think it would be right to say that at the present time a sizeable majority of evangelicals worldwide accept that God still gives this gift.

Nevertheless, there remain more than a few Christians who deny that He does this, and they use various arguments to try to make their case. 

I believe strongly that God does give the gift of tongues today, and in what follows I will argue for this position.

BIBLICAL TEACHING

When thinking about any topic, the most important thing to do is see what the Bible has to say about it.  Scripture is our God-given “Manual for the Human Life,” and what it teaches is key.  So we will begin with this.

1 Corinthians 13:8-10

A good place for us to start is 1 Cor 13:8-10. 

Here the apostle Paul states: 
8 . . . if there are prophecies, they will be done away with.  If there are tongues, they will cease.  If there is knowledge, it will be done away with.  9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.  10 But when what is complete comes, what is partial will be done away with.”

In this passage Paul is referring back to the gifts of the Spirit he has been talking about in chapter 12.  He clearly believes that a time will come when speaking in tongues, prophesying and other gifts will no longer be used.  And he seems to imply that this will happen “when what is complete comes.” 

Those who claim that God no longer gives the gift of tongues (and some other gifts of the Spirit) today often argue that the time Paul is referring to in this clause is the point at which the New Testament was completed. 

This, however, is simply not a credible interpretation of the passage.  “When what is complete comes” is certainly not referring to any experience that can be found in this world of ours.  Rather, it has in view a time after Jesus has returned to earth.

The context of verses 8-13 confirms this.  In these verses, Paul contrasts a present state and a future state.  The present state involves knowing in part and seeing indistinctly.  The future state, which begins when what is complete comes, involves knowing fully and seeing face to face.  Paul is clearly contrasting the present experience of Christians with our future state of existence.  So “when what is complete comes” is definitely referring to a time after Jesus has returned to the earth.

Therefore, when Paul says that partial things like speaking in tongues will be done away with “when what is complete comes,” the most natural way of taking his words is that this gift will continue until Jesus returns.

It is true that Paul is speaking very concisely here.  And it is true too that his main focus in this passage is not on precisely when the gifts of the Spirit will cease being used.  I am not saying that this passage proves outright that God still gives the gift of tongues today.  But Paul’s words certainly fit better with this gift continuing until Jesus returns than ceasing centuries ago.

1 Corinthians 14:1

Another verse that points in the same direction is 1 Cor 14:1.  Here Paul instructs the Christians in Corinth: 
“Pursue love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts . . .”

The “spiritual gifts” Paul refers to here certainly include the gifts he has listed in 1 Cor 12:8-10, one of which is speaking in tongues.

The first thing to note about the command to desire spiritual gifts in 14:1 is that it must have applied to all Christians in around 55 AD, when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians.  Clearly, this command was given to all the Christians in Corinth.  And there is no reason whatsoever for thinking that Paul or God would have wanted anything different in other churches at that time.  We should therefore have no doubt that when Paul wrote this letter God wanted all Christians to eagerly desire spiritual gifts, including the ability to speak in tongues.

Next, we need to give due weight to an argument from probability:

If we consider the rest of the New Testament, it contains hundreds of commands that would have applied to all Christians at the time they were written.  I am not aware of a single one of these that no longer applies to Christians today. 

If it is correct that every other NT command that applied to all Christians at the time of writing still applies today, then, all other things being equal, it is highly probable that the command in 1 Cor 14:1 also still applies.  And this argument from probability carries considerable weight, although I accept that it doesn’t prove outright that God gives the gift of tongues today.

Even if I am mistaken about other NT commands that applied to all Christians when they were written, and there are a few that no longer apply today, the number of these is surely very few.  So the argument from probability would still carry some weight, although admittedly not nearly so much.

Acts 2:16-18

Another relevant passage is Acts 2:16-18.  Here Peter, referring to the speaking in tongues that occurred on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given, quotes the prophet Joel: 
16 But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 
17 ‘And it will be in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.  18 Even on my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.’”

Peter is saying that the events of the day of Pentecost are the beginning of the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy in Joel 2:28-32.  Joel prophesied that God would pour out His Spirit, says Peter, and this has now come into effect. 

This passage refers explicitly to prophesying, visions and dreams.  I will say something about what the passage suggests about these things before moving on to talk specifically about speaking in tongues.

First, we need to note the time reference in this passage.  It says that God will pour out His Spirit, and prophecies, visions and dreams will take place, “in the last days.”  The last days here is the period of time that began with the giving of the Spirit and will end with the return of Christ.

When this passage says that God will pour out His Spirit “in the last days,” and that this will involve prophesying, visions and dreams, the most natural way of taking the words is that these activities will take place throughout the last days.  If they occurred only in the first century, then the pouring out of the Spirit in the way that the passage describes would only have happened in the very first part of the last days.  And that does seem a rather awkward interpretation of the text.

Furthermore, to think that prophesying, visions and dreams no longer occur today also fits poorly with what we know as “salvation history.”

This is a term that refers to how God’s overall plan for human beings has unfolded in various ways in different periods of history. 

For example, the calling of Abraham and the giving of the Law at Sinai involved radical new departures from what had come before.

Later, the ministry of John the Baptist brought something radically new, as did the earthly ministry of Jesus. 

The day of Pentecost was also a huge change from what had come before.  On this day the Spirit was given, in fulfilment of Old Testament promises of the New Covenant.

Crucially, however, since Pentecost there has been no critical point in salvation history.  We are still in the same New Covenant era that began on that day. 

In view of this, it would be unexpected, to say the least, if God no longer spoke through prophecies, visions and dreams.  After the Spirit had descended on the day of Pentecost, this would be like Him deciding to partially reascend to heaven part-way through the New Covenant era.

There are two good reasons, then, for thinking that prophesying, visions and dreams continue today.  Firstly, “in the last days” most naturally suggests this.  And secondly, today we are still in the same period of salvation history that began on the day of Pentecost.

Of course, the revelation that God gives in prophecies, dreams and visions today is not remotely on a par with biblical revelation.  Nor does it have universal application.  Instead, it just concerns specific situations that individual Christians or individual churches are facing at the time.

Although v. 17 makes no explicit mention of speaking in tongues, it makes sense to think that what this verse implies about prophesying, visions and dreams it also implies about the gift of tongues as it is described in 1 Corinthians.  There are two reasons for this:

First, speaking in tongues is precisely the thing that leads Peter to quote Joel’s prophecy.  It is true that the kind of speaking in tongues in Acts 2 is not exactly the same as either of the kinds of tongues mentioned in 1 Cor 14.  And it is true too that the day of Pentecost was a unique event.  Nevertheless, it is a fact that it is tongues that leads Peter to refer to God’s pouring out His Spirit. 

Second, the pouring out of the Spirit that Joel prophesied surely involves all the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Cor 12:8-10.  And speaking in tongues is on that list.

It is reasonable, then, to think that what the verse implies about prophesying, visions and dreams it also implies about the gift of tongues as it is described in 1 Corinthians.  So, because the verse most naturally implies that prophesying, visions and dreams continue throughout the Christian era, the same is true of speaking in tongues.

Summing up, then, Acts 2:16-18 counts as biblical evidence that God still gives the gift of tongues today.

The Longer Ending of Mark’s Gospel

Another relevant text for our purposes can be found in the so-called “Longer Ending” of Mark’s Gospel. 

We know that in the first centuries of the church, this Gospel circulated with a number of different endings.  The earliest surviving copies of Mark end at Mark 16:8.  However, most old copies of Mark contain the Longer Ending that a majority of English-speaking readers of the Bible will be most familiar with, ending at what is known as Mark 16:20.  There are also copies that have a variety of other differences and additions.

In the Longer Ending there is a passage that refers to speaking in tongues.  The text that is commonly referred to as Mark 16:15-18 reads as follows: 
15 And He [Jesus] said to them [the eleven], ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to all creation.  16 The person who has believed and has been baptized will be saved.  But the person who has not believed will be condemned.  17 These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will expel demons, they will speak with new tongues, 18 with their hands they will pick up snakes, if they drink anything poisonous it will in no way harm them, and they will place their hands on those who are ill and they will get well.’”

Discussion of which ending or endings of Mark should be considered Scripture is complex.  Personally, I prefer the view that this passage shouldn’t be regarded as Scripture.  But I don’t want to get into a long analysis of the issue here.

Instead, let’s look at this passage under two scenarios, firstly assuming that it is Scripture and secondly assuming that it isn’t. 

So, first, let’s suppose that the passage I have quoted should be regarded as Scripture.

If we do this, it should be clear that the passage strongly implies that speaking in tongues is something that continues throughout the Christian era:

In v. 15 Jesus refers to evangelism in “all the world” and “to all creation.”  So from His point in time He is clearly thinking about evangelism that will continue on long into the future around the world.

Therefore, when in verses 16 and 17 He refers to “the person who has believed” and “those who have believed,” by far the most natural way of taking His words is as a reference to Christians of all times and places.  Those who say that in these verses Jesus is speaking only of Christians living in the first century or thereabouts are taking an extremely unnatural interpretation of the text.

Verse 17 says that speaking in tongues is a feature of those who believe.  (This doesn’t mean that it is a feature of all who believe, simply something that many Christians do.)  So, because those who believe are Christians of all times and places, speaking in tongues is something that we can expect to be a continuing activity of the church. 

If these words are Scripture, then, this passage strongly implies that speaking in tongues is something that we should expect in every century of the church.

Second, let’s assume that this passage is not Scripture.

If we do this, it still seems reasonable to regard the passage as quite strong evidence that speaking in tongues continues throughout the Christian era:

Importantly, there is no doubt that in the last 2000 years large numbers of Christians have understood the passage we know as Mark 16:9-20 to be part of Scripture.  In fact, it seems highly likely that most believers have regarded this passage as Scripture. 

The vast majority of these Christians have known nothing about early copies of Mark or even that this Gospel once circulated with a variety of endings.  Most, or at least very many, Christians in the last 2000 years have been led to believe that Mark 16:9-20 is Scripture, and they have accepted this in good faith.

It is surely very unlikely that God would have allowed so many Christians to have an ending of Mark’s Gospel that misled them.  If He had, then through no fault of their own they would have been reading as Scripture something that was actually misdirecting them.  But we would expect God, in His love, not to have allowed this to happen.

So even if Mark 16:9-20 is not Scripture, it makes sense to think that it contains good Christian teaching. 

We saw above that if we take this passage as Scripture, it strongly implies that speaking in tongues is something that continues throughout the Christian era.  Therefore, even if we don’t take the passage as Scripture, because it apparently contains good teaching it still supplies us with quite a strong piece of evidence that we should expect speaking in tongues today.

Hebrews 2:3-4

One passage that is often said to show that God no longer gives the gift of tongues is Heb 2:3-4, where the author writes: 
3 . . . how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?  This salvation was first announced by the Lord, and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, 4 while God added His testimony by signs and wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.”

Those who say that the gift of tongues has ceased often argue in this way:

In this passage the author wants his readers to understand what an enormously important thing the Christian message of salvation is.  To help him make his point, he says that in the time of the first generation of Christians God testified to the truth of this message by signs, wonders, miracles and gifts of the Spirit.  However, if the author believed that these things still occurred at the time of writing, we would expect him to have concentrated on God testifying to the message by them in the present rather than in the past.  Therefore, this passage strongly implies that gifts like tongues no longer existed at the time of writing. 

It is certainly true that the author’s intention in this passage is to stress how important the message of salvation is.  And I do admit that this argument isn’t one that should be quickly dismissed.  Nevertheless, there are a few points to make here.

(1) The passage is too indirect and brief for us to reach clear conclusions on what the author believed about the existence of tongues and other gifts at the time of writing.

(2) It is possible that the author felt that after mentioning Jesus and the first generation of Christians, he had done enough to make his point. 

He begins by telling them that no less a person than Jesus began announcing the message.  And then he goes on to say that people who heard Jesus themselves were the ones who passed on the message to the author and the readers.  He also notes that God accompanied this passing on of the message with miracles and gifts of the Spirit to help validate it.

Maybe having said all this, he thought that he had said enough to make his point that the message of salvation is extremely important.  If so, then potentially he could have chosen not to move on to speak about the time of writing, even if he was aware that God was still giving gifts of the Spirit like tongues in his day. 

(3) I think it is quite possible that at the time this letter was written, miracles and gifts of the Spirit may have been a lot less common than they were earlier in the first century.  And this could have motivated the author in Heb 2:3-4 to focus on miracles and gifts among the first generation of Christians.

I will say something about the frequency of tongues throughout church history in part 2 of this article.

(4) In Heb 6:5 the author refers to Christians generally as people who have “tasted . . . the powers of the age to come.”

This could well suggest that gifts of the Spirit like tongues were ongoing at the time of writing.

(5) Even if this passage does more naturally seem to suggest that the gift of tongues had ceased at the time of writing, we need to beware of drawing conclusions based on one or two proof texts.

A good example of the dangers of this can be seen in Col 1:19-20, where Paul writes: 
19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him [Christ], 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace by the blood of His cross – whether things on earth or things in the heavens.”

In this passage Paul explicitly says that God was pleased “to reconcile all things to Himself.”  And the “all things” he has in mind are described as “things on earth or things in the heavens.”  There can be no doubt that he is including human beings in what is talking about.  So the most natural reading of this passage is that all human beings will be reconciled to God through Christ.

However, Paul cannot have meant that, since it would contradict so much else in his letters (e.g., Rom 2:5-9; 2 Cor 2:15-16; Gal 6:8; Phil 1:28; 3:19; 1 Thess 1:10; 2 Thess 1:6-9).

Instead, he must mean that all things will be reconciled to God apart from one unexpressed, exceptional group of beings, comprising some people and some angels, that will experience eternal destruction.

The most natural reading of Col 1:19-20 is therefore not the correct one.  And the same could potentially be true of Heb 2:3-4.

Of course, the number of biblical passages where the most natural reading is not the correct one must be relatively few.  If God had inspired the Bible in such a way that the correct meaning was usually at odds with the most natural sense of the words, we would be in real trouble when trying to learn things.  Thankfully, He hasn’t done that.  A large majority of the time, passages should be taken at face value.  And we can be confident that the most natural reading of most passages on any given topic will be in line with the truth.

So, even if Heb 2:3-4 most naturally seems to suggest that the gift of tongues has ceased, it is still the case that several other passages most naturally suggest that this gift has not ceased, as we have seen. 

Summing up

There are other Bible passages that have some relevance for the topic we are considering, but I have given the most important of them.  The above discussion has shown that on balance the Bible fits better with the position that God continues to give the gift of speaking in tongues than with the view that He ceased doing this long ago. 



See also:




Baptism in the Holy Spirit Takes Place at Conversion