1 - 2 Corinthians Commentary (The Bible Believer's Commentary Series) by Ruckman Dr. Peter S

Author:Ruckman, Dr. Peter S. [Ruckman, Dr. Peter S.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: BB Bookstore
Published: 2011-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

21 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.

Verse 20—don’t be a baby all your life: GROW UP! If you’re going to get mad at me and throw a fit and kick the slats out of your crib, OK; but for heaven’s sake, get what I say and understand it like a man.

The question arises, then, is there ever a legitimate use for tongues in the life of a New Testament Christian. The answer is given in verses 21–22. Verse 21 is a quotation of Isaiah 28:11. “This people” in both passages is not a reference to any Christian. There is nothing there about two Christians speaking to each other in tongues. I saw a video of Kenneth Copeland and Rodney Howard Brown, two charismatic TV fakirs, telling jokes to each other in tongues. They must have been because each would laugh at what the other was saying. That is not Christian, that is not New Testament, and that is not Bible. That is two charismatics making fools out of each other and causing unbelievers to blaspheme God and salvation because of their foolishness.

You charismatics who make such a big “to do” in verses 4–11, 13, 19, 21, 24, 26, 28, 37, and 39; why don’t you ever spend any time in verses 21 and 22. The quote is from “the law.” “This people” are Jews, not Christians. “The Jews require a sign” (1 Cor. 1:22), and, lo and behold, in the context of “this people,” up shows verse 22, “wherefore tongues are for a sign.”

In the context of verse 22, the “sign” is to an unbeliever, but when you see how tongues were used in the book of Acts, it becomes clear that the unbeliever is an unbelieving JEW. In Acts 2, the apostles speak in tongues to convince a bunch of unbelieving Jews that they have crucified their Messiah. In Acts 10, a group of saved Jews hears a family of newly saved Gentiles speak in tongues so that they will believe that God has given His Holy Spirit to the Gentiles—without baptism. In Acts 19, there are some disciples of John who had not yet believed on Christ and had never heard about the Holy Ghost. Upon receiving Christ and being baptized, they spoke in tongues to show them that Christ had indeed given them the Holy Ghost.

So tongues are a sign to Israel no matter where you find them. They are given to make believers out of them. Moreover this sign was given to the apostles and their direct converts (Mark 16:17), and the sign disappeared with people like Timothy, Mark, and Luke.

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