Question:
Is not speaking with tongues a sign of the outpouring of the Spirit? And may not all have this gift?
Answer:
One of the most unimportant gifts of the Spirit is the gift of speaking in tongues. The apostle declares in 1 Corinthians: “Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” (1 Corinthians 14:19). The speaking with tongues, as it is called, as manifest at various times in various churches, has led to wretched fanaticism. People have agonized and prayed for days and weeks that they might speak with “a tongue.” The result has been that they have uttered some outlandish gibberish that no one could understand, not even themselves. Some have been deceived into believing that they spoke in particular dialects. Still, when they found themselves in other lands, among the peoples whose tongue they were supposed to be speaking, they were as unintelligible there as they were at home. There is but one thing for the Christian to do: submit himself to God to be used as God desires. There are many gifts that He has to bestow. He expressly tells us that these gifts are not of our choosing. They are of His. After mentioning wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretations of tongues, He declares, “But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1 Corinthians 12:11).
He tells us that we may desire to prophesy— in other words, to speak for God; but the prophetic gift lies with God Himself to bestow. If He sends us to a foreign land where we meet with those who can not understand us, and it is His will and His wisdom that we should speak in that tongue, He can give it to us. Yet, it is the height of folly for Christians to labor and pray and agonize to obtain this or that gift which is not in any wise needed and which, in the very nature of the case, leads to fanaticism. When we are determined that God shall give us a particular thing that may be contrary to His will, and we persist in our determination, we may be sure that the devil will furnish us with substitutes. The sad history of such movements shows that his replacements have been ever-ready and frequently accepted.
It is exceedingly vital that Christians should understand the Bible’s teaching concerning spiritual gifts. The Lord has set forth this clearly and fully in passages such as 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 to 14; Romans 12; Ephesians 4; the parables of the talents and pounds, and other scriptures. If they would study the Scriptures and learn God’s plan to bestow these gifts, there would be no fanaticism in connection with them. The reception of the gifts would lead away from fanaticism, and the church of Christ would be built up.
