in the contemporary church.
Much has been said regarding this gift having ceased with the death of the apostles or perhaps the first publication of the canon that we know as Scripture.
However, I would like to approach this from a slightly different point of view.
It must first be understood that God does not change. (Heb 13:8) Also, that which He establishes remains. For example,
Hopefully, it is easily recognized that both the blood sacrifices offered in the tabernacle and the temple as well as these two structures themselves ceased to function with any Divine Unction only when their “types” were fulfilled in Jesus.
His very name tells of this fulfillment.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matt 1:20-21 NIV
John the Baptist made this proclamation,
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29-30 NIV
Even the Law given to Moses has not been abolished but fulfilled.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Matt 5:17-19 NIV
If we sin, we fall under the law, only because of Jesus sacrifice can we be free from sin.
The writer of Hebrews tells us,
He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Heb 10:9-10 NIV
But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Heb 10:12-14 NIV
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body… Heb 10:19-21 NIV
Regarding the tabernacle and the temple,
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. Rev 21:3-4 NKJV
Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 1 Cor. 3:16-17 NIV
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Cor 6:19-20 NIV
I hope that you will excuse me for being a bit pedantic with truths that would seem so evident, but the denial of the Holy Spirit’s power in this day and age exhibits the need to be very clear.
It should be clearly evident that:
- What God establishes only He can do away with.
- God never does away with anything that He establishes.
- Things seem to pass away only because that which fulfills them appears.
Now, on to the issue of tongues. I do not see this as just an issue of whether “private prayer language” is in use today or not but a matter of the denial of the person and work of that member of the Trinity about Whom it is said that blasphemy is an automatic eternal death sentence.
And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Matt 12:31-32 NIV
Most of what I have heard and seen regarding an argument in favor of the cessation of tongues revolves around Paul’s one statement in his first letter to the church at Corinth.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 1 Cor 13:8-11 NIV
Assuming that we know to what Paul is referring as “the perfect”, and we all know what happens when we “assume”, if the perfect has arrived then, of course, prophecies have ceased, tongues have stilled and knowledge has passed away? To what knowledge is Paul referring?
Very often, those who believe that tongues has ceased also believe that there are no longer and apostles or prophets. Referring to Paul again in his letter to the church at Ephesus,
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:11-13 NIV
This passage tells me that these five gifts, given by Jesus to the “church”, shall remain in effect, i.e. continue in existence, until such time as the body of Christ reaches a level of unity, knowledge of Himself and maturity that essentially in the fullness of Himself.
In other words, the offices of apostles, prophets (and by inference, prophecy), evangelists, pastors and teachers will only cease to exist when they are replaced with the fullness of Christ Himself which is the ultimate goal of their purpose and is their driving reason to live!
I feel for my brethren who deny the power of God’s Spirit in today’s world. There has been much abuse and misuse but the wrong and the counterfeit do not negate the validity of the charismata. If one throws out the baby with the bath water, you have a clean tub, granted, but you have lost that which is most precious, the very presence you so hungrily seek.
I, therefore, conclude that since that which God establishes cannot be done away with until that which fulfills it appears and since nothing has appeared as yet to fulfill tongues and all the other manifestation of the Spirit, then all the manifestations of His Spirit indicated in Scripture are true and valid for today. There are more then valid, they are the tools with which we can reach a dying world. Would our Father deny us that which we need to complete what He has commanded? Never!
