All I can say is like Paul, I glad that I speak in tounges more than you allSeems like a pretty arrogant statement from Paul to address 'everyone' at Corinth and make such a bold statement. Sounds really boastful. Perhaps it doesn't mean what Revival churches have said it means. If you don't mind I'd like to put forward another slant into the melting pot for those people who like to explore ideas.
I've heard it said that Paul could have been saying that he spoke in more languages than you all. That sort of information would be more likely to be made known if he was a man who talked to a lot of people of many dialects because as we know, many races and religions were gathered in Corinth. It was a major center of trade and commerce for many peoples from many countries.
The influx of other cultures and people gave the city a bit of a mess and deviations from the gospel Paul was setting up would have likely happened in his abscence. There were church members of varying skills too, from "called to be saints" and some who were "sanctified" and "babes in Christ." etc etc. It was a church in flux.
I hope you can excuse this 'cut&paste' essay, I've tried to paraphrased and culled it as much as possible to make for easier reading, without taking too much meat from the author's intentions. Find the whole text at HERE
I Corinthians 12:13
Here the text usually translated "spiritual gifts" is one word meaning "spirituals,". "Gifts" was first inserted in the King James Version and placed in italics, as they thought it necessary to affirm it's meaning. But Paul wrote of much more than can be brought under the concept of gifts, and so "spiritual matters" is a more accurate translation of Paul's expression pneumatikon.
Paul's concern was towards their understanding of true spirituality (12:1). They had been idol worshippers and are now Christian, but some of their actions are more pagan than Christian. Paul wrote, " They were still being "led astray to dumb idols," They had lapsed into a pagan ritual, being carried away in an ecstasy until they did not know what they were doing. Paul recognized what was happening. Having begun in the Spirit they were operating after a human fashion. This would seem to be the beginning of their speaking in unknown tongues.
This form of ecstatic speaking had become a stereotype, which they claimed was evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Paul's immediate response was that the charisma of the Spirit takes many forms. There is always variety (12:4-6) seen in endowments of different kinds: "the utterance of wisdom," "the utterance of knowledge," "faith," "gifts of healing," "the working of miracles," "prophecy," "the ability to distinguish between spirits," "various kinds of tongues," "the interpretation of tongues" (12: 811). All this is done purposefully because God does not act aimlessly (12:7).
Paul extrapolated further: there are "first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues" (12:28). Not everyone is gifted in the same manner and Paul exhorts the Corinthians to "earnestly desire the highest gifts" (12: 31). When the two concepts are brought together gifts and calling- we find Paul saying that God calls selected people to the services of the church and empowers them by His Spirit. In this way they become gifted prophets, teachers, and the like.
To Paul , the true gift of speaking in tongues must be similar to the other grace gifts - a natural ability to speak, developed and improved and lifted to a new level of effectiveness by the Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit does not ignore human talents nor supplant them by something that is magical or unintelligible, He accepts them when dedicated to Him and causes them to exceed their natural limits of service and effectiveness.
Speaking in "unknown" tongues, then, would not be a true charisma or gracegift of the Spirit. The Corinthian Christians were demonstrating what had doubtless begun as a work of the Spirit but which had slipped into an emotional pattern, more human than divine, and gone out of control.
The More Excellent Way
If ignorance, or immaturity, had been the besetting sin at Corinth, instruction was needed. Paul does this as a means of control and not as a cure... for they were motivated by their own spirit (14:2), emphasizing "unknown tongues" at the expense of the grace gifts. The true evidence of the Holy Spirit is to be found, not in ecstatic speech, but in allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord (I Cor. 12:3) and in manifestations of agape, selfgiving love (I Cor. 13:47). This is why this great essay on love is dropped down in the midst of Paul's discussion of the excesses and aberrations of the Christian faith found in Corinth.
There is no indication that he considered speaking in "unknown tongues" as an overflow of the Spirit or an experience too sublime for normal expression. He emphasizes its failure to demonstrate spiritual maturity. It is a sign of spiritual childhood (14:20), and he calls the Corinthians "babes in Christ" and that they should become men (13:11). When the grace of God through the Holy Spirit touches a man's speech, it comes alive with meaning and effectiveness. It does not turn him inward upon himself, but outward toward others in love.
"Chapter 13, the great love chapter, was composed to meet the problem of 'tongues'. Love is the highest 'way' . . . Love is God's excellent and ultimate way. In contrast, tongues 'will cease' (v. 8). Love is God's endless highway; 'tongues' are a deadend street, leading nowhere."3 I Corinthians 14
St. Paul is not always uniform in his use of words. For instance, the same Greek word (pneuma) is used for the Holy Spirit, the human spirit, and for spirit having the connotation of a mood, quality or inclination. He also uses three different words which are translated "tongues" in most versions of the New Testament. They are dialekton, glossa and phonon. The second is used almost exclusively in the present chapter (14). The last is used to denote mere sound, while the other two are used to denote a language which is peculiar to a people and distinct from that of another. Wherever another meaning is intended it must be seen from the context. Thus glossa always means a language unless another meaning is signified. Paul indicated his meaning in the present usage by offering an analogy to the tongues at Corinth.
When a bugler blows an uncertain military call, the soldiers do not know whether to turn in for the night or fall in for battle (v. 8). From this we draw three premises: the speaking in tongues at Corinth was unintelligible (v. 13), it should not be supposed that glossa as Paul used it always means unknown tongues, and the purpose of speaking should always be communication. Whether in prayer or song (v. 15), praise (v. 17), or in public address (v. 27), one should make use of his mind as well as his inner spirit (v. 15) and it should be done for the purpose of mutual edification (v. 26).
Certain phrases in this chapter have become pillars of the doctrine and practice of unknown tongues. They are: "I want you all to speak in tongues" (v. 5); "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful" (v. 14); "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all" (v. 18). "Do not forbid speaking in tongues" (v. 39); "In the law it is written 'By men of strange tongues and by lips of foreigners will I speak to this people' " (v. 21).
That All Speak in Tongues
In what kind of tongues did Paul wish the Christians to speak? Certainly not the kind in which people cursed Christ, neither that which was demonstrated when no one was able to understand what was supposed to be said (14:2), and which the speakers themselves did not understand, because they were advised to pray for the ability to interpret or translate (14:13). Only God could understand them (14:2). Those who prophesied or preached encouraged and edifled the church, while the tongue speaking was consumed upon the speakers (14:34). It is quite evident that Paul wished his converts to use the kind of speech which could be understood.
Praying in the Spirit
Paul's reference to praying "in a tongue" (14:14) is taken by many as evidence that he prayed in a unknown tongue, and Romans 8:26 is used to support the concept that praying in the Spirit and praying in an unknown tongue are the same. But in the first instance Paul is speaking hypothetically, and in the second there is no reference to tongues whatsoever. He emphasized praying with the understanding as well as within one's spirit (14:15).
Did Paul Speak in Unknown Tongues?
"I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all." This phrase follows closely upon the statement that, if one expresses his thanksgiving with meaningless emotions, the hearers aren't built up in the art of Christian praise. The exclusiveness of the Corinthian manner of religious expression (unknown tongues) made them feel superior to those who did not speak that way (14:36). And so Paul decided to boast a little for himself You speak in a tongue which no one can understand and are proud of yourselves; but I speak in languages more than all of you; and five words that I speak intelligently to instruct others is worth more than 10,000 words of what you utter unintelligibly for your own sakes.
Paul could say this because he spoke Hebrew, Greek, Latin and probably Aramaic. Also, he had communicated the gospel to multitudes more than all of them put together. And so to credit Paul with speaking in unknown tongues is quite out of keeping with what we know of him and his stress on intelligent speech and the moral and spiritual effects of the Spirit's work. Forbid Not to Speak in Tongues
Doubtless it was not always possible to ascertain in the Corinthian church whether a strange speech was a true language or not, because of the multilingual character of the changing congregation. To forbid all speaking except what the leaders could understand would have been unfair to visitors.
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