Love is the Key

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I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 
But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to
instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
-The Apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 14:18)-

Esteemed Princeton Seminary professor Charles Hodge  (1797-1878) underscored the fact that those first-century Christians were not beside themselves in some kind of emotional “frenzy.”  “. . . the apostles in their use of the gift of tongues were calm and rational, speaking the wonderful works of God in a way which foreigners gathered in Jerusalem easily understood.” [1]  The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:8-12, associated the cessation of tongues, prophecies, and the spiritual gift of knowledge with the coming of the “perfect.”  The esteemed 17^th-century Geneva Protestant Reformer John Calvin identified this coming of the “perfect” as the second coming of Christ. [2]  Paul  described this same “face to face” [3]  meeting of the saints with Christ in Philippians 3:20:

But our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

The apostle John described the same event as follows:

Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure. [4]

This glorification of the saints at the second advent of Christ, whenever it occurs, [5] will render the spiritual gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge irrelevant, obsolete, and inoperative in the church universal.  In the meantime, while Christians await Christ’s return, they are subject to the apostle Paul’s instruction in chapter fourteen of the first Corinthian epistle.  This instruction concerns the employment of the gift of tongues and prophecy in the church at Corinth.    

Were it not for the abuse of the gift of tongues by the Corinthian Christians, we would not have such clear instructions or perspective on the proper use of these gifts as the apostle Paul sets forth in chapter 14 of the first Corinthian epistle.  Neither would we be blessed by the great love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13!  Paul’s concern in reference to the ongoing employment of these charismatic gifts was for the reputation and edification of the church. [6]  His counsel was clearly not the elimination of either of these gifts but rather the church’s edification.  Accordingly, glossolalia [7]  in the assembled church was to be followed by the companion gift of interpretation.  If no interpreter was present, the tongue speaker was to remain silent. 

On the basis of 1 Corinthians 14:18-19, Paul allowed for the private expression of this gift in one’s personal prayer life.  Indeed he stated in verse 5, “I would like every one of you to speak in tongues . . .”  F. W. Grosheide, Professor of New Testament in the Free University of Amsterdam, explained Paul’s allowance for private expression of the gift of tongues when no interpreter was present in the assembled church.  Silent prayer in tongues, according to Grosheide, reinforces the believer’s confidence in the Holy Spirit’s indwelling even in the absence of an interpretation. [8]   Paul’s expressed priority concern, however, is that love prevail within the assembled church.  On that basis, prophecy, or its equivalent–  tongues followed by the gift of interpretation– is preferable, but in an absence of an interpreter, the tongue speaker is to pray silently.  Love, however, as defined in 1 Corinthians 13, trumps every charisma (grace gift).  Conversely, its absence reduces every spiritual gift, every action, and faith itself, to meaninglessness. This accords with Paul’s reference in Galatians 5:6 to “faith expressing itself through love” as “the only thing that counts.”         

The apostle states:

. . . when you come together, each one has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.  All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.  If anyone speaks in a tongue, two–or at most three–should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret.  If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.” [9]

Paul proceeded to regulate as follows:

Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.  And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.  For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.  The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of the prophets.  For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” [10] 

From there Paul set forth further guidelines concerning the conduct of women in the assembled church, encouraged prophesying, cautioned against forbidding speaking in tongues, and then concluded with a call for proper decorum. [11] 

Do portions of Paul’s guidelines for worship in the church of Corinth fall into the category of “signs and wonders and various miracles” and “various gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” — so described in the opening chapter of the Hebrews epistle? [12]  If so, was Paul in writing the Letter to the Hebrews intending, by implication, to rule out various New Testament manifestations of the Holy Spirit which he had permitted in the Corinthian letter?  

To be sure, glossolalia (or some observable manifestation) was associated with the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit within the expanding New Testament church, as described in Dr. Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. [13]  Should a Christian of today consciously resist this particular New Testament gift if he finds himself so worshiping during a time of prayer and meditation upon Holy Scripture, or should such a person welcome the confirming gift?  A few decades ago the Presbyterian Charismatic Communion was formed to address this kind of question.  The Communion published a booklet entitled Healing for the Homosexual.  Presbytery allowed a pastor to introduce a representative of that organization, but the chairman of the pertinent committee drew the line on displaying the booklet exclaiming: “I have not heard of such a thing since the Spanish Inquisition!” 

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About the Author

David C. Brand is an ordained minister of the Gospel with missionary experience in Korea and the state of Arizona.  Among his published works is his Westminster Seminary Th.M. thesis  published by the American Academy of Religion in 1991 under the title: Profile of the Last Puritan: Jonathan Edwards, Self-Love, and the Dawn of the Beatific (currently available at Oxford University Press).  Brand contributed the article on “Ethics” in the Jonathan Edwards Encyclopedia recently published by Eerdmans for the Jonathan Edwards Institute of Yale University.  He and his wife Marilyn have four grown children and eight grandchildren.

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Sources

Calvin, John.  Institutes of the Christian Religion. 

Grosheide, F. W., Th.D. 1953. Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. -F. F. Bruce, General Editor.  W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Grand Rapids, Michigan

Hodge, Charles.,  D.D. n.d.  Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.  Grand Rapids, Michigan  

Sanday, William, D.D., LL.D., Litt.D., F.B.A.  and the Rev. Arthur C. Headlam, D.D.  1895. 1960 Reprint. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Fifth Edition. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 38 George Street.

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Endnotes

[1]. Charles Hodge, Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 250-251

[2]. John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.25.11; 4:18:20

[3]. 1 Corinthians 13:12

[4]. 1 John 3:2

[5]. Mark 13:26-36

[6]. 1 Corinthians 14:6-17

[7]. The Greek word transliterated glossolalia literally means “tongue speaking.”

[8]. Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, pp. 317-319

[9]. 1 Corinthians 14:26-28

[10]. 1 Corinthians 14:29-33

[11]. 1 Corinthians 14:33b-40

[12]. Hebrews 2:4

[13]. Acts 8:14-19; 9:17; 10:44-46; 1 Cor. 14:18

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