Tongues Part Two
Can the "groanings" of the Spirit in ROM 8:26 refer to tongues-speaking?:
The context of ROM 8 is not about tongues. ROM 8:26 describes a situation where our sinful nature struggles against our spiritual desires. For example, a Christian might be convinced by God's Word to serve as a missionary but his faithless, comfort-loving carnal nature is reluctant to leave home. The two opposing desires in him struggle against each other (ROM 7:14-24) and "he knows not what he should pray for as he ought"(ROM 8:26). The Holy Spirit then "helpeth his infirmities" and "maketh intercession for him," ie, helping him to pray for what he ought to pray for (but is too fearful to pray). This prayer cannot be expressed in words because of his reluctance to pray it. Therefore, his prayer is a mere "groaning" without words (ie, groanings which cannot be uttered). How can this verse be used by Charismatics to describe "tongues-speaking" when there are no words uttered at all! Tongues speaking is full of words!
This type of growing is a result of a Christian's struggle against sin. The same word "groan" is found in ROM 8:22: "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." Obviously the whole of creation cannot be speaking in tongues! God's creation is groaning under the curse of sin (GEN 3:17) which has left it under an endless frustrating cycle of life and death. Similarly, we Christians "groan within ourselves, waiting for the .... redemption of our body" (ROM 8:23) when we will be delivered from this present body of sin and suffering and have sinless perfect bodies at Jesus' Second Coming. This passage is not about
tongues but about the struggle of Christians and nature against the effects of sin. A text taken out of context is used for a pretext!
The gift of tongues is a sign to unbelievers (ICO 14:22): Charismatics give many different reasons for tongues-speaking (eg. self-edification, evangelism, praise) but the Bible tells us that tongues are for a sign Q CO 14:22 ""therefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not..."). Jesus also tells us that tongues are a sign (MAR 16.17 "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues"). A sign seeks to draw attention to something important and to provide the relevant information (eg. a street-sign, the male/female sign on the toilet door). I CO 14:21 is a quotation taken from ISA 28:11, 12b. Isaiah was God's prophet to the Southern Kingdom of Israel. He wrote this in the year 705 B.C. The Northern Kingdom had already gone into apostasy and God had allowed the Assyrians to capture them in 722 B.C. The leaders of the Southern Kingdom were now following in their footsteps, and God sent Isaiah to warn them not to do so. The drunken leaders laughed at his warning (ISA 28:7-13). Therefore, Isaiah proclaims God's warning to them: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people" (ISA 28:11), ie, "If you will not listen to my simple and clear warnings, then I will speak to you in another tongue." The Jews did not heed this warning and God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the Southern Kingdom, and take them into captivity where they spent the next seventy years listening to the Babylonian language. From thenceforth, the Jews realized that being spoken to by another "tongue" was a sign of thought of having to listen to their masters speaking to them in a foreign language.
The Jews during the time of Jesus rejected Him and refused to believe that He was the Son of God, their Messiah - in spite of His three years of powerful, miraculous ministry. Therefore, God sent them this sign (of tongues) through the Apostles who spoke to them in foreign languages on the day of Pentecost (ACT 2). Many of the more discerning Jews who heard Peter and the Apostles speak to them in other "tongues" (ie, languages) probably realized that they were receiving God's warning sign - that He would soon judge them if they continued in their unbelief. The Jews did not heed this warning sign of tongues, and indeed thirty years later Jerusalem and Judaism were totally destroyed, and the Jews scattered to the four comers of the world - where they had to listen to foreign tongues again! Paul himself spoke in tongues (I CO 14:18) and he warned others not to forbid the speaking of tongues (I CO 14:39). This gift was very necessary to warn these Jews that they should not continue to reject Jesus Christ as their Messiah. Whenever unbelieving Jews were present in the synagogues or assemblies, Christians who had the gift of tongues were to speak in tongues to warn the Jews of God's impending judgment if they persisted in their unbelief. If there were no stubborn Christ-rejecting Jews present, then there was obviously no need to speak in tongues. However, many of the Corinthian Christians who had the gift of tongues used their gift to show-off even when no Jewish Christ rejectors were present. Therefore Paul reminds them that "tongues are for a sign ... to them that believe not." He rebukes them for not understanding the purpose of the tongues in verse 20: "Brethren, be not, children in understanding... but in understanding be men," le, "Don't be like an ignorant child ... know your Bible and understand the purpose of what you are doing."
Even if unbelieving Jews were present in our assemblies today, it is already 2000 years too late to issue them the warning sign now! God has already executed His judgment on them for their stubborn rejection of Christ in AD 70 when Jerusalem and Israel was destroyed. Tongues have ceased because its purpose as a warning-sign has ceased.
Jewish Christ-rejectors were not the only ones who needed to be warned of their unbelief. Even the Jewish Christians suffered from another type of unbelief - which needed to be dealt with. The Jewish Christians did not believe that Gentiles could be accepted as Christians - and had to be warned to stop their unbelief by the sign of tongues.
Years after Pentecost, Peter could still not believe that Gentiles could be accepted as Christians (ACT 10: 11- 16). When Peter was preaching to Gentiles, they suddenly received the gift of tongues (ACT 10:44-46). When Peter returned to Jerusalem, his fellow Apostles rebuked him for preaching to Gentiles (ACT 11:2,3). So Peter recounted to them how the Gentiles were given the gift of tongues (ACT 11: 17 "Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?"). When the Apostles heard this, they had to acknowledge that Gentiles were also accepted as Christians on an equal footing as Jews. They also realize that tongues were a sign against their unbelief - and immediately accepted Gentiles as equals. Today Jewish Christians do not reject Gentiles as fellow-Christians, therefore the need of the warning-sign of tongues has ceased. Therefore, the need for the Holy Spirit to give the gift of tongues has also ceased.
We need not speculate on the purpose for the gift of tongues. The Bible has already told us clearly that "tongues are for a sign" to the unbelieving Jews who, because of the unforgettable experience of hearing foreign tongues during their Babylonian captivity, clearly understood the meaning of the sign of tongues. Signs (eg. road signs, toilet signs) must be understood by the users, otherwise they would be meaningless. 'Non-Jews would not understand the significance of the sign of hearing foreign tongues being spoken to them. Therefore tongues cannot serve as a warning-sign to them. What is the purpose of speaking tongues in a church whose members are all non-Jews, who have no idea of the Babylonian captivity, nor of the passage of ISA 28 in the Old Testament?
"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. Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 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. Therefore 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." (ICO 14:19-22).