ANSWERING THE QUESTIONS OUTSIDERS MOST OFTEN ASK US

Part II: Answering The Five Questions Believers Most Often Ask Us

B. Answering The Question On The Charismatic Movement's Alleged Miraculous Gifts

I. Introduction

A. Though many people have many questions about our Christian faith, we have noticed over the years ten questions that people outside of our Church most often ask us, and 1 Peter 3:15 calls us to answer them.

B. Five of the questions come from unbelievers and five from believers, so we answer them in this lesson series, and I am indebted to Josh McDowell, A Ready Defense, 1991, p. 405-424 for the format of the lessons.

II. Answering The Question On The Charismatic Movement's Alleged Miraculous Gifts.

A. We state the question as follows: "Some teach that the New Testament gifts of speaking in and interpreting tongues, of healing, of prophecy and of the office of apostleship exist now. Is this so, and how do we know?"

B. First, we note that Scripture reveals that the true gifts of tongues and of interpreting them does not now exist:

1. The Acts 2:1-11 report of the gift of tongues was the ability to speak God's truth in a known human language that was foreign to the speaker without his having prior training or practice in that language.

2. Some say 1 Corinthians 14 refers to a different gift than the one in Acts 2, that of humanly unintelligible speech, but the Greek N. T. word for "tongue(s)" in both passages is glossa (Moulton & Geden, Conc. to the Grk. Test., 1974, p. 172-173), and the word "unknown" that modifies "tongue(s)" in 1 Corinthians 14 KJV is always italicized ("unknown") to show that the King James Version translators supplied it!

3. Others claim that 1 Corinthians 13:1 refers to angelic languages, thus sanctioning the use of unintelligible speech, but Paul there used an "hyperbole concerning exalted eloquence" (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 535), and no other New Testament passage reports that any believer ever spoke in an angelic language.

C. Second, the Biblical purpose of the gift of tongues reveals that this gift cannot exist today (as follows):

1. Tongues were a sign only to the nation Israel under the Law: (a) Israel was warned that she would have to heed foreign Gentile languages in captivity if she rebelled against God, Deut. 28:49. (b) When she did rebel, God warned her of having to face Gentile languages in Isaiah 28:11; 33:19. (c) Later, when Israel rejected Christ, God gave the gift of speaking in Gentile languages to the Church to signal impending judgment on Israel for violating God's call via Moses to heed the Messiah, Acts 2:22-23, 37-40 with Deut. 18:18-19! (d) This explains the four arrivals of the gift of Gentile languages in Acts as a sign to Jews who were present on each occasion: ((1)) in Acts 2, Jewish believers were shown to Jews present to be part of the Church; ((2)) in Acts 8, Samaritan believers of mixed Jew and Gentile blood were shown to Jews present to be part of the Church; ((3)) in Acts 10, Gentile believers were shown to Jews present to be part of the Church and ((4)) in Acts 19, Old Testament Jewish believers were shown to Jews present to be part of the Church when they put their faith not only in Israel's God, but also in Jesus Christ.

2. The Church is not under the Law (Rom. 7:1-6), and God will not spiritually work through the nation Israel between the A. D. 70 fall of Jerusalem and the Rapture of the Church (Rom. 11:25; Dan. 9:24-27), so the true gifts of tongues and interpreting tongues cannot occur again until after the rapture (cf. Joel 2:28).

D. Third, experience in light of Scripture shows that all of the "miraculous sign" gifts of tongues speaking, interpreting tongues, prophecy and healing are not for today: a miracle from God must be used with perfect, Biblical results every time (Deut. 18:20-22), but no proof exists for the alleged Charismatic "gifts" today!

E. Fourth, Scripture reveals that the office of apostleship no longer exists: to qualify for this office, one must have seen Christ and have been commissioned by Him to be an apostle (1 Cor. 9:1), so no one today qualifies!

F. Fifth, Church History shows that the N. T. "sign" gifts ceased very early in keeping with God's Biblical cessation of working through the nation Israel by A. D. 70: "Chrysostom, a fourth-century theologian, testified that they (the miraculous gifts of the N. T. era) had ceased so long before his time that no one was certain of their characteristics." (Thomas R. Edgar, "The Cessation of the Sign Gifts," Bib. Sac., vol. 145, no. 580, p. 373, citing Chrysostom, Homilies in 1 Corinthians, Homily XXIX in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 12:168)

Lesson: The New Testament "sign" gifts existed for a short time to show Israel the validity of the Church in God's program. Since God is not working through the nation Israel between A. D. 70 until after the rapture, these gifts cannot appear again until after the Church is raptured, so today's Charismatic movement's "sign" gifts are false!

Application: May we hold to the Biblical truth on spiritual gifts, and may we answer all who ask us about the Charistmatic Movement's alleged miraculous gifts.