When someone speaks in tongues in church, is it mandatory for it to be translated?
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A tongue presented to an assembly is to be interpreted for the assembly. A tongue spoken in private does not.
A church I once attended had a policy that if you felt you were being led to give a prophetic tongue you were supposed to approach leadership. Same if you felt led to give an interpretation. If the two met, then they would approve it. While I don't find that actual policy in the Bible, it does I believe fall under the treatise to do such things in an orderly manner.
A church I once attended had a policy that if you felt you were being led to give a prophetic tongue you were supposed to approach leadership. Same if you felt led to give an interpretation. If the two met, then they would approve it. While I don't find that actual policy in the Bible, it does I believe fall under the treatise to do such things in an orderly manner.
No need to get tickled, God Himself gives us the order. Thus no one is limiting anything except God Himself. He is a God of order is He not? Anything outside that order is not in God's order and should be addressed so that the laity can return back to God's order. The Holy Spirit indeed gives utterance to tongues, and for public tongues, He will provide another to interpret by the Holy Spirit just as He said He will do.
If there is no interpreter, and God maintains His order... from what spirit do these tongues come from (public tongues)?
If there is no interpreter, and God maintains His order... from what spirit do these tongues come from (public tongues)?
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This would be the proper order as per God's word:
1 Corinthians 14:26-28 NKJV
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
1 Corinthians 14:26-28 NKJV
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God.
Some Pentecostals, usually from the historically Holiness end of the movement, seem to think they can't speak in tongues unless the Spirit expressly moves them to do so, as opposed to the 'prayer language' view. I don't think the Spirit has to gift and empower everyone in exactly the same way, so some of these 'doctrinal positions' could have evolved from leaders trying to turn their experience into doctrine.
Maybe they can't speak in tongues at least at certain times, but I Corinthians 14 is clear that there can be occasions when one CAN speak in tongues and address the congregation, but should not.
Maybe they can't speak in tongues at least at certain times, but I Corinthians 14 is clear that there can be occasions when one CAN speak in tongues and address the congregation, but should not.
I see major problems with this kind of micro-management.
1. It gives the pastors/elders a kind of power the Bible does not.
2. It hinders the flow of the gifts of the Spirit in the congregation, making a lot of people unwilling to use their gifts due to the hassle.
3. Pastors should be equipping saints to do the work of the ministry, not hindering from doing so.
4. If pastors require this for prophecy, it leads to disobedience. How can the speaking prophet be quiet for someone else who gets a revelation if they follow this 'run it by the pastor first' approach.' 'For ye may all prophesy...' is not true in these congregations.
5. Clean up comes after a problem, not before it. Let the prophets speak and let the other judge. Prophets speak first, then judge, not prevent the prophet from speaking. Also, in the 'whose mouths must be stopped'-- the elders are to stop the mouths after the talking starts, not before.
6. It goes against the indications in the passage of who may speak: 'every one of you' 'Let the prophets speak', 'for ye may all....'
7. The passage that tells us not to forsake assembling says what we are to do when we assemble 'exhort one another.'
A lot of church leaders are really bound up in their thinking with this idea that teaching has to be done by leadership through sermons, when the Bible doesn't teach the Sunday sermon tradition.
1. It gives the pastors/elders a kind of power the Bible does not.
2. It hinders the flow of the gifts of the Spirit in the congregation, making a lot of people unwilling to use their gifts due to the hassle.
3. Pastors should be equipping saints to do the work of the ministry, not hindering from doing so.
4. If pastors require this for prophecy, it leads to disobedience. How can the speaking prophet be quiet for someone else who gets a revelation if they follow this 'run it by the pastor first' approach.' 'For ye may all prophesy...' is not true in these congregations.
5. Clean up comes after a problem, not before it. Let the prophets speak and let the other judge. Prophets speak first, then judge, not prevent the prophet from speaking. Also, in the 'whose mouths must be stopped'-- the elders are to stop the mouths after the talking starts, not before.
6. It goes against the indications in the passage of who may speak: 'every one of you' 'Let the prophets speak', 'for ye may all....'
7. The passage that tells us not to forsake assembling says what we are to do when we assemble 'exhort one another.'
A lot of church leaders are really bound up in their thinking with this idea that teaching has to be done by leadership through sermons, when the Bible doesn't teach the Sunday sermon tradition.
1 Corinthians 14:26-28 NKJV
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God
It depends on the church. I spent my teen years mainly in the Assemblies of God. In the churches I went to, almost invariable if someone spoke in a tongue, it was followed by an interpretation. One church was large and had a high school. In high school assembly, there was once an uninterpreted tongue, and the principle, a pastor, when there was no interpretation, said that he beleived that tongue was for personal edification and not intended for the group.
I don't think they should 'hammer' someone in this situation. If it is seen there is no interpreter, he should be quiet in the congregation. I see that much 'allowance' for it allowed in I Corinthians 14:28. It could be some shy individual gets the interpretation and doesn't speak up. I've known a couple of people who say that they got these words after a tongue and someone else said the same words-- giving the interpretation. Two people may get the same prophecy. I've gotten words of knowledge about people before, only to hear it given as a part of someone else's prophecy before I could share it.
There are other churches that emphasize tongues a lot and think that is the most spiritual form of prayer. They pick a few prooftexts out of I Corinthians 14 without reading the whole context and understanding the argument in context. The worship leader or pastor might tell everyone to speak in tongues. That seems to be more of a 'Charismatic' thing.
There are also Pentecostal churches where everyone prays out loud in English when they pray, and some people will pray in tongues out loud. For praying out loud, some people will point out that they all lifted up their voice in this passage in Acts 4,
"And when they heard it, they lifted their voices ptogether to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, qwho made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, [FONT="]25 [/FONT]who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,4said by the Holy Spirit,r“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
[FONT="]26 The kings of the earth set themselves,[/FONT]
and sthe rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his tAnointed’5—
[FONT="]27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your uholy servant Jesus, vwhom you anointed, both wHerod and xPontius Pilate, along ywith the Gentiles and zthe peoples of Israel, [FONT="]28 [/FONT]ato do whatever your hand and byour plan had predestined to take place."
(ESV)[/FONT]
I'd point out that that is a complicated prayer for them to pray all at once. Maybe they took turns, or 'they' is used in reference to a representative or representatives of the group as it seems to in some other scriptures. I don't care for situations where everyone prays at the same time in church meetings or other situations where we can't hear individuals and be edified, with the one exception of a message in tongues before it is interpreted.
I don't think they should 'hammer' someone in this situation. If it is seen there is no interpreter, he should be quiet in the congregation. I see that much 'allowance' for it allowed in I Corinthians 14:28. It could be some shy individual gets the interpretation and doesn't speak up. I've known a couple of people who say that they got these words after a tongue and someone else said the same words-- giving the interpretation. Two people may get the same prophecy. I've gotten words of knowledge about people before, only to hear it given as a part of someone else's prophecy before I could share it.
There are other churches that emphasize tongues a lot and think that is the most spiritual form of prayer. They pick a few prooftexts out of I Corinthians 14 without reading the whole context and understanding the argument in context. The worship leader or pastor might tell everyone to speak in tongues. That seems to be more of a 'Charismatic' thing.
There are also Pentecostal churches where everyone prays out loud in English when they pray, and some people will pray in tongues out loud. For praying out loud, some people will point out that they all lifted up their voice in this passage in Acts 4,
"And when they heard it, they lifted their voices ptogether to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, qwho made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, [FONT="]25 [/FONT]who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,4said by the Holy Spirit,r“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
[FONT="]26 The kings of the earth set themselves,[/FONT]
and sthe rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his tAnointed’5—
[FONT="]27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your uholy servant Jesus, vwhom you anointed, both wHerod and xPontius Pilate, along ywith the Gentiles and zthe peoples of Israel, [FONT="]28 [/FONT]ato do whatever your hand and byour plan had predestined to take place."
(ESV)[/FONT]
I'd point out that that is a complicated prayer for them to pray all at once. Maybe they took turns, or 'they' is used in reference to a representative or representatives of the group as it seems to in some other scriptures. I don't care for situations where everyone prays at the same time in church meetings or other situations where we can't hear individuals and be edified, with the one exception of a message in tongues before it is interpreted.
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There are a lot of fakers out there, who speak in tongues for show to be spiritual in the eyes of others.....I believe in speaking in tongues but you need to be very careful. Even people full of the devil can speak in tongues.....
I've never spoken in tongues and don't believe in faking them to show spirituality or what not. It's deceitful to do so, and God knows when you're lying to put on a show....Just be honest to God and if tongues happen it happens if not don't fake it.....you would be indirectly mocking the Holy Spirit by imitating one of His gifts so your carnal flesh/soul can feel good and get the approval of men.....afterall we all know what happened when Simon the sorcerer in Acts tried to buy the gift of God/ imitate it to glorify himself, but at least he immediately repented.....
I've never spoken in tongues and don't believe in faking them to show spirituality or what not. It's deceitful to do so, and God knows when you're lying to put on a show....Just be honest to God and if tongues happen it happens if not don't fake it.....you would be indirectly mocking the Holy Spirit by imitating one of His gifts so your carnal flesh/soul can feel good and get the approval of men.....afterall we all know what happened when Simon the sorcerer in Acts tried to buy the gift of God/ imitate it to glorify himself, but at least he immediately repented.....
You make good points and that's why I put a question mark on the practice. But far too many churches allow a wild wild west mentality of allowing anything goes. I believe this precise thing is what prompted Paul to write about time and place. Even tho you don't want to quench the Spirit, being orderly with tongues is just as important. Like I said, I don't really find that exact template in the Bible, but I believe the policy did bring order and I never sensed that anyone was being quenched by it (they did encourage anyone to participate). This particular church leadership did your point 3 more than any I've ever seen. They saw their role as teachers of leaders, not as the final leaders themselves. Everything was geared towards preparing the congregation for what to do when they stepped outside the church doors into the world.
1 Cor 14 is pretty clear. A tongue delivered to an assembly must be by the few not the many, with interpretation. As such the assembly should respectfully listen. A private tongue is just that, personal and private and addressed to God not the assembly. I've seen assemblies that worship and praise as a group with their private tongues. And while it seems that trying to be private in an assembly is kinda paradoxical, the tongues were still directed to God and not the group. In this case, one should join in, whether it be in a tongue or in one's own language. The focus here is the praising and worship of God, regardless of how it is spoken. You are not one iota less a Christian for worshipping in English (French, German, et al) instead of a tongue. God understand it all and accepts it all equally.
Like NarrowRoadDisciple said, if it spooks you it's probably out of order. And that points to something else Paul was trying to say in Corinthians. That even while he wished we all would do it, he would rather we not than do it wrong.
Like NarrowRoadDisciple said, if it spooks you it's probably out of order. And that points to something else Paul was trying to say in Corinthians. That even while he wished we all would do it, he would rather we not than do it wrong.
Spiritual gifts are those which are never seen, because it would make the faith principle(unseen) without effect .His gifts are two fold , performed by one Spirit the Holy Spirit of God . The Spirit gave them utterance, as well as the interpretation into many different languages .
The sign (Isaiah 28) that it pointed to was the unbelieving Jew. It was against them causing confusion for one, confirming their unbelief. And salvation to the 3,000 souls who became believers at the hearing of that faith that Christ worked in them to both will and do His good pleasure (imputed righteousness )
The idea of edifying oneself by a work we could perform outwardly is not a biblical teaching. It would be considered blasphemy, ( attributing the work of God to one self).
No such thing as sign gifts, signs are for the rebels (no faith) .Prophecy for those one are freely given the faith of Christ, in order to believe God .
Tongues are prophecy.All prophecy has ceased. There are some who would have others believe the bible as it is written is not sufficient to quicken our souls give us His understand as if there were some laws missing that were not revealed in the book that is sealed by which we could know him more adequately and therefore we could know Him more intimately. If we would just add to what He has revealed .
Why do some say they need more than He has revealed ? self-edification?
The idea it could be done by human will of the speaker only shows some are walking by sight after their own experience from performing a work done by the will of the speaker .And therefore not of God. It was the multitude that were confused not the ones he gave His interpretation in a language they could understand .He gave them the understanding.he is not served by human hands in anyway, shape or form
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. Act 2:3
He gives the utterance, that utterance it gave them ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches
The sign (Isaiah 28) that it pointed to was the unbelieving Jew. It was against them causing confusion for one, confirming their unbelief. And salvation to the 3,000 souls who became believers at the hearing of that faith that Christ worked in them to both will and do His good pleasure (imputed righteousness )
The idea of edifying oneself by a work we could perform outwardly is not a biblical teaching. It would be considered blasphemy, ( attributing the work of God to one self).
No such thing as sign gifts, signs are for the rebels (no faith) .Prophecy for those one are freely given the faith of Christ, in order to believe God .
Tongues are prophecy.All prophecy has ceased. There are some who would have others believe the bible as it is written is not sufficient to quicken our souls give us His understand as if there were some laws missing that were not revealed in the book that is sealed by which we could know him more adequately and therefore we could know Him more intimately. If we would just add to what He has revealed .
Why do some say they need more than He has revealed ? self-edification?
The idea it could be done by human will of the speaker only shows some are walking by sight after their own experience from performing a work done by the will of the speaker .And therefore not of God. It was the multitude that were confused not the ones he gave His interpretation in a language they could understand .He gave them the understanding.he is not served by human hands in anyway, shape or form
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. Act 2:3
He gives the utterance, that utterance it gave them ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches
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