| May 30, 1999 |
Vol. II, No. 5
|
A young man came into my study to discuss the Scriptures with me. He wanted to know why I do not believe that the Biblical gift of tongues is being exercised today. I explained to him that 1 Cor. 13:8-13 foretold that such miraculous gifts would cease when the New Testament revelation was completed (perfected). But he had an “answer”: “It also says ‘knowledge will vanish away.’ You surely don’t believe that all knowledge has vanished away, do you?” Perhaps his question is worthy of an answer.
Paul, in 1 Cor. 13:8-13 is speaking of SPIRITUAL gifts -- supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men. God was, at that time, revealing His will to inspired men -- but revealing it a part at a time. Paul wrote, “When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.” Once God’s will has been made known with completeness and recorded in a permanent manner, there is no place for the revelations which were only in part. The inspired men to whom God made known His will a part at a time committed those gems of truth to writing. Their writings were compiled near the end of the first century and today constitute a permanent and PERFECT record of the will of Jesus Christ. Until these truths were committed to writing, it was necessary for the Spirit of God to speak through inspired men to make known the will of Christ to the early Christians. The spiritual gifts spoken of in 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 through 14 served well God’s purpose in their day, but they were never meant to be a permanent fixture in God’s church.
The knowledge Paul says will vanish away is that which came as a spiritual gift -- not knowledge that came from study. The tongues that were to cease is the ability to speak in a foreign language by spiritual gift -- without having to study that language. When Paul said tongues would cease, he did not mean that men would be born without tongues in their mouths. Neither did he mean that men would not have the ability to speak. He simply meant that the spiritual gift of tongues -- the ability to speak in languages which the speaker had never learned or studied -- would cease when God’s process of revealing His will was completed and permanently recorded for posterity. When Paul wrote that knowledge was to vanish away, he did not mean that all man-kind would be in idiocy or total ignorance. He simply meant that the spiritual gift of knowledge -- the ability to know the will of God without studying or being taught -- would cease. The kind of knowledge referred to is exemplified in Gal. 1:11-12, “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It was this type of knowledge which ceased to be, with the completion of the written New Testament. Prophecies have been “done away” (ASV), tongues have “ceased” and knowledge has “vanished away.” Those who would seek to be able to add anything new to the existing revelation of God in the New Testament would do well to heed the warning of the apostle John in Rev. 22:18-19, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book: and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” Why does Christ forbid men to add to, or to take away from His written will in the New Testament? Because it is PERFECT! That which is perfect has come and that which was in part has been done away.
--CRJ
In Matt.. 10:29-31, Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
He had just warned them in verses 16-22 that they would be persecuted. This reminds us of such warnings in the sermon on the mount, Matt. 5:10-12. So also, His reminder to them of God’s love reminds us of similar statements in that earlier sermon. He had said to them, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” He also said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Finally, He summed up that section of the sermon on the mount by saying, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:25-34).
Financially, sparrows are almost worthless. Two of them sold for what was roughly the equivalent of 1/16 of a day’s pay for the average working man. A comparison of Luke 12:6-7 shows a fifth sparrow was thrown in free when four were bought. Yet Jesus plainly says, “Not one of them is forgotten before God” (Luke 12:6).
And then He adds, “You are of more value than many sparrows.” He insists that not only does God have an awareness of each of us as individuals, “but the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
The primary lesson Jesus would have His persecuted apostles to learn is to put their trust in God. The lesson is just as valid for us today. Do not allow the fear of what men can do and the pressures they can bring to bear -- I say, do not allow these considerations to detract you from your trust in God. Jesus gave His life for you. Would you live your life for Him? Paul says, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2).
And, by the way, a human being made in the image of God with a soul that survives death is of more value in the sight of God than any and all birds and animals. See Matt. 12:12, etc.
--CRJ
When a boy gets up at four in the morning to deliver papers, most people say he is a go-getter. If the church should ask that same boy to get up at four o’clock to do some work for the Lord, they would say: "That’s asking too much of the boy."
If a woman spends eight hours away from her home working in a factory or if she works in her garden, she is called an energetic wife. If however, she is willing to do the same thing for the Lord, they say, "Religion has gone to her head."
If one ties himself down to making payments of $40 each week on an item for personal enjoyment, he pays willingly. But if that same person put that much in the collection plate, many would say he is crazy.
This is a crazy world indeed, where first things come last and last things first!
--author unknown
Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.