Chapter 4
D. The regulations for the use of tongues in the church.
1. Tongues are only to be used when there are Jews present in a service.
a. Verse 22 says, “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, ______ to them that ______________, but to them that believe ______: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.”
In our day, how many Jewish people (who speak a foreign language)
have you heard of walking into a tongues-speaking church, sitting down,
and hearing someone (who did not know their language) get up and give
them the gospel in their own language; and the Jewish person getting saved?
I have never read of one such confirmed incident. According to the Bible,
that should be the ONLY REASON for speaking in tongues in a church service.
If there are no Jewish people in the congregation who are not yet saved,
what is the point of speaking in tongues? There is no Biblical basis.
2. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken by a maximum of three people in any one church service.
a. Verse 23 says, “If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and ______ speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are ______?”
Note: Mad means “disordered in mind, insane.” (Merriam Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary)
That is the exact situation in the vast majority of tongues-speaking churches.
If the average person came into one of their meetings and heard everyone
jabbering unintelligibly, they would say that they were mad (insane).
b. Verse 26 shows that they had a problem — everyone wanted to get up and speak in their services. “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, __________ ______ of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”
c. So to correct that problem, some regulations were made in verse 27, “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by ______, or at the most by __________, and that by course; and let one interpret.”
In a church service, no matter how many foreign-speaking
Jews were present, the most that could get up and speak
in tongues was 2 or 3. That was the limit, and no more.
How many tongues-speaking churches follow that rule?
3. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken by one person at a time.
a. Verse 27 says, “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by ____________; and let one interpret.”
Note: Course means “an ordered process or succession” (Merriam Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary)
That means that if tongues were to be spoken in a church service, only one person could be speaking them at a time. If there were others that wanted to speak
(three being the maximum), they had to wait their turn.
How many tongues-speaking churches have people praying and babbling in tongues all at one time? Many. They are clearly disobeying this rule.
4. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken, if one person with the gift of interpretation was found first, to interpret for all.
a. Verse 27 says, “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let ______ interpret.”
b. Verse 28 says, “But if there be no ______________________, let him keep ______________ in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.”
What does this mean? It means that if someone wanted to speak in tongues in a service, someone with the gift of interpretation must FIRST be found, or the person could not get up and speak. That ONE person would then have to be the interpreter for anyone (with the maximum of three)
who was going to speak in tongues in that service (the true
gift of interpretation would be able to interpret any and all languages spoken). How many tongues-speaking churches today follow the two parts of this rule?
5. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken in a church service where things were done decently and in order.
a. Verse 33 says, “For God is not the author of __________________, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
Note: That one word sums up the services of tongues-speaking churches — confusion. Many people are babbling unintelligibly. Others are dancing around the auditorium. Others are on the floor trying to talk and get up, but cannot. That is utter confusion, and God is not its author. Then who is?
6. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken by men, not by women.
a. Verse 34 says, “Let your __________ keep ______________ in the churches: for it is ______ permitted unto them to __________; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.”
It has been said that if women would keep silence in the church, speaking in tongues would cease overnight.
That might be a little exaggeration, but not much.
It is recorded that a young woman was the first to
speak in tongues in America, and they continue to
speak openly in tongues in churches today
— in direct rebellion to what the Bible teaches.
Note: Charles F. Parham started the Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas in 1900. There were about 40 students, and they were asked to research the question, “What is the Bible evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost?” They unanimously agreed that tongues was the evidence. From that time, the Fall of 1900, there was great effort on their part to receive that baptism. Agnes Ozman, one of the students, on January 1, 1901, had a tongues-speaking experience. That experience has been referred to as the beginning of the modern Pentecostal revival. That eventually led to the development, in 1914, of the Assemblies of God churches. (The Modern Tongues Movement, by Robert Gromacki, as recorded in The Way of Life Encyclopedia, by David W. Cloud, pg. 79)
b. Verse 35 continues in regard to the women, “And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at ________: for it is a shame for women to __________ in the church.”
c. I Timothy 2:11,12 says, “Let the woman learn in ______________ with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to __________, nor to usurp authority over the ______, but to be in silence.”
Note: Many Charismatic churches not only allow women to speak in tongues, but they also allow them to preach in the church services. Many such churches have even chosen women pastors.
They try to excuse their disobedience to these clear verses by saying that these Scriptures “were for another day…” and do not apply to us now. But that is not what the Scripture clearly says.
d. I Corinthians 14:37 says, “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him ______________________ that the things that I write unto you are the ________________________ of the Lord.”
Note: Some have said that Paul just did not like women, and that is why he wrote this instruction. But the Bible is clear that these are the COMMANDMENTS of the LORD. It is God that has forbidden women to speak in tongues and to preach in churches. It is just another proof that the Charismatic movement does not follow what the Bible says, but their own experiences.
Note: Verse 39 says, “Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid ______ to speak with ______________.”
Some have used this verse to say that it is wrong to condemn those who speak in tongues today. The reason that we condemn
the practices of those who speak in tongues today is because
they are not obeying the clear Scriptures in regard to it.
They are disobeying all of the above rules, and are
justifying their actions. It is not us who are condemning them,
it is the very Scripture that is condemning them.
REVIEW:Note: John 12:48 says, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the ________ that I have spoken, the same shall __________ him in the last day.”
1. I Corinthians 3:1 says, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto ____________, even as unto __________ in Christ.”
2. The desired impact of spiritual gifts in the church is, “That we henceforth be no more children, ____________ to and fro, and carried about with every ________ of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”
3. This whole illustration is given to show the error the Corinthians were doing in regard to the matter of spiritual gifts. They were trying to say that one gift (______________) was more important than any other gift.
4. All truly born again Christians have the Holy Spirit abiding in them, and have been baptized by Him. “For BY ONE SPIRIT are we ______ ________________ into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and HAVE BEEN ______ MADE TO DRINK INTO ONE SPIRIT.” (I Corinthians 12:13)
5. Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the __________________: if they speak not according to this ________, it is because there is no light in them.”
6. What you will find, if you begin to talk with those in the Charismatic movement, is that they no longer accept the written Word of God, the __________, as the __________ authority. They have replaced it with their own experiences. Whenever they have an experience that is contrary to the Word of God, they then take the ______________________ as more authoritative than the Bible.
7. That is exactly why the Charismatic movement is setting the stage for the end-time __________________ of the antichrist. They are teaching that the Bible is not the final authority, but __________ and wonders are; and that fits the exact plan of deception that the ____________________ is going to use.
8. II Thessalonians 2:9 and 10 says, “Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all __________ and __________ and lying ______________, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
9. The Charismatics make the gift of tongues the test of spirituality or of being Spirit-filled. But the Bible is very clear that the Holy Spirit does ______ give the ________ GIFTS to every Christian. So to make tongues a test of being Spirit-filled, and to urge every Christian to seek that gift, is to go exactly opposite of what the Bible teaches.
10. Tongues are only to be used when there are ________ present in a service.
11. “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, ______ to them that ______________, but to them that believe ______: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.”
12. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken by a maximum of __________ people in any one church service.
13. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken by ______ person at a time.
14. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken, if one person with the gift of ____________________________ was found __________, to interpret for all.
15. That one word sums up the services of tongues-speaking churches — __________________. Many people are babbling unintelligibly. Others are dancing around the auditorium. Others are on the floor trying to talk and get up, but cannot. That is utter confusion, and God is not its author. Then who is?
16. Tongues were only allowed to be spoken by men, not by __________.
17. Verse 34 says, “Let your __________ keep ______________ in the churches: for it is ______ permitted unto them to __________; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.”
18. John 12:48 says, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the ________ that I have spoken, the same shall __________ him in the last day.”
Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, Final Test Liberty Bible Course Directory