Sunday
Seminar 3:
What The Bible Says About Speaking in Unlearned Languages
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1. In the Bible, speaking in unlearned languages is reported but never commanded and it is never forbidden. This is a scriptural fact.
The practice of speaking in unlearned languages originates from the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit came to earth that day. Acts 2:1-11.
There was the sound of a rushing mighty wind. V. 2.
Flames of fire appeared above the heads of the 120 assembled. V. 3.
And, they were given the ability to speak in Aramaic while out-of-towners listeners heard them speak in the visitors' native tongue.
2. This ability to speak Aramaic in a way that everyone could understand it had a specific purpose that day..
Jerusalem was filled with travelers from other countries who were there for the Feast of Pentecost. V. 9-10.
God wanted all these people to hear about Him in their own languages. V. 11.
However,
120 Galileans were probably speaking Aramaic, and not in unknown languages or
a mysterious heavenly language.
3. The out-of-towners were amazed and said, in Verse 8, "each of us hears them in his own native language."
Today,
we would get the same effect in the General Assembly of the United Nations when
the simultaneous translators speak into the 6-channel public address system in
the six basic languages of the UN.
The
official
languages of the UN for all written and spoken communication are: Arabic,
Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish (Castilian).
4.
By the time the church at Corinth was organized, Paul was having trouble with
certain Christians who took pride in being able to "speak in unlearned languages".
Already, they had forgotten that the miracle was in the hearing and not the speaking.
This problem caused him to write what we now know as 1 Corinthians 14.
5. In this chapter, we learn the following facts:
Paul ranks the gift of prophecy (spiritual instruction) above the ability to speak in unlearned languages. V. 1-6.
Paul could speak in many languages, perhaps because he had studied them. But, he said that 5 words in a known language are worth more than 10,000 words in unknown languages. V. 18-19.
Unlearned languages should not be spoken in church at all unless someone is available to translate into a known language. What would be the point? V. 27-28.
Praying or singing in unlearned languages is also not useful. V. 14-15.
Speaking in unlearned languages was useful at Pentecost. However, if it is done in church, unbelievers will think it is crazy. V. 22-25.
It is wrong to forbid someone else to speak in unlearned languages. V. 39. We must assume, however, the rules for worship given here will be obeyed.
All
parts of a worship service should make sense to everyone who attends.
V. 40.
6.
T he real language miracle on the Day of Pentecost was in the hearing and not
in the speaking.
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