COUNTERFEIT CULTURE
Real Aboriginal culture, whatever that may be, was happening somewhere
else, not open for public viewing. They wanted their privacy,
and rightly so. They are not game animals for bus- loads of tourists
to drive past and point their fingers at.
But what about us? Are we a Church of God cultural centre? An
attractive information centre full of tourists, sight-seers gawking
at the word of God, while the real travellers and sojourners are
elsewhere experiencing the genuine?
Are we creating a familiar, air-conditioned experience of what
it should be like to have the Spirit of God? A familiar, but
an empty, counterfeit experience?
TONGUES AND PROPHECY
In 1Cor 12-14 Paul elaborates on the gifts of the Spirit of God,
and in chapter 14 he discusses two gifts in particular: prophecy
and tongues.
However, Paul give the greatest importance, after love, to the
gift of prophecy:
Given this context for the verses, we then read Isaiah's response
to their taunts of what they call his stuttering simplistic words:
So, this verse is not explaining a principle by which we are to
understand the word of God. Rather, strangely enough, it reveals
the mindset and condemnation of those who refuse to hear the word
of God!
Paul was therefore using these verses to show that unintelligible
speech is not a sign that the Church of God should desire in its
presence. Hosea reveals that those who should have embraced the
law of God considered it a foreign thing.
On our recent trip into Central Australia, we visited the Aboriginal
Cultural Centre at Ayres Rock. It is quite a tourist attraction.
It's an unusually-designed building. Air-conditioned to escape
from the heat and flies, it has a nice cafeteria with big windows
through which you can look at the Rock. It features video presentations
of Aboriginal Culture. You press to hear the sounds of different
animals, or aboriginal words. There are also information charts,
stories, paintings, brochures and posters. Even gift shops.
It is all very nice. Except for one thing: it's phoney. It
is not real aboriginal culture, but rather Myers transposed into
the middle of the desert. It is what is familiar, with a different
dress on, some public relations company's fabricated image of
Aboriginal culture beautifully-prepared for our consumption.
The whole thing could have been transplanted to be an attraction
in the middle of Melbourne (except for the view; but then the
tourism people are making good progress in their concrete models
- the Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, the Big
Lobster, the Big Orange- so maybe they could build
the Big Ayres Rock here in Melbourne, perhaps outside the
casino so people can enjoy a nice view as they experience the
cultural centre of Melbourne).
The Corinthians, for all their problems, were a genuine Church
of God, and they were eager for manifestations of the Spirit.
Paul was likewise eager for that to happen, and so in his first
epistle to them he addresses the gifts of the Spirit of God in
some detail.
1 Cor 12:1-2 (RSV) Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren,
I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were
heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have
been moved.
In the past, some people may have had powerful religious experiences
that left a significant impression on them. However, these may
not have been caused by the Spirit of God. The question then
arises: if that was an experience produced by a different spirit,
what are the experiences and gifts of the Spirit of God like?
1 Cor 14:1-2 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts,
but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a
tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands
him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
In verse 28 we are further told that when a person speaks in a
tongue he is speaking to himself and to God. Paul explains that
this communication may be helpful and profoundly meaningful to
the person, but it is of no use to a congregation unless someone
can translate the expressions into meaningful words. So if there
is someone who can translate, Paul says in verse 39 that we should
not forbid such speaking in tongues. Otherwise the person is
to express these things in private.
1 Cor 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and
exhortation and comfort to men. (i.e. he builds up the Church).
Paul therefore encourages the development of more meaningful and
insightful speech through the Spirit of God (Not words of man's
fashioning that sound religious or wise or nice - Jer 15:19).
Then he goes on to contrast tongues as a sign for unbelievers,
and prophecy as a sign for believers:
1 Cor 14:20-22 Brethren, do not be children in your
thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature. 21 In the
law it is written, "By men of strange tongues and by the
lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then
they will not listen to me, says the Lord." 22 Thus, tongues
are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy
is not for unbelievers but for believers.
PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT
What is Paul getting at?
Tongues - that is, unintelligible speech - are a sign for unbelievers,
and, as we will see, actually a sign of condemnation for
unbelievers (Gen 11:7-9). Paul quotes from the passage in Isaiah
28, which it is very interesting to consider.
Isa 28:9-10 (NKJ) "Whom will he teach knowledge?
In looking more closely into these verses, all the commentaries
and footnotes that I have checked say that they are the mocking
words spoken by Isaiah's adversaries. In the first 8 verses of
the chapter, Isaiah has been saying some very blunt things against
the drunken leaders of Ephraim. The following verses are then
the response of these leaders to Isaiah. Therefore, The Interpreter's
Bible translates these verses as:
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts?
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little."
"Here he is, the great teacher!
The New Jerusalem Bible gives a similar sense to the words:
And whom do you think you are going to teach? Children? Babes?
You and your everlasting repetition of your same infantile lesson,
your stuttering 'caw laqaw, caw laqaw!"
"Whom does he think he is lecturing?
The footnote in the New Jerusalem Bible says of these verses:
"lit 'order on order, order on order, rule on rule, rule
on rule, a little here, a little there'. But there is no point
in translating the words since they are chosen merely for their
sound."
Whom does he think his message is for?
Babies just weaned? Babies taken from the breast?
With his "Sav lasav, sav lasav, kav lakav, kav lakav, zeer
sham, zeer sham."
The NIV Study Bible footnote calls the verses "The
mocking response of Isaiah's hearers."
Isa 28:11-13 For with stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people, (So Isaiah now turns their words back on them) 12 To whom He
said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary
to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they
would not hear. 13 But the word of the LORD was to them, "Precept
upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon
line, Here a little, there a little," That they might go
and fall backward, and be broken And snared and caught.
So Isaiah says that this is their condemnation. The word of God
will continue to be nothing but "precept upon precept, line
upon line" - simplistic, unintelligible babble to their destruction.
This "falling backwards and being broken" comes from
Isa 8:15, and is also quoted in Matt 21:44; Luke 20:18; 1Pet 2:8
as referring to Jesus Christ.
Hosea 8:12 I have written for him (i.e., Ephraim) the
great things of My law, But they were considered a strange thing.
Speaking in strange tongues does not produce faith in the Church.
Rather, being in the presence of an unintelligible language is
a curse (Deut 28:45-49; Jer 5:15; Neh 9:30). A foreigner in a
country where he cannot understand the language is at a great
disadvantage. Via unintelligible speech, we receive no instruction.
Indeed, it is a curse on man that so much of our communication
is empty, meaningless babble (Gen 11:9). More seriously, when
those who seeing the witness of the Spirit of God call it madness,
they are under divine judgement. Jesus Christ was accused of
being mad:
John 10:20 And many of them said, "He has a demon
and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?"
And on the day of Pentecost, mockers thought that those who were
moved by the Holy Spirit were drunk..
Acts 2:13-15 Others mocking said, These men are full of
new wine. 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up
his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my
words: 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it
is but the third hour of the day.
REVEALING WHAT IS HIDDEN
(Mk 3:21-22; Jn 7:20; 8:48; 2Cor 11:16).
Now let us go back to continue in Paul's teaching to the Corinthians.
1 Cor 14:23-25 If, therefore, the whole church assembles
and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter,
will they not say that you are mad? 24 But if all prophesy, and
an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is
called to account by all, 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed;
and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that
God is really among you.
Prophecy, which is for strengthening, encouragement and comfort
(1Cor 14:3), is a sign of God's mercy and intervention to save
people from their sins. It should lead people to repent and turn
to Him. How can people repent and believe in the gospel unless
it is clearly explained?
Rom 10:13-17 For "whoever calls on the name of the
LORD shall be saved." 14 How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who
preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!"
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord,
who has believed our report?" 17 So then faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God
Therefore, God's presence is revealed through the exposing of
the secrets of the heart. This is a definition of prophecy - the
revealing of what is hidden, whether it be the hidden secrets
of the heart, the mysteries of God (Col 1:26-28; 1Cor 2:10; 4:1-5;
Eph 3:2-6), or events soon to take place (Rev 1:1; Amos 3:7).
The absence of such gifts as prophecy is a sign of the withdrawal
of God's favour (Isa 29:10; Mic 3:6; Lam 2:9). It is for this
reason Paul says that one of the gifts we should earnestly desire
is the ability with the help of the Word of God to expose the
secrets of our own heart and the hearts of others.
Heb 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division
of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature
hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the
eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
If we are learning to use the Word of God correctly then it will
cut and will reveal secrets of the heart that will cause some
grief. Painful work at times, and yet comforting also. The alternative
is for us to be tourists, sight-seers of the panorama of the
Word of God, sitting in the air-conditioned information centre.