37 Should Everyone Speak in Tongues? (1 Corinthians 12:11-13)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome back to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. We're gonna look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 11 through 13 today, and this is the 37th talk in our series on 1 Corinthians. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below the podcast so you don't have to take notes. And you can also find those lecture notes on my website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash 1 Corinthians 3 7. And on the website, you'll find lots of helpful information about how to improve your Bible study. There's no charge, no spam, no ads, only Bible study. Thanks so much for listening. We're continuing in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians today, and in this section, which begins in chapter 12 and runs through 14, Paul is addressing a problem in the church in Corinth involving manifestations of the Spirit. And you'll recall this letter is a response to both a verbal report Paul has received about what's happening in Corinth, and it's also a response to a letter that they have written to him containing specific questions. And these questions are not academic philosophy, rather they relate to actual problems that are going on in the Corinthian church. It's not that the Corinthians are kind of randomly debating the value of meat sacrifice to idols or the nature of spiritual gifts. These are issues that are causing disagreements and divisions in their church, and they've written to Paul for help. The problem that Paul started addressing in 1201 is that there is a group in Corinth that strongly emphasizes speaking in tongues. They're influenced by their pagan background where they were used to seeing trances and ecstatic expressions of idol worship, and so they brought that into Christianity and they think that if you have something obviously visible like speaking in tongues, so if the spirit has obviously come upon you in such a way that you speak in tongues, then that's the mark of spiritual maturity. You have the spirit clearly because we can see it in this expression of tongues. And therefore, those who haven't spoken in tongues who don't have that visible manifestation of the spirit, well, they're lacking. And they look it around and they go, Well, that guy's clearly speaking in tongues, so God is clearly working through him, but that other guy over there, well, we're not so sure he should be here at all. And in response to that, Paul's first point was that the mark of the Spirit of God at work in someone's life is not what kind of ecstatic outward experience they have. The mark of the Spirit of God at work in someone's life is that they will say and mean in a profound way that Jesus is Lord. That's the spiritual person. The spiritual person is the one who embraces and follows Christ. The person who is not spiritual will reject Christ. So Paul basically started this by saying, You want to know what the mark of true spirituality is? That's it. The mark of God at work in someone's life is that that person will say and mean Jesus is Lord. So you can tell if someone is spiritual or not by what comes out of their mouth, but it's not tongues, it's the fact that they can say and mean Jesus is Lord. Then Paul begins contrasting unity and diversity. So he begins contrasting what is the same about all us believers and what is different, what has variety. And his second point was that all God's people have the same spirit. Everyone who belongs to Christ has the same spirit of God at work in them. But that same spirit gives a variety of differing gifts to different people. Now, why is that important to the Corinthians? Because some of the Corinthians are saying, well, look, if you lack a particular gift, if you lack speaking in tongues, then you aren't a spiritual person. And Paul is saying, no, you have that wrong. It is God's intention to distribute different gifts to different people. So God's purpose and plan is to make us different. And this is the way God is working among his people. You should expect to see genuine believers without specific gifts. So if I see a person who lacks tongues, that shouldn't surprise me because it's God's intention to design and gift us differently. So the Corinthians who are saying, well, that person isn't spiritual because he's never spoken in tongues, he lacks that particular manifestation of the spirit, they have misunderstood what God is doing in the church. God intends to create diversity among his people. He gives a variety of gifts through the same spirit. And in the last podcast, I argued that we should think of spiritual gifts as roles and opportunities to serve the body of Christ rather than as a kind of superpower. And that Paul's purpose in this section is not to give a catalog of gifts so that you can figure out what gift you have, but to say this one and the same spirit does a variety of things. And here's a few examples of some of the many, many ways he will work. And I contrasted the modern notion of spiritual gifts as kind of supernatural talents with what I think Paul is teaching here, and that is that they are opportunities to serve the kingdom. They are roles we play. And so if I have the gift of teaching, the gift is not a superpower to teach, the gift is the opportunity to teach it all. In the modern view, spiritual gifts are kind of God-given supernatural abilities that come from a fixed list, and each believer is given a particular gift or a set of gifts upon conversion, and it's our job to discover which gifts we have and to use them. And in this modern view, the gifts limit what the Holy Spirit might call you to do. I think as we go through this chapter that spiritual gifts should be understood more as opportunities, roles, or responsibilities, and that these are roles and responsibilities God gives each believer that we're privileged to play. They're gifts in that they're part of His grace to us. But rather than a fixed list, the gifts are potentially as numerous as the number of believers. We are not limited by them in any way, and what we do can vary and change with the seasons of our lives. I think this is a better understanding of the metaphor of the body that Paul's going to go on to use in this chapter, and that's what we're going to look at today. So he just said in twelve eleven, but one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as he wills. And I argued that this is the heart of the point he's making. One and the same spirit works all these things. The variety that we see amongst the people of God is by design. It's not a defect. Each person is given a different role to play in the body of Christ on purpose. And now Paul's going to explain that with the metaphor. So picking up in verse twelve for just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. So Paul's making this analogy. Just as in the human body we it functions this way, so also are the people who belong to Christ. Now we have to be careful here because we are very used to talking about the body of Christ today. It is modern Christian jargon or terminology for us. And if you've been around the church much, you're probably familiar with this language. And as soon as we see the body of Christ or this analogy of the body, we start filling in the gaps with our pre understanding. And in studying this section, we want to be patient and let Paul make his point first. Paul is saying just as the human body is made up of lots of different parts and pieces, so also are the people who belong to Christ. And we want to be careful, slow down, read through this in context and think about the point he's making without jumping to our pre understanding. And it's hard to do, but it's worth it. So my body is a unified whole made up of many different parts with different functions. My eye plays one role, my finger plays a role, my heart plays a role, but you put it all together and it's me. My body is one unified entity made up of lots of different parts that play different roles. So there are a variety of members of my body, but together they form this unified whole. So the body is a picture of unity in diversity. I am one unified body made up of different parts that do different things. By God's design, the human body is meant to be a coherent whole made up of different parts, and Paul's saying, so it is with the Church of Christ. Christ has saved and redeemed and gathered together his people. Together we're one unified whole, but we are made up of individuals who play different roles and have different functions just like the parts of the body. And it's not just each local church, but all the people who have believed throughout history. We have all had a role to play in the story and the drama of redemption, and each of us plays a different role. Just as it's God's purpose for different parts of the body to play different roles and have different functions in the body, it is God's purpose throughout history for different people to play different roles in the story of redemption. The Spirit of God works his will for the church through various people in various ways. And Paul's saying, You Corinthians are judging each other as if everybody should look the same. You think that those who are different are lesser Christians or maybe not spiritual at all, and you're saying, Well, I have the gift of tongues and you don't, I'm somehow superior to you because we should all look the same and you're lacking. And Paul's saying, No, that's not the right perspective. Just like the human body has diversity to it, so the body of Christ has diversity to it, and that diversity is by God's design. Paul gives a one sentence summary of the source of our unity. This is twelve thirteen. For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. I think this is a very important statement in the argument Paul's making here, but it's easy to misunderstand. First he uses the word baptism, and our temptation is to take that literally as if it's referring to the physical act of baptism. But I think in the context it's clear he's speaking metaphorically, and actual physical baptism is not in view. He makes two analogies here. There's a baptism in one spirit and a drinking in one spirit. Now we don't have a ritual where we drink the spirit, so it's not going through these two rituals that makes us Christians. He's speaking metaphorically. But some people have taken this language of baptized by one spirit and made it a technical term, which I think is a mistake. Some people understand this language of baptism in one spirit as a kind of second blessing where after you've been baptized with water, you need a second baptism in the spirit where you speak in tongues. But I don't think that fits the context. Paul has just said that the Spirit does not give everyone the same role to play in the body of Christ. The Spirit gives different opportunities to serve to different people on purpose as part of God's plan. So having said that tongues is one of those gifts that some people get and some people don't, I don't think he would then turn around and argue, oh, and by the way, you need a second blessing where everyone gets tongues. That would conflict with the point he just made. His whole point is that some people speak in tongues, but everyone is baptized in the spirit. Now both these analogies involve water. Baptism is a ritual that involves symbolically cleansing with water. Similarly, when I'm thirsty, I quench my thirst with water. Where does this language come from? Why would Paul pick these two analogies to describe his point this way? Both of these metaphors come from the Gospels. All of the Gospels report that John the Baptist says, I baptize you with water, but there's one coming after me who will baptize you with the Spirit. So John is saying, I baptize, and the medium of my baptism is water, but there is another who is coming, and the medium of his baptism is going to be the Holy Spirit. This is Matthew three verse eleven. As for me, this is John the Baptist speaking, as for me I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And we also find that in Mark one eight, Luke three sixteen, and John one twenty six. Likewise, the Gospel of John records two places where Jesus says, If you're thirsty, come to me and I will give you living water. In one case Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well and we find that account in John four. The other is in John seven, and there it's explained that the metaphor of living water is a description of the Spirit. So this is John seven, verses thirty seven through thirty nine. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me to drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. That's the end of the quote, and then John explains, but this he spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. It seems likely that Paul is borrowing this language he uses from the words of John the Baptist and the words of Jesus. Baptism is an outward cleansing with water that symbolizes conversion and becoming a disciple of someone. The true baptism is the baptism of the Spirit, where the Spirit cleanses our hard hearts and truly makes us people who want to follow Christ. It is an inside washing and transformation of which the outward symbol of water baptism is a sign. When we're physically thirsty, we drink water to quench our thirst, but the true drink is water of the Spirit, which works inside us to quench our spiritual thirst. So the reality behind this is the same idea he introduced in the first verses of the chapters. No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit working in him to give him faith and understanding. The Spirit cleanses us of our hostility to God. The Spirit enlightens us and gives us understanding of truth. The Spirit gives us the courage to persevere in the faith. That's the work of the Spirit in the lives of believers. We belong to Christ because of the work of the Spirit. We see our need for Christ because the Spirit has been at work in us to give us the eyes to see it. We persevere in the faith through trials because of the work of the Spirit giving us that strong, mature faith. We are, in a sense, a miraculous work of the Spirit in progress. So in that sense, we have been washed by the Spirit of God and we drink the Spirit of God. That's the basis for our unity because each of us believers received the same spirit. All of us were washed by the same spirit. All of us quench our spiritual thirst with the same spirit. The miraculous work of the spirit has made us one people, one community. So in this section, Paul is highlighting two ways the Spirit works, and I think it's important for us to see the difference. One is how the Spirit works the same in all of us, and one is how the Spirit works differently in all of us. On the one hand, the Spirit gives us all the same faith, the same spiritual awakening, the same perseverance in the faith, and the same desire to follow Jesus. On the other hand, the spirit gives us very different roles to play in the body of Christ. We have different functions. Like different parts of the body have different jobs to fulfill to keep the body healthy, so we believers have different jobs to fulfill in the history of God's people to bring about His glory and His purposes. These roles we have revolve around service to each other. Their purpose is to be beneficial to the people of God, like the purpose of the various parts of the body are to benefit the health and welfare of the body. In this life, all of us believers are on a journey of faith where we move from childhood to maturity, from immaturity to wisdom and understanding. And God has graciously given us fellow travelers to help each other on that journey. We are to encourage each other, to remind each other of what's true, and to manifest the love of God in various ways to each other. So through this list he's just given us, he's been saying, look, one speaks wisdom so that others may grow and be corrected in their understanding. Another works miracles of healing, partly as a sign of God's power in the world, and also to benefit the one who's sick. One serves another who is in need. Maybe it's through monetary support or practical support or just a word of encouragement. One can speak a word of truth to another who needs encouragement. If you're not interested in serving your fellow believers, then you're really not interested in spiritual gifts because that's what they're for. We are intended to help and encourage and build each other up in the faith, just like the body pieces and parts work together. God has given us various opportunities through the workings of His Spirit so that we can be of help to each other. You may be the right person at the right moment to speak a word of wisdom to another. You may be the friend who's there at the right time to offer a shoulder to cry on, or the helper who sees another in need and steps in. It is God's intention and design that these gifts vary. So it's entirely inappropriate to judge someone else's spirituality by what gifts that person has or does not have. The person who speaks in tongues is no more or less spiritual than the person who's hospitable. Now that leaves us with this question of what is the gift of tongues and what is the gift of healing and where do they fit in the church today? Should I be worried if no one in my local church has healed anyone? I mentioned this briefly in the last podcast, but I want to give it a little bit more space. First, as I said last time, we have to realize that Paul has not answered those questions, and it is really not his intention in this passage to answer them. He says there are miracles of healing, but he does not say that every local church throughout history will have someone who can miraculously heal. From the New Testament, We know that there are workings of the Spirit where at times people are inexplicably healed. Jesus healed many people, Paul healed people, Peter healed people. Actually, I think all of the apostles miraculously healed people at times. And we do have stories today that this same kind of miraculous healing is happening in various places and has happened at other times throughout history. From what Paul has said here, I think we can conclude that if God wants that to happen at a particular point in history to any particular person for some reason of his own, then the Spirit of God will make it happen. If that kind of activity is not happening now and we don't see it, then I would conclude that too is part of God's plan. Because as Paul has said, the gifts are diverse. Miracles, healing, and tongues are gifts of the Spirit variously given to various people at various times in history. Paul has not really answered our modern questions about what should we expect to see today. All we know from what he has said is that there are gifts and they are various and they are different, and we should expect to see diversity. So that leads me to conclude that these gifts will vary and therefore we may or may not see them in our local churches, but that if and when we need to see them for God to accomplish his purposes and plans, then we will. Now I do want to be clear that I am not criticizing certain wings of the charismatic movement that we see today. From what we've studied so far, I would say Paul has not said anything that rules the modern phenomenon of tongues in or rules it out. But what we can say about the charismatic movement is that if their understanding is that everyone ought to speak in tongues, and if their theology is if you're not speaking in tongues, you're not spiritual, you're a lesser Christian, then I would say that's a mistake. If that's your theology, then I would say you have misunderstood because Paul seems to be clearly saying that's the wrong perspective. Paul has just argued that the gifts are diverse and you cannot judge someone's spirituality by whether or not they have the gift of tongues. So I would argue it's inappropriate to suggest that any particular gift ought to be happening in every single believer's life. That's the point Paul's making. Gifted teachers are no more spiritual than those gifted at mercy. Prophets are no more spiritual than those who are hospitable and so forth. God gives different roles and different functions to different people on purpose to carry out his plan of redemption and to glorify his name. Okay, so what exactly was going on in Corinth that involves tongues? Well the details are tricky and it has led to a divide in the American Church. We have the charismatic camp and the non-charismatic camp, and both sides point to 1 Corinthians twelve to bolster their case. And these chapters twelve through fourteen are a key part in the debate. There is a sense in which I think both sides could peacefully and gracefully coexist and agree to disagree, but there's a hitch. Both sides tend to see the other side as deficient and missing out. So charismatics tend to see non-charismatics as missing out. They would say God is offering us power, some sort of success and emotional exaltation, and you're missing it. You're living a second best Christian life. So the charismatics see the other side as being too intellectual, selling God short, settling for a lesser Christian experience, and missing out on the fullness of what God has to offer. On the other side, non-charismatics tend to see the charismatics as following a fairy tale. Non charismatics tend to view the charismatics as believing something that's not really happening. They think the tongues and prophecy of today are largely human fabrication, and they think charismatics are gullible and focused on the wrong things. And I suspect all of us know someone on the other side of the debate. Churches have split over this issue, friendships break up because it of it, so how are we to live together? Well, here's what I think Paul has clearly said so far. One, the mark of true spirituality is not having a particular spiritual gift or role to play, including speaking in tongues, but rather the mark of true spirituality is that you can say and mean that Jesus is Lord. Second, Jesus brought us together to be his people and to belong to each other as his family. Third, God gives every individual believer a role to play in the body of Christ and in bringing about his kingdom. Fourth, it is wrong to judge people based on whether they have a particular gift or a particular role to play, so it's wrong to judge them based on what role they have been given or not given. And five, the purpose of having these roles or these gifts is to build each other up in the faith. Now I know people who have a charismatic practice who have that perspective that I just outlined. They put the important things first and their lives fit with that perspective I just described. So while we disagree on certain points, I think we agree on what's most important. We're both trying to be submissive to what the Bible is calling us as believers to do and to think and believe. I know other people with charismatic practices and people with non-charismatic practices who seem to violate some of these principles. They seem to put the least important things first and they seem to judge and grade each other by the wrong standards. I don't think the Bible says one way or other whether God intends to keep acting in miraculous ways. It does not tell us whether the New Testament was a unique period of church history or the beginning of some new way of working. Now we do have some clues. One of them is that the miraculous signs were typically given to verify and confirm that the apostle or the prophet or the teacher was genuinely speaking for God and that Jesus was in fact the Messiah. So we know that God gave the ability to perform miracles and healings to Jesus and the apostles to say, You will know that these people are speaking the truth because of these signs. We also know that God distributes various gifts as he wills and that he intends to give different gifts to different people at different times in history. Now I don't think there are apostles today, although some would disagree with me. So I would tend to think that we're not typically going to see these kinds of sign gifts, the miracles, healings, and speaking in tongues, because we don't need that kind of apostolic confirmation or the confirming sign that this person has the authority to speak for God. The author of Hebrews says in, I think it's two, three, and four, that God testifies to the truth of the apostle's message by the signs and wonders and miracles. So the signs were a testimony that God was behind these people. Now that doesn't explicitly say that when the New Testament period is over, there will be no more signs, but it does imply that that is part of their purpose. The apostles had a unique authority that no other Bible teachers have. Their authority and their message needed to be confirmed and validated because of that authority. My message doesn't need validating by signs because I have no authority. Now we know that God does not value chaos and gullibility, and we know that he can act however he wants to act in history and that he can distribute the gifts as he wills. So I think we ought to be prepared to believe in the power and miracles of God. We don't want to be like the Pharisees who reject Jesus when he's standing right in front of them because they think supernatural things can happen. On the other hand, we don't want to be gullible and chaotic. So all that is to say God can do and does do what he wants, and I'm not sure he's ruled it in or out. What exactly were tongues? Well, again, that's debatable. There are two main ideas. The Greek word simply means languages. To speak in tongues is literally to speak in languages, just like we talk about our mother tongue. It just means language. The story of Pentecost in Acts 2 makes it pretty clear that the people involved were speaking actual real languages. These people were inspired by the Spirit to speak out in praise of God, and they were speaking in a language that was not their own, but that language was understood by the people listening. There are two other places where we see that happening again in Acts 10 and in Acts 19, and in both those places the gospel is going to a new group of people. So in those other two places, we see the same phenomenon that we see on Pentecost, that it is a confirmation that yes, God is at work here too, and that people are speaking languages that are not their native language, but they are understandable by the persons or the people listening. So while Acts seems to give this coherent picture that people speak in actual languages they don't know, it's not clear that if the people speaking knew what they're saying. So in Pentecost or in the Acts chapter ten and nineteen, is it that I set out to say something in English but it comes out in French? Or is it that I just start speaking and it sounds like babbling to me and I have no idea what I'm saying, but the French person next to me understands. Well, Acts doesn't say, but given what Paul says about God being orderly in chapter 14 that we're gonna look at coming up, I suspect that they knew what they're saying. If all we had was Acts, the picture I think would be clear. Because in Scripture we really only have these chapters in 1 Corinthians and then we have Acts. But then we have what we see in the modern church today, which is often called glossolia. And not only in the Christian church, we see it in a number of different religions. Non-believers seem to be able to do this thing we call glossolalia, and it is not distinguishable from what believers are doing. So that practice, glossolia, is the practice of speaking in a language that no one hearing understands, and usually the person speaking doesn't understand either. It's an ecstatic outburst, and the idea is that this experience is beyond words, it's beyond human language, and it comes out in this kind of babbling language that no one understands. Now some people claim that the practice of glossolalia is what we see in Acts, but I think Acts makes it clear that the speakers there were speaking regular known human languages. Then in a passage coming up we're going to look at in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul talks about speaking in the tongues of men or the tongues of angels. And some people claim that glossolalia are the languages of angels, and that's why we don't understand them. Paul could mean that, but as we'll see when we get there, I think that section follows a pattern. Paul says something and then he pushes it to exaggeration. So I think this tongues of angels is that kind of exaggeration, even if I speak in the tongues of angels. Not that anyone actually does speak in that, but even if I did do that and I didn't have love, then I would have nothing. So the Corinthians could be speaking in the tongues of angels. That's an option, but I not the one that persuades me. It could be that the Corinthians believe that they're speaking in the tongues of angels, and Paul's saying, even if you were, it's useless without love. So he doesn't think they are speaking in the tongues of angels, but even so, here's the rub. Or it could be that he's just saying, let me push this to the point of exaggeration to make my point, which is what I think is going on. I think that the gift Paul is talking about is the Acts kind of speaking in a foreign language. I suspect that the Corinthians are practicing something like Glossolalia or something closer to it, and they are calling it what we see in Acts. And in either case, as we get into chapter 14, Paul's gonna say, if there is no actual content in what you're saying, then you need to be quiet. So someone needs to be able to translate. If you speak and it comes out in German, and there's someone there who knows German and can translate, okay, but if no one is there who can understand what you're saying and you don't understand what you're saying, then you need to keep quiet and refrain from speaking in public. So we're gonna get to that, but all of that suggests to me that you ought to know what you're saying. So I think what was going on in Acts is this practice of speaking in a language that you weren't officially taught. I think probably what's happening in the Corinthian church is it's some kind of incoherent babbling that no one understands, and Paul is going to rule that out because it lacks content that edifies the entire body. And whatever perspective you take on this passage and on what tongues means and what it means today, I think we need to refrain from judging each other and grading each other on their our spirituality, because that seems to be Paul's main point. God gives people different gifts on purpose, and it is not our place to judge each other by them. So, one final comment about the unity of the spirit. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that how the spirit works in all of us is extremely important. We get so caught up in the question of what's my gift, what are my gifts, what roles do I have to play in the body, that we forget that the supremely important gift of the spirit is the gift of saving faith. That working of the spirit that allows me to say, Jesus is Lord, that's what determines my eternal destiny. That working of the Spirit is the difference between being part of the people of God and not being part of the people of God. And that working of the Spirit makes the difference between me being lost and without hope, and me being forgiven and profoundly hopeful. This is the salvation Jesus brought us with his death. This is what makes us one. If I'm a believer, the Holy Spirit has done that for me. If you're a believer, the Holy Spirit has done that for you. The Holy Spirit is the water that washes us and makes us the people of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the water we drink that quenches our thirst for righteousness and holiness and forgiveness. The Holy Spirit is what makes the difference between those headed for destruction and judgment and those headed for life. And this is the work of the Spirit that determines how we think about each other. The world in Corinthians are judging and rejecting each other based on whether or not they speak in tongues. And Paul's saying that's the wrong perspective. The dividing line is not whether or not you speak in tongues, the dividing line is whether or not you understand that Jesus is Lord. And if you understand that Jesus is Lord, it's because the Spirit of God is at work in you. And that makes us one body together. When I see faith that perseveres through trials, when we see hope in the midst of difficult circumstances, when we see grief and repentance over sinfulness, we are seeing the work of the Spirit, and that is the one work of the Spirit that God gives to everyone. We're not just a club of people with a religious hobby. There's a sense in which a local church gathering is a room full of miracles, because we are a people who are being turned away from rebellion and hostility toward God and toward faith and holiness. That's an incredible miracle of God, and that is the one miracle that happens in all of God's people, and it is the thing that makes us one. We are in this together because the Spirit of God is working in us. Church can seem so mundane, you know, we're just meeting here again, yet another Sunday, singing the same old songs, saying the same prayers, no one may get healed, no one may speak in tongues, but from Paul's perspective, there's a really big miracle happening in that local church gathering. Rebel sinners are turning to faith in God because of Christ through the work of the Spirit. And Paul is challenging the Corinthians, why are you complaining that someone in that gathering is not speaking in tongues when that person is turning from darkness to life? How can you prefer that his mouth be babbling some incomprehensible language when his mouth is speaking faith and wisdom? And faith is the really important gift. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but shows you how to figure it out. I really appreciate you listening in, and I have three favors to ask. Please subscribe to the podcast, leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen to your podcast, and tell a friend. And if you can only do one thing, telling a friend is best. You can find Wednesday in the Word on Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify TuneI, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Overcast, Pocket Cast, and just about anywhere you can get your podcasts.org. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.