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Particulars
of Christianity:
310
Pentecostalism, the Charismatic
and Faith Movements
Survey
3 - A Change in Tune Regarding the Gifts
Our
Background and Objectivity
Comparing Modern Tongues to Biblical
Tongues
Basic Introduction to the Charismatic
Movement
Opening Remarks and Introduction
to the Gifts
Survey 1 - Continuity of the
Gifts in the First Few Centuries
Survey 2 - Decline of Orthodox
Gifts and Rise of Counterfeit Gifts
Survey 3 - A Change in Tune Regarding
the Gifts
Survey 4 - From the Renaissance
to the Modern Era
An Introduction to the Gifts
in Modern Times
The Origins of the Modern Charismatic
Movement
Section 1 | Section
2 | Section 3 | Section
4
| Section 5
In
our first survey we established that according to orthodox
Christian writers, the charismatic gifts including tongues
continued well into the middle or second half of the second
century well after the close of the New Testament canon, well
after the death of the last apostle, and well after the destruction
of the Temple in 70 AD. In our second survey we established
the rise of counterfeit gifts in the latter half of the second
century AD, where they coexisted with the authentic gifts
in the orthodox churches. We also established that these counterfeit
gifts (which were practiced by both Gnostic and other heretical
gifts such as the Montanists) differed dramatically in quality
and character from those of the orthodox Church.
In this third historic survey, we will examine the dramatic
change in content that took place regarding the gifts after
the first few centuries AD, particularly by the fourth century.
Keep in mind that the following section of quotes come from
authors who were writing at a time when the Church had been
formally "Romanized" by the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Notice
the view on the charismatic gifts expressed by these authors
despite the fact that the Roman Church has historically been
an institution, which embraces the miraculous including the
miraculous power of relics.
Augustine 354-430 AD
"How then, brethren, because he that is baptized
in Christ, and believes on Him, does not now speak in the
tongues of all nations, are we not to believe that he
has received the Holy Ghost? God forbid that our heart should
be tempted by this faithlessness... Why is it that no man
speaks in the tongues of all nations? Because the Church itself
now speaks in the tongues of all nations. Before, the
Church was in one nation, where it spoke in the tongues of
all. By speaking then in the tongues of all, it signified
what was to come to pass; that by growing among the nations,
it would speak in the tongues of all." (Augustine, "Ten Homilies
on the First Epistle of John)
Here we find Augustine embarking on an early attempt to explain
why men no longer spoke in tongues when they believed. According
to Augustine's view, men no longer spoke in tongues because
the Church now contained men of all nations and languages
and so the Church itself "spoke in all tongues." Now, our
assessment of the validity of Augustine's explanation is not
particularly relevant. What is relevant is that Augustine
understood as a foundational fact to this very passage that
tongues were no longer occurring by his day. And from this
point forward we will see how the statements of Church authors
likewise shifted away from asserting that the gifts continued
in that day (as was the case with Irenaeus and Justin Martyr)
and began instead to explain why the gifts were no longer
occurring.
John Chrysostom 347-407 AD
John Chrysostom, the bishop of Constantinople, who lived from
347-407 AD also taught that the gifts had passed away. When
commenting on 1 Corinthians 12, he writes, "This whole place
is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance
of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being
such as then used to occur but now no longer take place.
And why do they not happen now? Why look now, the cause
too of the obscurity hath produced us again another question:
namely, why did they then happen, and now do so no more?"
Writing John Chrysostom struggles with the same question as
Augustine, "why had the gifts passed away?" Once again, for
the purposes of this survey, what is significant is the fact
that Augustine and John Chrysostom are in agreement that the
gifts were no longer occurring.
Gregory the Great 600 AD
When commenting on Mark 16:17, Gregory the Great wrote, "Is
it so, my brethren, that because ye do not these signs, ye
do not believe? On the contrary, they were necessary,
in the beginning of the church; for, that faith might
grow, it required miracles to cherish it withal; just as when
we plant shrubs, we water them until we ace them thrive in
the ground, and as aeon as they are well rooted we cease our
irrigation.''
Here we see Gregory the Great attempting to answer the same
question posed above by Augustine and John Chrysostom. Like
Augustine, Gregory the Great is attempting to reassure believers
that they were saved despite the fact that they did not speak
in tongues or prophecy.
From this point forward into the Middle Ages, occurrences
of tongues are sporadic at best among the Catholic records,
including less than a dozen instances and conflicting dates.
Then we come to Thomas Aquinas.
Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274 AD
I answer that, Christ's first disciples were chosen by
Him in order that they might disperse throughout the whole
world, and preach His faith everywhere, according to Mt.
28:19, "Going . . . teach ye all nations." Now it was not
fitting that they who were being sent to teach others should
need to be taught by others, either as to how they should
speak to other people, or as to how they were to understand
those who spoke to them...Consequently it was necessary,
in this respect, that God should provide them with the
gift of tongues; in order that, as the diversity of
tongues was brought upon the nations when they fell away
to idolatry, according to Gn. 11, so when the nations were
to be recalled to the worship of one God a remedy to this
diversity might be applied by the gift of tongues. (Thomas
Aquinas, Summa Theologica, "Whether those who received the
gift of tongues spoke in every language?")
Thomas Aquinas' explanation regarding tongues is similar to
that of Gregory the Great. According to Aquinas, tongues were
present in the early Church in order to facilitate the preaching
of the Gospel to the various nations. Conversely it followed
that this gift was no longer present because, as articulated
by Augustine, the Church itself now had members from all nations
and so spoke in all tongues by natural means.
So, as we immerge out of the middle ages we find no record
to substantiate that the prophetic gifts continued in operation.
On the other hand, we also find that the predominant teaching
regarding the gifts shifted dramatically toward the goal of
explaining why they had ceased. This leaves us with the inescapable
conclusion that the gifts did in fact fall into decline and
eventually disappear. To assert that these gifts occurred
continuously up to the present, therefore, flies in the face
of the record of history. As such, we must conclude that all
modern gifts would have to be a restoration of gifts rather
than an unbroken continuation of them from the first and second
centuries. Or as we stated earlier, no one can claim legitimacy
for their practice of the gifts by tracing back to the laying
on of the apostles' hands. Legitimacy must be demonstrated,
therefore, in other ways. And given the documented rise of
counterfeit gifts, we are forced to critically examine whether
or not any hypothetical "restoration of gifts" is a restoration
of the authentic gifts or of the counterfeits performed by
heretics.
However, despite the fact that we can tell with certainty
from the record of history that that the gifts did cease at
some point, for what reason they ceased we do not yet know.
For according to the orthodox writings of Ignatius (30-107
AD), Justin Martyr (110-165 AD), and Irenaeus (A.D. 115 to
202), these gifts including tongues continue into the middle
or late second century well past the destruction of the Temple,
the close of the New Testament canon, and the death of the
last apostle. We will explore this question later on in our
study, but for now it is only necessary to note that concluding
the gifts did pass away is not the same thing as asserting
"why" they passed away. So far, all we have established or
commented on is the fact that they did indeed cease at some
point after the close of the second century.
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