Here is a link to the podcast of my recent appearance on ABC Radio in discussion with John Cleary, David Hohne, Jaqui Grey and Shane Clifton on 'The Fires of Faith: Understanding the Holy Spirit in the Churches."
I listened to this podcast over the weekend. Your comments on the gift of tongues were interesting. One of the panelists commented thatActs records that those present were speaking in actual languages, but the present understanding of tongues is somewhat different. Is that correct?
My view is that tongues can be used as a private prayer language, but if used publicly somebody else should be able to interpret it.
Any spiritual gift should be used under accountability because of the danger of them being misused.
Thanks for listening Ross. There remains a variety of views on what exactly is speaking in tongues both inside and outside of Pentecostalism. I'm not convinced that there is any 'private prayer language' spoken about in the Scriptures. Every clear reference to tongues speaking is in a public setting, including in 1 Corinthians. It's too detailed to go into here but if you like I can send you a paper that outlines my own position in more detail. Just let me know if you want it and I'll email it to you.
I'm married to Lynda and we have four children and two grandchildren. I live in Mernda just beyond Melbourne's northern limit. I serve as Associate Professor of Church History and Theology at Booth College, a Member Institute of the Sydney College of Divinity (I commute). I'm a Minister of the Word in the Uniting Church. I watch too many movies, especially classic Hollywood, and need to start thinking about alternative storage solutions for my DVDs. As for music, I like it all. iPod therefore I am. I am a book enthusiast with a growing collection of classic theology texts, paperbacks from the classic era of crime fiction and Silver and Bronze Age (1960s and 70s) comics.
2 comments:
I listened to this podcast over the weekend. Your comments on the gift of tongues were interesting. One of the panelists commented thatActs records that those present were speaking in actual languages, but the present understanding of tongues is somewhat different. Is that correct?
My view is that tongues can be used as a private prayer language, but if used publicly somebody else should be able to interpret it.
Any spiritual gift should be used under accountability because of the danger of them being misused.
Thanks for listening Ross. There remains a variety of views on what exactly is speaking in tongues both inside and outside of Pentecostalism. I'm not convinced that there is any 'private prayer language' spoken about in the Scriptures. Every clear reference to tongues speaking is in a public setting, including in 1 Corinthians. It's too detailed to go into here but if you like I can send you a paper that outlines my own position in more detail. Just let me know if you want it and I'll email it to you.
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