Have Tongues Ceased?

There is an ongoing debate in modern Christianity concerning whether the gifts of the Spirit, and tongues in particular, are still active today. There are those that believe that they are not. They call this cessationism. Which means that these gifts stopped once the apostles died or when the Bible was completed. There are others that believe these gifts will continue until Jesus returns. So what does the word say? This is where both arguments come into play.

As you can see both sides will argue that tongues will cease. It's just a matter of when, and that leads us to what Paul was talking about when he said "that which is perfect". We will go through four points to help understand this.

When some argue that Paul was talking about the completion of the Bible they are right on track with what Paul was saying. We believe that if you read further into the context it will not lead you to that answer. Paul continues to explain what it will be like when that perfect comes.

This doesn't sound like Paul is talking about gaining more knowledge or having the complete word. He's using words of knowledge that comes from experience. Knowing face to face and knowing as I am known. When someone knows you face to face they know who you are and you know them. Not a book. No one that reads the complete Bible knows God better than God knows them.

The Greek word used here is teleion (τέλειον). It means complete or finished.¹ Throughout scripture this word and its verb counterparts are used to show the finality of something. It's used when describing maturity. Nothing that can be associated with this word leads you to a written word. It leads you to the completion of something that is headed towards its destination. Which in this case would be the fulfillment of God's plan.

Paul also used a verb that comes from this same word about himself.

Near the end of his life Paul still believed that he had not reached that perfect point. He still had work to do. Which leads us to what the perfect will be like.

Throughout scripture whenever we see the phrase "face to face" it's always related to someone being intimate with God. Never about knowing something or learning about it.

We as believers know God through his Spirit, the word and his church. But we don't know him face to face yet. Not completely. Once Jesus returns we will know him face to face and know as we are known.²

So if that's true then tongues should still be active today. Here are three reasons why.

1. God gave the church spiritual gifts to build up the church.
2. The church still exists today and still needs to be built up.
3. Therefore we should still have the gifts to build up the church today.

Paul told the church this when he gave them the list of spiritual gifts.³ He even went a step further in the next chapter.

Why would Paul tell the church to desire spiritual gifts if they were about to stop being used on the earth? It's like telling someone to buy a car when the automobile is about to be discovered.

Many that argue against the speaking of tongues will point to the fact that there aren't many writings about the speaking of tongues in the early days of the church. While that may be true, just because something isn't mentioned doesn't mean it didn't happen. Irenaeus wrote about brothers in the church that had the gift of prophecy. Some even spoke in different languages through the Spirit.⁴ Tertullian challenged Marcion to show that any of his followers had the gift of tongues or could interpret the tongues like his church did.⁵ Many other examples can be found throughout the ages of the church speaking in tongues and having the gift of prophecy.

As we've learned there are still many broken things in this world. The church is not perfect yet. We do not know everything about God. We do not know what he knows about us. We still sin and die.⁶ Satan still walks the earth as a roaring lion.⁷ We are not there yet.

So if that which is perfect is Jesus returning to the earth and completing the kingdom of God. Then we can conclude that tongues have not ceased. Prophecy has not ceased. Knowledge has not ceased. These are gifts that will stay active until Jesus returns. Because we will no longer need prophecy once we hear from Him directly. We will no longer need tongues because we will be speaking with our King. And we will no longer need knowledge in part because we will know as we are known.

There is no reason to cease these gifts until that time. If anything, Paul, Peter and John never told us to. Neither did God.