Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
common laws of bodily or mental life lead us to a region where our words should be “wary and
few.” It must be remembered then, that in all likelihood such words as they then uttered had been
heard by the disciples before. The difference was that before the Galilean peasants had stood in
that crowd neither heeding nor understanding nor remembering what they heard, still less able to
reproduce it; now they had the power of speaking it clearly and freely. The divine work would in
this case take the form of a supernatural exaltation of the memory, not of imparting a miraculous
knowledge of words never heard before. (g) The gift of tongues, the ecstatic burst of praise, is
definitely asserted to be a fulfillment of the prediction of (Joel 2:28) We are led, therefore, to look
for that which answers to the gift of tongues in the other element of prophecy which is included
in the Old Testament use of the word; and this is found in the ecstatic praise, the burst of sang. (1
Samuel 10:5-13; 19:20-24; 1 Chronicles 25:3) (h) The other instances in the Acts offer essentially
the same phenomena. By implication in ch. (Acts 14:16-10) by express statement in ch. (Acts
10:47; 11:15,17; 19:6) it belongs to special critical epochs. V. The First Epistle to the Corinthians
supplies fuller data. The spiritual gifts are classified and compared arranged, apparently, according
to their worth. The facts which may be gathered are briefly these:
•The phenomena of the gift of tongues were not confined to one church or section of a church.
•The comparison of gifts, in both the lists given by St. Paul— (1 Corinthians 12:8-10,28-30)—places
that of tongues and the interpretation of tongues lowest in the scale.
•The main characteristic of the “tongue” is that it is unintelligible. The man “speaks mysteries,”
prays, blesses, gives thanks, in the tongue, (1 Corinthians 14:15,16) but no one understands him.
•The peculiar nature of the gift leads the apostle into what at first appears a contradiction. “Tongues
are for a sign,” not to believers, but to those who do not believe; yet the effect on unbelievers is
not that of attracting, but of repelling. They involve of necessity a disturbance of the equilibrium
between the understanding and the feeling. Therefore it is that, for those who believe already,
prophecy is the greater gift.
•The “tongues,” however, must be regarded as real languages. The “divers kinds of tongues.” (1
Corinthians 12:28) the “tongues of men,” (1 Corinthians 13:1) point to differences of some kind
and it is easier to conceive of these as differences of language than as belonging to utterances all
equally mild and inarticulate.
•Connected with the “tongues” there was the corresponding power of interpretation. VI.
•Traces of the gift are found in the Epistles to the Romans, the Galatians, the Ephesians. From the
Pastoral Epistles, from those of St. Peter and St. John, they are altogether absent, and this is in
itself significant.
•It is probable, however, that the disappearance of the “tongues” was gradual. There must have
been a time when “tongues” were still heard, though less frequently and with less striking results.
For the most part, however, the pierce which they had filled in the worship of the Church was
supplied by the “hymns and spiritual songs” of the succeeding age, after this, within the Church
we lose nearly all traces of them. The gift of the day of Pentecost belonged to a critical epoch, not
to the continuous life of the Church. It implied a disturbance of the equilibrium of man’s normal
state but it was not the instrument for building up the Church.
Topaz
one of the gems used in the high priest’s breastplate, (Exodus 28:17; 39:10; Ezekiel 28:13) one
of the foundations also of the New Jerusalem, in St. John’s description of the city. (Revelation
21:20) The topaz of the ancient Greeks and Romans is generally allowed to be our chrysolite, while
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William Smith