The precious book is a must-read for true Christians through which they must change their previous thoughts about the tongues and the interpretation of tongues. I had picked up the book with common conceptions of the tongues and the interpretation of tongues that I had acquired easily, but at the end, I had to admit that the thoughts of God were truly strikingly different from the thoughts of men.
First, I had discovered that “the tongue” in itself was different from the prayer in tongues that I had always practised, which led me to question the veracity of my previous knowledge of the Bible. I began to understand the way to view the Bible through this book little by little, and I came to at least faintly understand God’s will. What became clear to me was the fact that everything I thought I knew was completely wrong. My thoughts about the tongues and the interpretation of tongues in the Bible had been completely undone, and I had to admit that the words in this book were indeed the truth arrived at through biblical interpretation. The plain truth is that all word of God that God had given as one Scripture is the tongue of the kingdom of heaven. The true interpretation of tongues is revealing the meaning of the tongues and changing them into the gospel and boasting of the Christ. The author also emphasises that fact alone, and the importance of that fact by stating that she herself had wrong knowledge of it. The author makes great effort to explain and confirm with the words from the Scripture to avoid any misunderstanding, which greatly shows the love of God towards the countless Christians who had the wrong knowledge.
The author has taken to great lengths to interpret the Word of God and explain the Original Scripture to help the reader better understand the Bible as the Bible through a long time and effort of searching and research. I wish for her great effort to facilitate the reader’s understanding be applied to everyone and get to know God who works through His Word, for their souls to be born anew and dwell in the truth.
The book is highly recommended to those who wish to know God of the Bible properly through the correct understanding of the Bible. Not only will it destroy the reader’s wrong knowledge of the Bible that are commonly known and set right his wrong understanding about the Holy Spirit, it will be a guide to know God perfectly through the biblical interpretation to fix the misconceptions about the charismatic gifts, the tongues, the way to receive the Holy Spirit, and more. The author criticises the wrong ideas of the tongues through detailed explanations, and she also proposes the proper way to dwell in the truth, which is to understand the tongues and the interpretation of tongues.
One can come to understand God’s will through the Bible only through correct interpretation of tongues. Upon careful inspection, the reader will be able to understand the depth of love the author had put into writing this book as she proved every single point with verses written in the Bible. There are the instinctive thoughts that people generally have. This book makes one think just how much this instinctive thought has been killing one’s own soul, and how futile the knowledge that one picked up through rumours are. This book will also enable the reader to discover, through the correct understanding about the tongues, just how much of God’s thoughts God had hidden within what has been made in nature (Romans 1:20).
The subject is mainly derived from 1 Corinthians chapters 12~14 and Acts chapters 2 and 19. Yet, the author actually explains from the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation as one whole, with the text in the Original Scripture and the full verses included to help the reader in better understanding as much as possible. Hence, as I have stated in my letter of recommendation, I can say that the contents of this book are full of vast resources and clearly explained Bible passages, a very useful read to the ministers and seminary students, and worthy of being selected as a teaching material.
The author focuses on proving that Jesus is the Christ by explaining the meaning of the words to plainly show just how different our misconceptions of the tongues and the interpretation of tongues were compared to the true biblical meaning. Furthermore, she has shown the standard procedure in interpreting the Bible with the Bible through the guidance of the Holy Spirit as opposed to following personal thinking, which displays how different the thoughts of God spoken through the Bible is compared to the thoughts of men.
Ultimately, although some parts may seem to criticise the current Christendom, the reader can also find the author’s dear expression of love for the reader to correctly understand the wrongs, the alarm that she sounds for those who are deeply in their spiritual slumber, and her desire for the reader to only understand through the Word of God and dwell in the truth.
Perhaps, the great significance of this one book is the dearest wish for the reader to return to the truth through the Bible that is the Word of God….
Table of Contents
- First. ‘The thoughts of men and the thoughts of God’ on ‘the tongues.’
- ‘A tongue’ means ‘the speech of a certain country.’
- Second. What is ‘God’s will’ on ‘the tongues’ in 1 Corinthians 14?
- 1) ‘the tongues’ are for a sign to unbelievers.
- 2) No one understands ‘the tongue.’ He speaks mysteries in his spirit.
- 3) One who speaks in ‘a tongue’ edifies himself.
- 4) Prayer in ‘a tongue’ does not bear fruit in the mind.
- 5) If you speak ‘in tongues,’ will they not say that you are mad?
- 6) Five words of understanding, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue
- 7) The way to interpret ‘the tongues’
- 8) If there is no ‘interpreter,’ one must keep silent in the church.
- 9) Yet it is written not to forbid to speak ‘in tongues.’
- Conclusion about 1 Corinthians 14
- (1) The definition of the tongues given as a personal gift
- (2) The biblical definition of ‘the tongues.’
- (3) The biblical definition of ‘the interpretation of tongues.’
- Third. The definition of ‘various kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues’ written in 1 Corinthians 12
- The conclusion about ‘various kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues’
- Fourth. The definition of ‘the tongues of men’ written in 1 Corinthians 13
- 1) ‘What does ‘the tongues of men’ mean?
- 2) What does ‘the tongues that will cease’ mean?
- Fifth. What is ‘the tongue’ written in Acts?
- 1) ‘The Spirit’ who worked on the Pentecost is ‘the Spirit of Truth.’
- 2) The purpose of the Holy Spirit’s coming on the Pentecost
- 3) The definition of the tongues that appear in Acts 2
- 4) The definition of ‘the tongues’ that appear in Acts 19
- Sixth. One must prophesy again for ‘the tongue’ to be made perfect
Excerpt
In this day and age, we are bombarded by a flood of words to every problem. The flood of words also contained countless number of words to explain the tongues, which we heard and believed. The majority of Christians to this date have thought of speaking in tongues as an act of speaking, not in a language that they use, but in ‘different languages,’ and ‘a gift’ that is attained when they pray, or when a preacher lays his hand on them. I too had come to believe, after 1~2 years of accepting faith in Jesus Christ, that having a personal experience of the living God for myself was to receive ‘the gift of tongue.’ On a Friday night, while I was fasting in a fasting prayer house, I felt that I would be able to receive the gift of tongue if the pastor who led the evening service prayed for me, so he laid his hand on me and prayed. As he laid his hand on me, he told me to say the word ‘Hallelujah’ repeatedly. I still could not speak in tongues after the prayer, yet the pastor said, “You have received the gift of tongues already. So go inside a prayer cave and pray.” I was doubtful, but I went into a prayer cave since I couldn’t return empty-handed after coming all the way to Seoul from Busan. The moment I began to pray, my ‘tongue’ flipped and began to speak in strange words. I thought, ‘this must be the gift of tongue.’ That was when I experienced the joy of realising that ‘God truly was the living God.’ The joy at the time felt like even the blades of grass were congratulating me, and I had felt like I alone had received the love of the living God. I could not understand what the prayer which I spoke in tongues meant, but I had gained affirmation of believe that God was ‘the living God’ no matter what anyone said. Since then, I have been walking as one who was called to the ministry, and I have never committed the foolishness of returning to the unbelieving world.
p.24 First. ‘The thoughts of men and the thoughts of God’ on ‘the tongues.’
“For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2). It is written, “One who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God; for no one understand what he speaks in a tongue, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.” It is because of this verse that many Christians today yearn for the tongue, while Christians who could not receive the tongue feel great sense of inferiority. This is one of the decisive causes for the tongue becoming such a major fad. How had this come to be? The fundamental cause of it was in failing to accurately discern the will of God in the above verse. If the reader, until now, had knowledge about the tongues in terms of the thoughts of men, let this book be the turning point to change to the biblical thinking as we now interpret the above passage biblically and reveal the will of God hidden within the words. Additionally, in light of this, the above verse plainly lays out the answer that the tongues, which we called the personal gift that we received, are words that we ourselves do not understand as we pray.
p.52 (2) No one understands ‘the tongue.’ He speaks mysteries in his spirit.
“If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two or at the most three, and each in turn, and one must interpret; but if there is no interpreter, he must keep silent in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God” (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). The above passage too is difficult to interpret if taken only literally. Hence it is indeed definite that no one can understand what one speaks in a tongue. Thus, it should be noted that no one, including the speaker, can understand the gift of tongues which was given as a personal sign except in special cases. It should also be noted that the literal record of the Bible is a tongue of the kingdom of heaven (a speech of the kingdom of heaven), which one must keep silent in the church if there is no interpreter. For if anyone speaks in a tongue, that is, if anyone preaches the Bible only literally, one must interpret it (reveal the meaning of the words) by two or at the most three, and each in turn. What does this mean? If the above passage is to be taken literally, should there be two or three people preaching on a pulpit today? That is not what it means, is it? Does it mean to interpret in this way, when one prays in a tongue that was given as a personal sign? Let us discern biblically and precisely.
p.129 Second. What is ‘God’s will’ on ‘the tongues’ in 1 Corinthians 14?