Category Archives: Theology

TONGUES AND ESCHATOLOGY (5)

AD 70, Israel, Theology June 4, 2014 Leave a comment

Tongues 5PMT 2014-067 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

Tongues-speaking is an unusual phenomenon that has caused confusion among Christians. I am offering a series on tongues because they have eschatological significance. In this study I will be showing that God gave tongues as a sign of covenant curse on Israel.

Probably the least understood aspect of the function of tongues is its serving as a sign to Israel of God’s covenant curse due to her unbelief. Yet Paul explicitly suggests this in 1 Corinthians 14:21-22: “In the Law it is written: ‘By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,’ says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.” To properly grasp Paul’s biblico-theological intent here, I will survey some of the Old Testament’s covenantal background, as well as some of the cultural and historical factors influencing the Corinthian church. Continue reading →

TONGUES AND ESCHATOLOGY (4)

Theology June 2, 2014 Leave a comment

Tongues 4PMT 2014-066 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is the fourth installment interpreting tongues as eschatologically-significant. If you have not read the previous articles: Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200. It is important for you to get the full study before you.

In this article I will begin dealing with the purpose of tongues. I see two main purposes for tongues: apostolic confirmation and Israel condemnation. Let us begin with the first purpsoe.

Introduction
In the study of biblical phenomena it is imperative that we seek out the underlying, compelling divine purposes motivating them. God is a God of order and design: “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Cor. 14:33). He operates according to his own rational decree, so that when he acts, he acts in terms of a wise plan and a holy goal. Continue reading →

TONGUES AND ESCHATOLOGY (3)

Theology May 30, 2014 Comments: 4

PMT 2014-065 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

As I continue my eschatological analysis of tongues in Scripture, we must now consider the content of tongues in Scripture. If you have not read the preceding articles, I highly recommend that you do so. The tongues phenomenon has implications for biblical eschatology in general and postmillennialism in particular.

Probably the most misunderstood aspect of the nature of tongues — and in the nature of the case the most dangerous — is the nature of tongues relative to their content. Scripture is abundantly clear: Tongues-speaking is a revelation-bearing gift. Tongues serve as a mode of direct revelation from God to man. Tongues brought revelation from God to man just as surely as the gift of prophecy brought revelation to the prophets and apostles of old. Thus, tongues bring inspired, inerrant, absolutely authoritative communication from God to man via the Holy Spirit. Consider the following lines of evidence. Continue reading →

TONGUES AND ESCHATOLOGY (2)

Theology May 28, 2014 Leave a comment

Tongues 2PMT 2014-064 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

In this series I am analyzing tongues-speaking in Scripture. As we continue, we will see that this miraculous endowment of foreign languages is an eschatological sign. Yet, before we can understand tongues’ eschatological function, we must recognize their biblical and historical form.

In the last article I presented the positive evidence for the human-language nature of tongues. In this one, I will respond to biblical objections to my view by focusing on alleged negative passages. Four passages are especially important in the pro-charismatic defense. These are all easy to explain in terms of the analysis given above: 1 Corinthians 14:2, 14; 1 Corinthians 13:1; and Romans 8:26. Continue reading →

TONGUES AND ESCHATOLOGY (1)

Theology May 26, 2014 Comments: 8

PMT 2014-063 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.Tongues 1

Eschatology is not an addition to Christian theology. It stands at the very heart of it. Consequently, it impacts and colors all areas of biblical truth. Oftentimes we can understand a biblical phenomenon better if we see in terms of its implications for the outworking of redemption, for redemptive-history’s progress to its climax.

Willem Van Gemeren succinctly notes that eschatology is “the totality of the teaching of Scripture on the redemption of God” (Van Gemeren, Progress of Redemption, 458). Thus, as Michael Horton observes: “Eschatology should be a lens and not merely a locus. In other words, it affects the way we see everything in scripture rather than only serving as an appendix to the theological system” (Horton, Covenant and Eschatology, 5). Continue reading →

AN ESCHATOLOGY GLOSSARY (3)

Theology April 9, 2014 Comments: 6

PMT 2014-043 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.Explaining

This is the third and final installment of a brief series defining key eschatology concepts. Hopefully it will be useful for earnest Christians endeavoring to study this field of systematic theology, a field so over-run with crackpots and untrained enthusiasts. So let’s begin where I left off in the preceding article.

Last Days. In the biblical scheme, the Lord Jesus Christ is the focal point of history. His coming divides history into two parts. The Old Testament era served as the “former days” (Mal. 3:4) that gave way to the “last days,” the times initiated by Christ’s coming: “God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:1-2). The last days are initiated by the appearance of the Son (Heb. 1:2; 1 Pet. 1:20) to effect redemption (Heb. 9:26) and by His pouring out of the Spirit (Acts 2:16, 17, 24; cf. Isa. 32:15; Zech. 12:10). The “ends of the ages” comes during the apostolic era (1 Cor. 10:11). These will run until “the last day,” when the Resurrection and Final Judgment occur to end history (John 6:39; 11:24; 12:48). Because the last days have been with us since the first century coming of Christ, no days are to follow them except for “the last day.” Consequently, no Millennium will introduce another grand redemptive era in man’s history.

Continue reading →

AN ESCHATOLOGY GLOSSARY (2)

Theology April 7, 2014 1 Comment

PMT 2014-042 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.Confused

In my preceding blog (PMT 2014-041) I began a three-part series which will be defining key concepts in eschatological discussion. Due to the large-scale confusion among so many Christians, I suspect this is very much needed. This article continues from the preceding one.

Eschatology. The term eschatology derives from compounding two Greek terms: eschatos (“last”) and logia (“word, discourse”). Etymologically, eschatology is “the study of the last things.” The term is drawn from certain Scriptural passages that speak of “the last days” (2 Tim. 3:1; Heb. 1:2), “the last time” (1 Pet. 1:20; Jude 18), “the last hour” (1 John 2:18), and other comparable statements.

Continue reading →