To get to the point of this post, I need to first give a slight back story from the Bible. It’s found in the book of Acts, chapter 8… verses 14 through 17.
“When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
I have been accused of not having the Holy Spirit in my life because I don’t speak in tongues. My accusers use this verse to back their claim, saying that conversion doesn’t mean you get the Holy Spirit… and if you DO have the Holy Spirit, you will know it because you will have the ability to speak in tongues.
That’s two major claims there… 1) You don’t get the Holy Spirit when you are saved. And 2) If you have the Holy Spirit you can talk in tongues. Let’s look at those both in detail.
1.) What my accusers fail to see is that this event in Acts is widely believed by many scholars as unique… not the norm. This was the first time that the Gospel was preached and conversions were made in Samaria… outside of the Jewish culture. In fact, it was SO unique that Peter and John (who were pretty much “running the show” in terms of apostle activity at that time) who stayed in Jerusalem through all of the persecution the church faced shortly after Christ’s death and the subsequent stoning of Stephen (the first martyr), personally went to Samaria to see for themselves that the message of Christ had been received well. This was a crucial time that Peter and John had to connect with the Samaritans to make sure that group of believers wasn’t separated from the church body in Jerusalem. Peter and John (John had previously asked Jesus if they should call down fire from Heaven to destroy a Samaritan village that didn’t welcome them…) were now praying with the Samaritans and seeing the beginning of the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.
In that vein, God chose to have the Holy Spirit sweep through in power… as a sign of the spreading of the Gospel into Samaria through the powerful, effective preaching of believers. Normally the Holy Spirit enters a person’s life the moment they ask God into their life and accept Christ’s death on the cross as forgiveness of their sins. This was a special event. We find a similar event in chapter 10:44-47 when Cornelius and his family accept Christ… that time it is a sign that the uncircumcised Gentiles can be saved as well.
Any other time in the Bible we see a person accept Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within them and they are a new person. The Bible says they are a new creation… In reality, they are finally capable of being the person God designed them to be before they screwed it up with sin and the misguided desires of this world.
2.) Tongues are NOT given to everyone. Let’s look at what they are, and the reason for them. Tongues are first spoken about in Acts 2:4-13. There, they are nothing more than other languages. The Holy Spirit came down for the first time and was received by man. Those believers then were all preaching the Gospel in foreign languages that they had never known. A crowd gathered around them and was amazed as they heard the Gospel in their own languages.
THIS HAD TO HAPPEN to spread the Gospel to other cultures quickly! There are over 2,900 languages in the present day world. I don’t know how many there were back then, but I know in the city alone there were at least 3 major ones; Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew.
Now lets look at what “tongues” are by a good majority of modern churches… Tongues are now when some guy sitting in a pew stands up and starts talking gobbledygook that no one can understand. It’s known as a language between the speaker and God alone… a private conversation… If that’s the case, why blurt it out loud when no one can understand you? No one really knows if the person is faking it (not hard to do) or is really filled with the Spirit to the point of not being able to control what comes out of their mouth… but the Bible makes one thing clear… you don’t do it unless there is someone there who can interpret what you’re saying. Another gift that the Holy Spirit gives, besides speaking in tongues… is the ability to understand those who talk in tongues. So the next time you see someone spouting out random gibberish and claiming that it is the Holy Spirit… feel free to tell them that the word of God forbids them to do so unless someone is there who can interpret it for others. If not, then their actions aren’t edifying God for all to see… They’re edifying the speaker for all to be amazed by… focus attention on… perhaps even envy… etc… (1 Corinthians 14 talks about this)
Lastly, we’re not all given the gift of speaking in tongues when we are saved and the Holy Spirit comes into our lives. Romans 12 talks about how we are each gifted differently. We are all parts of the body of Christ. If we all did the same thing and all were a “mouth” for the body… what good will it do? We all have our own abilities and gifts given to us and we must act according to that.
“…in the church, I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” – 1 Corinthians 14:19
Tongues are a gift to be used to preach to others in their language… or to be used to edify God when they are interpreted to your current language. But to speak in tongues without interpretation or order… is a selfish act. They are not given to all believers who receive the Holy Spirit… only to some. And the Holy Spirit is not withheld from you until you are baptized, speak in tongues, etc… It is received the moment you ask God to come into your life and trust Jesus died and rose again for the forgiveness of your sins… and you thus have eternal life by accepting that gift.
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Man… long post… I just got going and couldn’t stop. I remembered the “look down upon” attitude I was shown when I was accused of not having the Holy Spirit because I didn’t speak in tongues… Sad, really… that people resort to a “puff me up by pushing you down” mentality over such a beautiful system that God has established but man has (surprise!) distorted.
4 Comments
I think I agree with you and I definitely agree that speaking in tongues is not a true test of whether or not someone is “saved.” Only God knows our hearts… and how do people know if someone else isn’t faking it? And aren’t there instances where someone “speaks in tongues” and an inpterpreter realizes that those are not words from God? Also, that first verse you mentioned about going to Samaria and stuff is used by Mormons to demonstrate that one must have the laying on of hands to recieve the Holy Spirit…. I just think that’s interesting. Anyway.
I was just wondering what you think of people who have something like a “prayer language,” where perhaps tongues is not spoken in public but prayed in private to God. Paul talks about this I think in the chapter you mentioned, 1 Cor. 14, and I am particularly referring to verses 13-17. Do you really think it is selfish when someone prays in private to God in tongues if there is no interpreter? And if you do, what would you base that on? It seems to me that Paul prays in tongues in private but would rather speak in public in a known language.(vs. 17 &18)
I honestly already have my own beliefs about this, but I’m always curious as to what others think, and I’ve been having trouble finding people I can talk to about issues like tongues because I’m often written off as looney for thinking that gift exists
Isn’t it fun seeing how folks twist the Bible to back whatever their beliefs may be?
If a person has the ability to speak in tongues or a “prayer language” then by all means… in private, if you know you aren’t faking it… do it up! God obviously has given them that gift and using it is not wrong as long as it is used for the purpose it was given. The only way I would call it selfish is if it were done publicly with a lack of interpretation… thus drawing all focus on the speaker and not on God. This behavior is not unlike the actions of the pharisees of Jesus’ day… praying loudly on the street corners, proclaiming their own righteousness, wearing extra large scripture boxes… all for the esteem they felt for doing so.
The gift definitely exists… but I think it is far from as common as it was in those days. As stated, they had a purpose for it then… It was used to spread the Gospel to languages that didn’t have it. I don’t doubt it still exists… but it’s likely more of a private matter now.
Good deal. I just wasn’t sure on where you stood about that. Most people I know who have taken the time to educate themselves on the matter would agree with you, too, I think, from what I’ve observed. I used to be skeptical about speaking in tongues at first, but I’ve come to the same conclusion that you have. I’m glad that you’ve taken the time to think about it and study it biblically, and I’m sorry that you’ve ran into people who feel so free to judge you.
Heh… “ran into” or “are related to”…. whatever.