It has come to my attention through various events and Christian gatherings that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the idea of Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the manifestations that arise from this baptism. Some church groups actually hold as part of their understanding of the gospel that every single Christian will experience what they call Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and that this will manifest as speaking in tongues. If this is so key to an understanding of the gospel and its effects on the believer (and the evidence that a person is saved, it does us well to examine those texts that actually deal with this in the bible to determine if this really is part of what it means to be saved.
Let me start by saying openly that I am Not a cessationist, and so this is not about cessationism vs continualism. What follows is an in-depth biblical look at the concepts of baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, using scripture to interpret scripture. Let's begin with a very important overarching passage that sets the scene for what we are about to study and provides a framework for understanding the coming of the Holy Spirit once Jesus went back to the Father.
“He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:8-9)
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit. He even says what the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit in the manner He does is: so that the disciples will be His witnesses first in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the rest of the world. The job of a witness is to recount the events and doings of another they see before them. They are not primarily responsible for the actions and events they are recounting. This itself is a hint at what is known as the monergistic work of God in salvation; that is, it is all His work and not ours. This promise is also the structure of what is to come. Jesus specifically points out times when the apostles will be witnesses to His work to show that salvation is for all. Let’s look at the first account of the power of the Holy Spirit working through people to be His witnesses in Jerusalem.
“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.“ (Acts 2:1-4)
One thing to point out quickly is the word glṓssa in bold here, which literally means languages. This is translated tongues in a number of translations, but keep reading and we will see its meaning very clearly:
“Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”
The word highlighted as Language here is Dialektos, a word that doesn’t just mean language but more specifically means a language's dialect. This is very helpful as it shows the “tongues” were legit other languages, and very specific dialects of those languages. So, tongues is the supernatural ability to speak in a language you have not studied and someone hearing you can understand it.
“And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:7-13)
We get dialektos again just to be doubly sure the meaning is languages here. This is followed by glossas again to show the interchangeability of these words. Notice that this is a sign for non-believers as they are not yet believers in Christ. So, all these languages that are painfully listed are there to stress that so many languages were spoken and understood. Ironically when someone is filled with new wine even speaking their mother tongue is a real struggle never mind trying to handle the linguistic acrobatics of another language. From this point Peter gets up and preaches Christ, He explains that this occurrence is a prophecy in Joel:
“But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” (Acts 2:16-21)
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:28-32)
Peter tells the people that they had killed Christ (they were responsible, and partly because they were adherents to the Jewish system who initially rejected Jesus and gave up to the Romans to be crucified). Peter essentially preached that they were as guilty as any for Jesus’ death and we see their amazing response, which Jesus alludes to as the work of the Holy Spirit back in Acts 1:8:
“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:37-41)
Peter gives them the remedy for their guilt: “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins”, and as a result they would receive the Holy Spirit. Note who he says this promise is for… not just those he is speaking to but their next generations. This Holy Spirit is for everyone who repents and is baptized, and the promises of the Spirit and forgiveness of sins is a result of repentance.
One Spirit, One Baptism
Its seems though like these verses and understanding are still open to the idea that there could be a second baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let’s look at Ephesians quickly:
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-5)
Even if everything in Acts 2 is agreed on by those who hold to a second blessing, Ephesians knocks that right on the head. One Baptism… not two or three as some in the Wesleyan camps like to perpetuate. That day the people who were baptized received forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit.
There are 3 notable instances where a person is a believer in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit differently but in each instance the text actually tells us why this happens and how we are to understand these instances.
Acts Ch 10 and the first part of 11 seem a bit redundant but they are there for a reason. This guy is a roman soldier, he fears God in that he is on his way to convert to Judaism. God speaks to both peter and the centurion. Christianity has begun in Jerusalem and there are only Jewish believers (not non Jews at all. It then spreads to Samaria and we all know from scripture that Jews and Samaritans aren’t keen on each other..there is a different receipt of the Holy Spirit when it hits the Samaritans. There is a different receipt of the Holy Spirit when it comes to the first gentile believers. We should be starting to see a pattern built up by God in scripture which will be useful for interpreting the last instance where the Holy Spirit was received in a different fashion.
Make No Distinction
Lets look at Acts 11:
“Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” But Peter began and explained it to them in order: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”” (Acts 11:1-18)
It is an interesting reaction from those who were Jews and believers: “You ate with them!!?” Its hilarious to think that these people who had just accepted the forgiveness of sins from Christ were so taken aback when non-Jewish sinners were also receiving the Word of God. While this has analogues in the church today, we'd best move on. Because this was a thing Peter had done by command and revelation of God, he took great pains to explain his actions in detail, not to satisfy the Jewish believers but to show them that this salvation was for all.
A line to pick out of this: “Making no distinction”. Note, Peter says that the Holy Spirit fell on them, “just as it did in the beginning”. Notice thought that these people got the Holy Spirit without being baptized; that is they received the spirit immediately, just like the 120 disciples did on the day of Pentecost. It was the same gift given to them when they believed. This is why Peter says he got out of Gods way. And we see by the evidence of those listening to Peter that they understood and accepted that those in Joppa had obtained the same “repentance that leads to life” as they had in Jerusalem.
Without hammering this too much, it needs to be stated that there is a norm that has not changed. When you repent of your sin and put your faith in the finished work of Christ, you receive the Holy spirit. Then you have these localized exceptions to the rule and these exceptions show us that this group represented in the exception is accepted by God, done this way to be perfectly clear that gentiles were included in this salvation. Did these people receive 2 baptisms? The text clearly shows they did not. In fact, Peter himself says “who are we to keep them from being baptized”. These people obtained the same promises as those in Acts 2: forgiveness of sins and baptism.
It’s For All. Did I Stutter?
Let’s look at the next instance where the Holy Spirit is received differently for the purposes of showing that they are included in God’s plan of salvation. In Acts 8 we see the gospel spreading to Samaria, a place historically segregated from Jewish people, and whose people the Jewish people did not get along with.
“Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”” (Acts 8:14-24)
Here we have something rather unusual. The people in Samaria have believed but had not yet received the Holy Spirit. They have already received the first of the promises of baptism (Acts 8:12-13) but were yet to get the second promise. There was a reason that they did not receive the Holy Spirit in their baptism. Peter and John coming out to these people to witness their receiving on the Holy Spirit was God clearly saying to those Jewish believers “the Samarians are included in the salvation from Christ”. It’s also interesting to note that Philip was not an apostle but preached repentance to the Samaritans, they repented, were baptized, showing that preaching repentance resulting in salvation was not solely the calling of the apostles, but all believers. Here we see again that God is making the point that there is to be no exception, something which Paul later spells out in Galatians 3:28 when he says there is no distinctions amongst those who are saved, “all are one in Christ”.
I Did Mean All
The third group which Jesus wishes to highlight as being part of the same salvation by a different receiving of the Holy Spirit is in Acts 19.
“And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John's baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. There were about twelve men in all.” (Acts 19:1-7)
Here we have a group who are believers in Jesus, but have not yet truly been baptized, and their soteriology, that is their theology of salvation, is not fully formed. Some will say that baptism is required before the regenerative work of salvation can take place and would likely say that if these people had died before Paul had arrived, they would have gone to hell. The point of this passage is quite the opposite. Paul baptizes them in the name of Jesus (this is understood throughout the NT to be speaking of trinitarian baptism) before and separate to the coming of the Holy Spirit on these believers and it is important to note this because through this God is presenting the distinction between these people gaining the promises of salvation (the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit), and the action of baptism. God, in giving them the Holy Spirit in a similar time frame to them being baptized (though they are clearly distinct events) is simply saying that He accepts this group as well.
It seemed to take a long time for a lot of Christians to put this together, because even after the apostles had died in the time of the church fathers, when Christianity was illegal, catechism (or the teaching of the core doctrines of Christianity to the new believer took years). This meant that baptism was often not immediate and when Christians were rounded up and martyred, you would find believers who had not yet been baptized were martyred for their faith. The early church would legitimately freak out regularly and wonder if those unbaptized were lost. They got this so convoluted that they created an unbiblical doctrine called the “Baptism of Blood” where your own blood would become your baptism as you are martyred. Acts 19 would have answered their concerns if only they had understood it: Christ accepts them as well.
Looking at all three of these texts, one cannot come to the conclusion that baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are two different things. The details of these accounts and the scriptural explanation of why these anomalies exists which is pretty plain from reading the texts in context. As the gospel is expanding to these different despised groups, that Christ is accepting them, and this includes the remnant of those who followed John the Baptist but did not yet know the full story of Jesus.
But We Have a Biblical Precedent for Tongues, Right?
I am quite sure, however that anyone who does make distinction between baptisms will be immediately jumping up and down and saying What about 1 Corinthians 12? Let’s take a look at this chapter and see why this specific text comes to mind.
1 Corinthians is a letter to a wayward church and Paul is writing the letter to deal with a variety of problems in this church as they have been brought to his attention, presumably by a letter which we do not have. If you’ve never encountered this book before, some of the highlights include a guy sleeping with his father’s wife, people getting drunk at communion, and a whole lot of odd stuff going on with spiritual gifts. As you read through the letter in its entirely (and I encourage you to do this for context), you find Paul change topics with the phrase “Now concerning”. 1 Corinthians 12 changes the subject to the question asked of him regarding people in the church who legitimately have the gift of tongues, and wants to use them in church. The problem is that they are using them in a way which is a bit off kilter.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)
Here we see the appearance of Glossa appears again, understood as human languages. Its also useful to note that these gifts are given for the common good of the church, a theme which we will pick up in greater detail later.
It is important to correctly note that at the time when the Holy Spirit gave out the gift of speaking in another language, He did not necessarily give that person the ability to know what he or she was saying. This may come as a surprise but it is right there in the text. So of course, if you already know the language you would be able to translate, or if you have been given the supernatural ability to understand you know what’s going on automatically. Interpretation is literally just that, the ability to translate.
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:13-19)
Notice again, as we saw in Ephesians 4, there is one spirit, all baptized into one body. Clearly Paul is saying that not everyone who has the Holy Spirit can speak in tongues. In fact he is saying that the Holy Spirit gives gifts of different kinds to different people just like a body has many different parts to benefit the whole body. Together we function using these gifts as the body of Christ, interdependent upon one another. We work together to disciple, top proclaim Christ, suffer together and all those other things the body of Christ is called to do as a community. It would be a grotesque body if everyone was a mouth, and that’s literally what the idea that all must speak in tongues as evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The same can be said of a body that is all ears, there would be no one to say anything. Paul goes on to makes this painfully obvious:
“The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (1 Corinthians 12:21-26)
No one really wants to be those “unpresentable” members of the body of Christ, but there are those services carried out which are not trumpeted from the rooftops, are not spectacular and yet are vital to the health of the body of Christ. These various gifts are required so that everyone cares for the other’s needs. If we take Paul’s analogy, if you stub your toe, your whole body reacts to the pain, not just your toe. You may even begin speaking in another language. All your members are involved in the event, even though its only your toe.
“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:27-31)
In the world we have a very egocentric existence; everything is about me. In our post-modern progressivism however, even one is part of a collective and there is no singular responsibility. God presents what seems to be a paradox here, in that we are all individual members together of a body.
Paul again asks a series of questions about everyone being everything or having every role, with the answer being a given from his previous analogy. Actually, in the Greek, when Paul is asking these questions, there is a little Greek word at the start of each question (μη or may) that indicates that the question must be answered in the negative. For instance, “μὴ πάντες γλώσσαις λαλοῦσιν” which translates to “Do all speak with tongues” with the answer already in the text: and emphatic No! The same word is at the start of all these questions.
One Lord, One faith and one baptism. Only one. Not all speak in tongues. There’s your mic drop right there, end of story, go find something else to champion. A separate baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues cannot be supported by scripture if you read scripture in context. In fact, Paul states quite the opposite: just like all cannot become apostles, all will not speak in tongues. In fact, Paul doesn’t leave the whole idea of tongues there, he specifically addresses its use:
Not Really a Marriage Passage
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
Given everything we have just read, a lot of people will jump straight to these verses and say “we may not be able to all speak in the tongues of man, but here it says we can speak in the tongues of angels right?” Sure, angels can communicate with one another in some way, they do in scripture. It is really obvious that this text is Not saying that just because angels have a language, then you can have that language too. Paul is using the argument to say that we must use Gods gifts in love and service to our neighbour, and not as some outward spectacle of God working.
Paul then goes into detail about how this all should play out if we are truly empowered by the Holy Spirit:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-13)
Paul encourages the church to use these gifts for each other, not for yourself. In this section you find a very neat summary of the Christian life: Faith Hope and Love. Faith for the forgiveness of sins (Romans 4:5), Hope for eternal life and Christs return in glory (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and Love for your neighbour and the good works that God has for us to do specifically (Ephesians 2:10)
Seek To Build Up The Church
Paul then gets to the point of what to pursue: Love. Those who want to make a bigger thing of the idea of tongues tend to skip verse 13 completely “Desire spiritual gifts!” they say… but Paul says pursue love. Yes, earnestly desire spiritual gits, but pursue love first and foremost. Paul clearly gets that it exactly what the church is really asking, and so he labours the point more:
“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.” (1 Corinthians 14:1-5)
Paul is very clearly speaking about a few in the church who have a supernatural God-given ability to speak in tongues but do not have interpretation, and want to use the gift in the church. The problem here is that no one is understanding what these people are saying and so Paul puts in place a corrective. The one who prophesies does so for the “upbuilding, encouragement and consolation” of the church, which means they have to be understood in whatever language is being used in the gathering. Without an interpreter, none of this useful work is being done. In fact, the only one who is elevated by speaking in tongues without an interpreter is the one doing it (which may in fact have been the motive of those who wished to do this in the church). So, instead of desiring all these spectacular gifts, instead desire the gifts that will build each other up in Christ. It really comes back to a heart issue at its core, in the same way that Adam and Eve really wanted to be just like God in Eden (Genesis 3:5).
“Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:6-12)
This is pretty self-explanatory, but again drives home the point that while the people may be eager of the gifts of the spirit, they Must be for the building up of the church. If they are not doing this, they are, as the previous chapter talks about, a “banging gong and crashing cymbals”. There is no room here for unknown prayer languages, saying whatever comes into your head that sounds spiritual, or kickstarting the Holy Spirit by saying some repeated phrases.
“Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” (1 Corinthians 14:13-19)
Note, those who speak in tongues should be praying for interpretation, so they know exactly what they are saying. This is because the gift of tongues was not given to the church so that it would generally be built up; it has a specific function that Paul will get to in a moment. Even so, Paul talks about the misuse of this gift without interpretation in this way so that its is obvious what he means when he does explain its function. Paul emphasizes engagement of the mind and the spirit as one, not separate, no clearing of the mind, no real pushing necessary. Paul is not boasting here when he says he speaks in tongues more than all of those he is writing to, because part of his office as apostle involves this gift. However, he says he would rather not exercise this gift in their presence as 5 words of instruction build up the church far more than 10,000 words in another language.
Grow Up People!
The Holy Spirit, through Paul comes in pretty harsh with this next section. You can almost hear the tone in his voice as a response to their questions:
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.” (1 Corinthians 14:20-25)
Paul literally says to these people, “Grow up!” That should make us sit up and take note of this section as it is the explanation of the purpose of the gift of tongues. Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11-12, a prophecy that was about those speaking to them in strange languages being a sign to stiff-necked unbelieving Israel, who would still not believe, despite the sign. What we see in Acts 2 is partly a fulfilment of this prophecy, because, while 3000 people were saved that day, the rest of Israel did not react so positively. Paul uses this prophecy to explain that the primary purpose of tongues was a sign against unbelieving Israel. This is why he then says that tongues are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers. Unbelievers are Not going to have a spiritual gift of interpretation at all, and so, even if the gift of tongues was given to someone in the church, its meaning needs to be clear to those who do not believe, in the same way that the meaning of what the disciples said in Acts 2 was clear to those who heard it, even down to the dialect. Paul is right in saying that anyone who would come across tongues with not interpretation would think that the practitioners are out of their minds. Why anyone can argue that “tongues need to be on display to non believers so that they can see that God is real” is mind boggling, especially considering the Holy Spirit through Paul condemns this idea.
We see in the next few verses what someone prophesying and the result, but don’t miss the finer details here. The word prophecy is thrown around a lot, but since this is the kind of prophecy that involves engaging the mind, as Paul previously has spoken about, this is a wider use of the word; Isaiah, Jeremiah, Malachi, Hosea etc. These “prophets” were skilful in preaching the Law of God, to convict people of sin, idolatry and wickedness, telling their audience that God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and that He will wash away their sins, forgiving them and pardoning them and they will once again get to see God face to face as in the garden of Eden. These prophets engaged their mind and sometimes sought detail about what they were called to do from God.
In a New Testament context, prophets preach the law to you to convict you of sin judgement and the wrath of God and preach Christ to you so that you are undone before God and forgiven of your sins and made whole by Christ. It is really handy that we have such a large group of these guys in the Old Testament so that anyone claiming to be a prophet can be measured using their consistent roles. These people were given words by God, understood the words they were given and sometimes they were given words foretelling the future which were also clearly understood. Not one of those prophecies clashed with any previously understood concept of God and every one of the foretelling prophecies was 100% accurate. That means that anyone who opens the bible and shares it, explains the meaning, and shares what will happen in the future from the bible is in the broader sense, a prophet (not really a NT concept as can be seen in Nehemiah 8:1-11). Anyone who preaches the gospel of repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ for the forgiveness of sins prophecies. This is precisely what Paul is talking about, a person falling on his/her face in repentance.
“What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (1 Corinthians 14:26-33)
Paul summarises what he has been saying over several chapters now, the idea that everything should be done to build on another up in the faith. Yes, he does touch on language gifts and on interpretation, but again this is with some order so that there is understanding of the interpretation of the language. If the is not interpretation, it will not build up and so the person should remain silent. It cannot be stressed enough that this idea that everyone speaks in tongues at the same time with no order and no means of understanding the languages is clearly forbidden in scripture by God.
In the time this was written, perhaps 50AD, the canon was still open and so in this intermediate time, God is sustaining his church through charismatic prophets. It is no coincidence then that as the New Testament is finished, that charismatic prophecy disappears quickly. This is actually prophesied in Daniel, in the prophecy of the 70 weeks (Daniel 9:1-27). Seventy weeks are to be appointed and at the end of that time, prophecy would be sealed. In that time, OT text would be read, and NT doctrine and understanding would be shared from that text. This sort of thing dropped off almost immediately after that time. It is interesting too to read the Didache (an early church document), which says clearly that if anyone askes for money, they are a false prophet (particularly ch 11, 13 and 15).
“As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:33-40)
This verse ruffles a few feathers, but note that is does Not say that it is shameful for a women to teach people about Jesus outside of the church setting. This verse is part of all of the previous argument and not some separate thing. Paul shows the authority of this text is not really him or any other prophet but actually the Lord’s command, to anticipate any who say “well that’s just not how we do things around here”. This is not a Paul's opinion or some closed interpretation. If you are spiritual you must acknowledge that this is a command of the Lord.
Is Baptism of the Holy Spirit & Resulting Tongues a Must?
Just to clarify and summarise what has been a long study:
Q: Should we believe and understand that everyone can speak in tongues?
A: No we shouldn’t. Tongues is a sign for unbelievers. It is not given for the building up of the church, like the others.
Q: If somebody has this gift, can they use it in the church?
A: Yes, with an interpreter. It’s quite simple, if only we would read the text. The whole thrust of this is that if you have this gift without an interpreter, you can’t use it in church.
This leaves us with the difficult realisation that tongues and signs and so called manifestations of the Holy Spirit are actually fraudulent if they do not directly build up the church as Paul has explained. These doctrines are tied to the gospel itself and should not be seen as some sort of secondary issue, as they are literally first principles.