Tongues

After about three and a half years of studying- through Berean: School of the Bible, - and asking countless amounts of Pastors, board members, deacons etc. I have come to a conclusion. Here is what I have discovered after countless amounts of hours studying.

I will start from the beginning and tell you how it all ties into this past week. When I was eleven years old I went to a camp. Many students sought and discovered God in a new and profound way. I was baptized in the Spirit. This baptism was accompanied with speaking in tongues, just like it was with the early church.
Unfortunately, it stopped there. Unlike the believers in the early church, I didn't continue to share my faith or the gospel of Christ for that matter. I was saved and that was where it stopped for me. I was led to believe that that was about as spiritual as you could get. So I stopped.

No one corrected me. No one told me that this baptism was an empowering to witness to others, so after about a week, I was back to my regular routine.

Until three and a half years ago. I was an intern at a church. And I had a conversation with a few people about the baptism in the Spirit. And the answers to the questions asked didn't add up. So I started to study it. I asked everyone what they believed about it. But I didn't ask anyone outside of the Pentecostal view. I figure, if they believe it, they must know why they believe it.
So for the next three years, I asked everyone I knew in a well know pentecostal denomination. It was sad though. There were Pastor's who had been Pastoring in this particular church for over twenty years who couldn't answer basic questions about it.
One of these Pastors I asked gave me a very tragic answer. Here is what I asked;
"If we believe that the baptism in the Spirit is for today, why do we never speak about it on Sunday? Why is it never sought?"
His answer;
"We don't want to scare people away!"

What?!?

The answer didn't sound right at all. So I studied it. And after a while I found this verse in 1 Corinthians 14:22
"Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers..."

Anytime there is a message in tongues (according to 1 Corinthians 12) it is because there is an unbeliever there. You will not have a message in tongues like this if everyone is saved, this type is specifically for the unbeliever.

After studying this I realized that there are different times and different manners in which people will pray in tongues. There are three actually.
First off is the baptism in the Spirit which is for all people. Then we have the gift of speaking in tongues and finally praying in the Spirit. Let me try to explain each one as best as I can.

Baptism in the Spirit
First, there is a difference between being filled with the Spirit and being baptized in the Spirit. Now, this pentecostal church doesn't recognize this difference. Here is one of the reasons why they don't,

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them".

Filled, not baptized.

I have come to the conclusion that we have gotten lazy with our terminology. Look at Acts 1:5

"For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit"

When it happens in Acts 2:4 Luke doesn't say "baptize" like Jesus did, he says "filled"

We interchange the words. We have done it for so long that people don't even realize that there is a difference. My best guess -'cause that's really all it is- is that Luke was clarifying that you can not be "baptized" and not be "filled" with the Spirit. You can however be "filled" with and not have been "baptized".

Believe me, I have had so many people tell me that I'm wrong on this. Look at John the baptist, John 1:15

"...he will be "filled" with the Holy Spirit even from birth"

Literal Greek says, "... and of(with) Spirit [the] Holy he will be filled even from [the] womb..." (Translated in the 17th century, everything in "( )" or "[ ]" was added for clarification).

Same chapter different verse
(41) Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
(67) Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit

So you can be filled with the Spirit without speaking in tongues. Look at the old testament,
Samuel (1 Samuel 10:6, 10) Samson (Judges 14:6, 19) and I believe David was though I don't remember the exact passage.

Old testement says, "the Spirit came upon".

I have been told that in the old testament they weren't "filled" but the Spirit of God "overshadowed" them. The basis was that the Holy Spirit had not been given yet-which raises the question, "how then, could John, Elizabeth and Zecharais have been filled before the day of Pentacost"?

Maybe it was just a translation issue-the Old Testament was written Hebrew, and the New Testament was written in Greek.

We need to consider that the english language has around 100 to 200 thousand words. The Hebrew language- which is what the old testament was written in- only has 7,000 words. So you find a lot of words are interchanged. In the Hebrew one word could be used to describe several different things. So it could really be just a translational error. I have not studied that enough to know for sure though.

Let me give you an illustration that should help you to better understand the difference between being baptized and being filled with the Holy Spirit.

When you become a christian you become filled with the Spirit. It's like taking a glass and filling it to the top with water. That water represents the Holy Spirit. You are filled. However, when you become baptized and speak in tongues, it's like you immerse the glass in the ocean, it is completely surrounded with water/ the Holy Spirit.

Now there have been many people in my conversations who have said things like, "the baptism in the Spirit is not as important as salvation and there is no point in even worrying about weather or not people have been baptized".

Look at what Paul says in Acts 19:

1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
      They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
 3So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" 
      "John's baptism," they replied.
 4Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7There were about twelve men in all.

The first question Paul asks after he realizes that they are saved is, 'Have you been baptized in the Spirit'?

The two heaviest thoughts on Paul's mind are, 'are you saved'? and 'have you been baptized in the Spirit'.

Why are those two questions so heavy on his mind? Because salvation is the greatest miracle, but you're not going far after salvation if you have not received the baptism in the Spirit.

Jesus set the order in which things should happen. First is salvation and then He says, 'You will receive power... and you will be my witnesses'

Right before that verse when Jesus is with his disciples He says to '...wait for the gift My Father promised...' Jesus doesn't even expect us to witness until after we have received the baptism in the Spirit because that is our source of power.

1. Salvation
2. Baptism in the Spirit
3. Witnessing

That is the established order. The baptism isn't more important than your salvation, but without it, you're not going to be going far in the mission field.

Now there are many people I talked to who said that there was an expiration date for the baptism in the Spirit and that it is no longer for believers today. We need to first see when this baptism started.

John 16:8
"Unless I (Jesus) go away, the Counselor (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you"

After Jesus left, we were given the Holy Spirit who comes upon us and empowers us. The baptism came after Jesus ascended unto the right hand of the Father.

There is an expiration date on speaking in tongues, check this,

"Love never fails. But where there are prophesies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled. where there is knowledge, it will pass away."
1 Corinthians 13:8.

The problem I find with that is that this particular passage doesn't stop there. We need to keep reading. As Pastor Woods has said, the numbers aren't anointed, the Scripture is, so we need to read it in context.

Now here is a question that I have to all of those who take that view, and I welcome any further explanation on the matter. Where is the expiration date on the gifts? How do you know that this is talking about today?

So many people tell me that it was just for the early church. But how do you come to that conclusion? All that particular passage says is 'one day' ! That verse doesn't say that today is the day when all of this will cease.

Keep reading that passage though,

"For we know in part"...

'In part' Our knowledge is imperfect and obscure.

"...But when the day of perfection comes..."

Is perfection here? Perfection doesn't come until Christ reestablishes His kingdom in the new heaven and the new earth. The passage finishes by telling us that the imperfect (our partial knowledge) will disappear.

Now, in reference to what Paul wrote in verse 9 (Know in part...) he explains what he means.

""11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. "

He relates the imperfect and the perfect to a child's knowledge vs. that of a mature adult. There is so much more to learn.

He goes on to say that what we see is but a poor reflection as in a mirror, But one day we shall see face to face.

We prophesy, we speak in tongues, and we are given words of knowledge. These gifts are gifts for us until the day of perfection comes. God does give an expiration date on these gifts: the day of perfection. Not a day sooner.

Now, earlier I mentioned that there is a difference between the speaking in tongues that is accompanied wih the baptism in the Spirit and the speaking in tongues as the spiritual gift. Here is how I came to that conclusion:

Let's look at the baptism in the Spirit that happened at the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:4.

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them".

Now when it says 'all of them' this is a reference to the 120 believers. There were 120 believers in the upper room who were, 'all of them', filled with the Spirit. Let's look at the Spiritual gifts that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 14.

I am only quoting a part of this passage due to the relevance though I encourage you to read it all so you can get it in context. Paul is talking about orderly worship and he refers to speaking in tongues, keep in mind that he started talking about the gifts of the Spirit in chapter 12. I will quote verse 27,

"If anyone speaks in a tongue, two-or at the most three-should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God".

See the difference? Paul is talking about the gift and there should not be more than three at most. Look back at Acts 2:4,

"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues..."

So there are three possibilities:

1. God Changed. He used to allow more that three to speak in tongues and now He doesn't. However, this contradicts God's nature. Look at Hebrews 13:8:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever"

Malachi 3:6
"I the Lord, do not change..."

James 1:7
"Every good and perfect gift, is from above coming down from the Father of the Heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows."

Since God can't change, reason number one is void.

2. The Scripture is not true, which contradicts 2 Timothy 3:16
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness".

So the Word of God is inspired by the Spirit of God, so that leaves number 2 void. The only thing that is left?

3. Paul is not talking about the baptism in the Spirit.
There is a difference between the gifts of the Spirit and the baptism in the Spirit.

But neither one of them (the gifts or the baptism) are irrelevant for today. According to Scripture. Because, like I stated before, we have not come to the day of perfection.

The Gifts if the Spirit
We can speak in another tongue as the Spirit enables us to. Now here is a common mistake, people who read 1 Corinthians 12 read about these Spiritual gifts and think that we all have one gift and not the other. You may have the gift of prophecy, I might have the gift of working of miracles.

That is not what this passage is saying.

The Spirit of God works all of these gifts through all believers as the Spirit wills.

Praying in the Spirit
The third type of tongues is praying in the Spirit. Like the other two types of tongues, we all have the right and ability to pray in the Spirit.

Ephesians 6:18
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests".
This praying in the Spirit is not the Spirit of God praying through us, rather it is us praising God. This is known as the highest form of worship.

This praying in the Spirit is to build ourselves up.

Jude 1:20
"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith (highest form of worship) and pray in the Spirit.