The look on the guy’s face was deadly serious as he told me that if you can’t speak in tongues, then you don’t really have the Holy Spirit. At the time I thought the guy needed a big neon sign on his head that read “Heretic”, and of course I mean that in a loving, non judgmental way. Other people have been made to feel that they aren’t spiritual if they can’t speak in tongues. As we finish this series of posts, we need to lay some of these issues at rest. We will do that by looking at a few passages in Acts, and then discussing what is meant by a prayer language.
We already looked at Acts 2, where the first sign after the coming of the Holy Spirit was the gift of tongues. Then, after you read Acts 8 and 19, I can understand why you might have more questions about the Holy Spirit and tongues. In both chapters, we find that there are believers who haven’t “received the Holy Spirit”. In Acts 8:12 due to Philip’s evangelism, many of the Samaritans, ” believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” Then Peter and John come and pray for them so “that they might receive the Holy Spirit”.
In Acts 19:2, Paul discovers disciples whom he asks, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” After receiving, they speak in tongues and prophesy. If you only had these passages, you might conclude that you get the Holy Spirit as a post salvation experience, and it is evidenced by tongues. However, we must use the didactic (direct) teaching of the New Testament to interpret narrative. Romans 8:9 and Titus 3:5 make it clear that you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon salvation. It doesn’t come later; no Holy Spirit, and you are not a Christian! What we must do is to define “receiving” (Greek word here is lambano which means take, receive, or claim) according to the context of Acts and the rest of the New Testament.
“Receiving” the Holy Spirit is not about getting the Holy Spirit’s indwelling as we have already clearly established. Within the context, it seems more like the manifestation of gifts, not just tongues but also prophecy. We can’t limit it to these two gifts either since it is a narrative and doesn’t give all examples. Like the Ephesian disciples, many new Christians don’t know about or desire the gifts of the Spirit. As they hear about them and want to be prayed over, they “receive” the gifts (as the Spirit decides and allots). Therefore, speaking in tongues is not a proof of salvation, but a gift some receive when prayed over for manifestations of the Spirit.
Even though Paul was trying to bring the use of tongues under guidelines in the Corinthian’s church, he says something interesting in 1 Corinthians 14:18-19, “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.” This has led many to interpret that Paul speaks in tongues outside of church, most likely at home in his personal prayer and worship of God. They label this “prayer language” to distinguish it from the sign tongues we already looked at. If this is the case, Paul doesn’t directly mention it anywhere else in his letters. Some point to Ephesians 6:18 “pray in the Spirit” and Romans 8:26-27 “Spirit intercedes for us” to be this tongues prayer language. Although this is possible, it is difficult to obtain any real detail here.
I hope that you will be challenged by all these Scriptures to really think through God’s purpose with tongues. We don’t want to over glorify it like the Corinthians, however, we don’t want to “quench the Spirit” with doubt, fear, or skepticism. In church, we have Paul’s clear guidelines so that tongues are used to build up others. At home, we have the freedom to pray and ask God about tongues as a prayer language. I can tell you what I know for sure. There is no chance that we can reach full potential in carrying out the Great Commission without the power of the Holy Spirit. That is enough motivation for me to push through any uncomfortable feelings or church arguments. Next up, we move to Top Real Bible Question #2, “Are we in the end times?”.
The Bible Nerd 