Intro
In our study of the gifts of the Spirit, we come to the gift of "kinds of tongues," listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10. Of the nine gifts of the Spirit, two were reserved for the Church and are not active in the Old Testament. Those gifts are the gift of divers kinds of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues. Before I talk about either of those gifts, I must first lay some foundation about tongues.
We first see believers speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. This was a much-anticipated event. John the Baptist spoke of it in Luke 3. People were speculating that John might be the Messiah. His preaching carried an anointing and authority they had never seen before. Multitudes were turning to God under his influence. To set the record straight, John declared, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”i John was only the forerunner of one far superior to him. He baptized with water, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Here at the height of his public ministry, John is pointing people to the day when Jesus would baptize them in the Holy Spirit.
To understand tongues, we must first understand the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Jesus focused attention on the baptism in the Spirit on His last evening with His disciples. IN John 16:7, He said to them, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” The outpouring of the Holy Spirit would be the key to the Church’s success.ii The Holy Spirit would empower them to spread the gospel throughout the world. The Holy Spirit would enable believers to preach the word with signs following.
The gifts of the Spirit are an essential part of spreading the gospel. In Mark 16:15-17iii Jesus said, “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." One of the signs that would follow believers is that they would be speaking with new tongues.
Right before His ascension, Jesus commanded His followers not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, wait for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:5, He added, “For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." Notice how Jesus continually pointed His followers to this baptism in the Spirit. They were asking Him questions about end times, and He was directing their attention to this essential experience from the Father. He makes the reason for this abundantly clear in Acts 1:8. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." This enduement with power is absolutely crucial for the Church’s success. It seems to me we have just about everything today except that power. We have money; we have buildings; we have crowds; we have talent; we have technology. But where is the power to raise the dead, cast out devils, heal the sick, and set the captives free? Where is the power that operated in the early Church and turned the world upside down?iv All our high-tech performances are not affecting the world. Like the magicians in Moses’ day, they can match it with their own resources.v What they can’t match is the power of the Holy Spirit—the conviction of sin that He brings, the healing of addiction that He supplies, the joy, peace, and love that flows through His influence.
It is the influence of the Holy Spirit that makes our testimony of Christ effective in the world. Without it, we cannot get the job done. But did this baptism and empowerment come to the church without tongues? It did not! Tongues were a part of God’s package deal. Whether we like it or not, speaking in tongues is God’s idea. This capacity came with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you….” Most people don’t associate tongues with power. But the Bible does! God created the universe by speaking it into existence. “Let there be light, and there was light… Let the earth bring forth grass…and it was so.”vi He put down the rebellion of Babel --how? By confusing their speech (Gen. 11:9). Prov. 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue….”vii Now lay Acts 1:8 beside that: “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Can we disassociate the power of the Spirit from the tongues that the Spirit gave when they were filled? I don’t think so. There was power in God’s words when He spoke the universe into existence. The wholesome words of praise that these believers spoke in Acts 2 were a tree of life and connected with the release of power.viii What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. God has joined the baptism of power with the speaking of tongues. Men try to separate the two. But there is a pattern here in Scripture that must be honored. Tongues are a powerful part of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Follow with me as we read Acts 2:1-4: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and [some had a nice word of wisdom, some were really, really knowledgeable, some had a very warm feeling in their hearts, some even prayed for sick people] [no, there was only one thing every one of them did when filled with the Spirit] They ALL [notice that word in verse 4) began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The pattern was consistent for all 120 believers; they all began to speak with other tongues.
There were three signs given on the Day of Pentecost: (1) a sound like a rushing mighty wind (2) the visible sign of divided tongues, as of fire and (3) they all began to speak with other tongues. Two of those signs never appear again. They were unique to this inaugural event. The other outward evidence that the Spirit had been poured out on these people is repeated as a New Testament pattern.
Let’s see the pattern unfold in the book of Acts. In Acts 10, Peter goes to Cornelius’s house to preach to Gentiles. As he was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on the listeners, and they were filled with the Spirit. How did Peter know they were filled with the Spirit? Acts 10:46 makes that very clear, “For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.” This ability to speak in other tongues was the indicator that let Peter know they had received the same baptism in the Spirit that he received on the Day of Pentecost. Even though the sign of a sound of rushing wind and the sign of tongues of fire were not present, Peter said in Acts 11:15, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning.” So, a pattern is emerging. Even gentiles are being filled with the Spirit. And the way Peter knew they were filled with the Spirit is that he heard them speak with tongues.
The pattern continues in Acts 19. There, Paul talked with twelve disciples who had responded to the message of repentance but had not been filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul asked them in Acts 19:2, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Their answer let him know they had not. So, Paul led them into further understanding of the Lord. Then, he baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Do you think Paul would have baptized these men if they were not believers in Christ? I don’t think so. What is the next thing Paul does after they are baptized? Acts 19:6: “And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.” In this case, there was additional evidence: They prophesied. A person baptized in the Holy Spirit may prophesy in addition to speaking in tongues.ix But the one consistent sign that a person is baptized in the Spirit is they speak in other tongues. There are a couple of other accounts in Acts where people are filled with the Spirit, and the sign of tongues is not specifically mentioned. When Phillip went to Samaria and preached the gospel, Acts 8 says multitudes believed and were baptized. However, they were not filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter and John came down and prayed for them that they would be filled with the Spirit. Notice the three separate experiences: (1) they believed (2) they were baptized in water (3) they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke does not tell us what happened when they were filled with the Spirit. However, we know something observable happened because Simon saw it and tried to buy the power to duplicate it. The most logical assumption is that the same thing happened to them that happened in Acts 2, Acts 10, and Acts 19. They spoke with other tongues. We would not be able to assume that if we didn’t have the pattern set forth in the other accounts. It is poor exegesis to argue from silence. To say these people did not speak in tongues is to argue from silence. The overall testimony of Acts suggests they did. The other place where Scripture is silent about this evidence is when Paul was filled with the Spirit. Remember in Acts 9 when Ananias prayed for him after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus? Luke does not fill us in on all the specifics of what happened when he was filled with the Spirit. But Paul made this statement in 1 Corinthians 14:18: “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.” So, we know that he did speak with tongues.
So, believers enter into the tongues experience when they are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is something designed for all believers. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:5, “I wish you all spoke with tongues….” In that context, he is emphasizing the importance of edifying the church through prophecy. But his statement stands: “I wish you all spoke with tongues….”
Not all Christians speak with tongues for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it’s through ignorance. They simply don’t know it’s available to them. Sometimes, they have been taught against it.x I’ve encountered a number of people who have been taught it is the least gift; therefore, they want some other gift. As far as a gift for edifying others, it is the least effective for that. But its primary purpose is for personal devotion. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:4, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself….” He builds himself up so that he is equipped to encourage and strengthen others. The primary purpose of tongues is for personal edification.
When we get baptized in the Spirit, the first thing God does in that experience is equip us for prayer and worship. Tongues enlarges our capacity for both. First Corinthians 14:2 says that tongues enables us to speak mysteries to God. We may not even know what we’re saying in prayer, but God knows. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray things that our minds don’t know about but need to be prayed. Our capacity for intercession is enhanced.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:15, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding.” In this context, praying with the spirit has to mean praying in tongues. Notice that he does not see it as either or. I will enjoy the full scope of what the Holy Spirit makes available to me in prayer. I will both pray in tongues and I will pray with the understanding.
Speaking in tongues also expands our worship capacity. In 1 Corinthians 14:15, Paul goes on to say, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” The context also requires that we understand singing in the spirit as singing in tongues. It is popular for Charismatics to call singing in a gentle chant together in the known language as singing in the spirit. But that is singing with the understanding. If you’re really singing with the spirit, as Paul uses the term here, you’re singing in tongues. I've seen some people get filled with the Spirit and immediately begin singing in tongues. The baptism in the Spirit, accompanied with speaking in tongues, empowers personal worship.
Remember on the Day of Pentecost what those from other regions heard as the 120 were filled with the Spirit? In Acts 2:11, they said, “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God." In other words, they were praising God in tongues. Some people think tongues is the capacity to preach the gospel to people in another language. But if you carefully read Acts 2, the 120 were not speaking to men, but to God in tongues. God orchestrated it so that the languages they were speaking were known to those overhearing them—as a sign to them.xi But the 120 were not preaching the gospel; they were praising God in tongues. The preaching was done by Peter in a language common to them that they all knew, probably Aramaic.xii
How many of you have been filled with the Spirit and spoken in tongues at least once in your life? How many continue to speak in tongues on a regular basis? Pentecostals need to understand that tongues are not the goal. Tongues are an equipping so that we can reach the goal. Equipment is something that has to be used if its purpose is to be fulfilled. I may have a bulldozer, but if I never crank it up and use it, I won’t benefit much from it. Imagine the owner of a bulldozer who is working as hard as he can to move a mountain of dirt with a hand shovel. All he has to do is crank up the bulldozer and get the job done much easier. Many Pentecostals are operating that way.
When I got baptized in the Spirit, my experience was very different from that of my brothers. I was 15 years old; they were 10 and 13. One night, they both got filled with the Holy Spirit. It was an emotional, demonstrative experience for both of them. They were both speaking fluently in tongues. They were dancing in the Spirit. They started at about 9:30 pm and went to about one or two in the morning. Every time one would stop speaking in tongues, the other would start up, and that would get the other one going. When I saw all that, I began to pray that I would also be filled with the Spirit. About two weeks later, the opportunity came, and I was prayed for. I felt no emotion. The Spirit gently prompted me, and I said a few syllables in tongues. Those praying over me heard me speak in tongues and celebrated my being filled. I left wondering why my experience was so very different from my brothers’ experience. The next day I went through a horrific spiritual battle wondering if I had received the same thing they did. By God’s grace, I decided to receive it from the Lord and use the limited ability God had given me. Over time, the more I prayed in tongues, the more liberty I received. Praying in tongues is now an essential part of my prayer life. Being baptized in the Spirit is not about how much emotion you experience or even the amount of liberty you have in your prayer language. It is something that happens at a deeper level than that. Its purpose is to empower us for service. We are introduced to speaking in tongues when we are baptized in the Spirit.
Everything I have said is preliminary and foundational to our subject. I have not yet addressed the gift of kinds of tongues listed in 1 Cor. 12:10. I have talked about the baptism in the Holy Spirit because that is our introduction to speaking in tongues. That equips us to operate at a higher spiritual level in our devotional lives. Now let’s talk briefly about the gift of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 12:10 as “kinds of tongues,” one of the nine gifts of the Spirit for the public worship. In the public service, this gift of tongues is to operate in conjunction with the ninth gift, “interpretation of tongues.” We will talk more about that next week. What we need to understand at this point is the relationship between operating in tongues in our personal life versus the gift of tongues (or more accurately as Paul puts it, “kinds of tongues”).xiii
The gift of tongues, for the congregation, is a special operation of the Spirit directing our capacity to speak in tongues at a time He chooses, according to His will,xiv He prompts us to speak out the message in tongues. There are guidelines given in 1 Corinthians 14 that we will discuss next week. The important thing to understand now is that we only speak a message in tongues in the assembly when the Holy Spirit prompts us to do so.
I have operated in that long enough that it is easy for me to discern when He is prompting me to give a message in tongues. There is a gentle pressure coming up in my spirit as the Holy Spirit prompts His desire to speak through me in that way. The prompting for a tongue is different than the prompting for a prophecy. With prophecy I get English words or some understanding of the subject. With tongues, I just get the urge from your spirit.
When I first began exercising the “kinds of tongues” gift, God put more pressure on me, and it was more emotional because I needed that to be sure it was Him. But He expects us to learn His voice and respond even when the prompting is gentle. Because it requires faith, there is always a little sense of risk. If God prompts you to give a tongue, obey His leading. In this assembly, there are people He can use to give the interpretation.
I’ve never known anyone who operated in the gift of kinds of tongues who did not speak in tongues in their personal prayer life. The devotional tongues received at the baptism in the Holy Spirit is foundational to the gift of tongues listed as the eighth gift of the Spirit. Actually, this baptism in the Spirit is foundational to operating in all these supernatural gifts of the Spirit.xv
Paul told Timothy to stir up the gift that is in him (2Tim. 1:6). If you have spoken in tongues in the past but have not done so recently, I want to invite you to come and let us pray with you, that that gift would be stirred up. If you have never spoken in tongues, then consider Paul's words: “I would that you all spoke in tongues.” We would love to pray for you to be filled with the Spirit. If you regularly speak in tongues in your personal devotions, but you would also like God to use you in a message of tongues to the congregation, let us pray with you about that. It is scriptural to ask. 1 Corinthians 14:1 tells us to “desire spiritual gifts.” Jesus said, “ask and it shall be given to you” (Lk 11:9).
Don Basham surveyed congregations and found that only about one in six or seven who privately speak in tongues have ever given a message for the congregation in tongues.xvi When Paul asked the question in 1 Corinthians 12:30, “Do all speak with tongues?” he was talking about exercising the gift in public ministry. No, even when people speak in tongues in their devotional life, most don’t speak in tongues as an expression of public ministry.
So we are inviting (1) those who have never spoken in tongues, (2) those who have spoken in tongues but need a refreshing, and (3) those who speak in tongues in your personal devotions but would like God to use you in a message of tongues in the congregation. If one of those situations fits you, come and we will pray with you.
ENDNOTES:
i All Scripture quotes are from the New King James Version unless indicated otherwise.
ii In John 14:17 Jesus made it clear that unbelievers could not receive this baptism in the Holy Spirit when He said to His disciples, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you” (emphasis mine).
iii “Now there are those who would argue that the last twelve verses of Mark's Gospel are not found in some of the earliest manuscripts. It is true that these last twelve verses of Mark's Gospel are not found in the Codex Sinaiticus or the Codex Vaticanus, which are both a part of the Alexandrian family of manuscripts. However, it is interesting to note that the early church fathers, Iranius, who lived from AD 140 to 202, and Hippolatus, who lived from AD
170 to 235, both quote from these last twelve verses of Mark's Gospel. Now the argument that some of the scholars give is that because this portion of Mark's Gospel does not appear in the Codex Sinaiticus, which is one of the oldest complete manuscripts that we possess (though it really is not complete), they say that this passage then was inserted later on by a copier. However, Codex Sinaiticus actually dates back to sometime into the AD 400s. They do not know the exact date, however 420 to 460 are the dates that are usually established for the Codex Sinaiticus. Here is Iranius, one of the church fathers, 200 years before the Codex Sinaiticus was ever copied and he is quoting, no doubt, from an earlier manuscript. And so, the overwhelming evidence is that the last twelve verses of Mark's Gospel actually were in the original manuscripts and somehow got deleted from the Codex Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus which comes, as I say, from the same Alexandrian family of manuscripts.” Chuck Smith, “The Gift of Tongues, Part 1,” retrieved from http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=29517.
iv Acts 17:6
v Ex. 7:11. We are not saying that methods should not be updated and made relevant to the culture. We’re simply saying that will never be an adequate substitute for the power of the Holy Spirit.
vi Gen. 1:3, 11-12
vii There is a direct connection between the condition of a person’s heart, and what is coming out of his mouth. Jesus said, “…the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45).
viii Proverbs 15:4
ix Notice they did not prophesy instead of speaking in tongues, but in addition to speaking in tongues. The debate as to whether these twelve men were believers when Paul first met them does not matter, because they must have been before Paul would baptize them in water. It is after that as an additional experience, that Paul lays his hands on them, and they are baptized in the Holy Spirit and then speak in tongues.
x People are sometimes taught that they got it all when they were converted. The provision for it all was received by receiving Christ. But, just as God had given the Promise Land to Israel in the wilderness and they were to possess their possession by faith, we appropriate the things of Christ by faith. Martyn Loyd-Jones challenges Christians who assume they have got it all the moment they are born again. “Got it all? Well, if you have ‘got it all’ I simply ask in the name of God, why are you as you are? If you have got it all, why are you so unlike the New Testament Christians? Got it all! Got it at your conversion! Well, where is it I ask?” Quote taken from Treasures Old and New: Interpretations of Spirit Baptism in the Charismatic Renewal Movement by Henry Lederle (Peabody, MA: Henderson Publishers, 1988) p. 152.
xi 1 Cor. 14:22 “Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers….” Hearing the 120 praising God in a tongue the unbelievers understood, which they knew the speakers did not understand, was a sign to them that something supernatural was going on. On the surface, 1 Cor 14:23 might seem to contradict verse 22. But notice that happened on the Day of Pentecost as well in Acts 2:13 “Others mocking said, ‘They are full of new wine.’"
xii Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) p. 138
xiii Greek scholar Derek Prince writes: “The distinction between the initial gift of the Holy Spirit, attested by the evidence of speaking in tongues, and the subsequent gift of “kinds of tongues” is very carefully preserved by the linguistic usage of the New Testament. The Greek word used for “gift” when it denotes the fit of the Holy Spirit received at the baptism in the Spirit is dorea. The Greek word for “gift” when it denotes any of the nine different gifts or manifestations of the Spirit (including the gift of “kinds of tongues”) is charismata. These two words are never interchanged in the New Testament.” Derek Prince, The Spirit-filled Believer’s Handbook: Foundations for Christian Living from the Bible (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 1993) p. 230.
xiv 1 Cor. 12:11
xv The pattern in Acts is the baptism in the Spirit is foundational to the gifts of the Spirit. Of course, God is sovereign and can, at times, supersede that pattern.
xvi Don Basham, A Handbook on Tongues, Interpretation, and Prophecy (Monroeville, PA: Whitaker Books, 1971 ) p.25.
