In today’s religious world, there seems to be many belief sets and very little unity. One of the things that religious people seem to be most divided on is that of the Holy Spirit. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a revival led by William J. Seymour brought about what we know of now as Pentecostalism. Every Pentecostal denomination can trace their roots back to this revival, which is widely known as the Azusa Street Revival. During this revival, Seymour preached a message of manifestation of the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues. This led to attendants of the revival claiming to have received the “baptism in the Holy Spirit” with the evidence being speaking in tongues.
There is a lot of debate within the religious world on what actually occurred. Did these people actually speak in tongues like we read of in the Bible? Are modern Pentecostals speaking in tongues the way the apostles did back in Acts? Are these gifts that Christians today should be pursuing?
Let’s dive into some scripture: The first thing we need to do is to see what the Bible has to say about speaking in tongues. The first recorded mention of this phenomenon we see is in Acts 2. Verse four of the chapter reads, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (ESV). Well, there you have it, right? Luke, the author of Acts, records it right here, and this is exactly what we see in modern Pentecostal churches, right? Well, let’s continue on. Verses five through eight, “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. 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?’” (ESV). The Jews that were present during all of this heard the apostles speak in their own native language. Is this what takes place in modern Pentecostal churches? As a former member of a Pentecostal denomination, I would have to say no. It is important to point out a little bit of the Greek that Luke uses. In Acts 2:4, the word he uses that we translate to “tongues” is a form of the Greek work “glossa”. In many other translations, the word is translated as “languages”. Luke isn’t saying that the apostles spoke in gibberish, but they spoke earthly languages that the Jews could clearly understand. The purpose of this was to show the listening Jews that these men had the power of God and that they were witnesses of Christ. What happened was a miracle that the Jews had never seen before. Imagine you go into a congregation over in Japan and nobody there speaks English. Now imagine a man stands up and begins to speak perfect English to you, not of his own knowledge, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, the speaking in tongues by the apostles wasn’t a “prayer language” in which many Pentecostals speak. However, it was speaking earthly languages as a sign to the Jews.
We see that the “gift” of tongues in modern churches today simply doesn’t line up with the gift of tongues we see in the Bible. When did the original gift die out? Well, let’s consider the purposes of the gift. The first purpose to note is that the gift delivered truth. It was a way for God to communicate His word to people. In Acts 2, the people heard the word and heard Peter’s sermon, because he miraculously spoke in their native tongue. The first purpose was to deliver truth. The second purpose of the gift was to confirm the word of God. Think of it this way: imagine we have no Bible and somebody comes into your church proclaiming Jesus as the Christ. What reason do you have to believe? You have no record of Jesus’s miracles or His resurrection. There is no credibility. Now imagine the man begins to speak in tongues or heals somebody. Immediately, you now know that he is of God and that God works through him. This is exactly what happened with the New Testament church. These people back then did not have the Bible. They needed the spiritual gifts to bring them the word of God and to confirm that it was of God. Hebrews 2:3-4 states, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (ESV). We already looked into Acts 2 and saw that the Jews believed because of the miracle. The same is true in other instances. Acts 8:6, 8:13, and 14:3 all show that people believed because of the gifts. The gifts were to bear witness of Christ. 1
Corinthians 14:22 states, “Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers" (ESV).
Are the gifts needed in today? In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul speaks on spiritual gifts when
talking about love. While speaking on these gifts, he uses them as a point to show the temporal nature of them compared to the eternal nature of love. In 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, Paul states, “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” (ESV). Paul makes it clear that these gifts are not eternal like love is. So, when did they pass away? Well, he states here that when “perfect” comes the gifts will pass away. The Greek word translated as perfect here is a form of “teleios” which can also be translated as “complete”. We already noted the two purposes of the gift of tongues, so let us see how that fits into Paul’s teaching here. Paul is making a part-to-whole comparison. Well, how are the gifts partial? Each time a gift is used, it brings part of the word of God. When we have the complete word of God, we no longer need these partial gifts. The gifts were made unnecessary once we had the completed word of God. The word of God is complete and is everything that we need. There is no revelation outside of the Bible that we need. 2 Peter 1:3 states, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence”. If one claims to have the gift of speaking in tongues, he is either just revealing something that has already been given to us in God’s word, therefore making his “gift” unnecessary, or he is adding something to God’s word, which the Bible specifically condemns in Revelation 22:18 (see also Galatians 1:6-12).
Let us continue to pray for those who have not come to the truth of what God’s word
says. Let us continue to dwell in scripture and test all things to the word of God rather than on our own thoughts and emotions. How wonderful is it that we can pick up God’s completed word and read from it any second of the day.