Speaking in tongues: Difference between revisions
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=Does Speaking in Tongues Prove You're Saved?= | |||
= Does Speaking in Tongues Prove You're Saved?= | |||
Some groups within the Oneness movement believe that speaking in tongues is a necessary indication that at person is saved. This is clearly stated in [[A critical response to Bernard's The Oneness of God#Who is David Bernard?|David Bernard's]] book, ''The New Birth''. | Some groups within the Oneness movement believe that speaking in tongues is a necessary indication that at person is saved. This is clearly stated in [[A critical response to Bernard's The Oneness of God#Who is David Bernard?|David Bernard's]] book, ''The New Birth''. | ||
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Before we get into it, it's worth laying out Bernard's position clearly and fairly. | Before we get into it, it's worth laying out Bernard's position clearly and fairly. | ||
The core argument isn't subtle — Bernard is explicit and systematic about it. In ''The New Birth'', he states plainly:< | The core argument isn't subtle — Bernard is explicit and systematic about it. In ''The New Birth'', he states plainly: | ||
blockquote>''"Speaking in tongues is a normal part of the believer's experience with God, the personal devotion of the believer, and the public meetings of the church. Most of all, we can expect a person to speak in tongues when he first receives the Holy Spirit into his life."''</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>''"Speaking in tongues is a normal part of the believer's experience with God, the personal devotion of the believer, and the public meetings of the church. Most of all, we can expect a person to speak in tongues when he first receives the Holy Spirit into his life."''</blockquote> | |||
That last sentence is load-bearing. "Most of all" is doing a lot of work there. Bernard isn't arguing that tongues is a nice bonus for the spiritually hungry. He's arguing it's the ''expected, normal, identifiable moment'' when you know the Holy Spirit has arrived. | That last sentence is load-bearing. "Most of all" is doing a lot of work there. Bernard isn't arguing that tongues is a nice bonus for the spiritually hungry. He's arguing it's the ''expected, normal, identifiable moment'' when you know the Holy Spirit has arrived. | ||
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== The "Five Accounts" Problem | == The "Five Accounts" Problem == | ||
Bernard's strongest card is the claim that all five accounts of initial Spirit reception in Acts include tongues. Let's actually look at those five cases. | Bernard's strongest card is the claim that all five accounts of initial Spirit reception in Acts include tongues. Let's actually look at those five cases. | ||
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== The Assurance Problem | == The Assurance Problem == | ||
Here's where things get genuinely damaging. If tongues is the necessary initial evidence of Spirit baptism, and Spirit baptism is necessary for salvation, then a person who has never spoken in tongues cannot have assurance of salvation. Full stop. | Here's where things get genuinely damaging. If tongues is the necessary initial evidence of Spirit baptism, and Spirit baptism is necessary for salvation, then a person who has never spoken in tongues cannot have assurance of salvation. Full stop. | ||
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Bernard's counter-argument against cessationism is actually pretty solid, and it's worth being honest about that. His point — that it's hard to pinpoint the moment tongues ceased if they did, and that Paul who wrote about tongues "ceasing" also spoke in tongues himself more than all the Corinthians — is a fair observation. Cessationism has its own exegetical problems. | Bernard's counter-argument against cessationism is actually pretty solid, and it's worth being honest about that. His point — that it's hard to pinpoint the moment tongues ceased if they did, and that Paul who wrote about tongues "ceasing" also spoke in tongues himself more than all the Corinthians — is a fair observation. Cessationism has its own exegetical problems. | ||
But here's the thing: ''you don't have to be a cessationist to reject Bernard's position.'' You can fully believe that tongues is a real, valid, ongoing spiritual gift (which we do) and still reject the claim that it's the necessary initial evidence of salvation. Those are two completely separate questions. Many charismatic | But here's the thing: ''you don't have to be a cessationist to reject Bernard's position.'' You can fully believe that tongues is a real, valid, ongoing spiritual gift (which we do) and still reject the claim that it's the necessary initial evidence of salvation. Those are two completely separate questions. Many charismatic Christians affirm tongues as a genuine gift while explicitly rejecting the "initial evidence" doctrine. Even the Assemblies of God, which holds tongues as the initial evidence of Spirit baptism, insists that Spirit baptism is a separate empowering experience subsequent to salvation, not the new birth itself. Bernard's real innovation isn't the initial evidence doctrine; it's the collapse of Spirit baptism into regeneration, which is what puts tongues on the wrong side of the salvation line. | ||
Bernard's argument only works if you grant his initial premise — that Spirit baptism always produces tongues as verifiable evidence. But the biblical record, as we've seen, doesn't consistently support that premise. And 1 Corinthians 12:30 actively contradicts it. | Bernard's argument only works if you grant his initial premise — that Spirit baptism always produces tongues as verifiable evidence. But the biblical record, as we've seen, doesn't consistently support that premise. And 1 Corinthians 12:30 actively contradicts it. | ||
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----''Sources: Bernard, David K. The New Birth. Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1984. Boyd, Gregory A. Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992. Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.'' | ----''Sources: Bernard, David K. The New Birth. Hazelwood, MO: Word Aflame Press, 1984. Boyd, Gregory A. Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992. Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.'' | ||
=What the Bible teaches= | |||
Because there were several cases in Acts where people received the new covenant power of the Holy Spirit and began to speak with tongues at the same time (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6; probably also implied in Acts 8:17–19 because of the parallel with the experience of the disciples in Acts 2), Pentecostal teaching has commonly maintained that the outward sign of baptism in the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues (that is, speaking in languages that are not understood by and have not been learned by the person speaking, whether known human languages or other kinds of angelic or heavenly or miraculously given languages). | |||
But it is important to realize that there are many cases where being filled with the Holy Spirit did not result in speaking in tongues: | |||
#When Jesus was filled with the Spirit in Luke 4:1, the result was strength to overcome the temptations of Satan in the wilderness. | |||
#When the temptations were ended, and Jesus “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee” (Luke 4:14), the results were miracles of healing, casting out of demons, and teaching with authority. | |||
#When Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, she spoke a word of blessing to Mary (Luke 1:41–45). | |||
#When Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, he prophesied (Luke 1:67–79). | |||
#Other results of being filled with the Holy Spirit were powerful preaching of the gospel (Acts 4:31), (perhaps) wisdom and Christian maturity and sound judgment (Acts 6:3), powerful preaching and testimony when on trial (Acts 4:8), a vision of heaven (Acts 7:55), and (apparently) faith and maturity of life (Acts 11:24). | |||
Several of these cases may also imply the fullness of the Holy Spirit to empower some kind of ministry, especially in the context of the book of Acts, where the empowering of the Holy Spirit is frequently seen to result in miracles, preaching, and works of great power. | |||
Therefore, while an experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit may result in the gift of speaking in tongues, or in the use of some other gifts that had not previously been experienced, it also may come without the gift of speaking in tongues. In fact, many Christians throughout history have experienced powerful infillings of the Holy Spirit that have not been accompanied by speaking in tongues. With regard to this gift as well as all other gifts, we must simply say that the Holy Spirit “apportions each one individually as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11).<ref>Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 784.</ref> | |||
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