The Baptism Of The Holy Ghost Is Speaking in an Unknown Tongue the Evidence? Harold Barber THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST A BIBLE DOCTRINE The Bible is very plain in its teachings concerning the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In St. John 14:15-18 Jesus makes a promise to His disciples before the crucifixion. He says, If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him: for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. This promise was made to the disciples of Jesus; those who had forsaken sin and received Him, thus becoming sons of God by virtue of the new birth as taught in St. John 1:11-13. They were not of the world (having been born of God) nor was promise made to those who are of the world. The promise was that after His departure another Comforter, the Spirit of truth would come and abide in them forever. This Comforter or Spirit of truth is the Holy Ghost (John 14:26) the third Person of the Godhead and every true born again child of God needs to be baptized of Him subsequent to their conversion. After the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus He appeared to the same group of disciples showing himself to be alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. (Acts 1:3-5) In these verses Jesus commands these disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promise He has made unto them. Now let us look to Acts 2:1-40 which gives us a full account of the fulfillment of this promise of the coming of the Holy Ghost. When the day of Pentecost was fully come these disciples were all with one accord in one place and God poured out the Holy Ghost upon each of them and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language: (Vv 5-6) Now when some of the mockers accused the disciples of being full of new wine Peter stood up with the eleven and preached a sermon to them which pricked their hearts and they said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Vv 37-39) This promise reaches the disciples of Jesus today. It is the will of God that every born again person be baptized with the Holy Ghost. THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST IS A WORK OF FAITH Receiving the Holy Ghost as an abiding Comforter in your heart is a work of faith. Being baptized with the Holy Ghost is an operation of God in response to our obedience to Him in seeking this experience and the exercising of faith in Him. All salvation operations are spiritual and are wrought in the heart through and by faith, distinct from all physical manifestations. By this, I mean you cannot gauge or judge the work of the Spirit by any particular physical demonstration or manifestation. The Apostle Paul said, For by grace are ye saved through faith. (Ephesians 2:8) Its the grace of God that saves us from sin and it operates through our faith in Gods promises. There is no scripture that gives you, or me, the right to say everyone who is saved by this grace of God will have certain physical demonstrations or manifestations. One may laugh and rejoice when saved, another may weep out loud for joy, another may leap and shout for joy and still another may be rather quiet about it and be as much saved as any of the others. The operations of the Spirit of God within our hearts are independent of physical sense and cannot be gauged by any particular demonstration physically. However, Im constrained to believe there will be some kind of physical demonstration. When spiritual life comes to the inner man I believe the outer man will feel some effects of it and demonstrate in some manner. Receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost is realized through obedience to Gods Word and exercising of faith in His promises. Paul says that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith (Galatians 3:13-14). Again let me say, the baptism of the Holy Ghost is an operation of God within us in response to our obedience to Him and exercising faith in His promises. THE DEVIL HAS A COUNTERFEIT TO THIS EXPERIENCE In the realms of the spiritual the devil has a counterfeit for the true and genuine article. He has a counterfeit experience for the true experience of Holy Ghost baptism, and has multitudes promoting his false theory. The counterfeit and unscriptural doctrine of speaking in an unknown tongue as the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost is deceiving millions today. The so-called Pentecostal churches of our land are teaching this false doctrine and deceiving people by the thousands. Their doctrine is without scriptural foundation. There is not one text in the Bible that teaches the idea that everyone who receives the baptism of the Holy Ghost must speak in an unknown tongue. There is not one text in the Bible that teaches everyone who receives the baptism of the Holy Ghost will come into possession of any one particular gift of the Spirit. This is all a misinterpretation of the scriptures. We acknowledge there is a true gift of tongues but nowhere does the Bible teach that all who receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost will possess this one gift any more that it teaches all will possess the gift of Prophecy, or the gift of healing, or miracles, or any of the other mentioned gifts of the Spirit. It is possible to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and have Him abiding within your heart, and yet not possess any one of His gifts. Someone may say, What then is the witness or evidence we are baptized of Him? Beloved, the Holy Ghost Himself is the witness as Paul states in Hebrews 10:14-15. How absurd to think or teach a particular gift of the Spirit is a witness. If the Spirit Himself cant bear witness to us Im sure one of His gifts couldnt because the Giver is far greater than His gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12 the Apostle Paul teaches us the gifts or manifestations of the Spirit are not the same in each person. In verses 4-7 he teaches there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, and diversities of operations but it is the same God, the same Spirit that worketh in all. He continues speaking of the body of Christ, the church, being many members yet only one body. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. This he speaks of the church. Now he says, If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the oar shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? Going farther into this truth he says, And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? He has already answered these questions in the foregoing verses. He pictured a body with all its various members yet constituting only one body. Now if all are demanded to prophecy we have not a body, if all demanded to possess the gifts of miracles we have not a body, if all required to speak in unknown tongues we have not a body. If the Spirit gave the same gift to every believer, and operated identically the same in each we would not have a body but a monstrosity, and those religious groups which teach the gift of tongues as evidence of Holy Ghost baptism are nothing more than a spiritual monstrosity. They are not the true body of Christ. The groups which teach speaking in tongues is evidence of the Holy Ghost baptism tell us this is a sign to the believer, evidence or proof he is baptized with the Holy Ghost. This idea is contrary to the scriptures. The Apostle Paul says, tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? (1 Corinthians 14:22-23) Is not such a scene portrayed before the eyes of many unbelievers today that causes them to frown upon all religion. They go to church and soon a spirit falls upon some who lose control of themselves and go into a physical demonstration which is immodest and oft times indecent and finally lose consciousness. In this state of unconsciousness they begin to jibber-jabber and make sounds that is not a language, and is not understood by anyone, and its called the gift of speaking in tongues. This same spirit sweeps over others and soon there are a number taking part in the demonstration which would lead ore to believe they are mad as Paul stated. In such a state of frenzy they have lost complete control of their mind and body. Beloved, this is not the work of the Holy Ghost within people: He doesn’t operate in this manner. The true gift of tongues has its counter-part in the true gift of interpretation of tongues and if operating properly they operate together. If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; (one succeeding the other and not all at once) and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. (1 Corinthians 14:27-28) This injunction is not carried out in the nominal Pentecostal meeting of our day, but rather it is ignored, and many are jabbering at the same time in what is called an unknown tongue and without an interpreter. Such creates a state of confusion and God is not the author of confusion. If it be the true manifestation of the gift of tongues why doesnt it work according to the scriptures which were written by men filled with the true Spirit of God? What is commonly witnessed in such Pentecostal meetings is the devils counterfeit for Holy Ghost baptism. God doesnt have to knock us unconscious to prophecy through us. In fact Hell give us the spirit of a sound mind that we may know whereof we speak. Paul placed a low premium on such things when he said. In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. (1 Corinthians 14:19) Someone might say; Did not the disciples speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost? Yes they did, but not in unknown tongues. The Bible says they spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance, and not with an unknown tongue for all those people gathered out of every nation under heaven heard them speak the wonderful works of God in their own language and understood what was being said. It was not a scene of confusion for they were pricked in their hearts by the Spirit of God and sought salvation. On that particular occasion there was need for a manifestation of the gift of speaking in divers kinds of tongues because there were people present who spoke divers kinds of languages. Where one common language is spoken the need is not so great for a manifestation of the gift of divers kinds of tongues. Far greater is the need of the gift of healing and miracles. Other than the day of Pentecost there are only two accounts of speaking in tongues in the New Testament and we have no grounds to conclude they were unknown tongues for an interpreter is not mentioned in either case. According to Pauls teaching in 1 Corinthians 14 speaking in an unknown tongue must be accompanied by an interpreter and if no interpreter is present then the speaking must be with-held in public. If it be the true gift it will operate in accord with the Holy Scriptures and the fact it doesnt do this is proof it is false. Beloved, if you are a twice born person the promise of the Spirit is yours if youll yield your all to God and seek Him for the experience, but dont be misled in believing the gift of speaking in tongues is the evidence.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 20:42:51 +0000
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