This baptism of the Holy Spirit is a "Charismatic" thing. By that I mean that, while all of Christianity believes in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, only the Pentecostal/Charismatic wing holds to some special event, subsequent to salvation -- some "second blessing", a special dispensation of power by the Holy Spirit. Non-charismatics believe that all Christians receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the moment of conversion; charismatics see it as something different. Non-charismatics believe in multiple "fillings", special times when the Spirit comes in fresh power for particular events or purposes, but that the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" itself occurs only once and is only needed once; charismatics believe that it may never happen to a true believer and should be sought diligently. Non-charismatics believe that this baptism occurs at salvation and may go unnoticed; charismatics believe that some sort of baptism of the Spirit occurs at the point of salvation, but not this particular type. This particular type is always noticed primarily because it is always accompanied with the sign of tongues. And in Wilkerson's mind, this special event was the secret ingredient that produced genuine change in the lives of the drug addicts who came to Christ and kicked the habit.
I am a non-charismatic. The only tongues I've ever spoken in are English, a smattering of Spanish, and a few other words in foreign languages. (For instance, I know karate, jiu jitsu, judo, and several other Japanese words.) I've never had this "second blessing", this special endowment of power of the Holy Spirit accompanied with speaking in tongues. It's not like I'm opposed to it. By no means. If God has some additional blessing, some super power, some special indwelling to offer, then there is nothing I'd like more. And it's not like I haven't tried. I've sought out folks who offered to acquire this for me (certainly not their choice of phraseology), but without success. I followed all the instructions, prayed all the prayers, believed with all my faith, had the laying on of hands ... did all the right things. No joy. I can conclude one of two possibilities. Either God doesn't like me as much as He does others, or there's something fundamentally wrong with the basic concept.
Romans 8 is the pinnacle of the Epistle to Rome. It is the "Holy Spirit chapter". It begins with "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:2). Hallelujah! I'm freed from sin because of the work of the Spirit! Paul goes on to say some amazing things in this chapter about the Spirit.
To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:6).And one of my favorites:
The Spirit is life because of righteousness (Rom 8:10).
If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Rom 8:11).
The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Rom 8:26-27).Get it? You and I, weak members of a corrupted creation, don't even know how to pray. So the Spirit actually prays on our behalf! He prays in ways we don't grasp. (Note: Some would like to call this their "prayer language". That doesn't fit the text. It is the Spirit doing the interceding, not us.) Not only does He intercede for us, but He does so perfectly because He knows the will of God. So, what's the secret? What does He pray on our behalf? We're not left to guess.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified (Rom 8:28-30).There it is. The aim of the Holy Spirit interceding on our behalf in accordance with the will of God is to see to it that all things work together for good so that (the good that all things work together toward) we will be "conformed to the image of His Son." Now that is some good.
David Wilkerson believed that the secret to beating the deep problems in a person's life was a separate and distinct empowerment of the Holy Spirit accompanied by the sign of tongues. To be quite honest, I think that's ... cool. I mean, who wouldn't want that? But if I am completely honest, in the final analysis I don't care. Is there some special "baptism of the Holy Spirit" that I've never received? Well, bring it on. I'd like to have it. More of Christ is always a good thing. But far beyond the ability to handle the mundane, what I really desire of God is to be conformed to the image of His Son. By any means, dear Lord. At any cost.
3 comments:
Hey Stan,
I am curious how do you reconcile the verses of 1 Corinthians 14 speaking of tongues?
"2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue[a] does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church."
I have recently understood the Greek term Glossa to mean tongue or language in most of the other parts of scripture. However in the context of these verses it doesn't seem to fit.
If it were an Earthly Language, why would no one be able to understand them?
We use our heavenly languages to speak to man, however it seems to me there is a possible biblical explanation of the "heavenly language" some Christians use today.
Now Charismatics or Pentecostals do seem to take this to extremes if they believe either that we "must" have this second encounter of the holy spirit, or that this is the only manifestation to show someone is saved.
How do I reconcile it? As I understand the New Testament gift called "tongues", it is a known language not known to the speaker (Acts 2:1-8). It is not an unknown language because Paul is quite clear that "I do not know the meaning of the language" (1 Cor 14:11), but "one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret" (1 Cor 14:13). Indeed, Paul specifically requires (and I've never been in a church that embraces tongues but follows this command), "If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God" (1 Cor 14:27-28). Thus, tongues exercised in public would require "only two or at most three" and someone to interpret. In the absence of someone who knows the language (because it is a genuine language), Paul commands that they "keep silent in church".
So when it says, "No one understands", I do not believe it can possibly mean "absolutely no one" or "it is not an earthly language" because lots of people understood in Acts 2 and the command is that someone understand or you just keep silent. The point is not "It's a language that is completely and totally unintelligible to human beings", but "Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy" (1 Cor 14:1). In other words, don't urgently seek something that edifies only yourself; seek to edify others (1 Cor 14:3).
The only place in Scripture that suggests the possibility of "heavenly language" is in Paul's clear and intentional hyperbole (overstatement for a point) in 1 Cor 13 when he says, " If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Cor 13:1) where the point is not "There are tongues of men and angels that you may speak" but "No matter how marvelous your gift of tongues might possibly be, love is what is important." A single, clearly overstated-for-a-point reference to a "heavenly language" seems like a thin thread on which to hang an entire theological position (not saying that you are).
(Does anyone find it odd that 1 Corinthians is the only one of Paul's epistles that mentions tongues? None of the rest say anything about it. Indeed, Acts and 1 Corinthians are the only two references to the concept. Is that odd to anyone but me?)
Also, in Acts when the first example of speaking in tongues happens, it wasn't that they were speaking some unknown language, but were speaking different known languages because the people in the crowd, those of different origins, could understand them. Today, that should look like a person standing up and speaking Chinese without any training in the language, and there being a Chinese person there to understand it.
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