Speaking in Tongues - Whats the Point? (Part Two)

Over the past sixty years it has become quite common to find Christians in almost all denominations that speak or have spoken in tongues.  It is often referred to as a charismatic gift.  The first record of anyone speaking in togues (it simply means 'languages'), is on the Day of Pentecost.  This occured first yays after the death of Jesus Christ on a cross.  He rose on the third day from the crucifixion, ascended into heaven on the fourtieth day, and poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit on the believers in  Jerusalem (possibly 120 people) on the fiftieth day.  The relevance of his death for our salvation through the forgiveness of sins, and the timings afterwards are dealt with elsewhere.

In Part One of this short series I showed how the Day of Pentecost was only the first of several mentioned in Acts, and how it was not uncommon for speaking in tongues to be mentioned when these events took place.  At the start of the 20th Century, a spititual awakening took place that is usually referred to as the Pentecostal revival.  In this movement, ordinary Christians in the UK and various other parts of the world also experienced a profound baptism in the Holy Spirit, often associated with speaking in tongues. By the 1960s what had been separate from other Christian traditions became common with the development of the charismatic movement within almost all denominations.

My own engagement with traditonal Pentecostalism began in 1963, and my eersonal experience of as profound baptism of the Holy Spirit took place in the end of autumn 1964 (See A Baptism of Love).  At the time of that experience I did not speak in other tongues.  But a few weeks afterwards, while having my regular time of prayer I began praying in a language I had never learned.  But what is the point?

Tongues is not for sharing the gospel with foreigners.

This is one of the most common misunderstandings.  It arises from a combination of the reference to people from various parts of the Mediterranean world who were in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, and general lack of understanding.  There is nothing in the account in Acts two to suggest that the gospel was preached in these various languages.  What people heard them speaking was "ho megaleios ho theos" which means the spleandour of God.  In other words, they were praising God, and not preaching the gospel.

The crowd was drawn by the noise and the behaviour of the disciples that gave the impression they were drunk.  Only then does Peter start to preach, and what he start doing is explaining what the phenomina was.  It is during that message that people came under conviction and asked what they should do.  Peter would have probably preached in Aramaic as it was the common language of the time and place.  He could also have used Greek which was an official common language but Jesus usually used Aramaic and I am confident that all the visiors would have understood Peter's message or why would they respond?

Further, what is the point of speaking in tongues to the Ephesian believers or those in Cornelius' household?

If tongues is not for talking to unbelievers, who is being spoken to?

Writing to the Christians in Corinth, Paul states, " For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit"  (1Corinthians 14:2).

Later in the same chapter in verses 13 to 17 he writes about praying, praising or giving thanks in tongues.  All of which makes clear that it is a communication from a bliever to God.  They do not necessarily understand what they are saying and do not need to.  It is a spiritual communication and not an intellectual one.

While I might not uderstand what I am saying if I pray in a tongue, I edify or build up myself.  That implies a spiritual strengthening.  Many years ago I was invited to a meeting with a number of Strict Baptist Christians who had become curious about what was happening in another church.  After a period of difficult conversations, one senior deacon asked if his brethren had noted that, when he was taking a service, in the hymn immediately before the sermon, he would sit bowed in prayer.  They said they had noticed.  He then told them that this when he prayed in a language he had never learned.  That was news to us all.

Is it alright to ask God for the meaning of my prayer in tongues?

My answer is that while it is not wrong, it is absolutely pointless.  But this arises from a misunderstanding of 1 Corinthians 14:5, 13  In this section Paul is writing about the comparative vakue to the congregation of speaking in tongues and prophesying.  In the King James Version of the Bible it says that the one who prophesies is greater than the one who seaks in tongues "unless he interprets".  But the original Greek does not mean the person who has spoken in tongues, but someone else.  In verse 13 it is simply comparing prophesy and tongues.  Someone who speaks in togues is of less vakue to the church compared to someone who has the gift of prophecy.  But if he also has a gift of interpretation (of others speaking in tongues) he or she will be valued.

In neither of these verses does it say "Interpret what he has said".

God give different gifts to different peple.  Some have the gift of interpretation by the Holy Spirit.  Those who can speak in a tongue (an unlearned language) should not do so in the congregation unles there is someone present with the gift of interpretation present (14:).

What if there is noone present who has the gift of interpretation?

1 Corinthians 14:28 says, " If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God."

This passage also makes clear that the gist of speaking in tongues is not beyond the control of the person who has that gift.  It should be exercised with discipline.

Is speaking in tongues unimportant - the least valued gift?

The apostle staes that he thanks God that he speaks in tongues more than others (verse 18) and also says, that he wished that all the believers spoke in tongues (verse 5).  This would not make sens if the gift is insignificant.  Paul's writing on the subject in his forstletter to the Corinthians makes clear that is a gift of great value to the person who has it, but of less value ina congregational setting.

Speaking in a language that the Holy Spirit has given and which you do not understand inevitably seems strange if not wierd.  But do not write off this gift, or any of the none manifestations of the Holy Spirit .  We should all seek to be constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit and learn to take the risky step of letting the Holy Spirit have its way.

Speaking in Tongues - What is the Point? (Part One)

 I am writing this on Pentecost Sunday because I find a lot of ignorance and misunderstanding about the Holy Spirit - even in contemporary Charismatic churches.  The challenge I find, as I start to write, is how to be concise but sufficiently thorough.  You will have to decide whether or not I have achieved that.

Early in the 20th Century many Christians became aware of something new taking place in many churches.  It became known as the Pentecostal Revival and seemed to happen simulateouly in the UK, USA and Sweden.  No doubt it was experienced in many other coutries.  In the UK, among other leaders at that time, were two Welsh Christians, the brothers Stephen and George Jeffreys.  I understand that both were teenagers during the Welsh Revival of 1904, and both became popular speakers at Christian events.

Stephen became significant in establishing the Assemblies of God in the UK, while George was the main person in setting up the Elim Church.  George later left Elim and started the Bible Pattern Fellowship.  When I became aware of Pentecostalism in 1963, there was also another significant denomination, the Apostolic Church with headquarters and Bible School in Penygroes, Wales.  There was also a previously related denomination, the Apostolic Faith Church, though there were fewer churches.  The mission organisation I joined in 1963 undertook missional activity and took services for all these denominations as well as other historically established churches such as Baptist, Methodist and Congregational.

As a passionate teenage Christian I found myself excited by Pentecostalism, which at that time existed outside other mainline denominations.  The emphasis on revival and the teaching about a personal experience of being filled or baptised in or with the Holy Spirit to empower evangelism found a welcome response in my heart.  The term 'baptism in/with the Holy Spirit' comes from the Bible (Matthew 3:11) and it might help to differentiate the three forms of baptism.

The Greek word translated baptise in English is βαπτίζω.  It means to immerse, and the two accounts of an individual baptism in scripture (Jesus and the Ethiopian Eunoch) both are clear that they went into the water.  To understand the difference between the three bapisms we need to not, who is baptising and into what we are baptised.  They are clearly not referring to one experience described in three different ways.

Baptism into the body of Christ.  This is a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit by which all beliecers in Christ, together, form one body.  See 1 Corinthians 12:13.  Some transalations state, "In one Spirit" but it is clear that what we are baptise - or immersed into- is the body of Christ.

Baptism into water.  This is something done by another Christian (possibly a priest, pastor or church leader).  It is usually done to a new believer.  The Greek word for baptism means immerse but some denomination sprinkle or apply some water rather than immersing. (See Matthew 3:16; Acts 8:38,39)

Baptism in or with the Holy Spirit. (See Matthew 3:11).  Here it is Jesus who is the baptiser.  The medium is the Holy Spirit.

The promise of the baptism in the Holy Spirit was clearly fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost and associated with speaking in tongues.  But this was not a once for all experience.  There are at least three identical occasions involving other people at other times.  In Acts 8 Peter and John lay hands on belivers at Samaria who have previously been baptised in water.  There is no reference to speaking in tongues but Simon's desire to be able to emulate Peter and John implies something significant was heard or seen to happen.   In Acts 19 Paul lays hands on Christians after they have been baptised in water and they recive the Holy Spirit and speaak in tongues and prophesied.

A thrird occasion takes place in the home of Cornelius, a Roman Cnturion.  This is the first unambiguous occasion that gentiles welcomed the gospel.  Even as Peter was still preaching they experienced exactly what had happened at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost with speaking in tongues (See Acts 10:46 and Acts 11:15-17).    These believers were baptised in water after they were baptised in the Holy Spirit.  The record of three occasions when tongues are mention when people were baptised in the Holy Spirit led to many 20th Century Pentostals referring to speaking in tongues as "the initial evidence" of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

(More to follow)

A Baptism in Love

Way back in the mid 1960s I was introduced to Pentecostal churches and Christians.  I was still in my teens and had not long come back to the Lord, having forsaken the Baptist church where I had grown up.

In my childhood I had developed faith within an evangelical and evangelistic Sunday School attached to a traditional and rather dead church.  But God had turned my life upside down and my Christian life was in overdrive, leading me to join an evangelistic organisation serving various churches in the rural areas of Sussex and Kent.  It was through this organisation, led by three Pentecostals, that I experienced worship in Pentacostal churches.  I appreciated how Christ-centred they were, and their love and knowledge of scripture set them apart from many other traditions.  I wanted to know more.

In the pre-charismatic days it was quite common for there to be 'tarrying meetings' where those seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit would prayerfully wait on God.  I attended several at which I saw my friends transformed by the Holy Spirit, sometimes speaking in tongues, but always caught up by God in a glorious experience.  But again and again I went home feeling more empty than I had felt at the stat of the meetings.  Why was God not honouring his promise?

The director and principal evangelist prided himself on being a perfectionist.  As with many other perfectionists he was a pain to work with, both demanding and highly critical of the performances of subordinates.  His harshness was dreadful to experience or to observe.  My first Sunday out with the team ended with me in floods of tears because of how he spoke to others.  But he was a great and effective preacher and gospel singer.  The two other senior team members seemed to accept his behaviour so I did too.

We were still a part-time ministry when we were booked to take a service for the Assemblies of God church in the village of Ash in Kent.  I was still a trainee so only had minor parts to play in the services.  The morning meeting went well as we shared in communion, and a few spoke in togues, or interpreted, or prophesied.  Best of all, the elderly men and women were lovely and loving.  It was great to be there.

Before the evening meeting the director gave me a note with the Bible reading.  It was Acts 20:21 to 31 and I was already very familiar with the sermon he preached on this passage.  It would be based on verse 27 which reads (in the King James Version which we used in those days) "I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God".  There would be four points to his sermon:  Jesus the Saviour, Jesus the healer, Jesus the baptiser in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus the coming King.  I soon discovered that my expectations were correct.

As I sat in the pew, listening to the start of this sermon, I already had a problem.  All the nice Pentecostal people were clearly baptised in the Holy Spirit.  So were all the team members except me!  Often, these dear Pentecostals would take my hand and ask, "Have you received the Holy Spirit?".  It was always embarrassing.  After all it was not for want of asking to be filled.

As the preacher reached the third part of his message I knew that he could only be preaching at me.  My frustation and anger bubbled over and I bowed my head and prayed in retaliation.  I told God what a hypocrite the director was.  How unforgiving and unloving he was.  How he cruelly treated his colleagues.  But then, as I rehearsed his shortcomings, something unimaginable and unexpected took place.  I felt God's presence in my heart suddenly depart.  It was as definite as if someone had thrown a swich and I had been plunged into darkness.

But I knew why I had grieved the Lord.  I was doing the very thing that I was accusing the director of doing.  I was being judgmental, criticising and unloving.  At once I silently cried out to God.  "Please take away this bitterness and baptise me in our love".  I had not stopped to think through any theology behind my prayer.  All I wanted was for God to fill me with his wonderful love.  Nobody but God and I knew the moment of terror that had led to that prayer.  

But suddenly, as the sermon went on, my prayer was answered.  A foutain of love and the power of the Holy Spirit errupted within me, seemingly to burst out of my stomach.  I felt his love being poured into me.   "Praise the Lord!" I uttered, whether aloud or silently, I know not.  But, immediately, a sond fountain joined the first.  My heart was bursting with the joy and sense of the Holy Spirit's presence within me.  "Hallelujah!" was all I could say, but that released a third fountain of love.

I coul not stand to sing the final hymn that evening.  I was drunk in the Holy Spirit.

On the way home in the minibus that evening I listened to the mission director criticising the senior colleague who had led the service.  I laughed.  It was not what was being done that was funny, it was the extraordinary sense of brotherly love I was feeling for my rather unloveable director.  As it flowed out I knew that it was not natural.  It was God's love that was being poured out into my heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

I had always thought of myself as being loving, but my love was nothing compred with God's love for me... and the director.  Underserved and unreserved love.  God had kept me waiting so that I could learn why I need the Holy Spirit.  That love - His love - has fuelled my Christian life since that day.  I now rejoice in knowing my shortcomings because I know that his grace abounds more.

6th June 2025

Cheap grace or costly discipleship?

We are only days away from the 80th anniversary of  death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's.  I knew nothing of him as I grew up in post war Britain and attended a Baptist church and Sunday School.  I heard of Livingstone, Chalmers and many other heroes of the faith, but not of Bonhoeffer.  It was only towards the end of the last century that it became a familiar name.  He was an outstanding example of how to live the Christian life within a world where compromise comes all too easy.

Disdaining the notion of 'cheap grace', he taught instead, 'costly discipleship'. In Bonhoeffer's day it was all too easy to accept Naziism, as many Christians and churches did.  Speaking out against it was to ask for exclusion and criticism from Christians that were expected to be supportive.   Recently I have watched two programmes about the use of BSL as a language for the deaf.  The second programme was a film called Reunion which drives home how deaf people can become marginalised.

Grace is not cheap.  Yes, I believe that the gospel calls all into a living and loving relationship with himself free from rules and regulations.  Access is by faith.  One of my critics has said that in teaching that living under the New Covenant which has no rules, like 'cheap grace'.  By that, I think he meant I was trivialising grace.  But, I believe that God's wonderful offer of free salvation came at the enormous cost of the cross.  As a recipient of such love I sing with Isaac Watts,

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small.
Love, so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life my all.

I do not believe that anyone who has come to see that it is through what Christ endured that we are offered salvation, that such a person could look at the cross and decide to live selfishly.  My Jesus, spoke about those who would follow him, taking up their cross.  For Bonhoeffer it meant ultimately dying for the things he believed in: treating Jews and black people with love and dignity.  But, in many ways, he had already laid down his life years before his death.

We are called to love God wholeheartedly, and to love our neighbours as ourselves.  I have become deeply concerned about how unkind so many of us are towards those whose sexuality is different from ours.  If we proclaim a God of love who has open arms, but marginalise and even ostracise those whose natural sexual attraction differs from what we call normal, our actions betray our profession of faith.  Love is more than a smile and a handshake at the door, it welcomes others as we would want to be welcomed.  It offers them the best place at the table and the best seat in the house.

Over a million people in the UK have found the courage to confess themselves different, but that does not make them less, or dangerous.  I am not one of them, and I wonder would I be able to face the loss of friends and family, and a place in church.

Which Covenant are you Under?

 One of the things that saddens and surprises me is that many Christians who read their Bibles regularly often seem not to live under the New Covenant that God has made with humankind.

The Bible contains several covenants (binding agreements), but there are two in particular that I would like to mention.  Incidentally the names given to the two major divisions of the Bible reflect these two covenants.  There being no exact equivalent in Greek for the concept of covenant within the Hebrew Scriptures, the alternative, diatheke, translated "Testament" is used.  The difference between Covenant and Testament is interesting.  Covenants are made between two or more parties having power during the lifetime of the maker of the Covenants.  But, Testaments are agreements that only have power after the death of the testator. Se...

"In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died." (Hebrews 8:16,17, NIV)

The 'Old Covenant' was made by God with the people of Israel.  It is conditional.  The Old Covenant came with a raft of rules and regulations.  These declared that some things were not allowed, and are therefore called sinful.  Alongside these, God provided a system of sacrifices for forgiveness.   While God cannot be anything other than faithful, sadly, Israel repeatedly became an unfaithful partner.

By contrast, the 'New Covenant' is made by God with all of humankind.  It is unconditional, based upon grace and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  He has paid it all for all people of all times, and access into this relationship is simply by believing (i.e. accepting our need and what Jesus has made possible through his death, so trusting him for salvation).  It comes without any of the rules and regulations.  The only thing that God asks is that we love him wholeheartedly and our neighbours as ourselves.  We may fall short but, as John tells us, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses us when we acknowledge out fault.  It is God's free provision at his own cost.

The problem that follows is that many people seem not to be happy with a 'no rules' relationship.

So it was that some of the Jewish converts to Christianity taught that circumcision and obedience to the Law was still required.  The death of Christ was not enough.  The apostle, Paul (himself a pharisee) received his understanding of the gospel direct from God, and saw these law keepers as contradicting the gospel.  Hence his journey to Jerusalem and the Council recorded in Acts 15.  This Council determined that there were no rules, though some advice was passed on to the gentile Christians.

But that was still not enough for some, and early Bible teachers continued to insist that the Law had to be kept.  Fortunately for us, Paul addresses this particular problem in his letter to the churches in Galatia.  In it, he makes Palin that to mix Old Covenant pathways to righteousness with grace is to make grace ineffective.  Those whom Christ had made free were not to get entangled again.

The principle of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ accepted by faith is also taught in Romana and Ephesians, and elsewhere.  But time and again, otherwise earnest Bible-believing Christians keep adding rules.  Why?  It seems that some of us cannot live without rules, so we inject them into the message of salvation and in teaching about discipleship.

Jesus has paid it all.  He has fulfilled the requirement of the Law.  We do not have to try to do the impossible which is why we are free.

I come across this fault so often.  When I ask if simple faith is all we need, they usually reply "Yes, but...."

I am confident to say that both God and I want you to enjoy life in the Holy Spirit.  Revel in its freedom and produce fruit through that union, but not through effort!

If you haven't read Galatians for some time, do get up to date.  You will find it a blessing.  What could be better than "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free"?

I remain, yours under the shelter of God's wonderful grace,

Barry

Just an Ordinary Week

 Regular readers of my blog will know that last year I stepped aside (not down) from my key activity in rural mission.  That is the work of what we started as Rural Mission Solutions but is now more simply known as Rural Missions.  I hasten to say that Rural Missions still h\as plenty of great ideas to help village churches.  It is not without solutions!

Over more recent months I have also started reducing the amount of time I am able to give to promoting good church management, mission and evangelism.  However, reducing time does not mean reducing quality and value, so I looking at doing more while doing less.  After all, I am now 79 and have less energy but a lot more experience and wisdom.

Like many my age, I wonder where time goes.  It often feels as if someone has stolen hours out of a day and days out of a week, not to mention the loss of months in a year!  Do, what can be achieved in an ordinary week?

This week I have helped in planning an event for the block of retirement apartments in which I live alongside 43 other apartments.  The sixty or so people who live here only have two people who regularly attend a church.  Both my Baptist friend am I are keen to create opportunities to explain something about our faith to our close neighbours.  So, we have agreed a plan to hold a series of four discussion, looking at @How did we get the Bible and is it reliable?", "Who was Jesus and what did he teach?", "Why get so excited about Christmas and Easter?", and "Is there life after life, and can we be sure of heaven?".

If these do not get people talking I will eat my hat!  My friend has offered to host these in her apartment which is good as she is more tidy than me.  We are offering, tea of coffee or cold drink plus some scrumptious cake.  At least eight people have signed up, but there is a quiet buzz among others.  Watch out for more news.  I have prepared a take-away sheet for the first session as one of the things to do in an ordinary week!

The other night this week I sat up until 4.00am finishing the first draft of a booklet exploring what causes romantic and sexual attraction, and what does the Bible say about it.  Others are now checking the draft to see if it is as helpful as I hope it would be.  If you are up to speed with what God has been doing in my life, you will know that in 2024 I found God pressing me to research this issue, both from a scientific point of view as well as from the Bible.

What I discovered was quite disturbing.  I had not thought about the process of attraction before, but was not surprised that it is primarily to do with functions in our brains.  Neuroscience has demonstrated that people attracted to the same sex not only have brains that function differently to those e attracted to the opposite sex, but even the shape of the brain can be a determinator.  Simply, we cannot help how we were born.  It is not a matter of choice.

But I had to square this with what the Bible says.  To me, that seemed impossible, like squaring a circle.  So hours of Bible study followed, with the sense that for every question I had, God showed me his answer.  One by one, I found that all the arguments from scripture that opponents of same-sex relation raise, were not possible to substantiate.  At the end of 2024 I could no longer state that the Bible says that same-sex relation is wrong.  That does not mean that I promote same-sex relation; it means that I cannot condemn it because the Bible doesn't.  Now, that will be difficult for some Christians, and I have been accused of disobeying Go, but if you want to search the same scripture that I have searched, let me know and I will send you a free copy of my notes.

With over one million people in the UK who have gone public on being attracted to people of the same sex, and not attracted to the opposite sex.  This is a big issue.  In addition  there are over one million people in the UK who are born with sexual parts of their bodies neither exclusively male or female.  Dare we say they are not made in God's image because they do not fit the binary understanding that comes from our interpretation of what it means when the Bible says, "Male and female, created he them".  Is the Bible wrong or is it how we have chosen to interpret such passages?

All the above does not include the time given to play my part as part of the leadership and an active member of my church, and promoting support for Myanmar to alleviate problems caused by the earthquake.

So, it's been a pretty productive week, and so it is set to go on.  I vale your prayers and interest. Why not drop me a line to ruralbarry@gmail.com, and let me know how you are doing, please.