Praying in the Spirit: Focus of the Charismatic Experience: Tongues, the Holy Spirit, or Christ?
Fifth is the relation of tongues to the New Testament Church. The question often arises, Did spiritual gifts operate before the New Testament bestowal of the Spirit? The answer is a conditional yes. There are about twenty-three spiritual gifts listed throughout the New Testament epistles. Of these twenty-three, all but two are found in the Old Testament and the Gospels. Those gifts prior to Pentecost that are often considered spectacular (for example, healings, miracles, prophecies) are portrayed as operating by the direct intervention of God or in the ministries of a select few. But after the charismatic (vocational as opposed to regenerational) bestowal of the Spirit at Pentecost, the gifts operate in the context of the Spirit-gifted community of faith and the yielded vessel. Peter teaches that this bestowal is a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-29: “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). The selective and temporary granting of the Spirit in the Old Testament is now universal and lasting.
Anyone desiring to be used to edify the Body with an utterance of tongues should understand that the most important gift is the one needed at the moment, and the gift of tongues, per se, is no more important than any of God’s charismata.
The words of Donald Gee, written in 1927 ring true today: “It [the manifestation of tongues] is God’s unique sign gift, reserved for this present dispensation in which we live. Is it any wonder, therefore, that we stand unflinchingly for its continuance until that which is perfect is come in the new age when we shall see Him ‘face to face’?” (Concerning, p.68).
Is the Pentecostal-Charismatic Experience Spirit-Centered?
If the renewal is not tongues-centered, so the argument against it goes, it is at best Spirit-centered. While many non-charismatics have come to understand that the focus of the renewal is not tongues, many then conclude that it points to the Spirit and not Christ. For instance, Anthony Hoekema writes: “Implicit in Pentecostalism is a kind of subordination of Christ to the Holy Spirit” (Tongue-Speaking, p. 117). According to Michael Green, Pentecostals and charismatics “make the mistake of concentrating on the Spirit to the prejudice of the Father and Jesus” (p. 53). And J. Vernon McGee warns Pentecostals, writing, “You are saying a dangerous thing when you suggest that I must now go to the Holy Spirit, come around to the back door, and He’ll slip me something that Jesus did not give. You are saying that my Lord is accursed when you do that” (quoted in Pyle, p. 119).
Are these accusations justified? Have we put Christ in a subordinate, or secondary position? This is an important issue. But if it can be demonstrated that Pentecostal-charismatic experience and theology are Christ-centered, I trust that this complaint will be resolved and no longer stand between the non-charismatic and his Christian inheritance.
Glorifying Christ
Uppermost in our minds should be the desire to serve and honor God. Servanthood and God-centeredness are the hallmarks of Christianity, charismatic or otherwise.
Category: Spirit, Summer 1999