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Praying in the Spirit: Focus of the Charismatic Experience: Tongues, the Holy Spirit, or Christ?

| July 25, 1999 | 1 comment

One of the reasons tongues draw attention is that the gift is “so obviously and arrestingly supernatural that it challenges at once those who do not believe in the supernatural.”

A Lutheran pastor testified after his charismatic experience, “I have never loved Jesus or felt His love for me more keenly. . . . About a month after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I suddenly realized I was witnessing to people about Christ in a different way than I had before. There was a freedom and a sense of reality that had not been there before—I find every aspect of my life affected by this blessing. And each new manifestation has a single common denominator: Christ at the center of it! In one way or another the baptism of the Holy Spirit serves to glorify Christ” (quoted in Hillis, p.22; emphasis added).

This pastor’s testimony and my own may be multiplied many times over as, after the baptism, persons find themselves openly expressing praise to Jesus more and more.

“[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’?”

—Donald Gee

Undoubtedly, these are important questions: Is the Pentecostal-charismatic renewal less than Christ-centered? Is it tongues-centered or Spirit-centered? No. Both theologically and experientially, the Pentecostal-charismatic experience proves to be focused upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, without whose direct agency we could not have the Holy Spirit.

 

PR 

 

In the Next Issue:

                Just What Is the Nature of the Prayer Language?

 

 

Works Cited

Anderson, Robert Mapes. Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Bartleman, Frank. Azusa Street. Formerly How “Pentecost” Came to Los Angeles-How It Was in the Beginning. Plainfield, N.J.: Logos International, 1980.

Bennett, Dennis J. Nine O’Clock in the Morning. Plainfield, N.J.: Logos International, 1970

Burdick, Donald W. Tongues: To Speak or Not To Speak. Chicago: Moody Press, 1969.

Campbell, Joe E. Warning! Do Not Seek for Tongues. Raleigh, N.C.: World Outlook Publications, 1970.

Clayton, Allen. “The Significance of William H. Durham for Pentecostal Historiography.” Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies Fall 1979: 27-42.

Conn, Charles W. A Balanced Church. Cleveland, Tenn.: Pathway Press, 1975.

Dalton, Robert Chandler. Tongues Like As Fire: A Critical Study of the Modern Tongues Movements in Light of Apostolic and Patristic Times. Springfield, Mo.: Gospel Publishing House, 1945.

Durasoff, Steve. Bright Wind of the Spirit: Pentecostalism Today. Plainfield, N.J.: Logos International, 1972.

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Category: Spirit, Summer 1999

About the Author: Robert W. Graves, M. A. (Literary Studies, Georgia State University), is the co-founder and president of The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship, Inc., a non-profit organization supporting Pentecostal scholarship through research grants. He is a Christian educator and a former faculty member of Southwestern Assemblies of God College in Waxahachie, Texas, and Kennesaw State University (adjunct). He edited and contributed to Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture and is the author of Increasing Your Theological Vocabulary, Praying in the Spirit (1987 and Second Edition, 2017) and The Gospel According to Angels (Chosen Books, 1998).

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