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.

I mentioned that all but two New Testament gifts appear in the Old Testament. These two are tongues and interpretation, significations of a new era. Not the era of the redeemed, for that goes back into the Old Testament, but the era of the Church—a new era with a distinctive sign, ever reminding the Body of Christ on earth that this same Jesus who was crucified, God has made Lord and Christ and has given unto Him the Spirit whom He poured upon the Church (not the world; Acts 2:39-41). Perhaps this is why some in the renewal tend to stress these two distinctive gifts.

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

In John 14 Jesus tells His disciples that He must leave them. Evidently their dismay at hearing this elicited these comforting words from Jesus: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). But not only did Jesus leave something with them, He promised that the Father would, in His name, send something to them—the Counselor, or Holy Spirit. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. . . . All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (verses l6-l7, 25-26).

Tags: charismatic, christ, experience, focus, holy, praying, spirit, tongues

Category: Spirit, Summer 1999