This guest article by chaplain, editor, author, and speaker James Linzey presents biblical answers about why followers of Jesus should pray in tongues. See the note from the Editor below for more about the perspective of this article.

Why speak with tongues? There are many reasons for speaking in a spiritual language. Primarily, though, the Scriptures require it. The apostle Paul commanded us, saying, “Pray in the Spirit always” (Eph. 6:18). Jude commanded it in verse 20, saying, “Pray in the Holy Spirit.” Jesus said it was one of the signs which were to follow the ministry of Christians: “And these signs will accompany those who believe … they will speak with new tongues …” (Mark 16:17). If Scripture commanded it only once, then it is a command, to be obeyed.

Paul commanded: “Earnestly desire spiritual gifts … I want you all to speak in tongues … I thank God that I speak in tongues …” (I Cor. 14:1, 5, 18). Speaking in tongues is one of God’s gifts, and Christians need all the gifts God offers.

The supernatural language is a miraculous manifestation of God’s power, but it combines both human and divine elements and requires both human and divine initiative. Don Basham, in A Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism, claims that tongue-speaking is “truly a co-operation between the Christian and the Holy Spirit” (page 86). Also, to pray in tongues is a matter of one’s will according to 1 Cor. 14:14-15. Here Paul says that when he prays in a tongue, his spirit prays, not simply his mind. He indicates that he wills to pray and sing with his spirit— it is a decision he makes, not something forced on him. Speaking in tongues is a matter of the will as is any other action.

Acts 2:4 states, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak” (MEV), or “…as the Spirit gave them utterance.” As they spoke, the Spirit filled their mouths. The Holy Spirit did not tell them what to say, nor did He speak through them. He simply gave them the ability to speak. Albert Hoy says that the disciples “used no conceptual forethought of their own in the vocalization” (“Public and Private Uses of the Gift of Tongues,” Paraclete 2, Volume #4, page 11).

In the same manner, the Christian who speaks with tongues will realize that he does not know beforehand what syllables he will utter, but he will speak “not as he receives a mental impression, but as the Spirit gives him the utterance” (Hoy, page 12). Tongues is “the sign of the baptism of the Spirit…. All gifts which the Spirit brings and gives had already been given individually before Pentecost, except for speaking in other tongues with interpretation! Thus, this was the new sign by which the baptism of the Spirit was known” (says F. Kramaric, cited in The Pentecostals by Walter J. Hollenweger, page 342).

Harold L. C. Horton says in Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Challenge to the Whole-hearted Seekers After God, page 13, that “The evidence of water baptism at Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Ephesus, was not faith nor love, but wetness! It is the same today. The evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit at Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Ephesus was neither faith nor love, but tongues. So, it is today. To be baptized merely ‘by faith’ or tradition without evidence, is not to be baptized at all—either in water or the Holy Ghost.”

Image: Jon Tyson

To be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be immersed in the Holy Spirit or to be completely given over to Him. Two faculties hardest for humans to surrender are the mind and the tongue. Paul says in I Cor 14:14, “If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” Jesus compares baptism with the Holy Spirit to baptism in water. In water baptism the candidate yields to the baptizer until the candidate is completely immersed in water. In the baptism with the Holy Spirit, one is given over entirely to the Holy Spirit. The seeker yields to Christ until completely immersed in the Holy Spirit.

Many ask whether speaking in tongues is truly the primary confirmation or sign of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is easy to make compromises, but only biblical evidence can be considered proof of the answer. It would seem illogical to use the Old Testament or the Gospels as proof that speaking in tongues is a sign of the baptism with the Holy Spirit because they were written before the outpouring on the Day of Pentecost. It would also seem ill-advised to use the Epistles of Paul as the proof because they are pastoral letters dealing with problems and perplexities of established churches where speaking in tongues was considered normal.

Contemporary experiences are valuable but cannot be considered as proof of tongues being the initial evidence because they would be interpreting after the fact. Consequently, the proof must come from the book of Acts, which records the only known examples of the experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit among the early Christians.

PR

Note from the Editor

In this guest article, James Linzey is speaking about praying in the Spirit, also known as praying in tongues. Most Pentecostal/charismatics believe that every follower of Jesus may and should pray in the Spirit, and they see praying in tongues as distinct from the gift of tongues with interpretation that operates in a gathering of a community of believers. Linzey is approaching this subject from a classical Pentecostal perspective. Other renewalists (Pentecostals and charismatics) have a different approach about how to interpret what the Bible says about tongues in relation to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. If you want to learn more, there are many articles available at PneumaReview.com that discuss tongues and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Consider starting here.

The Church of God (Cleveland, TN) is one of the major Pentecostal bodies in the United States. This book contains the results of a study conducted in that denomination regarding women and ministry. Some books that deal with this subject focus on biblical texts to either support or limit women’s place in ministry, this book, however, asks women ministers what they want. Not surprisingly, what they want is equality in ministry. The Church of God has 3,088 licensed women ministers in the United States, 726 of them participated in this survey (page 29). Those who made up this sample group are from different age groups and ethnic groups (page 13). The respondents come from different parts of the country (pages 30-31) and have varying degrees of education (page 55). One thousand randomly chosen male ministers in the denomination, called Ordained Bishops, were also invited to participate in the study, 16% of them responded (page 34, footnote).

This book is written by two insiders in the Church of God (Cleveland, TN): Kimberly Ervin Alexander and James P. Bowers. Both of these individuals are people of high academic credentials; they both have Ph.Ds. Alexander is a historical theologian who has in the past served as an assistant vice president for a seminary and is also a past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies (page 12). Bowers has served as a pastor and seminary vice president (page 12).

The main body of the text consists of seven chapters. The chapters are: Hearing Their Voices, What They Believe About Family, How Power and Leadership Function, Are Women Flourishing as Ministers?, What Women Can Expect in Compensation and Advancement, What A Pentecostal Woman Minister Looks Like, and Looking from the Outside by Cynthia Wooleever. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 each contain two responses to the material presented in the chapter from women ministers in the Church of God. The book also contains three appendixes. The study contained in this book is very detailed; there are a lot of facts and figures some of which are presented in graph and chart form as well.

The fact that the Church of God has 3,088 licensed women ministers in the United States may at first seem to be a very encouraging sign, and in some ways it is. At least the church recognizes that women have God-given ministries and acknowledges these ministries by giving the women ministerial recognition in the form of credentials. However, a closer look shows that these women are definitely not equal with men in ministry. For example, women are “for the most part” not allowed to serve in “state or national positions of authority in the USA” (page 13). In addition, even though they are credentialed ministers they are not allowed to vote in the General Council of the General Assembly (page 13). This means that they do not have a voice in the policies adopted by their denomination. There are also other areas in which they are clearly at a disadvantage; these areas include financial compensation and opportunities for advancement.

Stanley Hauerwas, Working with Words: On Learning to Speak Christian (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2011), 322 pages, ISBN 9781608999682.

I recommend this book to all Christians, and especially to those in pastoral and the theological vocations. Like his other publications, the Duke Divinity School professor of ethics and theology asks poignant hermeneutical and theological questions pertaining to Christian discipleship and witness. In Working With Words, Hauerwas shares his vision, approach, and experience as a pastor-theologian writing for the Christian public. His goal is to paint a vision of God with discipleship and witness in mind. And because he addresses life’s puzzling complexities honestly, this volume will be a good companion to his Hannah’s Child, a memoir of his theological autobiography.

The book has three parts, and Hauerwas writes seven essays for each section. Most of the essays are either public lectures or church sermons that he had shared in recent years. A few other essays fill the gaps for this compilation. Part 1 addresses disciplines for those learning to speak about God. These disciplines include reading, hearing, seeing and naming God amidst evil. Part 2 explains the Christian language of love for a) dealing with greed, b) discerning the Christian body, c) engaging the reality of “finite care[s] in a world of infinite need” (154) and d) explaining what it means for the church to be on a mission. In Part 3, Hauerwas co-writes (with a few theologians) on the lessons he had learned from some of his teachers. These teachers are political philosopher Charles Taylor, political activist-theologian Richard Niebuhr, and philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre. He also include a chapter examining the friendship between political pastor-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge, and a few chapters explaining some of the virtues that underwrites medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas’s writing of Summa Theologicae, contemporary Catholic Social Teaching, and contemporary Methodist theological ethics.

I have been a history buff for much of my life with a particular emphasis on the history of the Holiness Pentecostal Tradition. I remember the weekend when I received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit on July 4, 1964 at the Belleville Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia as a Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International  convention came to a close.

There were several women standing at the bottom of the ornate staircase in that hotel lobby as I came down the stairs as the weekend began. One of those ladies said “lets get out of here; the place is full of holy rollers.” I had come 100 miles in the hope that I would “get” what they fled. I prayed for them as they made their hurried exit, and always wonder if my prayer came to avail for them.

I soon began to read about the Spirit-filled life, and that quest for more knowledge recently included Rev. Myron Noble’s And They Yet Speak. Noble has given us a labor of love. His book includes a snapshot of the history for each black Pentecostal church that came into existence in our nation’s capitol since the late 1890’s.

Noble interviewed the leadership of each of those churches in depth and attended a service at each church, a process that took 25 years to complete. Through that great effort, we get to meet 93 congregations, some large, some tiny but all Godly. I enjoyed the names—white people like me are no good at names but Noble’s people can name a church like the “Tried Stone Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas” or the “United House of Prayer For All People Church on The Rock of The Apostolic Faith” and the “Gospel Ark Temple Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ Bible Way World Wide.” Such lovely names.

I read through these vignettes, noting the names and humble beginnings, and was touched by the Love of God who came down from Heaven and inhabited the praises of those who gathered in His name. Every time one of these churches opened for worship, miracles occurred as the heavenly choir joined in the refrain offered by the congregation and heaven and earth came together for precious life changing moments of hope.

I was friends with one of those congregations forty years ago, and Rev. Noble described that church in detail, and I learned some things that I did not know. The church when I knew it was called Evangel Cathedral and its white pastor at that time was dismissed from his denomination because he had a mixed congregation. I cannot comprehend how we, the church of God, chose such an unloving path for so long.

Myron Noble has compiled a history that will bless you as you read it. His writing style is different than most but I finished his work with a deep respect for a man of God that loves his past and well he should.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns