"Tongues" and the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit"?
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VTO"!?f'C VT TTV J:. SUBJEC; ·/0"1'1.7Vt"5 t, 'f- ''"f?t1pf1'.5/l-t orf fie tfely:rt',f,ti::. ,, E.F- ~~---- CLASSIFICATION: TEXT- --- -------------------- --EXPOSITORY - - BIOGRAPHICAL W hat a bout "Tongues" a nd the "Bapt ism of t he Holy Spirit?" TITLE _CrEXTUAL --TOPICAL SCRIPTURE READING,---=A~c~ts~Z~·.,,__l -_c4c,_ _ _ ____ _____ ---DEVOTIONAL DELIVERIES: Date Hour Place Results and Comments: FBC 6/ 4/7ti a . m . San Angelo, Tx XXX+++ l B, l l; Gloriet a 7/27/78 Glo rie t a, NM XXX+++ FBC 8- 31-78 Ba llinger, Tx XXX+++- FBC 4/21/ 85 P . M. San Angel o , TX (XXX+++ ) 2L BIBLIOGRAPHY _ ______ _ ___ _ V WHAT ABOUT "TONGUES" AND THE "BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT? " V SCRIPTURE READING: Acts 2:l-4o\: g INTRO: IN REFERENCE TO SPEAKING IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE, THE LATE DR. JAMES G. HARRIS, PAST PRES:qJ~m ~ OF THE BAPTIST GENERAL CONVENTION OF TEXAS ' i ID : I "THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS NEVER IMPRESSED UPON ME TO , , WANT IT OR TO SEEK THIS EXPERIENCE. WHETHER IT IS RIGHT OR WRONG, I KNOW THAT IF I SOUGHT THIS EX PERIENCE AND WERE TO HONESTLY AND OPENLY ANNOUNCE IT, MY MINISTRY IN UNIVERSITY BAPTIST CHURCH WOULD BE WRECKED AND -MY USEFULNESS AS A SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER WOULD BE NULLIFIED. I HAVE SEEN IT WRECK THE MINISTRY OF BAPTIST PREACHER AFTER BAPTIST PREACH ER. IF I WERE TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU THAT I HAD SPOKEN IN TONGUES IT WOULD SPLIT THIS CHURCH WIDE OPEN. THE WORK OF SEVENTEEN AND A HALF YEARS WOULD GO ii, DOWN THE DRAIN AND THIS CHURCH WOULD BE HURT IM- l MEASURABL~ . NOW DO YOU THINK THE HOLY SPIRIT WOULD WANT ME TO HAVE A GIFT THAT WOULD DO THAT TO HIS WORK?] I WOULD CAUTION ANY- OF YOU WHO ARE SERIO US- , LY CONSIDERING SEEKING THIS GIFT OF TONGUES TO CON SIDER CAREFULLY IF YOU HAVE DREAMS OF A SOUTHERN BAPTIST PASTORAL MINISTRY ON A VOCATIONAL STAFF POSI TION. I DO NOT KNOW OF A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH THAT WOULD SERIOUSLY CONSIDER A BAP TIST PASTOR WHO FRANKLY SAID, 'I HAVE SPOKEN IN TONGUES, I I SPEAK IN TONGUES, I PLAN TO SPEAK IN TONGUES.' - .i .f ! ANY POSSIBLE EMOTIONAL ENJOYMENT OR SATISFACTION I YOU SEEK FOR YOURSELF MIGHT COME AT AN UNREASONABLEj' COST TO THOSE YOU LOVE. IF YOU ARE OR ASPIRE TO BE A LEADER IN A BAPTIST CHURCH, IT IS EXCEEDINGLY IMPOR TANT THAT YOU BE CAREFUL IN CONSIDERING SPEAKING IN TONGUES, FOR YOUR PLACE OF SERVICE MAY BE JEOPARDIZEI: (Harris, pp. 6-7). WHAT IS THERE ABOUT THIS THING CALLED "SPEAKING IN TONGUES" AND THE "BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT' " THAT IT SHOULD BE SUCH AN EXPLOSIVE AND DEVISIVE ISSUE ? IN ANSWERING THIS QUESTION LET US CONSIDER (1) THE SCRIPTURES IN Q UESTION; (2) THE DOCTRINES IN ERROR; AND (3) OUR ATTITUDE IN RES PONSE . V I . THE SCRIPTURES IN QUESTION I. --Jesus: " Search the s criptures 11 1 {John 5:39a). · --JOHN: " Beloved, believe not every spirit , but try the spirits whe ther they are of God " (I Jo hn 4:la) v 1 . t erusalem V---Acts 2:1-lJj (Summarize) --EXEGESIS: What is so unusual about this speaking in " his own language?" Look at vs. 7 ·(Readt . · ['hey had not gone to school. They could speak no other language. They couldn't even speak their own language properly . But vs. 8 says (Read). Those speaking are Jews born outside of Palestine. They had returned for Pentecost, not knowing { Hebrew, but speaking a foreign language. And now they ' hear their Gentile language spoken by s imple Ga lileans. A partial list of these la nguages is found in vss. 9- 11. The main emphasis--on preaching the story of Christ, emphasizing Jesus' dea t h-, resurrection and a bility to s ave. (Acts 2: 14-4 7). (McBride, pp. 1-2) . · V 2. t Caesarea / v --Acts 10:4 4-47 1 v~(1) The purpose of the experience - -vs. 45J (Read) This experience was God ' s stamp of approval on the genuineness of the conversion of the Gentiles. This occurred in the home of Cornelius, a Roman Gentile in Caesarea. It shows God's a pprova of the convers ion of hi s family. V (2) The patt ern of this experience v --Acts 11:1.IJ "God g ave the m t he LIKE GIFT .. " Just exactly as God had given Peter and others the gift of speaking in foreign languages at Pentecost, so God gave Cornelius and his family thi s same identical gift. Not unintelligible utterings ! (Mc Brid e, p. 2) -2- V 3. At tp__hesus v --Acts 19:1-6 --EXEGESIS: They had heard of Christ from John B. and had believed on Him, but missed John the Baptist's message of the Trinity and failed to understand the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. They had been baptized to show their "repent ance" (vs . 4) but now they are baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus," received the Holy Spirit and as evidence spoke in foreign languages and used this gift in "telling forth" the gosp1~ (vs. 6b) 11 ro2._h_es~ d. "p ... A.,. ~~.,,,. AJ> ~ L-- 4. At Corinth T: iH:Z.NG- TO f\ _,_,,, ,..,,..,_,.,, '* v --I Cor. 12 :]J)_-11 ( ) & I Cor 14 y- (1) An erroneous assumption (I Cor. 14) Olt-t( --R,B. Thieme, Jr.: "T<Dngues means foreign languages , .i~~ci.e-~·fnever an unknown language. There is no such thing as u:sE (flll.11 ,an 'unknown language. ' 3 00 years ago when the King fCO If:~ James version was transla ed, tongues always meant 'u~ H,·/1 a language and never refe to something which is :~ ;:6 •simply ecstatic utterance. n I Cor. 14 the word 'un- ~ "' known' oc curs 11 times, but it is in italics, indicating that it was not- in the original manuscripts, for it was merely an interpretation of the translators ( and an erroneous one) . " (p. 15) Hobbs a grees) (McBride, pp. 2 --&3 - -T, Hollis Eptop · When Paul said, "I thank God I speak with tongues more than you a ll" (I Cor. 14:18) he meant one of two things, or both: that the miracle touch was yet upon him, enabling him to repeat Pentecostal com munications, or that his knowledge and missionary travels had enabled him to speak to more different nationalities than any of the Corinthians could do. In either or both, he understood what he said and the I people who heard him understood what he said . {Epton , ~ p. 3). V (2) An immature church --NOTE: The Church at Corinth was the most difficult and unspiritual of all the churches to which Paul wrote . It was divided into warring factions. Members brought lawsuits against one another that were fought out in the civil courts. Open · ity was tolerated. Many of it~ members had real problems because they rended to fall -3- back into some of their previous idolatrous practices. The Lord's Supper was conducted in a disgraceful man ner. There were some in the church who denied the reality of the bodil resurrection . This was the kind of church that placed such undue emphasis on speaking in tongues! It was the childish yearning for recognition that was motivating many of these weak Christians to make so much of tongues. "My brothers, don't be like excitable ·' children but use your intelligence! By all means be in nocent as babes as far as evil is concerned, but where your minds are concerned be full-grown men! u (I Cor. 14:20, Phillips). Paul urged the Corinthians to grow more mature in their understanding. Little children prefer the spectacular, amusing, and showey things, rather than those that are of more intrinsic value. (McBride, pp. 3-4). V (3) A pagan influence --NOTE: The C,Orinthians had a real problem in relation to paganism. In Corinth stood a great temple erected to the Greek goddess Aphrodite (Venus) . The depraved worship of this pagan diety included ecstatic speaking in tongues . It's possible that some elements of this frenzied type of speaking had seeped over into the Corinthian church. The genuine gift of foreign tongues was also present in the church to some extent , but unfortunately some of the people, sincerely believing they were exercising the genuine gift, were actually in a state of hysteria, reproducing that which was taking place nearby in a pagan temple . Since they were sincer t hough wrong and acting completely under the sway of their emotions, Paul wanted to be very careful that he would not harm their weak, immature faith. The entire weight of Paul 's whole discussion is a discouragement of the practice in their religious gather ings, but it stopped short of a complete prohibition. Paul did not forbid the use of tongues in private, which he recognized could be an operation of the Spirit (I Cor. 14:39}. ie1 'T 'T.J ,W,1.J A'e>7 y~ s 'P:Js-7 C 0 But he restricted its exercise within the assembled congregation, and he demanded -that it be interpreted J I Cor. 14:27f) (McBride, pp. 3-4). v (4) A faint praise --::Dr , John Newport said, "Paul was a good psychologist in condemning tongues glossalalia by faint praise." (Bapt. Std. Sept. 1, 1971, p . 14). --Note: Evidently some in Corinth thought the Holy Spirit not only gave the gift of "other language s" but als o " unintelligible languages .