Chapter 4. Receiving the Promise
By now we should have become aware of the fact that there is a promise of power in the Scriptures for all Christian people. Next we need to find out how we can receive it, how we can experience it in our lives. Whereas the Old Testament prophets ‘saw it from afar’, and few of them ever received it, we can have the joy of entering into all they saw, and much more.
We need to make sure we do not fail to enter because of unbelief. Jesus is the Joshua of the New Testament, leading the people of God into their rich inheritance. He came as the Lamb of God to take away our sins, and as the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit to endue us with power for his service. Both blessings are our birthright, and from Pentecost onwards have been available from him--and can be received by faith.
In this chapter the main question, which we have to answer, is: how does a Christian receive the promised Holy Spirit? But first we must try to answer the other questions: to whom is this promise made and when do we receive it? The natural ‘place for us to turn to for the answers is the- Acts of the Apostles, because here we see in the opening chapter of the church’s history how the earliest Christians received this blessing.
There are some people who question the use of such evidence upon which to build anything definite. It is true that we should not look for the promise itself in the Acts, but we are surely justified in learning from the manner in which the blessing was received-by those who were nearest in time to the first proclamation of the promise and who knew Jesus in the flesh. After all, it is part .of the New Testament. In it we see apostolic doctrine in action. In essence it is a book about ‘acts’--it shows us what the apostles did as well as what they taught. It would be wrong for us to look for the complete doctrine of the Holy Spirit in Acts, but we can find out how the apostles understood this doctrine and acted upon it. One of the most reliable canons of biblical interpretation is to observe how the original hearers’ understood doctrine-otherwise we are always in danger of imposing on our interpretation presuppositions of our own. In the Acts, therefore, we should be able to discover how the apostles thought the promise of the Holy Spirit was to be received. The actions of the apostles, in other words, indicate how they understood their doctrine. When, therefore, we discover that such illustrious apostles as Peter, John and Paul laid hands on believers after they had been baptised in water in order that they might receive the Holy Spirit, we know that they could not have believed in a doctrine of the Holy Spirit which taught that he was automatically received at the moment of conversion and baptism.
But there is an even more important point to consider. The Acts of the Apostles is often and rightly called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. In this book we read not only about what the apostles did but also the Holy Spirit. We might be bold enough to say that the apostles were wrong in their actions and misapplied their doctrine of the Spirit, but it would be a brazen person indeed who would dare to say that the Holy Spirit himself acted contrary to the doctrine concerning his person and work. Thus we see in Acts that when the apostles prayed for the Christians at Samaria that they might receive the Holy Spirit, he came to them when hands were applied (Acts 8:17). So too in Acts 19 the Holy Spirit responded to the faith of Paul and the twelve at Ephesus (Acts 19:6). We must be very careful not to bind the activity of the Holy Spirit with an inadequate doctrine of his work.
The famous passages in Acts which tell us of the activity of the Holy Spirit in relation to the believer are vital in our quest to discover how and when we may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are six occasions in all--not counting the occasion’ when Christians who had already received the promised Holy Spirit were freshly anointed with the same Spirit when in prayer together (Acts 4:31). But we are only concerned in this chapter with the initial receiving of this blessing.
The day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-42)
Here we have two occasions which we should take together-for two groups of people received the promised Holy Spirit on the same day. First the church, and then a crowd of three thousand which had gathered at the sound of the church speaking in tongues for the first time.
There is a quick and easy answer to the question, ‘Who is eligible for the promise?’ In the Acts of the Apostles all who are open and seriously seeking this blessing receive it. No one gets left out. When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and Jesus baptised the church in his power, we are told that all were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, men and women (including the Virgin Mary who was present), apostles and lay people. A little bit later when Peter addressed the crowd which gathered to ask questions, he told them that the promise was not only for them but also for the Gentiles and indeed anyone who would fulfil the simple and straightforward conditions of repentance and baptism, for in these last days God was pouring out his: Spirit on all flesh.
The second question is also simple to answer--when can the promise be received? The 120 had to wait for the promised Holy Spirit since this was his first coming with power upon the church, but the three thousand were told that they could receive the promise immediately if they repented and were baptised. As a matter of fact we are only told that they were, baptised. There is no reference to the fact that they received the Holy Spirit, but there is no reason to suppose that they didn’t, since they appear to have fulfilled the conditions and had witnessed the effect of the Holy Spirit’s coming upon the disciples earlier in the day. From this time-onwards the Holy Spirit’s power was given without fail to all who believed the promise and asked in faith.
The expansion of the church seems at first to have been slow geographically. The church took Jesus at his word--.first in Jerusalem’--and the home church seems to have grown very fast in those early years. No doubt the men and women baptised in water and in the Spirit at Pentecost would have trickled back to the countries from which they had travelled, taking the gospel with them. But it was a fierce persecution that suddenly scattered the large church in Jerusalem--and they began to spread the good news around Judea and Samaria.
An evangelist called Philip came to a city of Samaria and preached Christ to the people. Many believed and were baptised. But for some reason or other they did not receive the Holy Spirit. Samaritans were exceptionally legalistic in religious background--they did not accept the inspiration Of the Old Testament prophets-so this may have accounted for their slowness to respond to the moving of the Holy Spirit.
There is a very interesting question, which needs answering in connection with this story. How did ‘anyone know that the Samaritans had not received the Holy Spirit when they believed and were baptised in water? We are told that there was much joy in the city (Acts 8:8), but this does not seem to have been taken as a sign. The only possible explanation is to be found in the absence of supernatural manifestations.
An interesting conclusion can be drawn from this. Since Pentecost there had been many conversions, and the converts had received the Spirit. In every case there must have been supernatural manifestations, or the Samaritan position would not have struck anyone as an exception. No one seems to have said, ‘Perhaps these believers have received the Spirit quietly and unconsciously.’ There may well have been a reason other than the legalistic background of the Samaritans for their delay in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. The view which has often been advanced may be valid-namely that the delay was in Order that the unity of the church might be kept and that the Jewish apostles might be the means of blessing to the Samaritans.
This, then, may have been the first occasion when Christians did not receive the Holy Spirit at their conversion. At all events the news got through to Jerusalem, and Peter and John were sent off to investigate. First they prayed, and then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. We know too that there was nothing vague about their reception of this blessing, for a magician, Simon Magus, who was standing by saw the Spirit given. Something very definite must have happened to them, for the magician tried to buy this power with money.
Here too we have the answers to our questions. The Holy Spirit was given to all those who had first believed and been baptised, except Simon Magus. But whereas on the day of Pentecost the three thousand probably received immediately they were baptised, here there was a slight delay, and they received a short time afterwards through the ministry of Peter and John.
Paul’s conversion took place suddenly outside Damascus and yet there were years of preparation before his encounter with Jesus. We know of one incident in that preparation because Luke tells us that
Saul, as he was then called, was present at the assassination of Stephen and would have heard his cries, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’ (Acts 7:60). Paul was struck blind at the moment when Christ appeared to him and so had to be led by his travelling companions into the city of Damascus. For the next three days, crippled by his blindness, he fasted and prayed. Then God sent a rather reluctant layman called Ananias, who had been reassured by God that Paul had an important future role to play in the church, that he might ‘regain [his,] sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 9:17). There was an immediate response; he was healed when ‘something like scales fell from his eyes’, and presumably he was then filled with the Holy Spirit. He was immediately baptised in water and broke his fast.
There are a number of interesting factors in this story. In the first place, God sent a layman to minister to Paul. There is a greater need than ever today to see the emancipation of the laity from the shackles that many churches have put upon them. Not only is the blessing of the baptism in the Spirit intended for laity as well as ministers, but the laky are just as capable of bringing people into this experience--and, of course, healing also--as ministers are. It never has been intended for ministers only.
Another interesting feature of this story is the order in which Ananias ministered. Paul was already converted and had presumably repented. His healing came first, and only later his baptism. We are not told when Paul was, filled with the Holy Spirit’; it could have been before, during or after his baptism in water. The order of events was never regarded as important ‘in the New Testament and the order varies from story to story. But what was important was that Christian initiation included being filled with the Holy Spirit as well as being baptised in water.
Cornelius and his household (Acts 10:1-48)
We now move to Caesarea, where a godfearing Roman officer called Cornelius was stationed. Although not yet a baptised Christian, the Holy Spirit was clearly at work in his life. He was a man of prayer and generous in his giving. Cornelius had a vision telling him to send for Peter who was staying at Joppa at the time. Peter meanwhile had also received instructions from the Holy Spirit and a special vision to prepare his prejudiced mind to preach to Gentiles. Cornelius invited his relations and friends to his house and Peter addressed them.
In the middle of his talk about Christ, the Holy Spirit came on all those who were listening in exactly the same manner as he had come on the day of Pentecost. This convinced Peter and his companions that they should go ahead and baptise them at once, for clearly these Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit in the same way as they themselves had on the day of Pentecost.
So again we need to notice that all of them received the blessing, and in this case it took place actually as they’ were listening to Peter’s address and not through the ministry of the laying-on of hands. R was a spontaneous experience. We need always to be open to the surprises of the Holy Spirit. God often blesses unlikely people in unlikely situations, and it is not for us to judge or question what God does. When Peter reported to the church in Jerusalem what had happened to these Gentiles, the church was quite clear that Peter had acted correctly. Obviously this had been a divine intervention and could very well happen again. It is interesting also to note in passing that Peter used the expression ‘to be baptised in the Spirit’ in his report, clear evidence that the term was being used years after the day of Pentecost (Acts 11:16).
This story should be a warning to all those Christians who, in their efforts to tidy up/he teaching in the New Testament, imprison the Holy Spirit in doctrinal systems, almost forbidding him to work outside them. But the Holy Spirit will not be tied down in this way. Any doctrinal formulation which has the action of the Holy Spirit cut and dried, and does not’ make allowances for these ‘surprises’, will hinder God’s people from being used and will quench the Holy Spirit. The New Testament reveals a multiplicity of ways in which the Holy Spirit works, and we need to take our hands off and let him work the way he wants to. He only requires our obedience and co-operation and a willingness to allow our prejudices to be laid aside, as Peter was prepared to do in the home of Cornelius.
The next story short-circuits all the neat reconstructions of men when they attempt to show a consistent pattern in the Acts stories. There are some people who point to the stories of the Samaritans and Cornelius and say they were exceptional--we might call them Samaritan and Gentile Pentecost’s. But there are many who, in attempting to tidy up the Acts narratives, find this story almost impossible to fit into neat categories.
This incident took place some twenty years after the day of Pentecost. Paul on this his first visit to Ephesus found twelve disciples. Something about them puzzled the apostle so he asked them the leading question, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when ‘you believed?’ They replied that they had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.
Now we do not know whether these disciples were true believers or not. They were certainly very ignorant of basic Christian doctrine and deficient in elementary spiritual experience. All we do know is that Paul systematically corrected them. They had been baptised into John’s baptism; so he told them about Jesus, whom John told men to believe in. He administered Christian baptism. And then as a quite separate procedure he laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came on them as twenty years before upon the church at Pentecost.
The vital thing to notice about this story is that it really does not matter what the spiritual condition of these disciples had been before Paul ministered to them. Whether they were true Christians or not we shall never know for certain; but it does not matter one way or the other. They certainly must have been by the time Paul baptised them. And the crucial point is that Paul did not simply walk away from them after he had baptised them. He did not say to them, ‘Now you have been baptised you have got everything.’ But instead he ministered the Spirit to them. He laid hands on them. And his prayers were instantly answered with practical and tangible results--they ‘spoke with tongues and prophesied’. There is no way anyone can get out of the implications of this story. It is one of our mandates for praying for Christians (with or without the laying-on of hands) to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If Paul did, so Can we. It is no good arguing from Paul’s teaching in his epistles that every Christian has been baptised in the Holy Spirit. Paul would not have believed one thing and done something else that was inconsistent with it. We need to understand Paul’s teaching in the light of what he did in the Acts.
Again we need to notice that all those whom Paul prayed for were blessed; there were no exceptions. They all received, and quite clearly it was a separate ministry from that of water baptism, though obviously connected and related.
The question Paul asked them is most revealing to our study (‘did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’). In the first place it proves that it is possible to receive the Holy Spirit when you believe. But secondly, it equally clearly proves that you do not always receive the Spirit when you believe, otherwise there would have been no point in Paul asking the question. It also proves that this must have been regarded by the early church as a definitely discernible experience--for Paul expected (and received) a definite answer to his question.
At first sight these six cases present some variation. Can we discern from them any pattern-for receiving the promise of the Holy Spirit? Is there a ‘normal Christian experience’?
The plain answer is, I suppose, no. There is no stereotype. But if we examine these incidents there are things we can learn. We see in the Acts that Christian initiation, far from being one sacramental action, namely water baptism, was in fact a whole constellation of actions, some from God’s side and some from ours. God is always the initiator. He always comes first. He sets initiation going. But in addition ‘to God’s primary move towards us, there is the part the word plays, our response of repentance and faith, water baptism, Spirit baptism (with or-without the laying-on of hands, for Scripture allows both), and the manifestation of spiritual gifts. All these various parts are important, but in the way in which they interrelate, and the order in which they come, there is little in the way of a set pattern.
There is always a danger in oversimplifying the activity of the Holy Spirit. But I believe it is possible to establish some norms and detect the principles upon which the apostles worked and the Holy Spirit operated.
The norm, if there is one, was expressed by Peter on the day of Pentecost when he said, ‘Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38). Normally a new convert would repent and be baptised and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit all together. But as the ministry of the apostles and the activity of the Spirit show, the order in which these were carried out and the interval of time elapsing between them was not always the same.
For instance, in Acts 8 the Samaritans believed and were baptised, but there was a delay before they received the Holy Spirit. In Acts 9 there was a similar delay between Paul’s conversion and’ his being filled with the Holy Spirit through the ministry Of Ananias. In Acts 10 the Holy Spirit was given before Cornelius and his friends had been baptised. Indeed it is not until we come to the case Of the Ephesian disciples that the norm re-asserts, itself. Here also the receiving of the Holy Spirit comes after their baptism in water (Acts 19:5-6).
Can we summarise all this into something coherent? Professor F.F. Bruce ‘has written, ‘The idea of an unbaptised Christian is simply not entertained in the New Testament.’" We ought to add--neither is the idea of a Christian who has not received the blessing of the Holy Spirit. In those early days Christians were deemed ready for both baptism in water and the blessing of the Spirit after they had believed. If they did not receive the Holy Spirit there and then, steps were immediately taken to pray for them and lead them into this blessing. It was a clear promise and a definite and consciously realised experience. Paul expected a clear answer to his question; ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ Peter and John seem to have known definitely that the Samaritans had not yet received this promise and there was nothing vague about its reception. It seems as if the laying-on of hands was normally used when the Spirit was not spontaneously given on believing. It seems to have been the scriptural way of bestowing what may otherwise have been missed in initiation.
An absence of clear teaching is robbing many of God’s people of this great promise. There are three main views which differ from the one above, but which do not accord with the evidence of the Acts of the Apostles.
The first is the view that every Christian receives the baptism in the Spirit at his conversion when he believes in Christ. He may never have even heard of the Holy Spirit, but when he is born of the Spirit he is also baptised in the Spirit. Such teaching stresses the need for an increasing ‘filling’ with the Spirit but not a definite receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit ‘subsequent to conversion. Whatever may be said for this view in other respects, it fails down on the evidence, which we have in the Acts of the Apostles. Of the six incidents, in only two was the Holy Spirit given at the moment of conversion, namely in the house of Cornelius’ and to the seekers at Pentecost. Even on these occasions one wonders whether a strong case can be built on them. We do not know the exact spiritual condition of the friends of Cornelius. If the others were like Cornelius then they could well have been regenerate, at least in the Old Testament sense. In the case of Pentecost there is an indication in what Peter said that baptism in water and the receiving of the Spirit were two parts of the same package rather than identical actions of God. It is possible that the Holy Spirit was received spontaneously at the moment of baptism, but we are not told that this happened. It is equally possible that something happened as in Ephesus (Acts 19)--namely that after baptism there was the laying-on of hands for the receiving of the Holy Spirit. But we don’t know for certain either way; we are only told that they were baptised 2:41).
The second view is that the Holy Spirit is given at baptism, or later at confirmation. This again does not fit the facts. In Acts 8 and 19 the Holy Spirit was given after baptism as a quite distinct operation. In Acts 10 he was given before baptism.
The third view is one that seems to confuse the baptism in the" Spirit with sanctification. It is true that repentance is a condition for receiving this promise from God, but there is no suggestion that this blessing was promised on condition of a holy life, nor will its immediate result be a state of entire sanctification. The blessing is connected in Scripture with justification rather than sanctification. This blessing is a free gift of God offered to all his children and able to be received by faith alone. Acts 15:8-9 is sometimes quoted in support of the view that this experience is primarily one of sanctification. But ff we examine the context we shall see that it is better interpreted by taking ‘cleansed’ in the ritual sense of being set apart for God. Peter almost certainly had in mind his dream when God revealed to him what was clean and unclean. In other words Peter is referring to the justification rather than the sanctification of Cornelius and his friends.
The view that seems to take cognisance of all the facts of the passages we have been looking at is that the baptism in the Spirit is a blessing received from Christ the Baptiser. ‘It is promised to every believer and may be received by faith from the moment of conversion onwards. It may precede or follow baptism, and is a clearly discernible experience so that every Christian should be able to answer definitely the question, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ In the New Testament it was part of normal Christian initiation, and primarily given that Christians might have supernatural power.
Readings
[Read, meditate, pray]
1. Acts 2:1-18 The believers receive Holy Spirit.2. Acts 2:14-42 New believers also receive.
3. Acts 8:4-24 Persecution, scattering, the Samaria experience.
4. Acts 9:1-19 Saul's conversion; Ananias' response.
5. Acts 10:1-48 The Holy Spirit at Caesarea
6. Acts 19:1-7 The Ephesus experienceQUESTIONS
1. Why is Luke, the writer of Acts, at pains to
explain just how many people were converted or filled with the Spirit?
See Acts 2:41 and Acts 19:7
2. What reasons does the author give for the delay in receiving the Holy Spirit at Samaria p42. Do you agree with his reasons? What part did prayer play in the Samaria experience of the Holy Spirit? [Acts 8]
3. What do you think of Simon's response to Peter in Acts 8:24? What else could he or should he have done?
4. What was the immediate effect of Ananias' prayer, with
laying on of hands, for Saul to be filled with Holy Spirit? p44
Consider or share how you would have felt if you had been an onlooker.
5. If you had been Ananias, what would have been your
first reaction to the Lord's command to go to Saul?
What does this say about your faith?
your need?
your hopes?
6. In what ways did God prepare for Saul's conversion and
filling with his Holy Spirit?
Where can you see God's hand in preparation in your own life in the Spirit?
We must now turn to a controversial aspect of this experience, and perhaps the-question that is asked more than any other--namely, ‘What about the gift of tongues?’ Do we have to speak in tongues to be baptised in the Spirit? Is speaking in tongues the initial evidence of this experience, or will another gift suffice?
Whatever may be the answer to these questions, there is an important part for signs to play, according to the Bible. Of the six stories we have referred to, in three of them everyone present spoke in tongues. It is not ‘clear in Acts 19 whether they all spoke in tongues and prophesied or spoke in tongues or prophesied. Otherwise it seems to have been given to everyone at Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius.
Signs abound in the Scriptures, and they are usually physical. Under the old covenant God gave the sign of circumcision; under the new baptism in water. It is only to insincere hypocrite’s that/he Lord usually denies signs. Jesus told his disciples that if they believed,’ certain signs would follow as a confirmation of the word, and one of these is ‘speaking in tongues’ (Mk 16:17). This sign seems to have been in the early church the normal accompaniment of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and in this sense can correctly be called the sign of this blessing.
The evidence for this can be found in the passages in the Acts, which we have just considered. Let us look again more closely at the instances in the Acts when Christian initiation is specifically mentioned.
At Pentecost (the disciples), in the house of Cornelius (the Gentiles) and at Ephesus (the ‘disciples of John the Baptist) there is a clear statement about speaking in tongues at the moment of reception. In the case of the Samaritans it is almost certain that they did, although it is not specifically mentioned. It is clear that when Peter and John laid their hands on the Samaritan Christians something dramatic happened--so striking and unusual that Simon the magician, who had for years amazed the Samaritans with his magic and had also seen miracles and exorcism under Philip’s ministry, wanted to buy it. (An alternative Greek manuscript has theasamenos in Acts 8:18, which is much stronger than idon and suggests that Simon’s eyes, speaking proverbially, popped out of his head.) Professor F.F. Bruce says,
The context leaves us in no doubt that their reception of the Spirit was attended by external manifestations such as had marked His descent on the earliest disciples at Pentecost. (2)
Most unbiased observers would agree that it is almost certain that they spoke in tongues as they received the Holy Spirit.
In the two other cases where we are not told how they received the Holy Spirit, we cannot argue one way or the other. But in the ease of Paul we know that he spoke in tongues from what he says in 1 Corinthians 14:18, although we are not told when he began to practise this gift.
It would be unwise to dogmatise on this evidence-but it is a good deal stronger than many people realise. If not conclusive, it is very compelling evidence that in the early church speaking in tongues normally accompanied the receiving of the Holy Spirit.
There are those who say that the fruit of the Spirit should be the evidence. An increase in such fruit should certainly be a result of this blessing. The transformation of the disciples from Pentecost onwards can be seen in a variety of striking ways. But it still holds true that at the moment they were filled with the Holy Spirit their response was to begin to speak in tongues ‘as the Spirit gave them utterance’ (Acts 2:4). Again it is of importance to notice that when the Holy Spirit fell on the household of Cornelius their response was to speak in tongues and extol God, and it was this alone that convicted the believers who came with Peter that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even upon despised Gentiles. (Compare Acts 11:17 with 10:46.)
Many people ask the question, ‘Must I speak in tongues when I am baptised in the Holy Spirit?’ I would suggest that it is the wrong kind of question to ask. The answer is clearly--no. God will not make us speak in tongues if we are unwilling to do so. Speaking in tongues--is indeed ‘every activity of the Holy Spirit-requires the active cooperation of the believer. God will never make us do anything if we are unwilling to co-operate with him. The question probably implies that the person does not want to speak in tongues. A ‘better question to ask is, ‘Can I speak in tongues when I am baptised in the Holy Spirit?’ The answer to this question is gloriously--yes. Speaking in tongues is described by the apostle Paul (in 1 Cor 14:2,4,15-16,22) as speaking to God, uttering mysteries in the Spirit, edifying oneself, praying with the spirit, singing with the spirit (when the Spirit inspires the melody), blessing with the spirit (giving thanks), and a sign to unbelievers. Such a wonderful list of purposes should encourage every Christian to want to speak in tongues. No wonder Paul said, ‘I want you all to speak in tongues’ (14:5). No wonder he writes that to forbid speaking in tongues is to disobey the command of the Lord and such a person is not to be recognised (14:37-39). It is an interesting reflection that in recent times it has sometimes been those who have spoken in tongues in the churches who have not been recognised,
A further question which is even more often asked is, ‘Can I receive the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Spirit, without speaking in tongues?’ The answer is that it is possible to receive this blessing and not at the same time speak in tongues. In the early church .it seems to have been the normal accompaniment of the receiving of the Holy Spirit. But there are factors in our day that were not present then and which obscure the matter for us. I refer particularly to ignorance, fear and prejudice. Plainly some know little or nothing about it, and others are afraid at the very thought of it, perhaps because they ‘think they are going to be ‘taken over’. ‘Prejudice can also be a barrier. Some have only heard negative things about it, and so have been brought up to reject it. Sometimes it is the very phrase that people object to. It might be better if we used a literal translation--’to speak in other languages’. That threatens no one.
We need to remember that in the early church speaking in tongues was a well-known gift. We call it a phenomenon, Paul didn’t. In 1 Corinthians there is no indication as he writes about this gift that he is handling anything unusual. Jesus had taught his disciples -about it before his ascension. There was none of that fear that seems to cripple so many Christians when they think about this subject. The early Christians had faith in the Holy Spirit and his discretion in the matter. Neither was there any prejudice--but rather Christians thanked God, as Paul did, for the benefit that this gift brought to them. Many of the early Christians were simple-minded people, ignorant and unlearned, for God chooses the foolish and the weak, the low and the despised in this world, and these people would have been more than grateful for a gift which, by-passing the mind, helped them to speak to God in the Spirit and worship and adore their Lord and Saviour in words they could never find. But it was not only the unlearned who were thankful, for the apostle Paul--a university graduate who had studied under one of the best teachers of his day--wrote years after his conversion, ‘I thank God that I speak [I continue regularly to speak]: in tongues more than you all’ (1 Cot 14:18). In his private devotions he seems to have poured out his heart in prayer in tongues---but he is swift to add that in public he would rather speak intelligibly so that the church might be edified. Have we got further than Paul in the life of the Spirit that we do not need this aid to prayer?
Alas, today this subject is beset with much ignorance, fear and prejudice, and we need to allow the Holy Spirit to set us free from these so that he can enable us to speak in tongues. Thus, there may be a time lag between our receiving the blessing and our speaking in tongues.
Another hindrance may be self-consciousness. Many a person receives this blessing at a public meeting where they may be too shy to speak in tongues in the presence of others. Often, as they go home, or when they reach the privacy of their bedrooms, they begin to praise God in this new language. We have known people receive just as in Cornelius’ house--as the word is being preached. It would have been most distracting if they had begun immediately to speak in tongues, and so they have waited until the meeting was over. Apparently the friends of Cornelius were not as inhibited as many of us-are, and did not wait. But Peter didn’t seem to mind his sermon being interrupted. The Holy Spirit is as gentle as a dove and respects our feelings in this matter.
Unbelief is often a hindrance. Jesus said, ‘These signs will accompany those who believe... they will speak in new tongues’ (Mk 16:17). As we shall be seeing, speaking in tongues requires faith whenever it is practised. A final word, then, to Christians seeking this blessing. Do now allow any of these things to rob you of the wonderful sign of this blessing which will continue to be a help to you through the Christian life. .
The gift is not meant only as a sign of blessing, though for many it fulfils that function well, It should be continuously used in prayer and praise, as a powerful tool in the service of the Lord. There are many times when, as Paul indicates in Romans 8:26, we neither know how to pray nor what to pray for, and so the Holy Spirit will help us in our weakness. There is always a need in our lives for Spirit-directed praying, and the gift of speaking in tongues is a great help. This is all the more reason why we should desire to have this gift, and why it is often given when we are filled with the Holy Spirit.
So far we have seen how the early Christians received this blessing. It is available today as it was then. Peter made this clear at the outset-’the promise is to... every one whom the Lord our God calls to him’ (Acts 2:39). If the blessing is the same, then we can take it that the conditions will be also.
The promised Holy Spirit is for all whom God calls to himself--in other words every committed Christian. Jesus made it clear that the Holy Spirit could not be received by everyone. In speaking of the Spirit of truth, he said that the world could not receive him ‘because it neither sees him nor knows him’ (Jn 14: 17). Church membership is not enough; we must know Christ as our personal Saviour and Lord before we are eligible to receive this blessing. Paul was careful to tell the twelve disciples of Ephesus about Jesus Christ before he was able to lay his hands upon them to receive the Holy Spirit.
We see this clearly in Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Paul writes, ‘Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "‘Abba, Father"’ (Gal 4:6). R is on the grounds of our sonship with God that we can pray that the Spirit of his Son should come into our hearts. Likewise in Luke 11:13 Jesus says that if our earthly fathers know how to give good things to their children, ‘how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.’
We must first believe in Christ for our forgiveness and justification--and then the blessing can be ours. Indeed the purpose, among other things, of our being redeemed from ‘the curse of the law’ is that ‘in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith’ (Gal 3:13-14).
But we also need to see ‘belief’ as part of our commitment to the lordship of Jesus. There were not two kinds of Christians in the New Testament--the committed and the ‘passengers’, the active and the passive. To say ‘Jesus is Lord’ meant everything to Christians then and to become a Christian sometimes cost them their lives. The church thrives when people really believe and trust Jesus Christ as Lord, but that faith needs to be part of something wider and larger--a commitment to a life of obedience to Christ.
‘Repent,’ said Peter, ‘... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38). Repentance is not the most popular word in the English language. R conjures up the most negative feelings in us, and we tend either to ignore it or to become so tense about it that it has the wrong kind of influence over us, and keeps us in a permanent condition of despair and condemnation. But in actual fact it is a word we ‘ought to welcome; for it’ has always been God’s way back for his’ people and should be associated with joy rather than sadness. Only when we resist or resent what God is calling us to does the whole experience become bad for
Many years ago a friend of mine visited the Mary Sisters of Darmstadt, where we had heard they laid great stress on repentance. I was interested to hear about his impressions. He assured me that the reports were true, but ‘they are so joyful about it’ he reassured me. When I visited Darmstadt for the first time I knew exactly what he meant. Here was a community of people who had discovered that the way of repentance was the way of joy.
A simple and sincere repentance is necessary to receive God’s blessing. In the early church as we have seen the baptism in the Spirit: was received normally at or very soon after conversion and water baptism--so the repentance necessary before there could be faith in Christ and baptism in water would have sufficed for this blessing too. But our situation may be different, since often time elapses between conversion and the baptism in the Spirit, sometimes many years, and unconfessed sin hinders the receiving of this blessing. Confession, renunciation of all known sin and if necessary restitution may have to precede this blessing, and we need to ask God to search our hearts, so that we know whether this is true or not.
In Acts 5:32 Peter and the apostles told the High Priest that God gave the Holy Spirit ‘to those who obey him’. Obedience, therefore, is another condition of receiving ‘the promise of the Father’. Any form of rebelliousness against God or what he has allowed Us to experience in life, or against any part of his revealed word or laws, will hinder us from receiving this blessing.
‘ and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38).
Faith is necessary for both baptism and the receiving of the Spirit. ‘He who believes and is baptised will be saved,’ said Jesus--and he will not recognise baptism as valid without faith. The commandment of the Head of the church was that his people should ‘make disciples’ and then baptise them in the name of the Trinity (Mt 28: 19). Alas, there are many baptised people today both inside and outside our churches who do not have a personal faith in Jesus Christ. But faith is also essential for the reception of this blessing of the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was in response to the disciples’ faith in Jesus Christ. For Peter, when reporting to the church at Jerusalem what had happened in the home of Cornelius, said that God had given the same gift to them ‘as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 11:17).
Paul had to remind the Christians in Galatia, who were becoming infected with legalism, that they received the Holy Spirit ‘by hearing with faith’ (Gal 3:2,5). The ability to speak in tongues which often accompanies the receiving of this blessing is as we have seen, also given by the Holy Spirit in answer to our faith --’these ‘signs will accompany those who believe... they will speak in new tongues’. (Mk 16:17).
We must, therefore, first see the promise as a word from Christ and then take a step of faith and receive what he has promised. ‘We conclude,’ says Paul, ‘that faith is awakened by the message, and the message that awakens it comes through the word of Christ’ (Romans 10:17 New English Bible). Let the word of Christ, ‘I will send the Holy Spirit to you’, ring in our ears and awaken faith in us to receive the promise (Jn 15:26).
It is interesting and revealing to notice how often prayer is associated with this blessing. It is noticeable, for instance, that Jesus himself was in prayer when the Holy Spirit came upon him at his baptism in Jordan (Luke 3:21-22). Jesus tells us that the Father gives the Holy Spirit ‘to those who ask him’ (Luke 11:13). Now the context of this verse is important. Jesus had just told the parable of the friend who comes at night hungry and in search of hospitality, and this parable is clearly-linked With the parable that follows it about a father and his children, and both are about prayer. But we need to notice that the friend is given food at midnight not because he is his friend but because of his ‘importunity’. The primary meaning of this word apparently is ‘shamelessness’. Dr R.A., Torrey comments,’ ‘It is the persistent determination in prayer to God that will not be put to shame by any apparent refusal on God’s part to grant the thing that we ask. (3) We may need the spirit of wrestling Jacob, who would not let God go until he had blessed him (Gen 32:26). But let us beware of thinking that we shall be heard for our ‘much’ praying’, or the intensity of this praying. God always looks on the heart, and when he sees that our heart’s desire is for this blessing he will give it to us. But when our mind and not our heart is in it--we may well have to wait.
We will always find, when we look back on our search for this promise of God to his people, that the reasons why we don’t receive immediately are always our own failures--never God’s. So many of us have been brought up as Christians not-to expect God to honour his word or keep his promises, so that we are very surprised when he does. It is as true today as it was in Jesus’ day that faith is sometimes to be’ found more definitely among so-called ‘unbelievers’ than among those of us who claim to be ‘believers’. God never fails his people. He is 100% reliable. But we fail God many times because of the weakness or shallowness of our faith.
There are no hard and fast techniques to this blessing. Naked faith based on the promise of Christ is the main ‘ ingredient. The laying-on of hands is certainly scriptural, but seems to have been optional’ in the early church and is definitely not a prerequisite. Some people receive on their own; others when they are prayed for, and the imposition of human hands does encourage faith and acts as a kind of ‘human conductor’ which many have found decisive when it comes to the moment of faith to receive this baptism in the Holy Spirit.
It is good to seek the help of others who have received this blessing. The record of the early church is clear that God does use others. It was Ananias who was commissioned by God to bring this blessing to Saul of Tarsus, while Peter was told by the Holy Spirit to go to Caesarea to minister ‘to Cornelius. Indeed the day of Pentecost is the only exception in the recorded instances where there is no human intermediary, though as this was the first occasion it is not surprising.
So we seek to fulfil the conditions and in prayer we ask the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit and Jesus to baptise us in the same Spirit. As our prayer is answered and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, so we should begin to speak in tongues as the Spirit gives us utterance.
Finally, let us deal with the practical matter of how we actually speak in other tongues. There is much misunderstanding over this. Some people are puzzled as to whether it is we who speak or the Holy Spirit. The answer is--both. It is a glorious partnership. David du Plessis has put it simply: ‘Without the Holy Spirit we cannot speak in tongues, without us the Holy Spirit will not.’ Cecil Cousen has written about this:
Speaking in tongues is a perfect illustration of the nature of the whole purpose of the enduement with power from on high... an ideal symbol of the communion of the Holy Spirit...; He has all the ability to speak in a language unknown to me. (4)
Let us then look closely at the one occasion in the New Testament when we are told how people spoke in tongues--the day Of Pentecost. We are told ‘they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance’. (Acts 2:4). Here we see this delicate partnership at work. It is like a game of chess that two people play. One person makes the first move, but cannot move again until his opponent has made his move.
There are three moves in the baptism in the Holy Spirit. God always makes the first move, but will not make his second move (enabling us to speak in tongues) until we have made our move (and begin to speak). We must speak out in faith, however strange it may sound. Some people at Pentecost thought the disciples were drunk. We do not speak in English, for it is impossible to speak two languages at once. When we speak in tongues we do ‘not use the mind to speak--Paul says that his mind was ‘unfruitful’ when he spoke in tongues (1 Cor 14:14)--but rather our mind concentrates on Jesus, and our lips are liberated by the Spirit to praise God in a new language. When we begin to speak in tongues for the first time it is such a strange and unusual experience for us that we are tempted sometimes to carry out some immediate linguistic research. This means we stop speaking and have a good look at it. What is really happening is that we are taking our eyes off the Lord? Like Peter when he was walking on the water this usually proves fatal. Speaking in tongues is not given to us to titillate our intellects or to give us something new to think about. It is given as a tool to help us praise God and refresh our spirits. It opens up our spiritual life to new dimensions of usefulness and service of the Lord. It should, therefore, be used in the way it was intended. Once we have begun to speak we should not stop, but keep on going. Neither should we be satisfied with a few words or a slender vocabulary. The Lord wants us to have a full flowing prayer language, and so it is something that he will go on adding to in the coming days as we open up more and more of our life to him.
Readings
[Read, meditate, pray]
1. Galatians 5:22 The fruits of the Spirit
2. Acts 11:17 and 10:46 Compare these two
3. 1 Cor 14:2,4,15,16,22 More on the gift of tongues.
4. 1 Cor 14:37-39 To forbid tongues is to disobey.
5. Mark 16:17 Signs in believers
6. Acts 2:28 and Acts 5:32 Promise and obedience
QUESTIONS
1. Why does the author suggest that, "Must I speak in tongues when I am baptised in the Holy Spirit?" is the wrong kind of question? What is a better question to ask?
2. Why, do you think, the phrase, "Speaking in tongues", puts some people off? How would you explain speaking in tongues to someone who is doubtful? How does the author explain it?
3. What is the gift of speaking in tongues given for?
4. What are the four necessary conditions for receiving the blessing of Baptism
in the Holy Spirit?
Which one is the most difficult for you? Why is this so?
5. Is there a difference between "Belief" and "Faith"?
Consider and share what these words mean for you.
6. Is there any practical flow on from speaking in tongues?
If so, what?
7. What is the difference between praying with the heart and praying with the mind?
8. The author speaks fo "three moves in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit." What are they? Would you say that this has been your experience?
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