June 16, 2012
Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. -- Ephesians 6: 18
I am convinced that what passes for the gift of tongues today is not what the Apostle Paul wrote about in his epistles. While this may be so, it requires more detailed research and prayer before being tackled as a subject for devotional. Today however, I want to discuss an offshoot of some of the poor theology regarding tongues. Realize today that a great many people in evangelical circles use the manifestation of tongues as a show of spiritual superiority over others. A means to feel and act spiritually smug. Measuring the level of one's spirituality by their usage of tongues is not Scriptural and is spiritually abusive.
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives--especially the ability to prophesy. For if you have the ability to speak in tongues, you will be talking only to God, since people won't be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit, but it will all be mysterious. But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church. -- 1Corinthians 14: 1-4 (NLT)
When we laud giftings over others, love is clearly not our highest goal. Let us set the backdrop for a discussion on tongues. There are three manifestations of tongues discussed in the Bible. The first is the gift of tongues is a private prayer language:
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. -- Romans 8: 26 (NLT)
This is what is often referred to as our heavenly prayer language; where we can get so close to God or desperate in prayer that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in a heavenly language. The second manifestation is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit:
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. -- Acts 2: 1-4 (NLT)
The term baptism in the Holy Spirit goes as far back as John the Baptist who said that one was coming who would baptize us with fire. The tongues in this case were clearly other actual languages known on earth. Early missionaries for the Assemblies of God would report being able to speak in languages they did not know as they ministered in foreign countries. This is where the term Pentecostal comes from. It denotes that we believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as evidenced by the speaking in tongues. It is a ONE TIME event and note that the belief is what makes one Pentecostal, not the experience. I have known pastors who waited decades before receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The final manifestation is known as the gift of tongues:
To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. -- 1Corinthians 12: 8-11 (NIV)
Clearly here Paul is teaching about a gift of the Spirit that has nothing to do with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and nothing to do with a private prayer language. Yet through the centuries we have seen these homogenized to the point where it appears that someone has a prophetic word for the church but feels compelled to speak in tongues first. Clearly when this happens it is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit nor is it their private prayer language. It is the expression of a gift of the Spirit. The Corinthian Church was obviously having some issues with people who wanted to speak in tongues, much the way the modern Pentecostal church has the same attention drawing spirit at work. Paul plainly teaches that it should be far more desirable to prophesy than to speak in tongues.
This brings us to the key verse from Ephesians. The doctrinal error I see more and more is the notion that people have the "ability" to pray in the spirit on their own volition and that this is somehow a sign of being more spiritual than others. Neither of which are Scriptural. To begin with when someone is speaking in tongues during a church service it is not "prayer." Prayer is the act of conversing with God, not a congregation. For further proof just listen to the translations and you will not hear anything that sounds like a prayer to God. Instead, you will probably hear what sounds like a word of prophecy from God to the church.
Likewise, the notion that one being able to self-manifest the private prayer language is equally unsupported in Scripture. Looking at the aforementioned Romans verse we see that there is a condition that must be reached before the Holy Spirit intervenes with the heavenly prayer language. That condition is we must be at a place where we don't know what God wants us to pray for. I have seen too many people who randomly speak in tongues during a church service or when they are praying before a service that clearly do not meet these criteria. They are praying in English and are lucid, then lapse into babble, and then right back into lucid English. It is not a private prayer language and not the baptism of the Holy Spirit therefore assuming the person is sincere, it by default is the gift of tongues whether being handled correctly or incorrectly. Either way, it is not "praying in the spirit."
Then what does the key verse mean when it speaks about praying in the spirit? I turn to two of the more popular expositions of the Bible and commentaries and see a recurring theme that makes much more sense:
that a man should pray as often as he has an opportunity; and particularly, that he should make use of it in times of darkness, desertion, and temptation: and this, when performed aright, is performed "in the Spirit"; with the heart, soul, and spirit engaged in it; it is put up with a true heart, and a right spirit, and without hypocrisy; in a spiritual way, and with fervency, and under the influence, and by the assistance of the Spirit of God. -- John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
That it should be εν -νε-...μαÏ"ι, in or through the Spirit - that the heart should be engaged in it, and that its infirmities should be helped by the Holy Ghost -- Clarke's Commentary on the Bible.
I think sometimes we can get lazy in our prayers. We can have a pre-set of things we repeat but never dig down deep into ourselves to reveal anything crucial to God. Perhaps we are uncomfortable with prayer or we have a recurring sin issue which keeps us at a distance from Him. The point being that the overall context of Ephesians 6 is that of spiritual warfare -- not the organization of a church service. When Paul says to pray in the spirit he is saying that our prayer life needs to be taken seriously, and we need to have a right heart about what we are praying for. Free from hypocrisy -- seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Having the Spirit of God inside of us examine our hearts and see what needs to be corrected before we can even approach God for the prayers we need in this life. We use the Christianism "walking in the Spirit" to denote a life that is bowed to the will of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, praying in the Spirit denotes a prayer life that is bowed to the will of the Holy Spirit. Not that it is a water faucet, where we are able to control the flow of a heavenly prayer language that is clearly initiated by God and not ourselves.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. -- Philippians 2: 3 (NIV)
There is too much vanity and ambition in the modern
manifestation of tongues in the church and most of it is simply not supported
by Scripture. Don't let anyone judge your level of spirituality based upon
anything, let alone poor theology. Approach God as the humble publican, not the
proud Pharisee.
Rev. Anthony
