The Power of Tongues

This is one of the arguably one of the most disputed topics in the body of Christ today. Quite a number of believers have no problem with believing in the Holy Spirit, but when it comes to speaking in tongues, people start to differ. If the devil won’t stop people from getting saved, he will stop them from receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If he can’t stop them from receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he will stop them from speaking in tongues. He does this through the same technique: undermining or diminishing the benefits of either receiving Christ, receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or the power of speaking in tongues. If you esteem something as important, you will do whatever it takes to use it and make the most of it. If you esteem something as “not so important”, you won’t spend much time on it. By making it seem like Christ is not that important, the devil has kept people from Him. By making it seem like the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not that important, he has kept people from receiving the baptism. By making it seem like speaking in tongues is not that important, he has kept people from the benefits of speaking in tongues.

Through this teaching we want to establish what tongues are, who can speak in tongues, talk about the two types of tongues, and finally look at the benefit of speaking in tongues.

What are tongues?

As Jesus was leaving earth, He made a few statements of what believers will be expected to do, soon as He left:

Mark 16:16-18

"He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.  ¹⁷ "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;  ¹⁸ "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

One of the things the believers will be expected to do once they put their faith in Jesus was to speak with new tongues. Notice this does not talk about just ministers, or even just the apostles He was talking to, but generally believers. Later on, a few days after Jesus made this statement and He had told them not to leave Jerusalem until they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), when they were gathered in the upper room, the Holy Spirit fell on them and they all started to speak with new tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4). So the first manifestation or evidence that they were filled with the Holy Spirit was speaking in tongues.

So, from this, we can conclude that tongues are an enablement one receives when they receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when they are filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a heavenly language that one gets to speak in when they put their faith in Jesus.

Are tongues still valid?

There have been debates as to whether today people can still speak in tongues, or whether this gift died with the disciples. The answer to this is found in Peter’s first sermon, to the people who wondered why they were speaking in unknown language, and accusing them of drunkenness, when they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit:

Acts 3:38-39

Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

Peter was telling them that if they thought what they (the disciples of Christ) had was a good thing and exciting, then they also could get it, by repenting and accepting Christ. The “gift of the Holy Spirit” here refers to the gift of speaking in tongues, and this is the promise Jesus gave in Mark 16:17. Peter was echoing what Jesus said, that whoever believes in Him will speak with new tongues. Peter went on to dispel the doubt that this gift was restricted to the apostles only, by saying that the promise is to the people present and their children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord will call. Before Jesus died and resurrected, we were considered as aliens to the commonwealth of Israel. We were cut off from the life of God, and the blood of Jesus brought us nearer:

Ephesians 2:11-13, 17-19

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- ¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

¹⁷ And He [Christ] came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…

So Peter in talking about those who are afar off was talking about Gentiles, which is us, who are not Jews by natural birth. This shows us that every believer can receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Do I have to speak in tongues?

The other question usually asked by many is whether one has to speak in tongues after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that everyone who believes will speak with new tongues (Mk. 16:17). When the Holy Spirit first fell on the disciples, they all spoke with new tongues (Acts 2:1-4). In other instances in the book of Acts when there is mention of people receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the immediate evidence is speaking in tongues (Acts 10:44-46, 19:1-6). If this was the trend in the first church, I don’t see why it should change now, that the evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit ceases to be speaking in tongues. There are three ways the Holy Spirit relates with someone:

John 14:16-17

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--

¹⁷ "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Acts 1:8

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…

• The Holy Spirit with someone. Before Jesus died and resurrected, the Holy Spirit was restricted to His body alone. None of the disciples had the Holy Spirit in them, as they were not born again, not regenerated. All this while, the Holy Spirit was with them, in Christ. This is the position the Holy Spirit occupies with unbelievers; He is with them, and cannot be in them, as they have no room for Him in them. Until when they are born again, regenerated, they cannot have the Holy Spirit in them, as He has no place to dwell in them. When they are born again, their spirit is recreated by the Word of God, and now God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit can dwell in them (1 Pet. 1:23, Tit. 3:5, Rom. 5:5, Rev. 3:20, Jn. 14:23).
• When Jesus died and resurrected, He appeared to them and breathed the Holy Spirit on the disciples, telling them to receive the Holy Spirit (Jn. 20:22). At this point the Holy Spirit came in them. After the death and resurrection of Christ, since they believed in Jesus, the Holy Spirit now had a dwelling in them, and so Jesus breathed on them and they started having the Spirit in them. The Words of Jesus in John 14:17 came to pass, where the Holy Spirit started to be in them. This is what happens to every believer, when they accept Christ. The Holy Spirit comes in us, bringing along the love of God, His power, alongside the fruit of the Spirit (Rom. 5:5, 8:9,11, Gal. 5:22-23, 2 Tim. 1:7).
• Even after Jesus breathed the Spirit in the disciples, He told them not to start witnessing or even depart from Jerusalem, but wait until the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). This happened in Acts 2:1-4, when they Spirit fell on them, and they started speaking in tongues.

The best way to visualise this would be using a glass of water. If you take an empty glass and sink it in a basin full of water, without the water coming into the glass, you can’t say that the water is in the glass, nor can you say that the water is upon the glass. This is an unbeliever; the Holy Spirit is in the world, but they don’t have Him. He is with them, but not in them nor upon them. When you sink the glass further and some water comes in the glass, the glass now has water in it. This water has not taken over the glass completely yet, so you cannot say that the water has come upon the glass. The water is just in the glass. If you immerse the glass completely in the basin of water and the water fills it to the brim to the extent of the glass brim being covered by the water, now you can say that the water has come upon the glass, after filling it. When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, He fills us and comes upon us, so that we no longer have Him in us, but upon us. He no longer has some part of you, but the whole of you.

Looking at what I’ve shared on the relations of the Spirit with the disciples, we see that they didn’t start speaking in tongues when Jesus breathed on them in John 20:22, when they received the Spirit in them; they started speaking in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a sign that He has come upon someone. He takes over someone. The Bible says that if one can control the tongue, they can control the whole body (Jas. 3:2-12). It also says that no one can tame the tongue (verse 8). When the Holy Spirit fills someone, the first sign is them speaking in tongues. Why? Because He is the only One who can tame the tongue, and the sign that He has taken over the whole body is one speaking in tongues, an indication that He has taken over the tongue, and consequently the whole body. Just like an overflow of water in a glass is the sign that it is full, speaking in tongues is a sign that one is full of the Holy Spirit. 

In the next teaching we'll look at The Type of Tongues, and The Importance of Speaking in Tongues. 

Grace and Peace to You!

-- Sam Gitonga.

Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry. 

Brother Sam is the Youth Leader at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.