November 1927
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Is Speaking In Tongues Essential? B y D r . A. J. M c C onnelee Gujranwala, India
enduement of the Holy Spirit. May we ask those who thus argue to note : , (1) The experience of the disciples at Pentecost, as we have shown in a previous article, cannot be taken as normal for any believer of the present day. But should insistence be made that it was a normal experience and that no one is endued with the Spirit until he literally speaks in tongues “as at the beginning,” then we would ask our Pentecostal friends to stand by their own inter pretation of these words, without any twists and turns. It would mean that no one was then, and no one has ever since been, and no one is now, endued until he speaks in a known language, though, at the time of his speaking, to him unknown ; :for that is. what was done “at the be ginning.” (2) At Caesarea and at Ephesus the speaking in tongues accompanied the baptism, not the enduement, of the Holy Spirit. We have already seen that in the cases of the disciples in both these cities this baptism was re generation. So, then, if this sign is to be expected at all, Caesarea and Ephesus would teach us that it may be ex pected from people who are being born anew into the Church, not from those who are already believers. (3) On all three of the above-named occasions, this sign came without any “ seeking” on the part of those who obtained it, and even without their knowing that there was such a thing as “speaking in tongues,” (4) At each of the three occasions, “all spoke in tongues,” and this power was given to them at the one and same meeting. In other words, they received the be stowal as a body, not as individuals. In view of the above, modern Pentecostalism cannot claim to be modeled on Acts 2 \4, or Acts 10:46, or Acts 19:6. T h e S pecial G if t O f ,U n k n ow n T ongues But a further phase of the teaching of Pentecostal ism is that not only is the one “utterance” in tongues given to every believer as the Scriptural evidence that he has received “his baptism” of the Spirit, but also that certain persons may receive, over and above and distinct from their first initial “utterance,” the gift of tongues —a gift which may be used whenever the re cipient may desire or the occasion may demand. The Pen tecostals quote the 12th and 14th chapters of 1 Corinth ians as authority for this doctrine. And here we agree they stand on sure and solid ground. But let it be noted that the possession of this tongue “gift” has little, if anything, to do with the fulness of the Spirit. For—- ,(1) The Corinthian Church*;; where this gift abounded, was, as we have already seen, not a Church characterized with a marked degree of spiritual life and power. Dr. Andrew Murray says: “The carnal state may be found in existence in connection with great spir itual gifts. We see this illustrated among the Corinthians. In the 12th and 14th chapters of 1 Corinthians we see that the gifts of prophecy and working miracles were in great power among them, but the graces of the Spirit were noticeably absent.
NE of the peculiar tenets of Pentecostalism is " that the reception of the fulness of the Spirit is always evidenced by speaking in tongues. Although some of the Pentecostals may wish to hedge on this point, yet from the fact that none of them considered that they themselves had received “their baptism” until they had this evidence, and further from the fact that this is what they insist on for all their “seekers,” we have to state this as their position. In Pictures o f Pentecost, by Alice Evelyn Luce, pub lished by the Central Pentecostal Publishing House, at Springfield, Missouri, we read: “During the past thirteen years, a ‘Latter-Rain’ outpouring of the Holy Spirit has been vouchsafed, beginning with a little group of colored people in Los Angeles, California. Since then this bap tism of the Holy Spirit [by “baptism” they mean the en- duement of the Spirit] has been received by many thou sands in all parts of the world. Physical manifestations vary in individual cases; some receive Him in stillness, and a deep hush of awe; others with exuberant joy and shouting; but in every case the initial evidence that the Comforter has come in with the enduement of power, has been His taking possession of the yielded lips and speak ing through them in other tongues." In support of -this view the Pentecostals make ref erence to Mark 16 :17, where it is written, “And these signs shall accompany them that believe . . . . they shall speak with, new tongues.” Perhaps in answer it will be suffi cient to note that this text does not appear relevant to this subject) for the “signs following” are not said to accompany those who receive the fulness of the Spirit, but those that “believe.” This included the "weak in faith” as well as the strong, the carnal believers as well as the spiritual. All were in that company of which it was said, “These signs shall accompany them that believe.” S igns F eatures O f P entecostalism Another passage quoted in support of the “signs” feature of Pentecostalism is Acts 11:15, where we read, “The Holy Spirit fell on them [the Gentiles] even as on us [the Jews] at the beginning,” the words emphasized being “as at the beginning.” If these words be under stood to mean sameness in the physical manifestations or outward evidences, then it should be noted that even at Caesarea and at Ephesus they did not have the same signs as at Pentecost] At neither of the latter do we read of “the mighty rushing wind/’ or of “the tongues as of fire.” And certainly the duplication of these signs is not found in modern Pentecostal gatherings. But a careful, reading of the passage under consideration will surely show that the words "as at the beginning” do not refer to the method or nwnner of the coming of the Holy Spirit, but to the fact of His coming. He came at Pentecost, and, the Apostle asserts, the same thing took place at Caesarea. But, from the fact that the Holy Spirit came with “tongues” at Pentecost, and then later at Caesarea came with a similar manifestation, and still later in a similar way, at Ephesus, some may deduce that “speaking in tongues” was then, and is still, the sign and seal of the
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