(7): BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT & the Charismatic Gifts

When anyone begins speaking of Baptism in the Holy Spirit being for Christians today, someone who accepts the traditional Restoration Movement position is likely to object, “That’s Pentecostalism! That means you believe in speaking in tongues and doing miracles today – and we know that the age of miraculous gifts is over!”

Actually, my position on the baptizing in the Spirit does not address the question of whether it is possible now to speak in tongues or to work miracles. That resides in the question, “Is the age of miraculous gifts over?” The traditional position conflates those two into one issue, but primarily on the strength of a theory of varying measures of the Holy Spirit.

Measures of the Holy Spirit

This theory rests on John 3:34 in the King James Version. That text reads:

For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

Notice that unto him is in italics, which means these words are added by the King James translators. Why did they add them? Probably because they were in the earlier English versions, which were translated from the Latin Vulgate, not from the Greek. They are not in most later translation, even including the New King James.

Yet, these words form the foundation for a theory that God gives the Spirit by measure to men, but only to Jesus does He give the Spirit without measure. This theory has the following:

• Without Measure – to Jesus
• The Baptismal Measure – to the apostles (and possibly to Cornelius) who were the only ones baptized in the Holy Spirit
• The “Miraculous Measure” – to those on whom the apostles laid hands to impart the miraculous gifts
• The “Indwelling Measure” – to all Christians

None of this has direct support from the Scripture. It is all built on inferences, starting by inferring that words not even in the text mean that if God did not give the Spirit by measure to Jesus, He must give it by measure to others. Then the expositors searched to identify different measures of the Spirit.

This is not reading the Bible to see what it says; it is reading into it what we want it to say. It is a theory built on pure supposition. Yet, this is what I heard constantly as I was growing up in traditional Restoration Movement Churches of Christ. Many still teach this fabrication.

So, what does the Baptism of the Holy Spirit have to do with the miraculous gifts?

The Pentecostal Position & Our Traditional Response

Pentecostals argue that speaking in tongues is a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. See, for example, the following quote from Tom Brown, who is unabashedly Pentecostal:

You see, the physical proof of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the same evidence that the disciples had: speaking in tongues. You may have other evidences as well, but the one evidence you should have is speaking in tongues.

Or, consider this, also from a Pentecostal:

We do note that the scripture in JOHN 4 defines ‘true worshippers’, indicating there would be worshippers (but not ‘true’ ones) whose worship is not accepted by God because their prayers are not in the Spirit (i.e. praying to God in the new tongues He gives).

True worshipers must worship “in spirit,” which (as above) some insist means speaking in tongues. If you do not worship by speaking in tongues at least some of the time, you are not a true worshiper. The above author tries to evade the import of the question in 1 Corinthians 12:30, “Do all speak in tongues,” as follows:

In this passage, Paul is talking about public ministry gifts that are manifested in the church. He is not talking about tongues as the initial sign of the baptism in the Spirit, nor is he talking about tongues as a private, devotional, prayer language.

This assumes what he wants to establish – that the tongues spoken of in this verse are exercised in the assembly of the saints. The questions are not: “Are all apostles in the assembly? Are all prophets in the assembly? Are all teachers in the assembly? Do all work miracles in the assembly? Do all have gifts of healing in the assembly? Do all speak in tongues in the assembly? Do all interpret in the assembly? But eagerly desire the greater gifts in the assembly.”

What does the text say?

Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. – 1 Corinthians 12:29-31

He then went on to describe the greatness of love in chapter 13 and how to use the assembly for edifying the saints, instead of puffing up one’s own sense of importance and spirituality. (Compare 1 Corinthians 8:1 “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” with 1 Corinthians 14:4 “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself [i.e., “builds up” himself], but he who prophesies edifies the church.”)

In short, Pentecostals believe all Christians should expect to speak in tongues, and that if they do not speak in tongues, something is wrong with their faith in Christ.

Countering the Pentecostal Position: Traditional Way

The traditional argument against Pentecostalism is based on the “Measures of the Holy Spirit” theory. Basically, the traditional argument allows the Pentecostal to define what it means to be baptized in the Spirit. The Pentecostal argues:

• Major Premise: Baptism in the Spirit gives miraculous Spiritual gifts, e.g. speaking in tongues.
• Minor Premise: All Christians are (or should be) baptized in the Holy Spirit.
• Therefore, All Christians do (or should be able to) speak in tongues, etc.

The traditional counter has been to concede the Pentecostal’s major premise. Thus, the traditionalist has little objection to the definition of the baptism in the Spirit offered by the Pentecostal. Instead, he objects to the Pentecostal’s minor premise that all are baptized in the Holy Spirit. The syllogism for this argument looks like this:

• Major Premise: The “baptismal measure” and the “miraculous measure” of the Holy Spirit give miraculous Spiritual gifts, e.g. speaking in tongues.
• Minor Premise: Only the apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit and only those whom the apostles laid their hands had the miraculous measures of the Spirit.
• Therefore, the miracles have ceased because there are no living apostles and all on whom apostles laid their hands have long since died.

As you can see, this is a convoluted argument. Not only that, the minor premise contradicts what appears to be the clear teaching of 1 Corinthians 12:13. (See here for a fuller discussion of this.)

For we were all baptized by [in] one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

When the Pentecostal sees this syllogism, he merely quotes 1 Corinthians 12:13 – and walks away, shaking his head.

Countering the Pentecostal Position: A Better Way

A better response is to stay in the context of 1 Corinthians 12, as in the following:

• All Christians are baptized in the One Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13).
• Not All Christians are apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, have gifts of healing, speak in tongues, or interpret tongues (1 Corinthians 12:29-31).
• Therefore, baptism in the Holy Spirit is not what gives these miraculous gifts.

In this case, each premise of the syllogism comes directly from the Scripture with what I believe to be an accurate understanding of the texts involved. The conclusion certainly appears to follow from the premises, so the syllogism appears (to me, anyway) to be a true one.

Then Where Do Tongues, etc. Come From?

Again, staying within the context of 1 Corinthians 12, we can note the following:

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. – 12:7

Paul then enumerates various Spiritual gifts or “manifestations” of the Spirit: the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues (12:8-10). He then adds:

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines. – 12:11

All of the gifts come from the Spirit; the Spirit gives each gift to whom He (not we) determine. Yet, in spite of this, we are all baptized into this Spirit whom we are given to drink.

Some may object that this does not show that miraculous gifts have ceased. That is right. It does not. It leaves open the possibility that the Spirit might still choose to give miraculous gifts. What it does do, along with the later part of 1 Corinthians 12:31, is to take the emphasis off of the miraculous gifts that are so easy to abuse or to imitate. See, for example, 1 Corinthians 14 (abuse of gifts) and Acts 8 where Simon the Sorcerer’s pretended miracles gave him the name, The Great One.

In other words, we do not need to worry about Spiritual gifts of healings, tongues, etc – except to try every spirit to see if it is from God (1 John 4:1).

How do we do that? I see at least four tests by which we try the spirits. The first three are the tests Moses gave to Israel to determine if a prophet were a true prophet. The fourth comes from Jesus.

1. Does the prophet speak in the name of the Lord (Deuteronomy 13:1)? For us, it is not merely asking if the person says, “Lord, Lord,” but also if he exalts Jesus as Lord – for none can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.
2. Does what the prophet says come to pass (Deuteronomy 18:22)? This applies specifically to those times when prophets foretell future events. If they do, do the events occur as the prophet said they would?
3. If what the prophet says will happen does come to pass, does he turn you away from the commands of the Lord (Deuteronomy 13:2-5)? For us, this would be the equivalent of what Paul said in Galatians 1:8 – “If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel that what we have preached, let him be eternally condemned.”
4. What is the fruit of this spirit? The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). A different spirit leads to a different result. James said, “But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice” (James 3:14-16). Or as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:37, “If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.”

This different approach is not a formula for wild excess or subjective license. It is governed and tested by the Word of God and by the character of the person claiming the spiritual gift. Nor is it a “box” in which we put God that restricts Him from doing what He wills to do in this or any other generation.

In the final post of this series, I look briefly at what being baptized in the Holy Spirit does mean for the child of God.

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