After I received the Holy Spirit, I received tongues about a year later. Years later I received Christ. So the soteriological position position holds I was BHS when I received the Holy Ghost, and tongues was released with the prayer later on? What about other gifts? And Derek Prince example of a great covering BHS making him laugh in the barracks, what is this?
Much the same happened to me where it was maybe 18 months after I was Born Again before I began to speak in tongues. This is why so many of us are happy to accept the classic-Pentecostal position of
subsequence; afterall, it happened to so many of us this way then it must be true!
The problem here is that prior to this happening most of us had absolutely no idea that every Christian is able to allow the Holy Spirit to operate this way through them. As the denominations that we were in were “ignorant of the spiritual things”, we were just as ignorant as they were. If I had come to know the Lord in a Full Gospel church instead of a cessationist church, I would have been able to pray in the Spirit probably from day one, where the BHS with the evidence of speaking in tongues would have been soteriological (at the moment of salvation) instead of subsequence (subsequent to our initial salvation).
Now I would really value sitting in a classroom of Regent students as they would come from a wide range of backgrounds along with differing understandings of the BHS. For those students who have not yet had an opportunity to look through books by scholars such as Carson, Fee, Grudem, Withington, Thiselton and the like, it would be intriguing to see the outcome of their studies.
It’s interesting, when it comes to the books
Showing the Spirit (Carson),
First Corinthians (Fee)
and Gift of Prophecy (Grudem), over my time on this forum I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions how these three books that were released in 1987/88 had a major impact on the church. Carson’s book is an easy read and Grudems book on prophecy is only slightly more indepth but it contains a lot of stimulating information. As for Fee’s
First Corinthians, as Fee is an exegetical scholar his work is certainly more indepth but once you get into chapters 12, 13 & 14 maybe for the first time, then your technical knowledge will increase exponentially, though I am of the opinion that Fee was wrong in a few very important areas.
Then there’s Dunns important work from 1975 (he is neither a Pentecostal nor a charismatic) which forced many Pentecostal commentators to re-think their understanding of the BHS. Dunn pointed out the glaring weaknesses with the classic-Pentecostal position of subsequence where it probably took another 10 or 15 years before there were any Pentecostal scholars who were capable of addressing his objections. The AoG scholar Gordon D Fee agrees with Dunn in that the BHS is not one of
subsequence but where it is
soteriological. Fee and Grudem's books can be read almost as a novel but Fee's work is more of a reference took that you refer to when the need arises; it tends to be a good read particularly when you have lots of
caffeine coffee on hand.
Unfortunately, when it comes to Derek Prince I probably haven't read any of his material for at least 30 years so I can't really comment.
Once you've gone through the course you will definately have to obtain Anthony C. Thiseltons
First Corinthians (2000) as his massive work summarises all of the important views regarding the BHS and tongues. I am currently going through his 21 pages on tongues (actually 1Cor 12:10c) which has helped me a lot.