What do Baptists believe about speaking in tongues?

DaveW-Ohev said:

Then there is Rav Sh'aul - or the apostle Paul. Some count him as in the 12 even though he in no way fits the criteria in Acts 1. I do not.

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But scripture does say he had a close encounter of the God-kind with Jesus on the Damascus road.

And Paul does say:

"And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." -1 Cor. 15:8 (KJV)

So in one sense, Paul does fit at least one of the critera.

He did see the resurrected Lord.

DaveW-Ohev said:

And then there is the book of Hebrews. We have no record of who wrote it. My opinion is Apollos. Others think it was Barnabas, (who WAS listed as an apostle) and some even put forth Priscilla or Junia. What we know is it was written about the same time as Paul and Peter being martyred, and before the destruction of the temple.

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Having studied Hebrews in the Greek, while I admit nobody knows for sure who wrote it, it does closely match the language used by Paul. It also matches the language used by somebody who was very familiar with Jewish Law.

Some suggest it may have been Barnabas, and they even suggest that Barnabas was also a student of Gamaliel same as Paul. But that cannot be proven.

I think, rather, believe Paul wrote it.

Whoever wrote it knew Jewish Law. It is evident that the writer contrasts Jewish Law, ceremonies, and rituals to that of Christ. Given that the writer talks about the superiority of Christ's sacrifice over that of the priestly sacrifice suggests Hebrews was written before AD 70 while the temple was still standing. And judging the date of 2 Timothy, we know it was written during Paul's 2nd imprisonment which was close to AD 65-67.

But we're getting close to "off-topic".

I only say that the office of Apostle, those called by Jesus, not apostle, those chosen as a messenger, ended at or near the end of the first century.

God Bless

Till all are one.

And, if you want to go a little further, because Baptists also accept the "Priesthood of the Believer" position, I may also be called an apostle, (little a) because I also am a messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God Bless

Till all are one.

DeaconDean said:

And, if you want to go a little further, because Baptists also accept the "Priesthood of the Believer" position, I may also be called an apostle, (little a) because I also am a messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Indeed that may be possible. Have you started any congregations?

I would say that most or all church planters and missionaries would qualify as "small a" apostles. The word apostolos means someone who is SENT.

DeaconDean said:

Here again, technically, he would have met as one or more of the qualifications for Apostle in Acts 1:21-22.

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I thought they had to meet ALL of the qualifications to be part of the 12.

DeaconDean said:

Some suggest it may have been Barnabas, and they even suggest that Barnabas was also a student of Gamaliel same as Paul. But that cannot be proven.

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Not likely. Barnabas was a Levite which meant he was most likely of Sadducean extraction rather than Pharisaic. The Sadducees were made up of Temple priests and Levites.

DeaconDean said:

And, if you want to go a little further, because Baptists also accept the "Priesthood of the Believer" position, I may also be called an apostle, (little a) because I also am a messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God Bless

Till all are one.

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Dean,

However, Paul indicated a specific gift of apostle in the Christian churches (1 Cor 12:28-29) and Eph 4:11-12. Today the gift of apostle is just as important as the pastor-teacher.

In my posts above I have pointed to the apostle as a special messenger for church planting.

In my view, Hudson Taylor, the pioneer missionary church planter in 19th century China was an apostle.

Oz

OzSpen said:

Dean,

However, Paul indicated a specific gift of apostle in the Christian churches (1 Cor 12:28-29) and Eph 4:11-12. Today the gift of apostle is just as important as the pastor-teacher.

In my posts above I have pointed to the apostle as a special messenger for church planting.

In my view, Hudson Taylor, the pioneer missionary church planter in 19th century China was an apostle.

Oz

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Believe as you wish.

You seem to ignore the qualifications for "Apostle" in Acts 1:21-22.

I'll not debate this with you.

You have your views, I have mine.

God Bless

Till all are one.

DaveW-Ohev said:

I thought they had to meet ALL of the qualifications to be part of the 12.

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Of the "original" 12, only 11 survived to the beginning of Acts 1.

I will not debate Judas. My own personal opinion is he was never saved to begin with.

As stated previously, Barnabas, may have been one of the Seventy that was sent out. Which means that he may have walked with, and learned from Jesus. He may have seen the death and resurrection. May.

AS I said before, that's according to Orthodox tradition.

We know John was at the death, and perhaps Matthew, but other than that, I'm not sure about the others. I would think they were.

I don't know, only what I read.

God Bless

Till all are one.

DeaconDean said:

Believe as you wish.

You seem to ignore the qualifications for "Apostle" in Acts 1:21-22.

I'll not debate this with you.

You have your views, I have mine.

God Bless

Till all are one.

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Dean,

You aren't reading correctly what I wrote. I know the qualification for an Apostle - the 12, plus Paul. However, I've already shown you from Scripture that there were apostles other than the capital A Apostles in the NT.

Bye,
Oz

DeaconDean said:

I will not debate Judas. My own personal opinion is he was never saved to begin with.

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Chosen, elected, but not saved???

DeaconDean said:

I will not debate Judas. My own personal opinion is he was never saved to begin with.

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OzSpen said:

Chosen, elected, but not saved???

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Actually I can agree with DeaconDean on that one.

IMO NONE of the 12 were actually "saved" (indwelt by the Holy Spirit) according to the New Covenant until breathed on by the Risen Lord. Whether they were saved under the Mosaic covenant is another issue altogether.

Jn 20.22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit."

Ave Maria said:

Hi everyone. I am just curious as to what Baptists believe about speaking in tongues. I was raised Southern Baptist but I don't remember this issue ever coming up in church. I am slowly beginning to do research about various denominations because I am considering possibly going back to church again. Anyway, if you could, please identify which specific Baptist denomination you are in. I'll appreciate your answers.

God Bless,
Holly

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Hi Holly,
I am a Southern Baptist and a lay leader on the council within our association of churches. I speak in tongues (having previously been Charismatic Catholic afterwards attending a Vineyard church for many years before moving west to the community I now reside. I was attracted to Southern Baptist by their strong mission outreachGreat Commission as well as their acceptance of other denominational Christians. As a capital "C" Christian I am quite comfortable attending a Pentecostal church or really any Christian Church that preaches Christ; just as I am comfortable in any nation that God has sent me or will send me to; as well as among the many ethnic churches here in America as I work with many ethnic people in my ministry home and abroad.
I find no Biblical support for the cessation of the gifts but I do find lots of support for the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
First God ordained for us to have them. We do not earn them. They are freely given to all who ask.

• Luke 11:13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

If we have the Holy Spirit we belong to Christ and if we belong to Christ we are on mission with Him and if we are on mission with Christ He will impart to us a gift or gifts that will strengthen our commission as we follow Him with the message of the Gospel to a dying world within our own generation.

• Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Examples:
Peter in commenting on the household of Cornelius when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit and spoke in various tongues praising God. Paul always wished to see the gifts operative in the churches and prayed the gifts would become manifest to strengthen those churches..

• Acts 11:17 “If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?”
• Romans 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established
• Colossians 1:4-8 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Spiritual Gifts: Unity in Diversity 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

• Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
• There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

The Gifts are diverse and given for the edification of the Church (capital "C")

• 1 Corinthians 12:30-31 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

What is most important is the love of God which abides in you and has an inexhaustible supply of living waters that can refresh the world with His Gospel turning desert wastelands into fruitful gardens (See 1 Corinthians 13)

• 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy
• 1 Corinthians 14:12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.

How about today? Do the gifts continues? Are we to despise the gifts or desire to operate in them?

• 1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
• 2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
• Hebrews 2:4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
• Romans 11:9 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

God is unchanging

• James 1:7 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Jesus is the Son of God, the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, the exact physical represention of the Father who existed as the Word and Wisdom of God before time began, and has been manifested as the Son of Man in order to redeem mankind for sin and death. The grave could not hold Him and by His dying the Holy Spirit is available to us who believe and receive Him. We shall rise by the same power which rose Jesus from the grave.

• Colossians 1:15-18 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

We are Reconciled in Christ Colossians 1:19-23

• For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

So like the Father the Son of God has the same characteristic of being unchangeable

• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

It then follows the Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Trinity, Whom has come to abide within all believers, is also the same, yesterday, today and forever. We therefore are being formed after the image of Christ the 2nd Adam from above. We hve been given the Great Commission to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We are on mission with God through the person of Jesus Christ our Lord, as Henry Blackaby says. I had the honor of praying with this humble man of God some years ago. God has used him greatly as a true example to Christ's Church.

• Acts 2:33 “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
• Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
• 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
• 1 Corinthians 14:2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries
• 2Co 3:3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

We have been brought near by the Blood of Christ Ephesians 2:11

• 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— 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. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

And by the Holy Spirit we have access to God ourselves and are empowered to do His Will using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Christ Our Peace Ephesians 2:14-17

• For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Conclusion: The Holy Spirit is God within us. God is unchangeable and His gifts irrevocable. The Spirit and the gifts are ours and are as available today as they were for the Apostles and those that followed them. You do not have to be a Pentecostal to receive them. They are a gift to all believers in order to bring His Message to the ends of the earth.

• Acts 13:47 “For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.
• Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
• 1 Peter 4:7 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
• Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen
  
  
• John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
• John 17:20

The Same Power resides in the Church that moved mountains in the 1st century is available to us. The gates of hell cannot overcome the living message of the Gospel!

DaveW-Ohev said:

Actually I can agree with DeaconDean on that one.

IMO NONE of the 12 were actually "saved" (indwelt by the Holy Spirit) according to the New Covenant until breathed on by the Risen Lord. Whether they were saved under the Mosaic covenant is another issue altogether.

Jn 20.22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit."

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I've always believed that in John 20, they received a "partial" "infilling" until Pentecost.

God Bless

Till al are one.

Some novicaine would help you speak some serious tongues

FrankDux said:

Some novicaine would help you speak some serious tongues

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Is that a serious comment or meant to be a provocative anathema?

DeaconDean said:

I've always believed that in John 20, they received a "partial" "infilling" until Pentecost.

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Pentecost is more "Spirit Upon" than "Spirit Within."

Well I am an Independent baptist and my church thinks its heretical to speak in tongues. They say that speaking in tongues began and ended with the Apostles and that God does not give people that ability in our modern age.

Also my family thinks that Benny Hinn is a heretic too, because he thinks he can heal people and our church doesn't think that God gives people healing powers in our modern age. So they claim he is a fraud and my mom is really skeptical about him. I am not allowed to watch him. They believe that healing and speaking in tongues began and ended with the Apostles.

OzSpen said:

Is that a serious comment or meant to be a provocative anathema?

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I don't take tongues seriously, nor do I take the people teaching it seriously

I could give you many reasons and enter into a debate, but in my mind, that is a complete waste of time

What do Baptists believe about speaking in tongues?

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For the most part, they don't.