“The Holy Spirit is the point at which the Trinity becomes personal to the believer.” That is how author of Christian Theology, Millard J. Erickson, discribed the role the Holy Spirit plays in the life of a believer. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998, p. 862) Although he is considered the third person of the Trinity, that does not mean he is less important than the Father or the Son. He is equally God.
The last instruction Jesus gave his disciples was, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4-5 | NIV). When that happened, everyone that was filled with the Holy Spirit spoke in other tongues. You can read all about it in Chapter 2 of the Book of Acts.
God’s Spirit lives inside the true believer. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 | RSV) His presence marks us as genuine Christ-followers. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit . . .” (Ephesians 1:13 | ESV). We don’t need a list of rules because he guides, teaches and reminds us what it looks like to glorify God by the way we live. “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26 | NIV).
He opens our eyes to Scripture and facilitates our understanding of what God reveals to us about himself. “However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him—these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11 | NIV).
Finally, the Holy Spirit prays for us when we are at a loss for words. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” Romans 8:26-27 | ESV).
Sadly, there is a lot of disagreement over whether speaking in tongues, along with the other spiritual gifts, are for the contemporary church. That likely results from lack of experience, rather that solid exegesis. There is no biblical evidence that tongues or the other gifts of the Spirit ceased with the apostles or that they even ceased at all. There is no reason to believe that they are not all available to us today.
The apostle Paul took great pains to explain the importance of spiritual gifts, including tongues, in 1 Corinthians 12. Why would he do that if they were only temporary? In an age when people are too proud to walk to an altar to repent, it is no wonder we do not hear very much about speaking in tongues. It requires complete surrender to God—an abandonment of self-will and self-control. It is a supernatural experience that has no natural equivalent.
There is no Scripture that asserts being filled with the Holy Spirit requires the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues, but that seems to have been the pattern in the 1st century church. Practically every time we read where people received the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues. (Acts 2:4, 10:46, and 19:6) One can’t help but wonder, if it is available and, if the apostle Paul considered it important, “ I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you” (1 Corinthians 14:18) why wouldn’t we want it, along with the other spiritual gifts? “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1 | ESV).
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