The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 3

Acts 10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, 47 "Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?" 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Acts 11:15 "And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. 16 "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?"

This is from the account of Peter speaking the Gospel to the Roman centurion, Cornelius and  his family. Peter stated it, twice, the other believers present recognized it, and the author of the book of Acts, Luke, stated it: the Holy Spirit had been given to these new believers, as recognized by their speaking in tongues. That the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to believers did not surprise the believers who had come with Peter, but that these recipients were Gentiles. This indicates they regarded believers receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit as normal.
 
Acts 11:27 Now at this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. 29 And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea.

Acts 13:1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

These passages show two ways in which prophecy served the church at Antioch. Knowing of the upcoming famine in advance, the churches were able to prepare to relieve those in need. The latter passage is the initial calling of Saul (Paul) to be an Apostle, along with Barnabas.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 2

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. 5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 "And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? 9 "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs - we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God." ... 15 "For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; 16 but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: 17 'AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,' God says, 'THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; AND YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, AND YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, AND YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS; 18 EVEN ON MY BONDSLAVES, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, I WILL IN THOSE DAYS POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT And they shall prophesy.

This is from the account of the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to believers. Verse 1 states that the believers were all together. Sunday School lesson illustrations I've seen depict this gathering as just Jesus' surviving eleven disciples, possibly with Matthias, who had been chosen (in Acts 1) to replace Judas. Acts 1:15, however, indicates that a gathering of “all” the believers would have been some 120. Verse 4 indicates that these believers' speaking in tongues was the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit gave them the words they spoke. Verses 7-11 are also interesting; there may have been as many as 14 languages represented among the hearers, and possibly more. 120 people speaking, some 14 languages heard … it is possible that the believers were speaking in perfect unison, or that particular believers, by the action of the Holy Spirit, spoke the language of the person(s) near them. Personally, given the din of 120 persons speaking at once and how the hundreds or thousands of persons from various regions might have been scattered among the thousands in the crowd, my opinion is that various people hearing their native languages was a miracle in addition to that of the believers speaking in tongues.
 
Acts 2:32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. ...

37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren , what shall we do?" 38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."

Verse 32 reiterates the fact that what the onlookers heard – the speaking in tongues – was due to Jesus having given the Holy Spirit to His followers. The source of the speaking in tongues was God; that Peter felt it necessary to repeat this indicates that the hearers thought the speaking in tongues “weird” (some hearers sneered that the believers were drunk). Verse 39 gives the “limit” God placed on this gift – the Holy Spirit, as verse 38 states – all believers, wherever, for all time.

The Gift of the Spirit, Spiritual Gifts, Speaking in Tongues and Prophecy, Part 1

I've been participating, to some degree, in a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit, and thought it important to that discussion to do a fairly full survey of what the New Testament has to say about that and related topics. Having done that, I thought it would be good to post what I wrote here as well in a series of posts to make reading it all a little easier. I'll start by setting out, first, some terms of reference: how I will use Scripture; what I will endeavor to show from Scripture; things I am not saying.

Taking the last item first, I will neither claim all instances of purported speaking in tongues or prophecy are genuine, nor proper usage thereof. I do not and cannot know every speaker nor be there to witness everything every speaker does. So making such a claim would be silly, defying common sense. Making the reverse claim – that no instances of purported speaking in tongues or prophecy are genuine and proper usage – would be equally silly for the same reasons, IF there is a Scriptural basis for such activities.

That ”IF” leads me to what I will be endeavoring to show – and not show – from Scripture. Much of what will follow will be quotes from Scripture – not brief, out-of-context, snippets. First, I will show that speaking in tongues and prophecy happened in the church, and these were: part of “normal” for the church; useful in the life of the church; gifts from God. I will not, however, claim that these things were a central focus for the church. That would be silly. I view speaking in tongues, prophecy, and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit as tools. A contractor's focus is not on the coolness of his/her tools – saw, hammer, drill, trowel, air compressor – but on what (s)he makes with those tools. In the same way, the church's focus was and should be on the needs served by the gifts of the Spirit in the greater context of the purpose of the church, not on the gifts themselves.

Finally – and foundationally – I will use Scripture as authoritative. Scripture is not exhaustively complete: it does not instruct Peter to be an electronics technician and Steven to be a pastor; Scripture usually speaks to and at a general level. Where Scripture so speaks, it sets a standard. More practically, if I have a problem with something Scripture says (or seems to), the problem is me. I may misunderstand what is said, or the context or people addressed. But if I do understand a Scripture properly and ignore it because it seems weird to me, I am dismissing instruction from God. Not a good idea. In using Scripture, I will focus on the clear and plain meaning of a text; if I express interpretive opinion that goes beyond the meaning of a text, I will indicate that I am doing so.

As I move on to quoting and pointing out the meaning and significance of Scripture passages having to do with these topics, I want to note that I will not be citing the second half of Mark chapter 16. Its genuineness is disputed: I don't want to dive into the Textus Receptus vs. Westcott & Hort ditch; as will be seen, scriptures pertaining to this topic are plentiful and clear. Finally, unless noted otherwise, the translation I will be using is the New American Standard Version. I've used it for many years, but, more importantly, it's fairly literal, not idiosyncratic, and doesn't mix commentary into its text. No translation can be perfect, but the NASV is among the best modern English translations.

Materialism - Some Holiday Thoughts ... Briefly

Condemning materialism has become a commonplace during the holiday season around Thanksgiving (in the US) and Christmas. I won't question the sentiment, but will ask what it means. How meaningful is criticizing materialism if you believe the world is nothing more than material? How meaningful is your criticism if you offer nothing greater than the pursuit of material goods and experiences? The only thing you can control is what you do, so what does what you pursue say you believe in?

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 4 - Shoes & Exhilaration

Just a couple of little things ...

Up till this time last year I had noticed that my shoes - I usually was using two pair in alternation, bought 2-3 months apart - were lasting 6-9 months before the soles wore through in spots to inner layers. That was the point where I replaced them. I joined the gym and started mainly using a treadmill at the end of last year. My two current pair of shoes were bought in April and July of this year. Neither show signs of significant wear in the soles, despite 2-5 miles a day on treadmills plus two half marathons between them. Evidently the treadmill belt is considerably less wearing than concrete sidewalks. With my usage pattern this fact could save $50-$100 year in shoe costs! This is something I did not think of a year ago when I joined the gym.

About 6 weeks ago I walked in the San Jose Half Marathon, for the second time. I'm happy to say that my time over the same course as last year was 20 minutes faster! A good improvement! I'm so far from the league of competitive runners that my standings vs. otherrunners doesn't much matter to me. What I'm "competing" against is myself - being able to finish, improving from previous performance. All in all, I was very happy with how I did (as well as very tired). But that exhileration is not something that lasts - just like most/all accomplishments in life. The moment passes, the consequences play out and become background - normal. Human minds most easily "see" immediate things, that which we are currently living or have just experienced. But true long-lasting joys are found in things that last - people who live long lifetimes and eternal things.

The Illusion of "Sign Gifts"

An article I read recently concerning a conference in Southern California attacking Pentecostals and charismatics made a point I thought interesting. People who teach that certain gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased operating after the First Century AD - "Cessationism" - make a point of using phrases such as "revelatory gifts", or "sign gifts", as if those terms came from Scripture. While there maybe some descriptive utility in this usage, it can also be misleading if one assumes Scripture makes such a distinction. It does not. Making this distinction is foundational to Cessationism. It separates the gifts of the Spirit into two classes of gifts, setting up the possibility that one class ceased, while the other continued. In other words, part of the conclusion has been built - consciously or subconsciously - into one of the premises.

By way of contrast, Scripture speaks of the gifts of the Spirit, undifferentiated, all supernatural, all empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is seen in both Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 & 28-30. Both mix the the obviously miraculous gifts and those less obviously so as having the same character, differentiated only by the sort of need each meets. Aside from refusing to accept gifts God has given to the Body of Christ for its benefit, the danger in distinguishing the more obviously miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit from those that seem more ordinary is to fail to recongize that the working and empowering of the Holy Spirit is just as intrinsic and critical to gifts such as teaching, serving, hospitality and giving as to speaking in tongues or healing. One may teach or serve or give with one's natural talents and means, but not so the obviously miraculous gifts. The path from distinguishing the obviously miraculous gifts from those less obviously so, through failing to recognize the less obviously miraculous as, nevertheless, the work of the Holy Spirit, to operating on natural talent rather than relying on the Holy Spirit is perilously short.

Gym-Rat-ian Confessions, Part 3 - Bohhhh---Riiiiinnnngg!

Half an hour or more on a treadmill or elliptical or stationary bicycle is just plain boring - just being honest, here. And done 5 or 6 or 7 times a week, that boredom would soon become a mental barrier to working out. So, what to do?

When I was walking outside on the streets, music was sufficient. The scenery and people I met changed continually, and I had to pay attention to things like uneven sidewalks and traffic (even if I get flattened by a driver who is in the wrong, I'm still flattened!). One thing I found handy was Bluetooth headphones. That way I don't have to worry about where to keep my smart phone so that the cord between the phone and headphones will not be so tight it pulls out or pulls the phone out of my pocket so it falls to the ground. At the gym, I probably see some one accidentally yank their phone or MP3 player off a machine's shelf a couple times a month. I cringe every time I see it! The Bluetooth headphones I've found that have good sound and are durable (I've spent hours sweating on the treadmill and walked a half marathon using them) are LG HBS700. But on a treadmill, music alone wasn't enough for me.

I've seen others reading magazines and books. That can work pretty well, and I have read books while on the treadmill. But books can be a little awkward. Another thing that has worked well for me is reading books on my tablet computer (an e-reader will work just as well, though tablets can have apps for more than one e-reader format). By using my tablet, I can (and often do) read from more than one book over my time on the treadmill. Often I read 2-5 chapters from the Bible (I have two translations on my tablet at present), and then read in whatever other book I happen to be reading at the time. The latter, lately, have been novels by Jules Verne and Charles Dickens (complete works of older authors can be very inexpensive). I also have the book our church home group is using on my tablet. Imagine trying to read from 2 or 3 "dead tree" books while using a treadmill (or elliptical or stationary bicycle)!