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Scripture Reading: Acts 2:17-21; 1 Cor. 12:7-11, 27-31; 13:1-2, 8, 11; 14:1, 5-6, 12, 18-19, 23-26, 31-32
In the previous chapters we have seen what the baptism in the Holy Spirit is. It is simply Christ putting His Body into the Spirit, which means into Himself. He did this once for all. Of course, according to the record of the book of Acts, He did it in two parts. The first part was accomplished on the day of Pentecost to the Jewish believers, and the second part in the house of Cornelius to the Gentile believers. Only these two cases in the Bible are called the baptism in the Spirit. All the other cases are an experience of the baptism that was upon the Body already. They received it by the transmission from the Body through the representing members of the Body.
We have also seen that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an accomplished fact. It was done once and for all, just as the other steps taken by Christ. The incarnation is an accomplished fact; likewise the crucifixion and resurrection. By reading 1 Peter 1:3, we see that the resurrection of Christ was accomplished once for all: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” This word clearly tells us that all saints have been regenerated by God through the resurrection of Christ. This does not mean that whenever a child of God is to be born again, Christ must be resurrected again. The one resurrection of Christ is sufficient. Regenerations are many, but the resurrection of Christ is only one. In the same way, the experiences of the baptism are many, but the baptism in the Holy Spirit was once for all. All the steps taken by Christ to accomplish God’s purpose were done once for all.
Another point we must see is that the Spirit baptism and the water baptism are two aspects of one thing. The Spirit baptism is the reality, and the water baptism is the expression. The expression without the reality means nothing. Romans 6 tells us clearly that we are baptized into Christ by being buried with Him in baptism. Some say that Romans 6 refers to water baptism; others say that it refers to the Spirit baptism. However, in the normal situation the water baptism should be the expression of the Spirit baptism. Comparatively speaking, the Spirit baptism is much, much more than the water baptism. One is the reality; the other is the expression. If the expression is just a form, it means nothing. We do believe that in the pure Word the reality of baptism is of the Spirit, but we do need an expression, as seen in water baptism, to express the reality of immersion in the Holy Spirit.
There are many concepts regarding the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and many divisions have been created by all these concepts. The biggest issue is caused by the so-called Pentecostal Christians. They are mainly of two schools. The first says that if you do not speak in tongues, you are not regenerated. Of course, this is altogether erroneous. We do know of a good number of spiritual giants who never spoke in tongues. The second school says that if you do not speak in tongues, you have not experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To say this also neglects history. What about C. H. Spurgeon and D. L. Moody? Do you believe men like them did not have the baptism? Yet they never spoke in tongues.
The greatest revival in this century took place in Wales at the first of the century. The leader of this revival was a man by the name of Evan Roberts. The revival was so prevailing that all the people of Wales believed in the Lord. Yet there was no speaking in tongues. Does this mean that they did not have the baptism in the Spirit? Evan Roberts later worked with Jessie Penn-Lewis, who was absolutely against the so-called Pentecostal movement. There are many spiritual giants in history who had the impact yet never spoke in tongues. This proves that the second school is also wrong.
Those in the Pentecostal movement insist that all have to speak in tongues. But according to the Bible, this is absolutely not so. Some speak in tongues, and some do not. This is the proper revelation that we have from the Scriptures. To say that the time for speaking in tongues is past is too much, but to say that everyone must speak in tongues is also too much. This forces people to bring forth an imitation of human manufacture. It is hard for people to believe that this kind of human-manufactured tongue is genuine. Speaking in tongues is supposed to be miraculous. If this is so, why do we have to learn to speak? If we must learn to speak, that is not miraculous. Balaam’s donkey in the Old Testament certainly did not learn to speak the human language. That was absolutely miraculous; it was the genuine tongue. Do you believe that Peter and John and all the others on the day of Pentecost learned to speak in tongues? So many tongue-speakers say that you must turn your jaw and exercise your tongue, saying something like “Praise Jesus” very fast. Should the children of the Lord believe this kind of thing?
To say that everyone must speak in tongues will surely discourage and disappoint some of the saints. Some could never speak in tongues, even in a manufactured way. Yet they can believe in the Lord Jesus, and they can praise the Lord. This is why the so-called Pentecostal movement has caused so much division. We must learn to be genuine. We are not opposing any genuine tongues. As long as they do not insist that everyone must speak in tongues, we must be open to them. We should not oppose, but they should not impose. Several times in the meetings of the churches some people have spoken in tongues and even have given the interpretation, but we did not stop them. We must take such a general outlook in order to include all the believers. A local church is all-inclusive, but we would ask the tongue-speaking saints not to impose and insist that tongue-speaking is a must.
Now we must go on to see the exercise of the gifts. The Pentecostal people always insist on having the exercise of gifts in the meetings. When they come into our meetings, the first thing they look for is whether there is the speaking of tongues with interpretation or not. They also look for the so-called prophesying. If there are not these kinds of things in the meeting, they say there is no exercise of gifts. But this is not true! Today in the churches we have more exercise of the gifts. What they mean is just tongue-speaking, interpretation, and prophesying. But in our meeting we have more exercise of the gifts than they do.
In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 the first gift is not speaking in tongues but the word of wisdom. For so many years, the word of wisdom has been in the meetings of the churches. The next gift is the word of knowledge. Have you ever heard the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge as you have in the church meetings? This is not boasting; this is just the fact. Are these not the exercise of the gifts? The third gift in this passage is faith, and the fourth is healing. The fifth is works of power, the sixth is prophesying, and the seventh is the discerning of spirits. Then the last two at the end are speaking in tongues and interpretation. There are nine gifts in this passage. The foremost are the words of wisdom and of knowledge. This is what we exercise all the time in our meetings. We exercise the top gifts.
People used to talk about the so-called nine manifestations of the Spirit as we have just mentioned. But the manifestations of the Spirit are not just these nine. Even in 1 Corinthians 12:28 there are another two. In this verse “helps” and “administrations” are also listed as gifts. There are more. In Acts 2 visions and dreams are mentioned, which are also not mentioned with the nine. So we should never say that there are only nine manifestations of the Spirit. There are more! The record of the New Testament is very economical. Just because it mentions nine in one place does not mean that that is all.
Today in Christianity there are many traditional teachings. People teach in a traditional way, and people also understand in a traditional way. I have pointed out these other items of the manifestation of the Spirit to prove that the so-called nine manifestations of the Spirit are just traditional. Therefore, we should not go along with the traditional teaching but rather come back to the pure Word.
Let us now consider the matter of speaking in tongues in the meetings. After reading all the above verses, does the apostle Paul encourage people to speak in tongues in the meetings or discourage them? If we are fair and honest, we must admit that he is writing to discourage them. But the tongue-speaking people like to quote Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:5: “I desire that you all speak in tongues.” However, they leave out the rest of the verse: “But especially that you would prophesy.” It is clear in this passage that what is needed for the building up of the church is not the tongue-speaking but the prophesying.
Concerning the matter of prophesying, I do believe we need some proper understanding. In the Bible the word prophesy has three meanings. The first meaning is to tell for. In this meaning, to prophesy is to tell something to people for God. Isaiah is a long book of sixty-six chapters, but not all are predictions. Isaiah told the people of Israel many things for God. The second meaning of prophesying in the Bible is to tell forth or to declare. Many times the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writers did this. The third meaning is to foretell. This is to predict or to tell beforehand. All the Epistles of the apostle Paul are prophesying. He tells things to people for Christ; he tells forth, proclaims, and declares the things of Christ to people; and he also foretells some things, such as the matters of the Lord’s second coming.
However, the Pentecostal brothers do not care for the first two meanings. They say that to prophesy is only to foretell, and they have their way to do it like the Old Testament prophets. I have heard these predictions both in this country and in China. In both countries this kind of foretelling is in the same tone and in the same terminology. Eventually, I discovered that they were trained to prophesy in this way. However, very few of their predictions come to pass. I could give you many stories of predictions of earthquakes and other phenomena that never came to pass. If you would spend time to attend their meetings and listen to all their predictions, you would see that there is nearly no fulfillment.
We should not care for this kind of traditional thing. To prophesy in 1 Corinthians 14 does not mean this. It means to say something for Christ. If prophesying here is a kind of miraculous prediction, how could everyone do it? Paul tells us in this chapter that if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, people will say you are insane. But if all prophesy, people will be convinced and convicted. Then he says, “You can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged” (v. 31).
Now we understand the real meaning of prophesy. It means to speak forth something about Christ. Praise the Lord, we all can do it! Everyone can say something for Christ, and if everyone does, the meeting will be in the heavens. We have been much influenced in a negative way by our traditional background. We simply do not know how to exercise our spirit to say something for the Lord. We thought that to exercise the gifts meant to speak in tongues or to prophesy by saying, “Thus saith the Lord.” We must drop all these strange traditions. We must come back to the pure Word and exercise our spirit to learn how to say something for the Lord Jesus. We can all prophesy, for the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. We do not have to wait for an inspiration. The Lord has given us the inspiration already! When we come to the meetings, we should never forget that the Lord Jesus is in our spirit. Then we should simply exercise our spirit and forget our troublesome mind and our self-consciousness. Then we will speak forth something for the Lord. Many riches of Christ have been buried in the saints and need to be released. Let us come back to the pure Word and drop everything else.
At the end of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul tells us to desire the greater gifts, yet he would show us a most excellent way. What is the most excellent way? It is the way of life. Everyone knows that 1 Corinthians 13 speaks about love, but love is the expression of life. If we do not have love, it means that we do not have the expression of life. We are like sounding brass: there is a noise, but there is no life. Even if we speak a genuine tongue, not a human-manufactured one, that is not the expression of life. Paul says, “Love never falls away. But whether prophecies, they will be rendered useless; or tongues, they will cease; or knowledge, it will be rendered useless” (v. 8). Prophesies and knowledge will be rendered useless, and tongues will cease. Only life is eternal.
By the context of chapters 12 through 14, it is very clear what the childish things are (13:11). In the eyes of the apostle Paul, all these superficial gifts are toys. Even if they are genuine, they are still childish. That is why he tells us to pursue love in the first verse of chapter 14. This is in order to prophesy, because prophesying builds up the church (v. 5).
I believe that we are now clear about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the proper exercise of all the gifts. Praise the Lord that today in all the church meetings there is always the exercise of the top two gifts—the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and there is the proper prophesying for the building up of the church.
