Do All Christians Speak in Tongues?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

The frame text, and the basics: receiving the Spirit is initial salvation

• The frame reads the question's text: the frame reads the corinthians text in which the apostle paul implies that not all believers speak with tongues. If this is true, why does the united pentecostal church international teach that full salvation includes holy spirit baptism, and that everyone who receives this baptism will speak with other tongues — doesn't the upci's position contradict paul's writings?
• No. Start with the basics: in the new testament church, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, or holy spirit, is considered part of initial salvation — what we might call conversion initiation. Actually all christian groups agree with that in theory, from catholics to protestants: all will say you must receive the holy spirit to be truly a christian. So that's what we say; the difference is we expect there to be a very definite experience, and we expect an initial sign called speaking in tongues — speaking miraculously in a language we haven't learned, by the spirit.

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12:30

Pentecost: the pattern is set

• Why would we do that? Look at the very first example of the baptism of the holy ghost, in acts chapter 2 — the birthday of the christian church. Jesus told his disciples to wait for this experience; about 120 did so — not just the twelve apostles, but mary the mother of jesus, his four half-brothers, the women who had faithfully followed him, and others. On the day of pentecost, acts 2 4: they were all filled with the holy ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. Notice there were other signs — the sound of wind, tongues like fire — but those were external signs of the spirit moving upon people; the first sign that someone was filled was the spirit inside them speaking out.
• This miracle of speaking in tongues attracted a multitude — jewish people from many different nations, fifteen listed, who had come to jerusalem to celebrate the feast of pentecost. They began marveling: these are galilean people — how can they speak the language of arabic, my home country, or latin, and they began naming other languages — that's impossible; how could this happen? Others didn't understand the tongues, thought they were babbling, and began mocking: these people must be drunk. Some marveling because they understood the miracle, some mocking because they didn't — but all asking: what meaneth this, what does this mean? The apostle peter stood up with the support of all the other apostles and gave the answer: this is that. Tongues — that's what the question was about — means this: he quoted from the prophecy of joel, joel 2: in the last days, says god, i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy. This prophetic utterance, this divine utterance you see, actually means they have received the holy spirit.
• And by the way, this is the only place in the whole bible where you have all twelve apostles at the same place at the same time preaching the same message — and they end up telling people how to be saved: acts 2 38. You have the greatest authority in the whole bible here, other than jesus himself — but jesus commissioned the apostles, so this is equivalent to the authority of jesus himself: he didn't establish any churches; he commissioned the apostles to do it, and this is what they did. Based on their authority, essentially he is saying: this tongues means they've received the holy spirit.

Scriptures: Acts 2:4; Joel 2; Acts 2:38

The pattern repeated: a hundred out of a hundred

• We find the pattern repeated throughout the book of acts: the story of cornelius — the gentiles received the holy spirit; the whole household received the holy spirit; they all spoke in tongues. Acts 19: the disciples of john at ephesus, about twelve — they received the holy spirit; they all spoke in tongues. So what you have is a pattern repeated throughout the new testament church. Ask it by the numbers: of the 120 who received the holy spirit, how many spoke in tongues? 120 of 120. The household of cornelius — we're not told the number, but it was 100 percent. Acts 19: how many of the disciples? 12 out of 12 — 100 percent. There's the pattern: everyone in the new testament church who receives the holy spirit, the first sign is they speak in tongues. The abiding sign is not tongues, but the fruit of the spirit, the pursuit of holiness, the christian life; the initial sign is what he has just indicated.

Scriptures: Acts 19

The Corinthian context: tongues as a public gift, regulated

• Now, in first corinthians 12 through 14, the apostle paul gives instructions for the gifts of the spirit in the operation of the local church, and he talks about vocal gifts. Sometimes people stand up and prophesy — they give a prophetic utterance to the whole congregation, and everybody's supposed to stop and listen. Sometimes they stand up in the congregation and speak in tongues to the whole congregation — and paul says, when that happens, wait, pray for an interpretation, so someone, either that same person or another, will stand up and give the interpretation so all will understand. These are special vocal gifts being used in the congregation. In the example of a public utterance, a message in tongues: if nobody gives interpretation, then don't keep going on, because people won't understand — but you can speak in tongues to yourself and to god. Tongues can be used in your personal prayer life to worship god; or in the congregation, when everybody's praying, you can all pray in tongues individually. But when you're speaking to the whole congregation, there are certain regulations to follow, so everyone listens and everyone understands.
• In that context he is speaking of tongues as a public utterance to the congregation — a special gift. So all christians speak in tongues, but only a few have that gift. He talks about the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith: all christians are saved by faith, but there's a special gift of faith for a time of crisis — not given to everyone, only to certain people as needed. Everyone must have the wisdom of god — the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom — but there are certain people who have a gift of wisdom for a special situation. In first corinthians 12 paul says there are these different gifts: not everyone is given all of these gifts; one has one, one has another — based on need, based on occasion: i might exercise one gift in a certain situation and a different gift in another, or i might exercise one gift and you another. We're not all going to exercise the same gift, and not all at the same time.

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12-14; 1 Corinthians 12

The answer restated: two uses of tongues

• In that context it is very clear: in their personal life, christians, when they receive the holy ghost, speak in tongues; and in their prayer life all can speak in tongues — in fact paul says in first corinthians 14 18, i wish that you all would speak in tongues. But when it comes to public worship, only a few people are going to give a message in tongues; only a few people are going to receive that gift for that occasion — just like only a few are going to have a word of wisdom, or a prophecy, or the gift of faith for a crisis. So the question 'do all speak in tongues' is in the context of public worship: no — and that accords with reality: if you have a church of 500 people, you'll never have all 500 giving public messages in tongues, whether at the same time or even over the course of that congregation's life; it's not given to everyone.
• What's interesting: the people who oppose what he has just stated — most of them never have any tongues at all in their congregations; they never have a public message in tongues; they would never allow someone to stand up and give a message in tongues and someone else to stand up and interpret — so they don't even understand the context of paul's discussion, because they don't have those kinds of spiritual gifts operating. They first need to understand that context; then they can understand what he's saying. So: do all speak in tongues as a public gift to the whole congregation? No, certainly not. Do all, when they receive the holy ghost initially, speak in tongues as the initial sign, according to the book of acts? Yes.

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 14:18

Scripture index: 1 Corinthians 12:30; Acts 2:4; Joel 2; Acts 2:38; Acts 19; 1 Corinthians 12-14; 1 Corinthians 12; 1 Corinthians 14:18.