Not For Today

What is Not for Today?

There are three elements of our Christian experience which some Christians maintain are ‘not for today’. We see them in the Bible, and they were very much an essential part of the life and witness of the early church. So, what are they?

They are:

• Baptism in the Holy Spirit
• The Gifts of the Spirit
• Speaking in Tongues

Why Are They Controversial?

This is a very good question. Whereas we find them referred to throughout the New Testament, and they were very evident in the lives and ministries of the apostles, it appears that at some point during the development of the church, someone came to the conclusion that these phenomena were no longer needed, or no longer relevant, and should therefore be considered to be ‘not for today’.

In fact, there are even some believers who would maintain that ‘tongues are of the devil’, based on the simple logic that if these phenomena are ‘not for today’ – that is to say, no longer provided to God’s children by God Himself – and yet someone today is experiencing or manifesting them, then since this manifestation is not from God, it must, logically, be from the devil.

So, does God still baptise His children in His Holy Spirit, empower them with His gifts of grace, and enable them to speak in unknown tongues?

Or have those who believe that He does so been deluded by the evil one and taken captive by him to do his will (Colossians 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:26)?

What Does the Bible Say?

The New Testament opens with the ministry of John the Baptist, who was the first prophet to have been sent by God to Israel for about four hundred years, his predecessor being Malachi, who ministered round about the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah were engaged in rebuilding the shattered city of Jerusalem and attempting to re-establish Godly lifestyle and culture that was centred on the temple service. God had been silent for four hundred years, in fulfilment of the prophecy of Amos:

The words of John the Baptist are recorded in Matthew chapter 3, Mark chapter 1, Luke chapter 3, and John chapter 1:

There is no record of anyone being baptised in the Holy Spirit by Jesus during His earthly ministry, but just before His ascension into Heaven, in the presence of His disciples, He reminded them of the words of John:

In Luke’s gospel, the same occasion is recorded, but in slightly different words, as follows:

The term that Jesus used on this occasion, as recorded by Luke, is ‘the promise of the Father’ or ‘the promise of My Father’. In Acts, this is clearly identified as being baptised with the Holy Spirit, although in the Gospel it is referred to as being clothed with power from on high.

We can, therefore, deduce that being clothed with power from on high and being baptised with the Holy Spirit are one and the same.

This is confirmed further down in Acts chapter 1, when Jesus tells the disciples:

Jesus is telling His disciples that the prophetic words of John the Baptist regarding baptism in the Holy Spirit are about to be fulfilled, and that the purpose of this baptism is to empower them to carry out their mission as witnesses of Christ both locally and to the ends of the earth.

That fulfilment came about roughly ten days later, on the day of Pentecost:

These disciples had had no idea what they should expect, but their hearts were fully open to God and they just wanted whatever it was that God was going to bring, and they were ready to flow with Him in whatever way seemed to be right at the time.

They weren’t expecting a mighty, rushing wind – but that’s what they got.

They weren’t expecting tongues of fire resting on their heads – but that’s what they got.

They weren’t expecting speaking in tongues – or were they?

Mark tells us that Jesus had primed the disciples to expect this very thing:

Jesus had already told them that ‘speaking in new tongues’ was a part of the package, although He hadn’t told them exactly how it would work or why it was included. They would learn that as they went along.

Anyway, the upshot of this Pentecostal experience was that Peter preached a sermon so powerful that about three thousand people gave their lives to Christ as a result of it (Acts 2:37-41). He had been ‘clothed with power from on high’, and the church-building acts of the apostles had been launched.

In the following chapter we see a 40-year-old man lame from birth being miraculously healed at Peter’s command and, in chapter 5 verses 12 to 16, signs, wonders, and healings being performed by the apostles on a daily basis, so that the people “gathered from the towns round Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed” (Acts 5:16b – ESVuk).

So we can see clearly that in the early days of the church, baptism in the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and speaking in unknown tongues were essential elements of their daily life and witness.

At least, that was true of the apostles; but was it true for everyone else?

In Acts chapter 10 we read the account of a Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius, who was a so-called ‘God fearer’, meaning that he was a gentile who worshipped the God of the Jews.

An angel of God came to Cornelius while he was in prayer and directed him to send for Simon Peter to come and share the gospel with him and his household, which he promptly undertook to do. Peter responded positively, having been instructed by God to do so, and took a number of brothers along with him. Peter subsequently recounted the events to the other church leaders:

Here is Luke’s account of what took place while Peter was preaching the gospel:

There are two important lessons to be drawn from these passages:

1. Just as baptism in water is for all followers of Jesus, so is baptism in the Holy Spirit.

2. The phenomenon known as ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ is also, and more often, referred to as ‘receiving the Holy Spirit’.

If we go back to Acts chapter 2, where Peter preached his first Spirit-empowered sermon, which resulted in some three thousand conversions, we find this important statement:

Again, we see two important lessons:

1. Our induction into the Christian life involves us doing THREE things – two actively and one passively:

1. Repent of our sins;
2. Be baptised in water as a public declaration of our commitment to Christ;
3. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (i.e. be baptised in the Holy Spirit).

2. The above applies not only to those who were being addressed at that moment, nor only to those who were alive during the foundational years of the church, but to “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself”.

So, just as there is a need today for us to repent, and just as there is a need today for us to be baptised in water, so is there a need today for us to be baptised in the Holy Spirit – that is, to receive (with faith and gratitude) the promise of the Father (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; Acts 2:39).

The apostle Paul also considered all three of these issues to be essential, as we can see from the following passage:

These men had repented of their sins, but had been taught only about John the Baptist and the ministry of Jesus up to His resurrection (probably by Apollos – see Acts 18:24-26), so they were ignorant of anything that we read today in the Acts of the Apostles.

For Paul, this was not good enough. They needed to be baptised INTO Christ (so he baptised them again) and baptised BY Christ – i.e. baptised in the Holy Spirit. When this was done “they began speaking in tongues and prophesying”, because the Holy Spirit was now working in them and through them.

Paul explains this to the church in Corinth, who had no trouble in believing in the gifts of the Spirit and speaking in tongues. In fact, they had the opposite problem – they were speaking in tongues too much for Paul’s liking, while ignoring the greater gifts, such as prophecy, and neglecting the greatest gift of all – the gift of LOVE (1 Corinthians 13).

First of all, he takes us back to the Old Covenant:

Then he shows us how this relates to the New Covenant:

The Israelites who came out of Egypt and were led by God through the wilderness and into the Promised Land were “baptised into Moses” in two ways:

• In the CLOUD – which corresponds to baptism in the Holy Spirit;
• In the SEA – which corresponds to baptism in water.

By means of this dual baptism they were inextricably bound to Moses until such time as they were able to enter Canaan. If they tried to go it alone, they would perish in the desert, and if they ever challenged Moses’s authority (which they did many times), God Himself would punish them for their rebellion.

Similarly, those of us who are committed to following Christ into the heavenly Promised Land are inextricably bound to Him through baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit:

• Through baptism in water we have nailed our colours to the mast and publicly declared ourselves to be disciples of Jesus Christ – no turning back;

• Through baptism in the Holy Spirit, He has given us the spiritual wherewithal that we need to fight this good fight, to run this race, and to endure to the end in victory.

So, we can be confident that not only the apostles but also the ordinary saints in the early church were baptised in the Holy Spirit and moving in the gifts of the spirit, including speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:4-11); but does the Bible tell us that we should, or should not, expect the same to apply today, two thousand years later?

I believe that we can say that it does.

We have already seen in Acts 2:39 that this applies to “all those whom the Lord our God will call”, which most certainly includes those of us who are in Christ in the twenty-first century.

Let’s also consider the following exhortation from Paul to the Corinthian saints:

In the first century, the church was waiting for “the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Did it happen? No, it did not. Are we awaiting it still today? Yes, we are.

While they waited, were the early Christians “lacking in any spiritual gift”? No, they were not. Are we today? Yes, we are. Why? Because we have convinced ourselves that “the gifts are not for today”, and so we neither expect them nor seek them nor even recognise them, should we ever come across them. Instead, we tell each other that they are “of the devil”.

But, why do so many believe this to be the case? Is there any passage of scripture that tells us that the gifts of the Spirit have a shelf-life and that their use-by date has expired?

The only one that I am aware of is this one, which we find in Paul’s famous eulogy on love:

Prophecy, tongues, and knowledge have a shelf-life, and their use-by date will expire “when the perfect comes”.

What is ‘the perfect’, and has it already come?

Someone has suggested that ‘the perfect’ is the completion of the cannon of scripture, which certainly has come.

Does this mean, then, that because we now have the fulness of God’s written revelation that we no longer have need of any divine inspiration to enable us to speak His truth or of any divine empowerment to enable us to carry out His will?

Does it also mean that, having the Bible to read, we can no longer claim to have any knowledge, since all knowledge has passed away?

Does it mean that God no longer exercises His mighty power in the lives of His saints, so that if they want to be healed, they must go to the hospital, or if they want to be freed from demonic interference, they must go to a psychiatrist?

Such an idea brings no glory to the God of Heaven, who is as powerful and engaged in the life of His people today as He ever has been in the past.

(If you don’t believe me, ask the Christians in the underground churches of China, who depend on God’s miraculous intervention to survive day to day.)

I would contend that ‘the perfect’ will come when Christ returns to the earth in His glory and His saints are transformed to be like Him in every respect (1 John 3:1-3).

Until that day, we remain in our frail, fleshly, tents of clay, and are in desperate need of whatever help our Lord can give us to enable us to live for Him in this dark and hurting world, and to bring light into that darkness and healing into that hurting and hope into that helplessness.

For that we need to be baptised in His Holy Spirit so that He can manifest through us His wonderful gifts of grace, including tongues, by means of which we edify ourselves (1 Corinthians 14:4) and build ourselves up (Jude 1:20) so that we can not only endure, but press on victoriously.

(Note: the term ‘praying in the Holy Spirit’ in Jude 1:20 is another way of saying ‘praying in tongues’ – see 1 Corinthians 14:13-19.)

Tongues, prophecy, and knowledge will indeed disappear when they are no longer necessary. Paul likens them to the thoughts and speech of a child, which are appropriate in their time, but when full maturity is attained, such thoughts and words are replaced by others which are way beyond anything that the child could have thought or said (1 Corinthians 13:11-12).

John tells us the same thing in different words:

When the Perfect comes, we shall be like Him, and we shall no longer need tongues, prophecy, or even knowledge.

Does it Really Matter?

You do not need to be baptised in the Holy Spirit in order to be saved; nor do you need to speak in tongues or exercise the gifts of the Spirit. These things equip us to serve God in His kingdom in the here and now.

As is the case with baptism in water, whether or not this matters to you will depend entirely on what you ultimately want to achieve, and only you can answer that question.

If you want to lead a low-key, unobtrusive, peaceful religious life where no-one bothers you and you don’t bother anyone else, then the last thing you want is the baptism in the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, driving out demons, healings, and other miracles.

However, if you want to see the type of world-changing phenomena that we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, with thousands being saved, multitudes healed, and demons defeated right, left, and centre, then you will not be able to rest until you have received everything from God that He’s prepared to give you.

Someone might object to this by reminding us of Billy Graham, one of the greatest evangelists of the twentieth century, who saw multiple thousands coming to salvation through his ministry, who was not baptised in the Holy Spirit and never spoke in tongues.

My response to that can only be: just think of what greater good Billy Graham could have accomplished if he had also been empowered to heal the sick, drive out demons, cleanse the lepers, and raise the dead (Matthew 10:8).

Smith Wigglesworth, the English healing evangelist, was moving in healing power before he received the Holy Spirit, and so he doubted whether this Pentecostal experience that he had heard about was of any consequence. However, he eventually did submit to this ‘unnecessary’ baptism, and noticed an immediate increase in the power of God working through him.

God wants His children to walk not only in light but also in power. He wants His children to be history-makers and world-changers. That’s why He clothes us with power from on high, why He pours out His Spirit upon us.

If you want to see the kingdom of God coming in power, then this matters. It really matters.