The Work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Church

This is a paper I wrote concerning "pneumatology" for my Theology 1 Class for Central Baptist College, Conway, Arkansas. I added some color to the text to make the quotations stand out.

The Work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Church

Jason L. Weatherly (C) 2016

 

 

             The gift of the Holy Spirit was first poured out upon New Testament believers on the day of Pentecost following the crucifixion of Christ. The book of Acts describes this event as “suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:2-4). This phenomenon was first prophesied of in the Old Testament by Isaiah who spoke, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear” (Isaiah 28:11-12).

            The “baptism with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 1:5) was manifested by the supernatural manifestation of “speaking in tongues” as the Spirit gives utterance (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6). Although “speaking in tongues” is not specifically mentioned in the revival in Samaria, Simon the sorcerer saw a visible manifestation of the Spirit when the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:18 states, “And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.” A.T. Robertson commented on this passage, “When Simon saw (Idōn de ho Simōn). This participle (second aorist active of horaō) shows plainly that those who received the gift of the Holy Spirit spoke with tongues. Simon now saw power transferred to others. Hence he was determined to get this new power” (Robertson). In fact, “speaking in tongues” was how the Jews knew that the Holy Spirit had fallen upon the Gentiles. Acts 10:45-46 records, “And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” The word “for” in the statement “for they heard them speak with tongues” is from the Greek preposition “gar” which denotes “cause or reason” (Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich). In other words, the Jews knew that the Holy Spirit had fallen upon the Gentiles because they heard them speak with tongues. Notice that it was unbelievers who spoke in tongues in the presence of believers, and not the other way around. This shows that speaking in tongues was not for the purpose of miraculously preaching the gospel in foreign languages, but was the evidence of the Spirit being poured out upon individuals. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown concurred, “The tongues used on this occasion were clearly not intended for the preaching of the Gospel, but merely as incontestable evidence that the Holy Spirit was resting on them” (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown).

            On the day of Pentecost, the supernatural manifestation of “speaking in tongues” was heard by unbelieving Jews in their own native language (Acts 2:8). That is, the ones who spoke in tongues spoke in languages unknown to the speaker, but native to those who heard them—at least 15 different languages, possibly more as implied by the statement “in the parts of Libya about Cyrene” (Acts 2:10). However, this was a special phenomenon on Pentecost and does not necessitate that “speaking in tongues” is always in an actual language recognizable to the hearer as is evident by the fact that the infilling of the Spirit on Pentecost was also manifested by a “rushing mighty wind” and “cloven tongues of fire” (Acts 2:2-3) which are never again mentioned in any other occurrence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul described speaking in tongues as speaking “not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 14:2 ESV). Philip Schaff acknowledged that the phenomenon of Pentecost differed from other occurrences of speaking in tongues, “The miracle of the ‘gift of tongues,’ as described on that memorable Pentecost, really differed in few particulars from those strange manifestations of the Spirit St. Paul writes of in his First Corinthian Epistle. The ‘tongues’ in the Corinthian Church needed an interpreter, either the speaker himself or else some other inspired person, as the utterances were in a language not understood by the bystanders. At that ‘Pentecost,’ however, no such interpreter was needed. The inspired ones spoke then as the Spirit gave them utterance, in new languages certainly; but on that occasion each new language was addressed to groups of pilgrims and travellers familiar with the sounds” (Schaff). Bauer’s lexicon also acknowledged that “a special problem in posed by the technical term glōssai, gene glōssōn, en glōssē(-ais) laein 1 Cor 14:1-27, 39; 12:10, 28, 30; 13:1, 8 Ac 10:46; 19:6. Always without the article. There is no doubt about the thing referred to, namely the broken speech of persons in religious ecstasy” (Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich). In 1 Corinthians 14:18-19, Paul contrasted speaking with tongues with words that could be understood, showing that speaking in tongues is not necessarily a language that is understood by the hearers—hence the KJV translators (as well as others) translate lalōn glōssē as “speaks in an unknown tongue.”

            In the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, Paul illustrated the supremacy of love in that whereas one day the miraculous gifts, such as faith, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and a word of knowledge, will one day cease (1 Corinthians 13:8), love will never cease. The word “cease” in 1 Corinthians 13:8 in Greek is the future indicative pausontai, which simply expresses that in some future time from Paul’s day speaking in tongues would cease. When that time is, is nowhere implied in the verb itself. The context of 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 is that the miraculous gifts (those things “in part”) will fail, cease, and vanish away “when that which is perfect is come.” Cessationist, typically, view these miraculous gifts (which includes speaking in tongues) as having ceased at the time period of the completion of the New Testament canon. However, this does fit the context of 1 Corinthians 13:10. Paul declared that the miraculous gifts would cease when that which is perfect is “come” (erchomai). The Greek verb erchomai (come) is used over 125 times of Jesus Christ, but never of a completed canon. First century believers lived in expectation of the second “coming” of Jesus Christ, not the coming of a completed New Testament. Secondly, the conditions of “when that which is perfect is come” is described as seeing “face to face” not “face to book!” The expression “face to face” (prosōpon pros prosōpon) is from a Hebrew idiom that means “to see one’s face, see him personally” (Thayer). Likewise, Paul expressed that when that which is perfect is come, “then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Thayer noted that this phrase “undoubtedly refers to the knowledge of God, and Nösselt has correctly rendered the passage: there we shall all know perfectly, even as God perfectly knows us” (Winer). This describes events that can only be fulfilled in the Second Coming of Christ—“ when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as he is” (1 John 3:2), that is “face to face.” Even noted Cessationist, James Burton Coffman, understood that “face to face” can only occur at the Second Coming of Christ: “Then face to face . . . In the resurrection, we shall behold the face of the Beloved. ‘We know that if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him even as he is’ (1 John 3:2)” (Coffman) [ellipsis his – JLW]. Thus, the phrase “when that which is perfect is come” cannot refer to a time of the completion of the New Testament canon, but describes “the perfect state of all things, to be ushered in by the return of Christ from heaven, 1 Co. xiii. 10” (Thayer). Therefore, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, including speaking in tongues, are to remain in the church until “that which is perfect is come” i.e. the return of Christ from heaven, when we shall Jesus “face to face,” and know even as God knows us for we will be like Him.

            Some object that the phrase “that which is perfect” can refer to Jesus Christ because the phrase to telion in Greek is neuter singular, and not masculine. However, the fact that to telion (that which is perfect) is neuter singular disproves the idea that “that which is perfect” refers to the completed Scriptures because the Greek words used to describe the New Testament writings (law—nomos and writing—graphē) are masculine or feminine singular, whereas Christ is referred to several times in the neuter singular: “that holy thing” (Luke 1:35); “that which was from the beginning” (1 John 1:1), and “lamb—arnion” (Revelation 5:6, 8, 12-13; 6:1, 16; etc.). Therefore, there is no valid grammatical or contextual reason not to understand “that which is perfect is come” as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Thus, the gifts of the spirit, including speaking in tongues, are to continue in the church until the return of Christ from heaven.

            Recently, some Cessationist, such as John MacArthur, have expressed that “that which is perfect” in 1 Corinthians 13:10 is a reference to the Second Coming of Christ, however, they teach that speaking in tongues (and apparently other miraculous gifts of which they pick and choose) ceased at the end of the First Century – around the time of the death of the last apostle. MacArthur’s proof of tongues ceasing before the Parousia of Christ is, “It should be noted that 1 Corinthians 13:8 itself does not say when tongues were to cease. Although 1 Corinthians 13:9-10 teaches that prophecy and knowledge will cease when the ‘perfect’ (i.e., the eternal state) comes, the language of the passage – particularly the middle voice of the Greek verb translated ‘will cease’ – puts tongues in a category apart from these gifts. Paul writes that while prophecy and knowledge will be ‘done away’ (passive voice) by the ‘perfect,’ the gift of tongues ‘will cease’ in and of itself (middle voice) prior to the time that ‘the perfect’ arrives” (MacArthur, The Gift of Tongues). However, D.A. Carson fully addressed this grammatical fallacy that the middle voice indicates that tongues will cease sometime before “that which is perfect is come.” Carson noted, “it (cease – middle voice) never unambiguously bears the meaning ‘to cease of itself’ (i.e., because of something intrinsic in the nature of the subject); and several passages rule out such overtones as the automatic semantic force of the middle voice form of this verb” (Carson). Carson points out that cease (middle voice) is also used in Luke 8:24 where Jesus rebuked the wind and raging water and they “ceased” (middle voice). Clearly the wind and raging water did not cease “in and of themselves,” rather they ceased in obedience of the command of Jesus. In Acts 21:32 the rioters “ceased” (middle voice) from beating Paul, not “in and of themselves,” but because they saw the soldiers and centurions. In like manner, tongues will “cease,” not in and of themselves, but like all the rest of the spiritual gifts – “when that which is perfect is come” (1 Corinthians 13:8). The change from passive to middle voice in regards to cessation of the spiritual gifts may indicate the reason these gifts cease. Prophecy will “fail” (passive) because there will be nothing left to prophesy and everything that has been prophesied will have been fulfilled. Word of Knowledge will “vanish away” (passive) because we will no longer have a “word” of knowledge, rather we will “know even as we are known” (vs. 12). However, with the gift of tongues there may not be any underlying “reason” why they are done away other than they simply “cease” (middle voice) when that which is perfect is come.

            Therefore, there is nothing in the grammar of 1 Corinthians13:8 to indicate that tongues will cease prior to the time that “that which is perfect is come.” In fact, 1 Corinthians 1:7 Paul stated, “So that ye come behind in no gift (charismata); waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:” Several translations (CENT, ISV, LEB, etc) render this, “So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation (apokalupsis) of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There will never be a time when one of the miraculous spiritual gifts ceases to function in the church while others continue. The church is admonished to not lack any spiritual gifts (charismata) awaiting the coming of Christ. God placed the spiritual gifts in the church (1 Corinthians 12:28) and they will remain in the church until the church is caught up at the Parousia of Jesus Christ. There is NO passage in the Bible that indicates any spiritual gifts would cease before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Work Cited

 

Bauer, Walter, et al. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. Chicago: Univesity of Chicago Press, 1979. Print.

Carson, D.A. Exegettical Fallacies. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996. Print.

Coffman, James Burton. Coffman's Commentary on the BIble. n.d. Internet. 26 October 2016. <www.studylight.org>.

Jamieson, Robert, Andrew Fausset and David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 1871. E-Sword Module.

MacArthur, John. The Gift of Tongues. 2001. Internet. 26 October 2016. <www.gty.org>.

—. The MacArthur Study Bible. Word Publishing, 1997. Print.

Robertson, A.T. Word Pictures of the New Testament. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids: Baker , 1930. Print.

Schaff, Philip. "Popular Commentary of the New Testament." Excursus A. On the Pentecostal Miracle. New York: T&T Clark, 1890. E-Sword Module.

Thayer, Joseph. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1977. Print.

Winer, G.B. A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament. Ed. Joseph Thayer. Philadelphia: Smith, English, & Co., 1869. Print.