Note: Recently a friend at church came to me with a request for help. A discussion at work had revealed that one of his co-workers attended a "charismatic church." I supplied him with my outline on the subject of tongues. The following week we received a written response to that outline. This article contains the comments of this charismatic and the author's response.
Acts 2:1-4 — The only people present at the time were the 120 believers.
The 12 Apostles were the only ones baptized in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and not the 120 as charismatics falsely assert. Throughout these verses there are 6 references to a group identified only as "they" or "them." They are:
1. "they were all together in one place," v. 1
2. "it filled the house where they were sitting," v. 2
3. "there appeared to them tongues as of fire," v. 3
4. "they rested on each one of them, v. 3
5. "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit," v. 4
6. "as the Spirit was giving them utterance," v. 4
To whom do these pronouns refer? A basic rule of Greek grammar is that a pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number. The pronouns occurring in the verses cited above are all masculine, plural. In order to discover who "they/them" refers to, we must search back for the last mentioned masculine, plural group. That masculine plural group is mentioned in Acts 1:26 and is the 12 apostles. The word "apostles" is the masculine, plural antecedent of the masculine, plural pronouns used in the above verses. Clearly the contention of charismatics that the 120 were baptized in the Holy Spirit is in error. This fact is consistently stated on down through Acts 2. In 2:14 Peter took his stand with the eleven, and not the 120. Peter, in answer to the heckling of the crowd in 2:15 clearly says that the speakers were men. Acts 1:14-15 indicates that there were women included in the 120, but they were not baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Tongues were just one of the miraculous abilities given to the Apostles to confirm that their message was from God (Mark 16:20).
Acts 2:4 — This was predicted by Isaiah 28:9-12. Verse 11 of Isaiah 28 – "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people." Verse 12 – "To whom he said, this is the rest where with ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing; yet they would not hear."
The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah in 1 Corinthians 14:21 as he admonishes his audience to grow up and stop thinking like children. Paul then goes on to point out that tongues were for a sign to unbelievers, not believers. Charismatic churches exercise their ecstatic gibberish exclusively in the church or among believers. Tongues were actually to be a tool of evangelism, since the speaker could preach the Gospel in a foreign language. This occurred at Pentecost where 12 Galileans preached in different languages or dialects to the assembled multitude in Jerusalem. A study of the original language of the New Testament shows that the Spirit filled Apostles on the day of Pentecost did more than simply shout "Hallelujah" and "Praise God" in some uncontrollable, emotional outbursts. In Acts 2:4 they are said to have spoken as the Spirit was "giving them utterance." The word for "utterance" is defined by Thayer as "belonging to dignified and eloquent discourse." Nash defines the word as "to speak eloquently." The same word is used of Peter's sermon in Acts 2:14 and is translated "... and declared to them ..." (NASV) This can never be said of modern day tongues which are only a noisy confusion, devoid of order and reasoning. The twelve simply preached a Gospel sermon urging their hearers to become Christians, speaking miraculously and without prior study the native languages represented in the assembled crowd. The apostles did not shut themselves in a room and pray, shout, and in other ways work each other into a frenzy until "they got it!" Instead they immediately began to preach to the assembled multitude in languages the speakers had never studied. Today's charismatic church bottles their so called "gift" up within an existing congregation or study group. When challenged on this point all charismatics respond with some vague incident they heard of (but cannot document) where a foreign missionary supposedly miraculously spoke the language of foreigners without any prior study. If charismatics really have the New Testament miraculous gift, why do they not bypass language schools and go right to work in foreign countries? Think of the time and money that could be saved in reaching foreign fields. Charismatics don't do this because they cannot, and they are unwilling to follow the New Testament instructions concerning the use and purpose of tongues.
Acts 2:38-39 — "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 5:32 — "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him." Here we have a definite statement showing that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God. If we do not have Him as the early Church believers did, it could be because of the disobedience of unbelief.
The Bible tells us to "rightly divide the Word." This is essential if we are to avoid mistakes. We must distinguish between the "gift" of the Holy Spirit and the "gifts" (plural) that were given by the laying on of the hands of the Apostles. Every Christian is promised the Holy Spirit as a seal and pledge of God (Ephesians 1:13-14). This promise was made to Jew (you and your children) and Gentile (those who are far off) alike. This was incomprehensible to Jews who believed they alone could be the recipients of the grace and goodness of God. Study Ephesians 2:11-22 to see how the term those who are far off is applied to Gentiles. Charismatics mistakenly assume that Peter refers to those far off in time. That is, to those who would be born centuries later. Such an idea is not supported by Scripture. The events of Acts 19:1-7 clearly point out that everyone becoming a Christian did not receive a miraculous ability from the Holy Spirit. These men were baptized into Christ, but they did not receive the miraculous abilities of speaking in tongues and prophesying until the Apostle Paul laid his hands on them. Again in 1 Corinthians 14:16, Paul points out that there would be "ungifted" Christians present in worship. Clearly the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were never intended to be given to everyone who becomes a Christian, as the charismatics falsely teach.
Acts 10:48 — Since no man could forbid water baptism to these new converts and new Spirit-baptized people, Peter commanded them to be baptized as all converts should be: not to save the soul, but as an answer to a good conscience and an outward testimony of an inward work, 1 Peter 3:21, 1 John 5:6-8, 1 John 1:7 – "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."
The Acts passages you cite dealing with baptism clearly show that baptism is essential for salvation. The false doctrine that baptism is an "outward testimony of an inward work" is nowhere taught in Scripture! This is a doctrine invented by men (see the warning of Matthew 15:9). The baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the household of Cornelius (Acts 10) was not to save them but to prove to the Apostles that Christianity was for Gentiles as well as Jews. This is confirmed by the events of Acts 11 where Peter is taken to task by Hebrew Christians for associating with Gentiles. After Peter related the events surrounding this unique event at the house of Cornelius, the Hebrew Christians understood that this was a sign from God that Gentiles were also to be preached the Gospel. In verse 18 their conclusion is "... Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life." Peter understood the lesson of the unclean animals let down from heaven in the sheet, because he began his sermon by stating that those from any nation who fear God were welcome (see Acts 10:28-29 and 34-35). This is consistent with 1 Corinthians 14:22, because in this case Peter and his companions were the unbelievers. They did not believe that Gentiles could be saved. This miraculous sign from God proved to them that Gentiles could be equal partakers of the Gospel. We know that the means of their salvation was the preaching of the Gospel, because this is stated in Acts 11:14.
The doctrine that baptism is only an "outward sign of something that has already occurred" was invented by those who reject the New Testament teaching about immersion. The Scriptures give these results of baptism:
1. Remission of sins, Acts 2:38
2. Sin is washed away, Acts 22:16
3. We are saved, Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21
4. We get into Christ, Galatians 3:27
5. We are added to the church, Acts 2:47
Unless a person is immersed in water for remission of sins, he is outside of Christ, outside of Christ's church, unsaved, and unforgiven. One can readily see from these Scriptures that baptism must be essential to salvation and cannot be treated as an optional formality. These Scriptures absolutely connect baptism to our salvation and the forgiveness of our sins. What God has joined, let no man put asunder. The "faith only" doctrine that wants to divorce baptism from salvation is not only false, it is dead, James 2:17, 24, 26.
One of the warnings we are repeatedly given in Scripture is to avoid deception (2 John 7-11). Man seems to have an amazing capacity for self-deception. We believe only what we want to be true and close our eyes to facts. The wish becomes father to the thought. Many sincere people have been tragically deceived by the charismatic movement. They have been deceived into thinking that they are saved because they "feel saved." They have been deceived into convincing themselves that a flawed imitation of New Testament tongues produced by group psychology is a sign from God that they are saved. They have been deceived by an "inner voice" that gives them permission to contradict and ignore the plain teachings of Scripture about baptism, the Lord's Supper, and faithful attendance.
My challenge to you and all charismatics is to stop depending on human feelings and emotions for confirmation of your salvation and spirituality. Why be a part of a church that spreads false teaching about baptism and salvation and whose claims about possessing miraculous gifts are simply empty speeches? Since the church belongs to Christ, we must seek to copy His patterns and commands as found in the pages of the New Testament if we honestly mean to please the Son of God. Why not help us restore and then practice simple New Testament Christianity?
To read Part 1 of this article see: Conversation With A Charismatic Part 1
1. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Joseph Henry Thayer, p.69
2. Practical Parallel Concordance. Donald A. Nash. Witness Press, 1973, p.64
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