Speaking In Tongues

SOME THOUGHTS

I.  This is to deal with tongues in the early Church as well as with the gifts of the Spirit.  Let us look at tongues first of all in the Corinthian church.  Undoubtedly Corinth was a church with a lot of problems.  To say it was immature is just guesswork.  If there is a comparison made between it and present day churches, one has to comment on the vast difference apparent in its function.  Corinth was closer to the ideal than our modern churches that follow entertainment, humanism, psychology and worldliness.  Its similarity to present-day churches was in the false apostles mentioned by Paul in the second book.  To deal with the matter it should be pointed out first of all that every epistle was written in part to deal with problems, errors, heresies and failures in the various churches.

Let us think of  Romans.  In that book, there were schisms and cliques.  There was in-fighting between the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers and there was a concern by Paul about Jewish emphasis on food laws.  Also, Chapters 14 and  15 show there were weak members there.  In the first book he commended many female ministries to them as well as male ones.  Perhaps this was a need because of some neglect in making allowance for female ministries.

In Galatians, they had gone away to a “different gospel”.  What could be worse than this?  Paul said those who did should be “accursed”.  He did not use this kind of language to the Corinthians, despite their failures.  He said if there were those who would be circumcised it meant they had “fallen out of Christ” which meant the loss of their eternal salvation.  Nothing like this was said to the Corinthian church.  These Galatians had to be sharply exhorted not to go back to Law.  It was as if they had been bewitched because of this tendency, even though they had heard the message of Jesus Christ crucified over and over.  Paul said those who relied on the works of the Law were under a curse.  Very strong words indeed for this church!

 Then what of Ephesians?  He had to warn them to speak the truth as obviously many lied and there were other injunctions to be noted as in Chapter 4.  In chapter 5:3 there is an implication that there was fornication, impurity, greed which is idolatry, obscenity and vulgar, silly talk.  Also, some were spiritually asleep and had to awake.  Obviously there was a problem with many not being willing to submit one to the other.  Also, he had to instruct husbands to really love their wives and both husbands and wives to submit one to the other, with the wife having to respect her husband.  There was the danger and intrusion of heresy in that church and the need for them to have  the whole armour of God on them in use.  That church, in Revelation 2, even though being commended for judging evil, false apostles and thus rejecting some heresy, was warned by Christ because they had abandoned the love for Him they had at first.  They needed to repent.  This also was a church with problems.

 In Philippi, they were preaching Christ with envy and rivalry, being full of selfish ambition.  This was not laudatory!  Paul had to warn them to reject this kind of sin and to have humility.  Because of this perhaps, we have the wonderful portion regarding the Lord Jesus in His voluntary humiliation, He as God had humility as an attribute.  They were to be like minded.  Some  also quarrelled, murmured and argued.  Then again they had to be warned to beware of those who were Judaistic and would further the practice of circumcision.  There were many who lived as if they were enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their glory was in the shame of having their belly as their god.  As well there were two women ministries who obviously could not get along. 

Let us look at Thessalonica where there was the tendency to be full of doubts and surmises about the coming of the Lord and the Day of Judgment.  This obviously was not as bad as what was in all of the other churches but it could and perhaps did lead to imaginative myths concerning what was to happen, just as we see today in many churches and countries.

Therefore, it is an invalid argument against tongues for today, to use the book of Corinthians regarding their obvious extensive praying in other tongues.  In chapter 14 we should notice the distinction of prayer and worship in other tongues from the far less use of the Gift of Tongues, it being another matter.

Just because tongues speaking was a problem among others in Corinth, it does not mean other churches did not follow a similar pattern of prayer and worship.   Historic records say they did.  Paul would always correct any church following error.  Thus, the problems including their wrong views on tongues had to be addressed.  They even thought they were of the status of angels because of speaking in tongues, as 1 Corinthians 13:1.  We do not ban the Lord’s Supper just because the Corinthians were misusing it  even to the resultant death of some members.  Therefore, why should we ban speaking in tongues?  Neither do we today forbid women to attend church with short hair or without head apparel.  We now understand 1 Corinthians 11 differently and correctly.  Again, why should we then forbid speaking in tongues?  Could it be because the carnal mind, being at enmity with God, does not want to submit to something in the Epistles that it does not understand fully because of carnal reasoning?

 We cannot say that speaking in tongues was not referred to in other epistles.   Looking at Galatians 3:2-5 one should see that there is obvious reference to matters of the Holy Spirit, including speaking other tongues.  We should be willing to accept that 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14 at that time were taught generally by Paul and had not been removed from the Bible as is done today.  No publisher or printer will remove these chapters but sadly many preachers and believers do.

George Smeaton, said to be Scotland’s greatest theologian (obviously a Presbyterian) in his great book on The Holy Spirit indeed does state that these verses relate to the speaking in tongues of Acts and the Gifts of the Spirit given to the Apostles and others.

Then we have Romans 8:26 where it has to be prayer in the Holy Spirit which is speaking in other tongues.  Indeed, some theologians who are not Pentecostal in belief admit and write that this verse does refer to prayer in other tongues.  The historical  record on the Internet, declares that in the meetings for the first hundred years of the church’s history, the  people prayed aloud together in other tongues and worshipped aloud together in other tongues.

It is a pity and a matter of dire consequences that all of us are not in the habit of following their example.  Of course, we know of Paul’s speaking and praying in other tongues to an extensive dimension.  “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all”. In Philippians 3:17 Paul enjoins us to be followers of him and in 1 Corinthians 11:1 he writes, “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”. The imitation of Christ in the matter of tongues is that even as Christ submits to the Father, we also submit to Christ who poured out the spirit and imparted the tongues speaking.  To follow Paul has to include doing so in the matter of his much praying in other tongues.  We would not dare to cut this verse out of the Bible, would we?

The book of Hebrews does not mention speaking in tongues but neither does it major on the Holy Spirit, as does Romans and it does not speak of water baptism, the Lord’s Supper, personal holy living and other subjects taken up in the other epistles.  Those Hebrew believers were in spiritual jeopardy and had not fully understood the pre-eminence of Jesus above that of Moses.  They wanted to go back to Temple worship and the sacrifice of animals and to the Mosaic way with the Levitical priesthood.  They had to be warned against sacrifices of animals because it would be disgracing the sacrifice of Christ.  They were admonished not to tread on the blood of Christ. They could not understand deep spiritual truths.  They were babes in their Christian belief.  They did not understand about Christ in the Old Testament worship nor His role as Priest after the Order of Melchizedek.

Some would prefer Law and neglect salvation by faith shown by the men of faith as noted in Hebrews 11.  They had to be told to look to Jesus and that our God is a consuming fire.  Instruction was necessary for them to understand the role of the New Jerusalem, the city of the Living God and the church of Jesus Christ as against the approach by the Israelites to Mount Sinai with its Law and judgments.  They would have spoken in tongues but their great needs were as stated above.  Paul always dealt with the pertinent needs of the believers.

James had to warn the believers against regard of man and to be careful because the Lord was at hand.  There is the possibility he was warning them against the tribulation Jesus had declared would come on the Jewish nation.  This occurred from 66-73 A.D. at the hands of the Romans, who were prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 31:17 and in chapter 28:29-57, regarding a nation like “an eagle” (the emblem of the Roman Army) swooping down on them.  He even told of the siege of Jerusalem and of the atrocities that would occur, when women cannibalised their newborn babies.

Peter wrote his epistles in part to explain about the cross of Christ and the deliverance and healing from sin it brought, particularly to all the Christian slaves.  He had to steer them all through the fires of persecution they were enduring.   It was necessary for him to warn them about the end of all things, the destruction of the earth by fire and their deliverance.  They were to be looking towards that day so as to hasten its coming.

About the fact that Jesus did not mention speaking in tongues, He was the One who gave it, according to Acts 1 and 2.  It is to be noticed that even in chapter 1 He did not mention there would be tongues.  Therefore, why would He have mentioned it in the Gospels?  He promised the one hundred and twenty that they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost, the promise of the Father.  As Peter said, they could know Jesus was risen and at the right hand of God because He had given “this”, viz. being “filled with the Holy Ghost and speaking in other tongues”.

To mention Timothy and Titus in the category of speaking in other tongues seems rather odd when Paul was teaching explicitly on the how of being a minister of Christ.  All believers were not included as being of the class allotted to Timothy and Titus.  However, all believers and pastors already did pray in other tongues as 1 Corinthians 12-14 was taught by Paul in all the churches. He even remarks on this in

14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of all the saints”.   This verse comes after his instructions regarding the gifts of Tongues and Interpretation in the church.  Even as he taught that God is the author of peace in all the churches of all the saints, it is very apparent he also taught the matters of these three chapters in all those churches.

In actuality, there is not a verse to say they did not!  Tongues has nothing to do with assessing the spiritual state of any believer and Paul knew this.  He saw no need to mention it as a quality necessary for Timothy or Titus and other ministers. Speaking in tongues is not character, a natural talent or God-given ability for ministers.

II.  As for the Corinthian tongues not being identical with the tongues at Pentecost, of course they would not be.  In 1 Corinthians 14:2 “Those who speak in a tongue, do not speak to other people but to God; speaking mysteries in the Spirit”.  This verse mentions “a” tongue.  “A” means “one, any, one single”.  Each believer is given “a” tongue apparently most if not all, different.  Each person at Pentecost and each one in Corinth generally spoke differently from all the others, even if the individual was given different tongues on different occasions, as I have proved does happen.  Only those who have heard multitudes speaking in other tongues would even begin to be able to evaluate by comparison.

 This verse in Corinthians is about praying and worshipping in other tongues.  On the Day of Pentecost they were praising God but He included in the grace of the baptism with the Spirit, on that day, the ability for the hundreds perhaps thousands of hearers to understand.  That was the miracle for the crowd because they said, in Acts 2:8-13, “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?”  I say this because the Bible does not specifically record that the one hundred and twenty disciples spoke only in those over twenty languages mentioned, or indeed the writer did not say they spoke in those languages.  What is said is that the people said they heard them speak thus.  This should cause us to really think more about the whole episode.   Also it is not said that the one hundred and twenty spoke known languages.  Having heard thousands speaking in other tongues and stood by them to listen, according to my judgment that may not be perfect of course, I always would hear different languages. It has not seemed that any person ever spoke a similar language to others.

As sometimes said it would appear some followers of other religions do speak in tongues.  Personally I have never heard it, even though having lived in heathen countries and Islamic places.  Is it not strange to use this as an excuse that today when people in churches, followers of the Lord Jesus, do speak in tongues, it must not be of God?  Some dare say it is of Satan.  Now as it is apparent that God gave the tongues  in Acts and in Corinth the ability to speak in other tongues, is it not strange that believers today would use such an excuse and argument?  It was God who gave it to them without there being any suggestion in the Bible that because idolaters and Devil worshippers might have an apparently parallel manifestation tongues speaking was dangerous and should be disregarded as not being appropriate for churches?

The Gift of Tongues does indeed have value despite any argument to the contrary.  This is not praying or worshipping in other tongues or the tongues given when one is baptized with the Holy Ghost.  This latter one, is given by Jesus Christ.  The former, the Gift of Tongues, is given by the Holy Spirit.  These are two different Beings in the Godhead, Jesus dispensing of one gift and the Holy Spirit, the other.    1 Corinthians 14:17,18 is about praying in other tongues to God Himself, that accompanied the gift Jesus gives.  Verse 28 speaks of the gift given by the Holy Spirit, that of giving a short utterance in other tongues for the benefit of the church and which is to be interpreted.

Paul commands us in 1 Corinthians 12:31 “But strive for the greater gifts (of the Spirit)” and 14:1 “Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts”, these being enumerated in 12:7-10, the last two being the gift of Tongues and the gift of Interpretation of Tongues.  Yes, Paul does think these two gifts important or he would not have urged those Corinthians and us to pursue them as being included in the nine.  Naturally, if we wish to eliminate the gifts we must eliminate the love as the verse quoted above commands love in conjunction with the spiritual gifts!  As for verse 28, this does apply to the use of the gift of Tongues as a gift of the Spirit, out loud, for the church members to hear.  Paul is not saying the gift is dispensed with but rather that if the gift of Tongues is in use there had better be one who has the gift of Interpretation to say it in the language of the hearers.  This does not concern mere “speaking in tongues”, which is a different matter, but only the gift of Tongues.  Paul is saying that this gift of Tongues is important, necessary and needed but there must be the interpretation so that the hearers can understand what God, the Spirit, is saying.

III.  Regarding a woman, verse 34, it obviously is written with sarcasm as the Law did not say such a thing.  Paul’s remarks actually refer to the habit where they had meetings with men separated from the women, as in many Asian countries today.  In Corinth, the women, being in those days ill educated would call out aloud to their husbands for an answer.  Paul is telling them to ask their husbands when they arrived home.  Actually, this kind of a situation does not exist in Asian churches or in Charismatic churches.

Verses 37,38 are quite serious, “Anyone who claims to be a prophet, or to have spiritual powers, must acknowledge that what I am wiring to you is a command of the Lord.  Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized”.    Paul is telling even leaders, pastors and spiritual ones to recognize that he is writing the Lord’s commandment.  Those who reject speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit should take note.  You are rejecting not Paul’s command for Corinth but the Lord’s command for you today.  Paul never stated these things would be rescinded so they remain in the Bible for all to read and observe.

Yes, we can look at all the Scriptures about speaking in tongues just as we would gather together all the Scriptures about love, or holiness, or water baptism or even prayer.  Particularly can we understand about tongues in these three chapters of Corinthians.  They are to be with love, first of all.  Secondly, they have not been done away with as we still have knowledge even if in part.  Chapter 14 includes teaching on two kinds of tongues.

The tongues a believer receives when baptized with the Holy Ghost as in Acts 2:4 and the tongues of the gift of tongues are different.  The former is for prayer and worship, being prayer in the Holy Ghost also to help build oneself up in the faith as Jude says in verse 20.  These tongues edify the one who prays, 1 Corinthians 14:2-4, and these tongues are spoken to God, with no one understanding.  They speak mysteries in the Spirit.  Such mysteries are not revealed and only understood in most cases unless interpreted, by God alone.  Man could never dream of such a marvellous happening.  It is the grace of God towards His own for their benefit and according to His Divine desire.  Paul in verse 5 says he wanted all to pray these kinds of tongues – even today.  He did not say it was only for Corinthians and he did not say they were to cease in the church.  He explains in 14 that praying in a tongue is when one’s spirit prays and not one’s mind.  One can also praise with one’s spirit.  Both of these are blessed graces in other tongues! 

IV.  Prophecy cannot be said to be far superior to tongues.  Paul in saying that praying in a tongue is edifying, says the only spiritual action a believer can take to edify himself.  This praying in tongues is the thing that is far superior.  The believer can take other spiritual actions, whereby the Word of God edifies him, meeting with other believers, edifies him, praying with others, edifies him and listening to the preaching should edify him.  However, praying in tongues is how he edifies himself.

Paul does say the gift of Prophecy is not natural as evidenced by 1 Corinthians 12;7-11, when he says each is “the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good”.  It is solely to be by the Spirit.  Preaching can never be said to be such.  Therefore preaching is different from prophecy.  They are not the same.  Many preachers even write their sermons, have notes, practise their sermons or even read their sermons!  Such actions are not manifestations of the Spirit, now are they!

To repeat, prophecy, being a supernatural Gift of the Spirit is not the same as preaching that is a natural gift of speaking and study, often blessed by God.  These are two different operations in the church of Corinth and also for today.  Tongues by themselves would never edify the church.  Tongues edify the person speaking.  It is not correct to say they are of no use to the church because of verses 6,9.  Paul said they edified the person.  He said not to forbid these things.  He encouraged believers to thus pray.  He said it would attract unbelievers, as it does.  During a church service, of course, it is of the most importance that the preacher or user of any of the Holy Spirit Gifts of speech will speak the language of the people!  Surely believers and churches would not be insane enough to just speak in tongues all the service!

Indeed, prophecy and interpreted tongues are functionally fairly equal.  It is wrong to say that prophecy is no different in quality to prophecy in the Old Testament.  To start with, the Old Testament prophets had a calling to prophecy generally to the nation of Israel but sometimes to other nations, kings or people or about the same.  It was a specific office.  Those exercising a gift of Prophecy according to Corinthians can never be like an Old Testament Prophet.  The Spirit of God also used Old Testament Prophets to give us the inspired Word of God.  There was to be no one after the close of the Apostolic Age who would give us any part of what is known as the Word of God.  We are forbidden to even accept such a thing.  Only a heretic would do so.  Prophecy as in Corinthians was not a giving of God’s revelation for the church the first time.  In fact, no one should ever go outside of the Word of God with any so-called gift of Prophecy.  Sadly, that does happen amongst Pentecostals and Charismatics.

  We should know that all the gifts and all the ministries are prone to error and heresy, sadly.  It is up to those who are really desirous of God’s will as revealed in the New Testament in particular, to ensure we are never a part of teachings or follow prophecies or preaching by those who do go outside of the Word of God.

  We should understand that people can prophesy without being prophets as the kind spoken of in Ephesians 4:11.  This kind is a ministry gift of Christ.  Those who prophesied in Corinth had gifts of the Holy Spirit.  The ministry gifts of Christ are apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors/teachers (or as the Greek says ‘pastors teachers’).   King James Versions uses “and pastors and teachers”.  If we remove the first three we must also remove evangelists as well as pastors and teachers.

   This kind of ministry of a prophet is not actually clarified by Paul in Corinthians.  There he deals with being used in prophecy as a gift of the Holy Spirit.    It is a revelation but the kind of a revelation Paul states in 14:6, “Those who prophecy, do so for edification, exhortation and comfort”.   The churches in Acts were “comforted by the Holy Ghost” during or following much persecution.  This was by the gift of prophecy.  These prophecies should follow Paul’s statement, no more and no less.   They do not point a way or are meant to be direction in the will of God, according to this verse.  God will guide us personally “with His eye” and we personally are to be “led by the Spirit” and of course, the Word.  However there are to be prophets today, like Agabus in Acts 21:10,11.  This kind of revelation should occur today.  However, as with all prophecy of any kind, it is to be discerned and judged and not to be taken without some such kind of operation.

V.  Jesus did keep His promise to the disciples in John 16:13 about being guided into all truth.  What they received to pass on was the Truth.  However, Peter in Galatians diverged from this truth on one occasion at least, as did the Jerusalem church when it remained Judaistic.  Paul was not there when Jesus spoke those words, yet he, according to Peter’s comment in his epistle and Paul’s writing in Ephesians, received the full revelation of the gospel and the mystery of Christ for the Gentiles and thus for the whole church of Jesus Christ.  There is to be not further revelation of the Truths of the gospel.  They are written down in our New Testament.  Nothing is to be added or taken away as the book of Revelation warns.  Any new revelation that adds to what is clearly written is error, heresy and a doctrine of devils.  Paul says that in the last days this would often occur, 1 Timothy 4 and 2 Timothy 4. 

What Pentecostals and Charismatics should have today and do partake of a little, is the whole of what Paul sets out in 1 Corinthians 12 to 14.  All churches should have these gifts from Christ and from the Spirit.  They do exist for today.  There is not a verse in the Bible that says they will be ended. 

As for the thought there is not to be private tongues, when supposedly they “are not sensible for edifying the whole church” - this is biased thinking.  Paul in his speaking in other tongues, did not do it in the church but in private or with others in prayer.  This is not the gift of Tongues.

As Hebrews says, “Let us go on to maturity” even in this matter!  Those who disbelieve have not begun to walk this path and the majority of those who have do not know what maturity in the matter is!  All of us should look to our individual walk according to the Scriptures.

Yes, glossolalia and tongue-speaking going on today is from God.  We should never despise any of the grace He bestows on us.  This is His grace and His gift.  Let us not tread upon it but rather embrace what the Scriptures do actually say about the matter and let go of our brain-washed beliefs and teachings and the prejudices with their unbelief.  I daresay each one of us in Christ at some stage has to do this about some spiritual matter so it can be done.

VI.  NOW SOME FURTHER DETAILS.         

It is very true that no man comes to Jesus unless the Father has drawn him, the Son lifted up on the cross also doing the same and the Holy Spirit convicting him of sin and of judgment.

However, I find no verse in the Bible where it is said the Father baptizes him in the Spirit.   Titus 3:4-7 sets out the whole operation of salvation itself, God our Saviour, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, justified, made heirs.  We are made new creations in Christ Jesus through this new birth that is totally a work of God and not of ourselves.  This relates to what Jesus said to the woman of Samaria in John 4 that "whoever gives of the water that I give will never thirst again".  This is the water of the Word (1 Peter 1:23) and the Spirit as said by Jesus.

None of this is called a baptism.  What is called a baptism in relation to the new birth is that mentioned in Colossians 2:11-15 about the work of Christ for us on the cross.  Jesus told His disciples He had a baptism to be baptised with, meaning His death.  This was the circumcision of Christ.  The Father planned that we who are called and believe, be beneficiaries of this circumcision or baptism and then we were also raised with Him, c/f. Romans 6.   This is the baptism relating to our being born again.  Our salvation was given because we acted according to Romans 10:9,10.   At that time the Spirit of Christ/ the Holy Spirit/ the Holy Ghost/ the Spirit of God, came into our dead spirits with Life, who is Christ.  As Romans 8:9, "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him".

I have to say that to consider Jesus was the first to be born again is indeed heresy, as propounded by Kenyon (Christian Science) and his followers Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland, who even has said that Jesus was made such sin that the Roman soldiers committed homosexuality with Him.  Jesus is and was the perfect Lamb of God, without blemish and without stain.  His sacrifice was sweet smelling to God.  There was no imperfection or fault in Him, Hebrews 4:15.  Jesus’ was the first birth out of death.  Life from nothing in creation began through Him and life from the dead and for us in the new birth, began through Him.  It means He is the primary over all created, whether natural or spiritual.  He was the first born as in Colossians 1 and Head of all creation.  He existed before any created thing.  He is God.

The Pentecostals have erred in what they say about the Holy Spirit in relation to the new  birth.  It is contrary to what the Bible says but so also is what is wrongly said about the baptism with the Holy Spirit by others.  Notice it is the baptism "with" and not actually "in" and certainly not "by".  Jesus is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit as is clearly indicated in John 7:38,39, Acts 1 and Acts 2, as well as John 14-16.   "I will pray the Father and He will give you another Comforter".  He does not show there any distinction between salvation and baptism with the Holy Spirit but He does in Acts and from looking at John 20:19-29.    Indeed, John Baptist said a similar thing.

We are baptized into the death of Christ on believing and participate in His resurrection and its power.  When we are baptized in water, as in Peter, it is symbolic of what has already occurred for us on believing, with our association by faith in His death.  It is also in vibrancy a participation in His resurrection life and power that comes within us as in Ephesians 3.14-20.   We are baptized with the Holy Spirit by Jesus when we come to Him and drink to receive the experience they received in Acts 2:4.  They all spoke with other tongues and so do we.  Indeed, so must we or we do not have that baptism.  "Let God be true and every man a liar!".

This is the Scriptural stance on baptism with the Spirit.  There is no verse that says we can be baptized with the Spirit without speaking in other tongues.  Then we are baptized into the Body of Christ 1 Corinthians 12:13 "For in the one Spirit we are all baptized into one body and we were all made to drink of one Spirit".   As drinking is spoken of by Jesus regarding the baptism with the Spirit, we can do nothing else but relate the drinking in Corinthians to the baptism with the Spirit.  Therefore when that occurred we were baptized into the Body of Christ.  I dare say this on the basis of Scripture and also on the basis of 1 Corinthians chapters `12,13 and 14, whose subjects include the operations of members of the Body of Christ.  We notice all those operations are supernatural.  They are to be operated in love, as well as with the accompanying gifts of the Spirit (not of Christ we note) and that love is supernaturally given.  Generally that love is allowed to predominate but sometimes it does not.  If one likes and accepts 1 Corinthians 13 one must also like and accept 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, otherwise please cut them out of your Bibles!  As all operations in chapters 12 and 14 are supernatural, we all need a supernatural baptism with the Spirit that always, according to the Word of God, includes speaking with other tongues so that we have the Divine power and ability to operate in supernatural ways.  The Bible is supernaturally given and so is the new birth.  Thus also is the baptism with the Spirit and the Gifts and manifestations of the Spirit.

I am not sure or convinced that all Pentecostal preachers speak "so proudly about the baptism with the Spirit".   They should not have that attitude as it should be an  endeavour to minister, to be a servant to, or to help others.   Rather, one is to rely more on the Spirit, because Jesus said that without Him we could do nothing and in Zechariah, "It is not by might (human) or by power (human) but by My Spirit, says the Lord.   Sometimes one can be unaware of what can creep into one's own heart.  We do have carnal souls that have a heart beat for this world, the flesh and even sin.  All of us are prone to pride.  In fact, is it not pride, self-will, unbelief and rebellion and would keep us all out of being baptized with the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues?

We do not want to acknowledge as in Romans 8 (and this goes for Pentecostals and for all believers) that we do not know how to pray as we ought but we need the Spirit.   How can He pray through us unless it be with our spirits and our speaking in other tongues or supernaturally driven English words?  How can normal words of our own language be justified as to be said to be "the Spirit"?   Praying in other tongues is prayer by our spirits but it really is the Holy Ghost who is praying and interceding.   Accordingly, it is a heavenly language even as is our citizenship.  We belong to Heaven and that is our destination to be with the Lord.  So why do we object to a heavenly language?

Pride objects to the need to bow to the Word of God, to not have to use our own human language; self-will wants our own ideas and ways; unbelief bids us not engage in anything that could be supernatural rebellion is the sin of Adam as we were all born in.  We all need to watch for these sins and attitudes and have them dealt with in the blood of Jesus Christ, by the Word and by the Holy Spirit, all three being the inheritance and blessing for every person born again even if not baptized with the Holy Spirit.   It should be noted that there is the possibility of mystical and demonic activity coming in if believers do not pray for what the Word of God promises.  Jesus said if we ask the Father for the Holy Spirit that we would not receive demons.

We are to pray for the Holy Spirit of the Word of God.