REFUTING BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND PENTECOSTAL GIFT OF TONGUES.

Pentecostal Christians believe that baptism with the Holy Spirit is a second blessing, subsequent to conversion. They believe that this baptism is evidenced by speaking in tongues, and therefore, all Christians should speak in such tongues.

Reformed Christians believe differently than this. For the Reformed, baptism with the Holy Spirit is the Christian's own conversion.

I - BIBLICAL TEXTS THAT SAY "BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT" AND WITH FIRE

Pentecotal Christians distinguish between baptism "of the Holy Spirit" and baptism "with the Holy Spirit." The first would be conversion and the second a later blessing of filling, power and strange tongues.

In the Bible, however, there is no distinction between baptism with the Holy Spirit and baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The texts that clearly speak about baptism with the Holy Spirit in the New Testament are: Matthew 3.10-12 and Luke 3.15-17.

In Matthew 3:11 John the Baptist says "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to bear. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Here John speaks of baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire. Pentecostals understand from this text that the baptism with the Holy Spirit mentioned here is the outpouring of Acts 2, where people spoke "with tongues as if of fire" (Acts 2.3). Therefore, they conclude that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is this filling of power, and of "fire" in the lives of Christians, which happened in Acts 2.

Non-Pentecostals, on the other hand, interpret Matthew's text in its context in a very different way.

In verse 10 John had said "the ax has been laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the FIRE".

Here he threatens the fruitless trees to be thrown into the fire.

On the front verse (11), it says that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

And in verse 12 he says "His fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear the threshing floor; he will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn the chaff in UNEXTINGUISHABLE FIRE."

Here again we see fire as a threat of condemnation, and after talking about the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire, John talks about how Jesus will separate the saved and the wicked.

Therefore, non-Pentecostals understand that baptism with fire is condemnation, judgment, and not the same as baptism with the Holy Spirit and there is no relationship between baptism with fire and "tongues as if of fire" in Acts 2.

Therefore, non-Pentecostals understand that baptism with the Holy Spirit is exactly the opposite of baptism with fire, that is, salvation. Jesus said that he would gather the wheat into the barn and this baptism is seen as Jesus' saving work.

Luke's text deals with the same thing.

In Acts 2:5 Jesus says "for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." Here again, Jesus speaks of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and says that His disciples would receive this baptism, but He says nothing about the baptism of fire.

II - EVERY CHRISTIAN IS BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

In Romans 8:9 Paul says "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His." Therefore, every Christian must possess the Holy Spirit. Anyone who is not inhabited by the Holy Spirit is not in fact a Christian. On this everyone agrees.

In I Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul talks about the Church of Christ and how it is a body of different members.

In verse 13 he says "for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free. And we were all made to drink of one Spirit."

Here, Paul says that all believers were baptized in the same Spirit, that is, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and that is why they belong to the same body. It is evident here that baptism with the Spirit is the reason for someone to be part of the body of Christ, that is, conversion itself.

III - DOES EVERYONE SPEAK IN TONGUES?

Still in I Corinthians 12, in verses 14-26, Paul talks about the different members of the body as an analogy for different gifts existing in the church.

In verse 28-31, Paul says, "God established some in the church, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; then workers of miracles; then gifts of healing, help, governments, varieties of of languages.

Are they all apostles? Or, all prophets? Are they all masters? Or, miracle workers? Does everyone have the gift of healing? Do they all speak other languages? Do they all interpret them?

Meanwhile, seek, with zeal, the best gifts."

Here, Paul says that each person has a different gift in the church. The Church of Corinth was very fascinated by the gift of tongues (which Paul will address in chapter 14), but he lists the gifts of speaking and interpreting tongues last. And he asks rhetorical questions about whether everyone had the same gifts and the answers should be negative. What Paul tries to show here is that not everyone has the same gifts. Not all are apostles, not all are teachers, not all perform miracles, not all speak in other languages and not all interpret. Therefore, non-Pentecostals believe that the gift of tongues cannot be a sign of baptism with the Holy Spirit, since not everyone can have the same gifts.

IV - WHAT IS THE GIFT OF TONGUES?

In chapter 14, Paul talks about tongues and shows that their function was communication. He says in verses 6-12 onwards that there is no point in saying something in church that no one understands.

He says that those who speak in tongues must interpret them so that they may be useful to the church (verses 13-16).

In verses 18-19, of chapter 14 of I Corinthians, Paul says "I thank God that I speak in other tongues more than all of you. However, I would rather speak five words with my understanding, to instruct others, than speak ten thousand words in another language." Thus, he shows that languages without interpretation are useless.

In verse 28 he says "but if there is no interpreter, remain silent in the church, talking to yourself and to God." Thus, Paul makes it very clear that tongues are not for anything other than communication and should only be spoken in the church when it is possible to interpret what was said.

In Acts 2.7-13 we can see that the languages of Acts were human languages and that the people present in Jerusalem from various countries understood the Gospel in their own languages, and therefore believed.

Therefore, the languages of Acts were human and had the purpose of communicating the Gospel, exactly the same as what Paul talks about in I Corinthians 14. In this, he says in verses 10-11: "there are, without a doubt, many types of voices in the world; none of them, however, are meaningless. If I, therefore, ignore the meaning of the voice, I will be a foreigner to him who speaks; and he, a foreigner to me."

Pentecostals believe that tongues are a universal gift because of the promise in Mark 16:17-18 "These signs will follow those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, they will not will harm them; if they lay hands on the sick, they will recover."

Therefore, Pentecostals believe that this promise is for all who believe. However, not all Christians perform all of these signs and therefore, strange tongues do not need to be for all Christians but for some who believe, according to the need for the gift.

Some who believe God will give one gift, to others another and so he will give all gifts. The signs will follow the believers, but this does not mean that the same signs or all signs will always be present in the life of every Christian.

God does not need to give all the gifts to a Christian, but those that are necessary. As seen in 1 Corinthians 12, not everyone speaks in tongues, but does that mean not everyone believes? In no way does it mean that the gift is not the same for everyone, as we are a body, made up of different members, although baptized in the same Spirit (I Corinthians 12:12-13).

Another Pentecostal argument is that tongues are the tongues of angels, according to I Corinthians 13.1. In this text, Paul says "even if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I do not have love, I will be like sounding brass or like a clanging cymbal."

Here Paul is not talking about the gift of tongues, but rather talking about a hypothetical possibility that, without love, would still be worthless. Paul is not claiming that it is possible to speak in the tongues of angels, but rather "even if I spoke", showing here a hyperbole to show precisely that spoken tongues do not make someone saved, even if they were even in the tongues of angels.

Therefore, in this text there is no basis for establishing a doctrine of the tongues of angels, which contradicts the teaching of Acts 2 and I Corinthians 14, which speak of the gift of tongues as human languages.

V - CONCLUSION

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is conversion itself. The Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16.7-11), seals us as Christ's property (Ephesians 1.3), dwells in us as a guarantee of the final work of salvation (II Corinthians 1.22), testifies that we are children of God (Romans 8.15), leads us to repentance when we sin (II Corinthians 7.10; II Timothy 2.25) and leads us to live a new life as born of the Spirit (John 3.😎, not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 😎 .