Does Every Born Again Believer Speak in Tongues?

Regardless of where any theological controversy begins, it will, in this new covenant of Christ Jesus, end with the issue of "speaking in other tongues". Why? Because unless we agree as to the meaning of the term, "new birth" (or "born again"), we can agree on nothing else entirely. Every doctrine which belongs in the kingdom of God is founded upon the truth concerning the "new birth". When is a person truly born again, and how can we know it? This is where the sincere seeker will always end up, and where the issue of "tongues" waits to be addressed.

Everyone should agree with the Apostle Paul, that everyone who is born again receives the Spirit of God (Rom.8:9). But the burning question, carefully avoided by this generation is this: Does everyone who is born again (who has received the Spirit of God) speak with tongues? This is the question which demands an answer, because, if the answer is "yes", then every denomination which fails to teach this is a fraud. And if it is true that everyone who receives the Spirit speaks in tongues, then everyone who claims to be born again who has NOT had this experience, is found to have been tragically mistaken.

We will examine one facet of this issue now, and that is the "purpose" of tongues, and why the Scriptures and the Spirit of God point us to "tongues" as the "sign" of the new birth experience.

Referring to Isaiah's words, Paul wrote: "In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak to this people, and yet for all that they will not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore", Paul concludes, "tongues are for a sign...to them that believe not" (1Cor.14:21-22). No passage of scripture is more applicable to the present age than these words of that dauntless apostle of Christ. Notice the words, "tongues are for a sign", and ask yourself, "A sign of what?" It is a sign to men, God's designated sign, of the right way to go, the way of the Spirit. Around the world, people of various faiths claim to be in fellowship with God, but God Himself gives a sign when He brings a soul into His kingdom. Now, therefore, my friend, we see just what tongues are for!

In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus said these words: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST. Take my yoke and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find REST for your souls."

And what does this promised rest have to do with "tongues"? Everything, for the scriptures from Isaiah 28:11-12 are none other than the verses Paul was quoting in the passages in 1Cor.14 when he said: "For with stammering lips and another tongue shall he speak unto 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". "Tongues" is the sign given for men to recognize the true rest of God when they see it, and the chief purpose of tongues is to distinguish those who really repent and receive God's forgiveness from those who only claim to have done so.

Reader, get real with God and believe the gospel! In reality there is NO spiritual life without the language of the Spirit, for receiving the holy Spirit and speaking in tongues are the same experience in Christ. The moment one receives the holy Ghost he begins to speak in stammering lips or a language he has not learned. This is true in EVERY case, just as Jesus told Nicodemus (John 3:8). When all the evidence is rightly divided and justly weighed, it becomes clear that every person who receives the holy Ghost speaks in tongues when he receives it, and if that person has not spoken in tongues, then he has no basis on which to claim that he has received the Spirit of God.

There is only ONE way to receive the holy Ghost, and that is by repentance and faith toward God. And there is only one proof that is always present when this happens in that person's life: speaking in tongues. "The Spirit itself beareth witness" Rom.8:16). Jesus, the master, said it this way: "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, HE SHALL TESTIFY OF ME" (John 15:26).

Many a "would-be preacher" has tried to excuse his lack of the Spirit by teaching that speaking in tongues is a gift that only a few in the congregation have received. Let us point out that it is the "gift of diverse tongues" that Paul said only a few possess. But he never said that only a few possess the sign of tongues when a person receives the holy Ghost for the very first time.

The divine act of the Spirit entering into and speaking in tongues is God's witness that He has received that soul into His kingdom. It is God's sign of the "new birth". Every born again person speaks in tongues, beginning the moment of his new birth. If you have not received this experience, please do not feel this a "belittling" or a "condemnation" of your faith in Jesus. It is not. There were sincere followers of Christ in the days of the apostles who had not yet received the Spirit until others came to "teach them the way more perfectly". And the Bible said that these earnest souls had the humility of heart and the sincerest of faith to receive it (both the truth, and the baptism of the Spirit!). It is essential that you know that anything short of the baptism of the holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues will not suffice for the cleansing of your soul. It is the baptism of the holy Ghost that makes one a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor.12:13), and it is the baptism of the holy Ghost that washes the soul from the stain of sin (Acts 22:16), removing even the desire for sin from the heart of man. The baptism of the holy Ghost is the experience which makes man a new creature in Christ Jesus, and so the answer to our question is "yes...EVERY believer must speak in tongues". Tongues is the sign given by God that a person has been born again. Without this experience, no man can be a new creature, fit to live in eternity among the saints.

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