Can Conversion Occur Without Speaking in Tongues?

"I want all of you to speak in tongues." (1Cor.14:5) - Words of the Apostle Paul.

We don't have time to waste trying to convince people that speaking in tongues is an experience which still takes place today in Christ Jesus. But for the sake of those who have the Spirit, or those who are seeking the Spirit or just interested in knowing more about it, we will address those doubts first. If we believe Paul's words above, then we must admit that there is such an experience as being empowered by God's holy Spirit to speak in a language which we have not learned. The Scriptures bear indisputable witness to the presence of this experience in the early congregation. Beginning in the second chapter of Acts and throughout the New Testament writings, there are references to this extraordinary blessing among both Jewish and Gentile believers. It is utter foolishness to claim that the baptism of the Spirit (with the evidence of speaking in other tongues) was "only for the Apostles", for we see multitudes of believers receiving this experience in the early congregation decades after Pentecost, well after many of the Apostles had died. Likewise, it is folly to say that the baptism of the Spirit occurred only "until the Bible was completed". Firstly, God was not waiting for the Bible to be completed so He could stop blessing His people. Secondly, the evidence of millions of believers who have received this promise from the day of Pentecost onwards, bears indisputable testimony that speaking in tongues is an experience which still takes place today. Only the unreasonable and ignorant, or the unbelieving person would ever doubt that speaking in tongues is a reality.

The truth is, there is no spiritual life without the language of the Spirit, for receiving the holy Spirit and speaking in tongues are indissolubly united as two parts of one experience in Christ. The moment one receives the holy Ghost, he is moved by the Spirit to speak in a language he has not learned. This is true in every case, as Jesus explained to Nicodemus (Jn.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 that if one has not spoken in tongues, then he has no basis on which to claim that he has received the Spirit of God. Much of the confusion which exists among God's people today, exists because they will not trust God's witness (or the lack of it) to know who is in the body of Christ and who is not. They will not believe the truth. And when the truth is not believed, God in His loving response, will send a corrective measure reserved for His children who have gone astray: "strong delusion" (2Thes.2:11). This is the condition of the assembly today - confused, divided, and deluded.

The only way to receive the holy Ghost, my friend, is by repentance and faith toward God; and the divinely ordained proof that this has happened is tongues. Jesus said it this way, "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me" (Jn.15:26). Or as Paul would later phrase it, "The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom.8:16). The Comforter's "testimony", or the Spirit's "witness", is that inspired utterance which is unknown to those who are speaking, but not unknown to God, nor to whomever He might direct it. So, the chief purpose for tongues is to distinguish those who really have repented and received God's Spirit from those who only claim to have done so. Tongues is NOT "A" gift - it is "THE" gift - the promise of the Father to all who truly believe on His Son Jesus.

Why is this matter so important? Why do we stress the necessity of speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of being "born again"? Because it is the sign of the New Covenant, and nobody has been made a partaker of that covenant until the Spirit has come in. It is SIN to welcome into the family of God those who have not yet received the holy Ghost. We are to welcome into our midst the sincere seekers of the Spirit of God, but they must know where they stand with God. They must know that the baptism of the holy Ghost is the promise of God, and is that which the Old Covenant was anticipating. Without the Spirit, as Paul said, "we are none of His [God's].

Long before Jesus suffered and died to make the holy Ghost available to men, God chose tongues as the sign of this new covenant; and He announced His choice through the prophets. Through Zephaniah (3:9) God promised, "For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." Through Isaiah (28:11 12) He said, "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." When a sinner hears someone speaking in tongues, the call of the Spirit is to his heart, not to his head; it is to his feelings, not to his understanding.

Referring to Isaiah's words, Paul wrote, "In the law it is written, `With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto 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). 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 way of the Spirit. A singular beauty of the new covenant in Christ is that God Himself, through the Spirit, speaks when He enters our hearts; we are not dependent upon a man to tell us when we have been born of the Spirit.

In Matthew 11:28-29, he found Jesus pleading with his people, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST. Take of 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, my friend, for the Scriptures from Isaiah 28:11-12 tell how one may recognize the REST of God when he sees it. "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."

Speaking in tongues through a person is God's witness that He has given His Spirit to that person. It is God's sign of the new birth. Every born-again person speaks in tongues (or has "stammering lips"), beginning the moment of his new birth. It is essential that you know that nothing but the baptism of the holy Ghost will cleanse your soul. It is the baptism of the holy Ghost that makes a man a member of the body of Christ (1Cor.12:13), and it is the baptism of the holy Ghost that washes from our hearts the stain of sin (Acts 22:16), removing even the desire for sin from the heart of man. The baptism of the Spirit is the experience which makes a man a new creature in Christ Jesus, fit to live in eternity among the saints. And what is the initial evidence that one has received the Spirit of God? Speaking in tongues. How you receive the truth will reveal how much you really love Jesus, despite what you claim about him. "Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2Cor.3:17). That is why the issue always comes back to "speaking in tongues". Can conversion occur without tongues? The answer, for those who love the truth, is NO. Everyone who is converted, speaks with other tongues the moment they receive the Spirit of God.

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