The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

In Acts 2 the disciples did get the gift of tongues when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, but I can tell for sure too that Peter got the spiritual gift of teaching as well. He had never given such an eloquent sermon before. But no one ever mentions that Peter received that gift too and how important that was for saving the 3,000 that got saved that day. 😉

The main reason why tongues was the first spiritual gift that all the disciples got at Pentecost was so that they, and everyone else, could clearly see that something was different about them.

Then when the Gentiles got saved in Acts and got the Holy Spirit in Acts they also prayed in tongues. This was a crucial thing to have happen so that Peter, and the other disciples, could clearly see that Gentiles could be saved too. Had that not happened, that the Jewish And Gentile new believers prayed in tongues when they received the Holy Spirit, the early church would not have known so clearly that Gentiles could be saved too.

Before, in the Old Testament, God was just the God of the Jews, but after Jesus died he broke down the barrier dividing wall between the Jews and Gentiles. These two main instances of tongues in Acts mainly served the purpose to show this new reality, that Jews and Gentiles could now be God’s people. That is why Scripture says that tongues were meant to be “a sign.” They were a sign of this new unity between the Jews and Gentiles.

But just because these instances in Acts couple the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues does NOT mean that the two will always go together. Many make that mistake and then look down on anyone who doesn’t pray in tongues, which results in religious abuse and ostracizing people that we are supposed to love.

Now, when any Christian gets the baptism of the Holy Spirit, they can receive ANY gift of the Holy Spirit. It generally is whatever gift suits them and their personality the best. We are all made differently. Amen? We all love to do different things. Some of us are more inward focused and some of us are more outward focused. God knows what gift is best for each of us that will fit our inner make up the best. It is simply not true that one gift is best for everyone. Everyone gets their own gift to reach different people in different ways. That is why God’s spirit gives us, the church, a variety of different gifts, but all are good and all gifts are EQUALLY important. Amen.

May God bless you all! :)