The Evidence

 DEVOTION

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

THE EVIDENCE

Acts 19:1-7

19:1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." 3 So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied. 4 Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." 5 On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

NIV

One of the reasons many churches and church people are against speaking in tongues is that it was for then, but not for now. First, we must deal with being baptized in the name of Jesus. We are supposed to repent, as was the message of the baptism of John. People were baptized in water as a baptism of repentance. Interestingly, the Greek word metanoia means to have a change of mind. It is not supposed to mean that we have a compulsion of guilt because of our sin, which some might believe. We simply have a change of mind, as we no longer want to live the way we used to, following our own pleasures, and now we want to live as followers of Jesus. However, Paul's point is that although it is good to change one's mind, we also need to be baptized in the name of Jesus and to receive the Holy Spirit. The new believers in Ephesus had not heard about the Holy Spirit, but we certainly have, as we have all the scriptures available to us, so we can be fully instructed about the Spirit. This is one of the times when believers received the Spirit, resulting in them speaking in tongues and prophesying. Without investigating the Greek, the word prophesying could be misunderstood. What we find is that it could be the idea of foretelling future events, such as a prophet like Isaiah did. However, the other use of this Greek word, profeeteuoo, is to utter forth under a sudden impulse, in lofty discourse or in praise of the divine. This was what happened on the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples were speaking in languages they had not learned, and people heard them praising God. Because the word of God is active, alive, and meant for all people in all times, in every nation, being a transcultural truth, we believe one of the many evidences of being baptized in the Spirit is speaking in an unknown language, or tongues. Of course, there are many other evidences of being filled with the Spirit which could take a book to fully explore; however, the point is that a change should take place within us, first, as we are baptized in water in the name of Jesus, although usually, many baptizers say, in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Second, a change should occur when we are baptized in the Spirit. We should be changed, as we are now being influenced by the Spirit, and there has to be some evidence of that change. The question is, do we see the evidence?