I read your article* about evidence, ie, speaking in tongues, to receive salvation.  I’m very curious to know why you didn’t capitalize Holy.  you say “holy Spirit”.  that is not biblical.  all thru King James translation & others Holy is capitalized.  start w John 14:26.  Jesus spoke those words “the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost”??

Michael

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Hello Michael.

Thank you for your good question.

In the original documents of the New Testament, there were no small Greek letters at all.  Every letter was capital.  Small Greek letters were introduced in the 8th and 9th centuries, and from that point on, it was the writer’s choice, to use or not to use capital letters with some words.  In the Greek New Testament that has come down to us, names of people and places are capital, along with the beginning of sentences, but not much else.  Even the words, “God”, “Son of God”, and “Spirit” are not capitalized in the Greek text.  Most modern writers, including myself, capitalize those words out of respect for God and His Son, as well as for God’s Spirit.

We do not capitalize such adjectives as “holy” because there is no need to do so.  Simply capitalizing “Spirit” lets the Reader know that God’s Spirit is being talked about.  We don’t capitalize the word “holy” when speaking of our “holy God” or the “holy Son of God”, and there is no good reason to capitalize “holy” when speaking of the “holy Spirit”.

I hope that clears up that matter for you.  It is a small matter, though, compared to the message in my article, that the baptism of the holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues, is the new birth.  Did you have any thoughts about that?

Thank you again for writing.  I look forward to hearing from you again sometime.

Pastor John

* Ye Must Be Born Again – Going to Jesus.com ;

The New Birth – Going to Jesus.com ;

Going to Jesus.com – Speaking in Tongues at Spirit Baptism

Hi Pastor John, 

I’m reading through Exodus and wondering why God continued to hardened Pharaohs heart up until the very end? Michelle and I are really enjoying and learning a lot in your Old Testament course. Thank you! 

Best, Kevin

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Good question, Kevin.  And the answer is even better!  God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for the same reason He softened ours: that’s what He wanted to do.

Paul spoke of this at length in Romans 9:

14. What shall we say, then?  Is there injustice with God?  Absolutely not!
15. For He said to Moses, “I will show mercy to whomever I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.”
16. So then, it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God, who shows mercy.
17. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “This is the very reason I raised you up, so that in you, I might demonstrate my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18. So then, to whom He will, He shows mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

Paul continues with that subject, and you would enjoy reading the rest of what he said in Romans 9, but the above is his point.  So, if God has given us a desire to know Him, we are very, very blessed, for if we love God, it is only because He first loved us (1Jn. 4:19).  It really is as Jesus told his disciples: “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (Jn. 15:16).  We would have never chosen Jesus; he had to choose us and put it in our hearts to come to him.  Darren Prater’s song, “I Put It in Your Heart”, expresses this truth so beautifully.  Look it up some time.

Thanks for the question.  It is an important one.  Let’s “rejoice always” in our hope and “walk worthy of the calling” we have received from God.

Pastor John

Pastor John,

I was having a conversation with someone today about speaking in tongues and how they thought that if you were going to speak in tongues that there needed to be an interpreter.  I realized that I didn’t know much about this, so after the conversation I decided to research it and ended up in 1 Corinthians 14.  I found these verses, and based on what Paul is saying to the best of my knowledge it does sound like he is saying that an interpreter is needed.  The phrase “unknown tongue” was used in almost every verse, so when Paul says this does he mean speaking in tongues, or is it an unknown tongue as in a different language?  I know that there is an explanation for all of it, I just had some questions on it, and as you always say, questions are good!  Could you clarify based on what Paul said or the biblical stance on interpreting speaking in tongues?  Here are the verses that I found. 

“I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.”

1Corinthians 14:5

“So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.”

1Corinthians 14:9

“Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.”

1Corinthians 14:13-14 

“Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?  yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”

1Corinthians 14:16, 19 

“If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.”

1 Corinthians14:27-28 

Thank you! 

Samantha

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Hi Samantha.

In Paul’s original letter to the Corinthians, the word “unknown” is not there; the King James Version and others add it for clarification, the point being that the language is unknown to the speaker, not necessarily to the ones listening, as on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:4–8).  In other words, the Spirit, not the person speaking, is the source of what is said.

As for 1Corinthians 14, one reason for Christians’ confusion concerning Paul’s requirement of an interpreter before allowing speaking in tongues to occur is their mistranslation of the word ekklesia in the last two verses you quoted.  Because the devout Christian King James demanded that his translators use the word “church” (in order to assure the support of powerful churchmen), his translation and most others, being done by Christian scholars, follow that tradition.  Unfortunately, the translation of ekklesia as “church” makes it sound as though Paul was teaching exactly what many Christians now believe, which is that whenever believers gather in a church, there should be no speaking in tongues unless an interpreter is present.  By teaching that, they are trying to justify the absence of the Spirt’s testimony among them.

What Paul was actually teaching is that when someone is speaking TO the congregation (“in the Assembly”, as when someone stands up in a meeting and preaches or testifies) it is useless to speak in a language that the people cannot understand.  So, if someone wants to exercise their gift of diverse tongues, someone with the gift of interpreting tongues should also be there.

Here is the correct translation of those verses in 1Corinthians 14:

18. I thank my God, I speak in tongues more than all of you; 
19. however, in an Assembly, I prefer to speak five words with my understanding so that I might benefit others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

. . . .

27. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it should be by two, or at the most, three, each in turn, and let one interpret,
28. but if there be no interpreter, let him be silent in an Assembly, but let him speak to himself and to God.

Chapters 12–14 in 1Corinthians deal with issues that our generation of believers knows almost nothing about because we, the body of Christ as a whole, are so lacking in spiritual power.   We are living in a time when a true word from God is rare, and the mighty power of God is almost never seen.  The gifts of the Spirit, which is Paul’s subject matter in 1Corinthians 12–14, are part of a realm of life in the Spirit that we know very little about.  (I, myself, have never seen but three people who had either the gift of diverse tongues or the gift of interpretation of tongues.)  And Christians without the Spirit cannot possibly comprehend it.  That is why they read 1Corinthians 14 (and the rest of the Bible) in such a way as to justify where they are spiritually.  And that is how they read 1Corinthians 14 and come to the conclusion that all believers should be like them and not speak in tongues much, if at all.

It is also important to understand that speaking in tongues at Spirit baptism is NOT the gift of diverse tongues that Paul is talking about in 1Corinthians 14.  All true believers speak in tongues when they receive the holy Ghost, but as I said, I have met just a few who have either the gift of diverse tongues or the gift of interpretation of tongues.

Here are some points from 1Corinthians 14 which most Christians overlook in their effort to explain why their religion differs so much from what is found in the New Testament:

1. There is such a thing as speaking in tongues, and it is of God.
2. These people were speaking in tongues decades after the Spirit came (which means it was not a one-time event for just the first apostles).
3. Paul spoke in tongues more than anybody in Corinth.
4. Paul’s phrase “in the Spirit” means “speaking in tongues” in this chapter.
5. Paul wants everybody to speak in tongues.
6. It is wrong to forbid people to speak in tongues.
7. The people (in this chapter) who don’t understand and who condemn it when God’s people speak in tongues are, as Paul said, “ignorant” and “unlearned” in the things of God.

I could go on, but the point is made.

I hope that helps clear things up for you.  You are to be commended for thinking about these things, discussing them with friends, and asking sincere questions about them.  That is the path that leads to a true knowledge of God.  Please feel free to let me know if I have failed to explain something well enough.

Pastor John

P.S. You may also want to read my little booklet, Speaking in Tongues at Spirit Baptism.

Pastor John,

Is there such a thing as a sin revival?

Thanks,

Jammie C.

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Hi Jammie.

I have never heard of such a thing; however, it is possible – but not for sinners.  Sinners live in sin and, therefore, cannot “revive” it, or bring it back to life. The only people who can have a sin revival are those who have been delivered from sin by the blood of Christ.  They can start sinning again and revive it. Every backslidden child of God, then, has a sin revival of their own when they return to their old, sinful ways.

Thanks for the question.  I have never heard that one before.

Pastor John