“We also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses . . .” (Hebrews 12:1).
The words of Encyclopedia Britannica serve well as our central proposition: “Post-apostolic instances of glossolalia have been recorded throughout the history of the Christian church.”
First and Second Centuries day.
The post-apostolic fathers of the first two centuries believed in the gift of the Holy Spirit, practiced the lay ing on of hands to receive the Spirit, and testified that the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, existed and in the following quotations from these men, the English word gifts represents the Greek word charismata in the original texts, the same word Paul used for the nine gifts of the Spirit including tongues (I Corinthians 12).
Clement of Rome (died 100?) reminded the Corinthians that “a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all.”
Ignatius (died 107?) wrote to the church at Smyrna: “Ignatius . . . to the Church of God the Father, and of the beloved Jesus Christ, which has through mercy obtained every kind of gift, which is filled with faith and love, and is deficient in no gift, most worthy of God, and adorned with holiness. . . . Be ye strong, I pray, in the power of the Holy Ghost.” He also admonished Polycarp to pray so that he might “be wanting in nothing, and . . . abound in every gift.”
The Didache says, “For the Father desireth that the gifts be given to all” and also describes prophets who speak “in the Spirit.”
Justin Martyr wrote, “For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time . . . Now it is possible to see amongst us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God.”
Irenaeus (130?-202?), Bishop of Lyons, wrote, “[T]hose who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform (miracles) . . . It is not possible to name the numbers of the gifts which the Church (scattered) throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ.” He taught the necessity of receiving the Spirit and specifical ly described speaking in tongues as evidence of the Spirit: “[T]he perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father . . . For this reason does the apostle declare, ‘We speak wisdom among them that are perfect,’ terming those persons ‘perfect’ who have received the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used [h]imself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages . . . whom also the apostle terms ‘spiritual,’ they being spiritual because they partake of the Spirit.”
Celsus, a pagan, wrote near the end of the second century that Christians in his day spoke in tongues.
The theologian Origen (died 254?) preserved his testimony without denying the existence and validity of tongues, and accepted the gifts of the Spirit for his day.
A group called the Montanists emphasized the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
Third Century Tertullian wrote against the heretic Marcion shortly after A.D. 200: “[T]he Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the latter days; and . . . Christ has in these last 284 days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts.” Tertullian specifically mentioned the gift of tongues and quoted I Corinthians 12:8-11 and Isaiah 28:11 as applicable in his day. He regarded speaking in tongues as one of the marks of a true church: “Let Marcion then exhibit, as gifts of his god, some prophets, such as have not spoken by human sense, but with the Spirit of God . . . let him produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer—only let it be by the Spirit, in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him . . . Now all these signs (of spiritual gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty.”
Novatian (died 257?), a presbyter in Rome, wrote about the Holy Spirit: “This is He who places prophets in the Church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, offers discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, suggests counsels, and orders and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismata; and thus makes the Lord’s Church everywhere, and in all, perfected and completed.”
Sabellius apparently taught the baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues. None of his writings have survived, but Epiphanius said that Sabellius taught regeneration by the Holy Ghost and Pseudo-Athanasius records that Sabellius taught on the spiritual gifts of I Corinthians 12.15
Asterius Urbanus (c. 232) indicated that the Christians of his day expected the spiritual gifts to remain permanently in the church. Writing against the later Montanists, he asked why they no longer had prophets after their prophet Montanus and his co-workers died. Urbanus noted that the true church would always have the prophetical gifts (prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues): “For the apostle [Paul] deems that the gifts of prophecy should abide in all the church up to the time of the final advent.”
Fourth and Fifth Centuries Hilary (died 367), bishop of Poitiers, mentioned both tongues and interpretation of tongues, describing them as “agents of ministry” ordained of God.
Ambrose (340-98), bishop of Milan, taught that all the gifts of I Corinthians 12 were part of the normal Christian experience.
By the late fourth century and early fifth century, Christendom had for the most part evolved into what came to be known as the Roman Catholic Church. Apparently, speaking in tongues had practically disappeared from most places in the backsliding church, but the memory of it remained to some extent.
John Chrysostom (345-407), bishop of Constantinople, wrote a comment on I Corinthians 12: “This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place . . . Well: what did happen then? Whoever was baptized he straightway spoke with tongues . . . They at once on their baptism received the Spirit . . . [They] began to speak, one in the tongue of the Persians, another in that of the Romans, another in that of the Indians, or in some other language. And this disclosed to outsiders that it was the Spirit in the speaker.”
Augustine (354-430) testified that the church in his day did not expect to speak in tongues when receiving the Holy Spirit, but admitted that this used to be the case: “For the Holy Spirit is not only given by the laying on of hands amid the testimony of temporal sensible miracles, as He was given in former days . . . For who expects in these days that those on whom hands are laid that they may receive the Holy Spirit should forthwith begin to speak with tongues?” Evidently some “heretics” in Augustine’s day believed in receiving the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. He sought to refute them by the following argument: (1) Tongues are valueless without love (I Corinthians 13); (2) love comes only by the Spirit (Romans 5:5); (3) they did not have the Spirit because they did not belong to the Catholic Church; and (4) no one expected tongues any longer anyway.
The Medieval Age Evidence of tongues in medieval times is sparse, probably because the Roman Catholic Church was so effective in silencing “heretics.” Nevertheless, there are reports of speaking in tongues among the following groups:
(1) Waldenses, 1100’s, Europe.22 A group that re jected papal authority and attempted to base their beliefs solely on the Bible.
(2) Albigenses, 1100’s, Europe.23 Another group that rejected papal authority and emphasized purity of life.
(3) Franciscans and possibly other mendicant orders, 1200’s, Europe.
(4) Catholic monks who embraced a very simple lifestyle and traveled throughout the countryside preaching.
The Reformation Era Forward Reports of speaking in tongues increase greatly after the Protestant Reformation, due to several factors:
(1) greater religious freedom,
(2) renewed emphasis on Bible study, apostolic doctrine, conversion, and spiritual experiences,
(3) the invention of printing, and
(4) the closer proximity to our time.
The words of Encyclopedia Britannica serve well as our central proposition: “Post-apostolic instances of glossolalia have been recorded throughout the history of the Christian church.”
First and Second Centuries day.
The post-apostolic fathers of the first two centuries believed in the gift of the Holy Spirit, practiced the lay ing on of hands to receive the Spirit, and testified that the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, existed and in the following quotations from these men, the English word gifts represents the Greek word charismata in the original texts, the same word Paul used for the nine gifts of the Spirit including tongues (I Corinthians 12).
Clement of Rome (died 100?) reminded the Corinthians that “a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all.”
Ignatius (died 107?) wrote to the church at Smyrna: “Ignatius . . . to the Church of God the Father, and of the beloved Jesus Christ, which has through mercy obtained every kind of gift, which is filled with faith and love, and is deficient in no gift, most worthy of God, and adorned with holiness. . . . Be ye strong, I pray, in the power of the Holy Ghost.” He also admonished Polycarp to pray so that he might “be wanting in nothing, and . . . abound in every gift.”
The Didache says, “For the Father desireth that the gifts be given to all” and also describes prophets who speak “in the Spirit.”
Justin Martyr wrote, “For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time . . . Now it is possible to see amongst us women and men who possess gifts of the Spirit of God.”
Irenaeus (130?-202?), Bishop of Lyons, wrote, “[T]hose who are in truth His disciples, receiving grace from Him, do in His name perform (miracles) . . . It is not possible to name the numbers of the gifts which the Church (scattered) throughout the whole world, has received from God, in the name of Jesus Christ.” He taught the necessity of receiving the Spirit and specifical ly described speaking in tongues as evidence of the Spirit: “[T]he perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father . . . For this reason does the apostle declare, ‘We speak wisdom among them that are perfect,’ terming those persons ‘perfect’ who have received the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used [h]imself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages . . . whom also the apostle terms ‘spiritual,’ they being spiritual because they partake of the Spirit.”
Celsus, a pagan, wrote near the end of the second century that Christians in his day spoke in tongues.
The theologian Origen (died 254?) preserved his testimony without denying the existence and validity of tongues, and accepted the gifts of the Spirit for his day.
A group called the Montanists emphasized the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
Third Century Tertullian wrote against the heretic Marcion shortly after A.D. 200: “[T]he Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the latter days; and . . . Christ has in these last 284 days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts.” Tertullian specifically mentioned the gift of tongues and quoted I Corinthians 12:8-11 and Isaiah 28:11 as applicable in his day. He regarded speaking in tongues as one of the marks of a true church: “Let Marcion then exhibit, as gifts of his god, some prophets, such as have not spoken by human sense, but with the Spirit of God . . . let him produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer—only let it be by the Spirit, in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him . . . Now all these signs (of spiritual gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty.”
Novatian (died 257?), a presbyter in Rome, wrote about the Holy Spirit: “This is He who places prophets in the Church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, gives powers and healings, does wonderful works, offers discrimination of spirits, affords powers of government, suggests counsels, and orders and arranges whatever other gifts there are of charismata; and thus makes the Lord’s Church everywhere, and in all, perfected and completed.”
Sabellius apparently taught the baptism of the Holy Spirit with tongues. None of his writings have survived, but Epiphanius said that Sabellius taught regeneration by the Holy Ghost and Pseudo-Athanasius records that Sabellius taught on the spiritual gifts of I Corinthians 12.15
Asterius Urbanus (c. 232) indicated that the Christians of his day expected the spiritual gifts to remain permanently in the church. Writing against the later Montanists, he asked why they no longer had prophets after their prophet Montanus and his co-workers died. Urbanus noted that the true church would always have the prophetical gifts (prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues): “For the apostle [Paul] deems that the gifts of prophecy should abide in all the church up to the time of the final advent.”
Fourth and Fifth Centuries Hilary (died 367), bishop of Poitiers, mentioned both tongues and interpretation of tongues, describing them as “agents of ministry” ordained of God.
Ambrose (340-98), bishop of Milan, taught that all the gifts of I Corinthians 12 were part of the normal Christian experience.
By the late fourth century and early fifth century, Christendom had for the most part evolved into what came to be known as the Roman Catholic Church. Apparently, speaking in tongues had practically disappeared from most places in the backsliding church, but the memory of it remained to some extent.
John Chrysostom (345-407), bishop of Constantinople, wrote a comment on I Corinthians 12: “This whole place is very obscure: but the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to and by their cessation, being such as then used to occur but now no longer take place . . . Well: what did happen then? Whoever was baptized he straightway spoke with tongues . . . They at once on their baptism received the Spirit . . . [They] began to speak, one in the tongue of the Persians, another in that of the Romans, another in that of the Indians, or in some other language. And this disclosed to outsiders that it was the Spirit in the speaker.”
Augustine (354-430) testified that the church in his day did not expect to speak in tongues when receiving the Holy Spirit, but admitted that this used to be the case: “For the Holy Spirit is not only given by the laying on of hands amid the testimony of temporal sensible miracles, as He was given in former days . . . For who expects in these days that those on whom hands are laid that they may receive the Holy Spirit should forthwith begin to speak with tongues?” Evidently some “heretics” in Augustine’s day believed in receiving the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. He sought to refute them by the following argument: (1) Tongues are valueless without love (I Corinthians 13); (2) love comes only by the Spirit (Romans 5:5); (3) they did not have the Spirit because they did not belong to the Catholic Church; and (4) no one expected tongues any longer anyway.
The Medieval Age Evidence of tongues in medieval times is sparse, probably because the Roman Catholic Church was so effective in silencing “heretics.” Nevertheless, there are reports of speaking in tongues among the following groups:
(1) Waldenses, 1100’s, Europe.22 A group that re jected papal authority and attempted to base their beliefs solely on the Bible.
(2) Albigenses, 1100’s, Europe.23 Another group that rejected papal authority and emphasized purity of life.
(3) Franciscans and possibly other mendicant orders, 1200’s, Europe.
(4) Catholic monks who embraced a very simple lifestyle and traveled throughout the countryside preaching.
The Reformation Era Forward Reports of speaking in tongues increase greatly after the Protestant Reformation, due to several factors:
(1) greater religious freedom,
(2) renewed emphasis on Bible study, apostolic doctrine, conversion, and spiritual experiences,
(3) the invention of printing, and
(4) the closer proximity to our time.
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