Is speaking in tongues a prerequisite for Salvation?
Salvation cannot be obtained through money, nor through good deeds, nor by belonging to a certain church and not even by speaking in tongues.
Salvation is obtained only through Jesus Christ!
John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am [the one I claim to be], you will indeed die in your sins.” NIV
We all deserve death. We are all sinners (see Romans 6:3). Anything we try to do on our own to obtain our salvation is a direct accusation that what Jesus did for us is not enough and that we know better than he does. This attitude shows that we do not trust Jesus, and we are led to perdition.
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” NIV
Only Jesus can save us. Do we trust Him or do we trust ourselves for our salvation?
Rom 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” NIV
And
Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” NIV
In other words, have you accepted Jesus into you life? Do you have a relationship with Jesus? Nothing besides Jesus will save you. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse you from your sense and make your righteous.
Heb 9:14 “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” NIV
The gift of speaking in tongues is a gift from the Holy Spirit (see 1 Cor 14) and should be welcomed. However, only the greatest gift from God, Jesus’ sacrifice, can give you salvation.
You can be assured of your salvation today. How? Very simple, through the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in your life.
2 Cor 1:21-22 “He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” NIV
Eph 1:13-14 “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of his glory.” NIV
Only God’s Holy Spirit, the One who give us all those good gifts like speaking in tongues, can assure us of our salvation. Is God’s Holy Spirit your friend? Have you getting to know Him?
On whom are you basing your salvation? Yours or Christ? One choice leads to destruction, the other to heaven. The choice is yours my friend. Who will you trust? Please do accept Jesus into your life. It isn’t too late yet.
Come to Him now by answering the Saviour’s Call!
Rob Chaffart
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Coming from someone who’s been saved for 30 plus years and speaking in tongues for 20 plus years it was easy for me to think, ” Goodness no! Our salvation is in Jesus’ blood, His sacrifice on the Cross, it is by grace through faith…..” And I realized that in my own thoughts I was spouting off my opinion, so easy to do, without backing it up with scripture. So, here goes:
Romans 10:9 ” Because if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”
Okay, no mention of tongues, we see only two prerequisites to being saved, but where and what does Paul have to say about tongues?
The first mention of “tongues” is in I Corinthians 12:10 where Paul is in the midst of listing some gifts of the Spirit, ” and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; and to another diverse kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues:”
So, clearly we see that tongues is not part of salvation but a gift given by God’s Spirit. Paul goes on to clarify tongues in I Corinthians 14:2 ” For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth; but in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.” and again in verse 5 ” Now, I would have you all speak with tongues, but rather ye should prophesy: and greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.”
There are two different references to tongues. One is a private communication between an individual and God. A “prayer language” that only God understands. It is through this divine prayer language that the Holy Spirit is able to make intercession through us also. The other tongue is a gift that is to be accompanied by interpretation in order to edify the body of Christ. Paul gives clear guidelines to this in verse 27, ” If any man speaketh in a tongue, let it be by two, or at the most three, and that in turn; 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.”
I glory in the provision of Salvation that God has afforded us through Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross. And I walk daily in the gift of tongues He has afforded us through His Holy Spirit.
Truly our God is an Awesome God!
Crystel
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No. Speaking in tongues is one of the many gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on Christians. However, to state that one must speak in tongues to be saved is to advocate doctrine that is extra-Scriptural. Here are the instances of people speaking in tongues in the Bible (unless noted, verses are from the King James Version).
Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” This passage (which does not appear in some manuscripts) demonstrates that many new believers would perform miracles, most likely as a sign to those who did not believe. However, Scripture does not state that EVERY believer will necessarily perform miracles like this.
Acts 2:3 “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” On the day of Pentecost, the apostles began speaking in other languages. In this case, it was a sign for those who did not believe in Jesus. This act of God allowed 3,000 people to be saved in one day.
1 Corinthians 12:9 “To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” In this passage, it’s very clear that God does not give everyone the gift of tongues. If our salvation depended upon whether we had this gift, a lot of Christians would not be saved in the end. The Holy Spirit has given us a variety of gifts for building up the Church.
We must also be careful in what we accept as being from God. A person who truly has a spiritual gift will only use it for the sake of Christ, not for their own self-exaltation. We should be wary of those of claim a spiritual gift, but only use it for selfish or otherwise immoral reasons. 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
It’s important to remember, too, that a person may speak in tongues but their faith may be in vain because they are not living by Christ’s commandments: 1 Corinthians 13:1 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”
Christian love, not tongues, is the surest sign of a person’s salvation. If you are not sure of your faith, I invite you to answer the Savior’s Call: http://www.answers2prayer.org/saviours_call.html
In His love from your sister in Christ,
AJ Demers
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No! You do not have to speak in tongues in order to be saved. As the Bible has told us numerous times that the only thing one must truly do in order to be saved is to believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and died to save us from our sins. We are to believe this in our hearts and follow his law.
In 1914 a group of Pentecostal believers began teaching the doctrine that a person could NOT be saved without first speaking in tongues. They made the experience a prerequisite to salvation. This is ridiculous. It is heresy and has no Biblical basis.
Read 1Corinthians chapters 12-15 and you will see exactly how scripture spells out that speaking in tongues is NOT a prerequisite for salvation. MAY ALL BE BLESSED!
Love And Blessings
DeeDee
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Speaking in tongues is like a blessing from God who fills the people He trusts with the power of the holy spirit. people blessed in this way are those who try and create a relationship with Him. these are 99.9% saved people. so one needs 2 get saved first in order to experience this blessing but not 2 wait and speak in tongues then get saved as u might never get saved.
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Read 1 Corinthians 12-14.
The usual question is: “Is speaking in tongues proof of salvation?”, for the only prerequisite is choosing to follow Jesus forever. (This infers repentance and good works as proof.)
Speaking in tongues is shown in 1 Cor 14 to be the least of the gifts. Love is shown in 1 Cor 13 to be the most important proof. After all, if you have God in you and God is love, then you will have love in you. So, selflessness is evidence for salvation and selfishness is evidence against it (neither are proofs).
I personally believe that most people who “speak in tongues” do so out of peer pressure. Furthermore, if you need taught to do it, then it is not a gift.
Finally, 1 Cor 12 shows that the Holy Spirit manifests himself in many ways and many gifts are needed in the Body (Church) of Christ! Another illustration similar to 1 Cor 12 is a car battery. Without a car battery, the car can not start or honk or wipe or light up or roll down…. Each of the electrical devices are different manifestations of the car battery being in the car. To say that the car must be able to honk in order to show proof of a battery (power source/ Holy Spirit) is similar to saying that the windows must be able to roll down in order to show evidence of a car battery under the hood. Likewise, why not say that a person must be able to preach in order to show proof of salvation?
Todd Shilt
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Why a person cannot lose true salvation! The writer of Hebrews states in 10:10 that “He offered one sacrifice fir sins for ever” which means just what it says. If one can be lost after he is truly saved then that means he must have committed some sin that was not included in that once and for all sacrifice. If that person committing that sin is lost again he can never be saved again unless Jesus comes and is born of another virgin, lives a perfect and sinless life, dies on another cross to pay for that sin and comes out of the grave again. And you can be sure that is not going to happen! If one must contend that a person can be lost after true salvation then it must be concluded that they can never be saved again. If one can lose salvation the question must be asked, how many sins does one commit to be lost again and what sin is it that would cause one to lose God’s perfect salvation?