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| The wind and the tongues of fire represented the coming of the Holy Spirit into the lives of the disciples—just as Jesus had promised would happen. The languages the disciples were suddenly able to speak were those of the Jews in Jerusalem from other nations—thus enabling those Jews to hear the good news about God’s deeds of power through Jesus. Pentecost then became much more than a Jewish festival—it became the birthday of the Christian church. From that day forward, the disciples went out to preach the word and perform miracles to attest to the truth of what they were proclaiming. The gift of speaking in other tongues that the disciples received that day consisted of languages that people from other nations could understand. Another aspect of speaking in tongues was an unintelligible language that Paul addressed in I Corinthians 12 and 14. This language could not be understood without interpretation, and was given for the purpose of worship, praise, thanksgiving and prayer. While we as Mennonites today strongly believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have not generally participated in the more charismatic aspects of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues. Our believes regarding the Holy Spirit as found in the Confession of faith are below:. Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective, 1995 Article 3. Holy Spirit We believe in the Holy Spirit, the eternal Spirit of God, who dwelled in Jesus Christ, who empowers the church, who is the source of our life in Christ, and who is poured out on those who believe as the guarantee of our redemption and of the redemption of creation. Continued... |
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