Spirit Ability

…they began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. (Acts 2:4)

Spirit-ability is not a new concept introduced here in the Scriptures. Think of the prophecies, the casting out of demons, the miracles in Old and New Testaments. All were demonstrations in one form or another of the ability of the Holy Spirit to get things done God’s way for God’s purposes.

Perhaps what is so striking about this miracle of language is that language is common to all peoples. We don’t know of any culture, for example, where language is not known. While language is common to all, the ability to learn to speak and use language requires enormous time, energy, and investment of self. What’s so amazing in this phenomenal story is that the Spirit completely takes over the language production situation. These folks started speaking fluently in languages they had never learned. This was a miracle that topped the other Spirit interventions that they were witnessing. My professor Howard Ervin was fond of saying about the tongue, “The Holy Spirit took the most unruly member of the human body and brought it under complete control.” Indeed, in this situation, the Spirit hijacked their common and usual way of speaking! It was so new, so different, so powerful, so attention-grabbing, so unmistakably a Spirit-ability, the stage was set for the preacher—soon to be identified in the story as Peter—to communicate to all that God was at work (in  languages they each understood, by the way!). The Holy Spirit was giving an ability to his common folk followers that there were undeniable signs of his presence and purpose.

When I think of this Holy Spirit-ability injected into a situation, I think of the story a preacher friend of mine told me regarding a night he was scheduled to preach in Mexico. As it came time for the sermon, his Spanish language interpreter had not shown up (turns out he had missed the bus in Vera Cruz). This English-speaking preacher, who had studied Spanish in high school, but who was nowhere near  language fluency for preaching comfortably in Spanish, stood up and began to preach. He reported that somewhere early in the sermon, he noticed that something unusual was happening. He had a communication freedom to express himself and the points he was making. Importantly, he said, he noticed that the people were getting it; they weren’t stumbling over a Spanish-language attempt by an English-speaking preacher. He said tears were flowing down the faces of the congregation. They all, himself included, realized that a language miracle was unfolding. It certainly had everyone’s attention. It was a demonstration of Spirit ability, not human ability.

Injecting Spirit ability into a situation has a way of doing that.“Father, thank you for this remarkable demonstration of Spirit language ability on this Pentecost Day delivered to your people so that they could speak in languages they had never learned.”