Question:  Dear Greg,

            What does it mean to be slain in the spirit?  How do you know when speaking in tongues is legitimate?

            Twana

Answer:  Dear Twana,

            Speaking in tongues is the most biblical of the gifts that some (often included in what many call charismatics) speak of as manifestations.  Tongues speaking did occur in the New Testament.  We don’t know much about it, but it did occur and Paul did say it was a gift of the Holy Spirit.

            Should we speak in tongues today—or, put another way, is it OK for Christians to practice?  A minority of Christians say that the gift of speaking in tongues is still being given and a still smaller number of that minority percentage say that not only can we but we should.  They believe that tongues speaking is a sign of deeper, more profound or even “real” conversion.  That is, according to a small percentage of Christians, authentic Christianity does not happen unless and until we speak in tongues.  That same expectation and standard is used with other manifestations that are not biblical, such as slain in the spirit.

            However, the majority of Christians today and for nearly 1900 years since the close of the first century are cessationists.  They do not dispute that Paul and others spoke in tongues or that speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit.  However, they do not see tongues speaking in evidence today, or for that matter, for 1900 years in the vast majority of Christians.  They vary about what tongues speaking is, with the most charitable saying that speaking in tongues is a gift, that it is “OK” for Christians to practice, within biblical criteria.  The majority of Christians say that tongues speaking is not a gift that God is giving within the vast majority of churches and denominations and therefore they do not encourage it within their congregations.

            Being slain in the spirit, along with other manifestations (such as “a word of knowledge”) do not belong in the same category.  They are not mentioned in the Bible as a gift of the Holy Spirit.  The practice of being slain in the spirit is loaded with emotionalism, “feeling-based” religion and subjectivity.  It is a highly suggestive condition.  That is, many people want to have such a thing happen to them and therefore it happens.  It fits within what researchers would define as an altered state of consciousness, having much in common with hypnosis.

            So, is being slain in the spirit wrong?  Perhaps, but not necessarily.  Does it have biblical authority?  Not at all.  Is it demonic, as some claim?  Not necessarily, but it could be.  When someone is slain in the spirit is God doing it?  Not necessarily--in fact, most Christians and scholars would say God is definitely not involved in this highly subjective, humanly induced experience.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht