Question:
If you do not speak in tongues are you truly filled with the Holy Spirit? If you do not speak in tongues is your salvation secure?
Answer:
We don’t need to address the question “is tongues for today” to answer your question. That question has been addressed countless times by much better teachers than I.
First, there are no verses that state “you are not truly filled with the Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues”; nor is there a verse that says, “your salvation is not sure unless you speak in tongues”.
So based on the absence of Scriptural support, you would have to answer that “tongues” is not a requirement for either the “true indwelling of the Holy Spirit” or true salvation because the Bible simply does not say so.
That’s based on the ABSENCE of Scripture. Is there Scripture that supports that both things (Holy Spirit indwelling & salvation) DO occur without regard to the presence of tongues? Absolutely.
First, let’s consider salvation. There are dozens of verses that declare the essentials of salvation that have no mention of tongues whatsoever. A pretty significant exclusion if tongues are required for true salvation. It is obvious that Jesus, Paul and the Apostles would have made it very clear that tongues was a requirement, or even a required sign, of salvation – if indeed it was. So we can confidently say that the presence of tongues is not required in authentic salvation. It most certainly was a sign at times in Scripture, but not a required sign.
Now, what about the Holy Spirit? Is a person not truly filled (indwelled) with the Holy Spirit unless they speak in tongues? Is tongues the required sign of being “baptized in the Spirit”? Let’s let Scripture speak:
John 14:15-17 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. (NKJV)
Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (NKJV)
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (NKJV)
Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (NKJV)
Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (NKJV)
1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (NKJV)
Many mentions of the indwelling Holy Spirit with no mention of tongues. We find many signs that witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit in someone (tongues being one of them), but nowhere do we find a REQUIRED sign that marks “real Holy Spirit indwelling” or “extra Holy Spirit indwelling” or “special Holy Spirit indwelling”. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was one and the same for all true Believers (but manifested in different ways) and there were many signs that authenticated it, such as obedience in 1John 3.24.
Each authentic case of salvation includes the regeneration of the human spirit (Titus 3.5) and the immediate indwelling of the Holy Spirt who becomes the seal and guarantee of salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14) as well as our Comfortor, Teacher, Guide and Counselor (among other things).
So whether or not a person believes in tongues for today, it cannot be supported Biblically that tongues are required for authentic salvation or is a required sign of the true indwelling of the Holy Spirit.