Does the tongues of fire incident make it clear, that all such events have now ceased?
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This question, addressed to Trinitarian Protestants, regards the *nature* of the incident related by Luke, Acts 2:3, when a manifestation of fiery tongues was seen in association with the eleven, after the ascension of Jesus Christ.
It is notable that the only manifestation of the Holy Spirit, *himself*, is when, in a direct involvement between Father and Son, he is seen bodily descending, Luke 3:22, in a dove-like form, upon the newly baptised Jesus. I suggest that the manifestation of tongues is not that of the Person, himself, but rather of *what is being gifted*, as a *result* of the Person’s indwelling.
Most Protestant Trinitarian commentators of whom I am aware have viewed the manifestation of the Angel of the Lord, or of other angelic presences (such as the three coming to Abraham, the one with whom Jacob wrestled, the angel seen going up in a flame by Manoah and his wife, and the presence in the fiery furnace) as *temporary manifestations* of He who would, later, be fully incarnate.
None, that I know of, attribute any such manifestations as being of the Person of the Holy Spirit, making the visibility of the descent, as a dove, a *unique event*. And I have never heard or read any suggestion that such would ever be expected to happen again to any other person.
The Head has been anointed and the body shall receive the anointing via the Head and within that body.
Then the fact of tongues only ever being seen to visibly descend upon the eleven, and those directly associated with them and nobody else, might therefore suggest that this event is, also, unique, the only other comparable occurrence being, Acts 19:2, in the case of twelve who, since they had never even heard of the Holy Spirit, could not have been aware of either of the above events and therefore were granted an experience similar to, though differing from, that which was unique.
Does the *unique character* of these events not point to a non-repetition of them and point to a considered and balanced attitude that such things have, indeed, ceased ?
I am interested in hearing argument, to the contrary, from a Protestant and Trinitarian standpoint.
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As stated below in comment : the unique character of the tongues incident (similar to the uniqueness of the descent) suggests to me a non-repetition and I am looking for reasoned arguments to the contrary.
Asked by Nigel J
(28844 rep)
Mar 31, 2024, 10:39 AM
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