“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 – So when is my then? Navigation through life even as a Christian can get confusing if we are not listening to what the Spirit is saying.  What is the biblical sign of salvation?  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ” Galatians 5:22   “Oh Lord, give me understanding that I may keep Thy Word.” Psalm 119

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3). Worthy or Worthless?

“These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you” (1 John 2:26). Keeping the truth in proper context,  in John 8:23 – 47  “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”  “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. “I have much to say in judgment ( the good and the worthless efforts) of you. But He who sent Me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from Him I tell the world.” They did not understand that He was telling them about his Father.  So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”  Even as he spoke, many believed in him.  Father we have is God himself.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.⁴³ Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.” ….. ⁴⁵ Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ⁴⁶ Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe Me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”  John 8:47 — That is certainly an “arrest me in my thinking, my ways” declaration from the mouth of Jesus Christ, my Lord! – “The Word” (Greek word, “logos”) means reason or word and is a designation for Jesus Christ Himself. The Word was God – Identical in essence with God the Father.  Through the Word, God brought into being the entire created universe, both the visible and the invisible. The Word is the source of the physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual life of man.  God the Word became flesh, or incarnate as a human being. This is why John wrote this Gospel – to build faith & confidence in Jesus Christ so that we may believe that He truly was & is the Son of God. (John 20:30-31) Comparing scripture to scripture Colossians 2:9 “For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in the bodily form.” and Colossians 1:17 “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ”  The truth of the incarnation of God on earth as Jesus is so intimately meshed with every other doctrine of the Gospel, that without the promised Holy Spirit to reveal the Truth of who Jesus is, man on his own will teach according to his own understanding. (1 st John 4:2-3)  

We see in Acts that many people who became Christians immediately spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6). 

• 1 Cor. 12:7-11, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. ⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; ⁹ To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; ¹⁰ To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues.  ¹¹But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” 
• 1 Cor. 12:29-30, “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” 

The Bible reveals that the Holy Spirit is God and that He displays the volitional and emotional qualities of personhood.  When referring to the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-14), Jesus used the demonstrative masculine pronoun “He” (ἐκεῖνος), and this indicates personhood.  Scripture also reveals the Holy Spirit can be lied to.  In the book of Acts, the apostle Peter accused Ananias of lying “to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:3).  In the very next verse Peter said, “You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:4).  You cannot lie to a force (such as electricity), but only to a person.  In addition, the Holy Spirit can be grieved (Eph. 4:30), quenched (1 Thess. 5:19), resisted (Acts 7:51), and blasphemed (Matt. 12:31).  These are all activities that can only be done to a Person.  Here are some further Scriptural truths about the Holy Spirit:

1. He was involved in the creation ( 1:2).
2. He brought about the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:35).
3. He guided the writers of Scripture (2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Pet. 1:21).
4. He convicts unbelievers of the sin of unbelief (John 16:8-11).
5. He regenerates unbelievers (John 3:6; 6:63).
6. He baptizes us into union with Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).
7. He indwells us (John 14:16-17; 1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19).
8. He seals us (Eph. 1:13; 4:30).
9. He gives us spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:7-11).
10. He glorifies Jesus in our life (John 16:13-15).
11. He fills us (i.e. empowers) (Eph. 5:18).
12. He sustains our spiritual walk (Gal. 5:16-18, 25).
13. He loves us (Rom. 15:30).
14. He prays for us (Rom. 8:26-27).
15. He comforts us (John 14:26).
16. He teaches and guides us (John 14:26; 16:13-15).
17. He makes Scripture understandable (1 Cor. 2:11-13).

When the above Scriptures are read in their biblical context, paying attention to the linguistic, grammatical and historical context of each verse, it reveals that the Holy Spirit is God and that He displays the volitional and emotional qualities of a Person.  I pray the Lord gives you understanding.

I would ask the Oneness person if the following fruit are what the true signs of salvation are in his or her life rather than speaking in tongues:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23).