When I was in Bible college a friend of mine was going to a nearby Pentecostal college. He would tell stories of people getting “drunk in the spirit” and people on the ground mimicking “child birth in the spirit.”
So I asked him where did he see that in Scripture? The first reference was for getting “drunk” in the spirit:
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,” Eph 5:18
I don’t see any part of that about getting “drunk in the spirit.” It’s about not getting drunk on wine. And rather filling the empty places with the Spirit.
And then I asked him about child birth in the spirit????
“At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.” (Is 21:3)
This is the Scripture he gave me. In context it is all about the agony and horror that happens when a nation falls, and here Babylon was falling. It says nothing about a “childbirthing” in the spirit.
It’s just not there. And for that, I can’t endorse it.
It doesn’t mean I throw out all Pentecostalism and charismatic believers. In fact, I’ve had to do a paradigm shift in a major way on one issue in particular. Mainly because it was plain in Scripture and my denominational background had whole-heartedly rejected it. But it was there in the Bible. I had to change.
And so that’s the point. The Bible is our standard. In context. It means we reject some things and humble ourselves to accept other things.
But this child-birthing in the spirit from 21:3? Nope. Sorry but that’s not what it is referring to. We can certainly feel like that in moments of great agony or distress, but actively doing this on the floor as an “act of the Spirit” is not something I see in Scripture. In fact, it’s just weird.
