From Frank Thielman, Presbyterian professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, in The New Application Commentary: Philippians:

The biblical approach to claims that he Spirit is at work in unusual ways will, of course, try to avoid the disobedient conservatism of the “circumcision party” on one hand and the gullible permissiveness of Montanism on the other.  Philippians 1.19 will not provide all of the guidelines we need to test the spirits, but it does provide tow important ones.

(1) We should expect the Spirit to come upon Christians with surprising power.  The Spirit’s work is not limited to creation, to producing the miracles of the apostolic age, and to the inspiration of those who wrote the Word of God.  The Spirit comes upon believers today for surprising purposes and sometimes in ways that do not fit comfortably into Western notions of  superiority of the empirical and rational.  Some Christians, for example, speak in tongues, and an entire library of books by people dedicated to the belief that the Bible is the infallible Word of God has appeared to claim that this ecstatic speech cannot really be from God’s Spirit. 

Ever argument that tries to exclude ecstatic utterances such as speaking in tongues from present-day manifestations of the Spirit’s power, however, crashes against the plain reading of the relevant passages.  When those who speak in tongues follow the rule and adopt the attitude expressed in 1 Corinthians 12-14, then the church neglects the lucid command of 1 Corinthians 14.39 at its own peril: “Do not forbid speaking in tongues” (pgs. 87-88).

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Martyn Llyod-Jones (The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning His Gifts):

Now what is the teaching in Scripture with regard to speaking in tongues?

In the first place, speaking in tongues is not the invariable accompaniment of the baptism of the Spirit.  I put it like that because there is teaching which has been current for a number of years and still today, which says that speaking in tongues is always the initial evidence of the baptism with the Spirit.  It therefore goes on to say that unless you have spoken in tongues you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit.  Now that, I suggest, is entirely wrong

In 1 Corinthians 12.30 the Apostle [Paul] asks, “Have all the gifts of healing?  Do all speak with tongues?”

Again in 1 Corinthians 14.5 he says, “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied.”  And when he says that he would that they all spake in tongues, he is clearly saying that they all did not.  That, it seems to me, should be sufficient in and of itself (pg. 144).

It is possible for a man to be baptized with the Holy Spirit without ever speaking in tongues, and, indeed, without having some of these other gifts which the Apostle lists in this great passage that we are examining (pg. 146).

The next principle we come to is that speaking in tongues is not something that can be initiated by us.  Or if you prefer it, a man cannot speak in tongues whenever he likes…You will generally find with people who claim today to speak in tongues that most of them say that they can do so whenever they like…I suggest that puts them in a category outside the teaching of 1 Corinthians 14.  This is to me one of the crucial points in the differentiation of true speaking in tongues from counterfeit (pgs. 151-152).

All the gifts are given.  What applies to tongues applies also to miracles.  Is there any evidence in the New Testament that a man who has the gift of miracles can work a miracle whenever he likes?  Of course there is not…I think that this is the most important matter of all, because I suggest that if a man tells me that he can speak in tongues whenever he likes, it is probably something psychological and not spiritual.  The spiritual gifts are always controlled by the Holy Spirit.  They are given, and one does not know when they are going to be given (pg. 153).

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Martyn Llyod-Jones (The Sovereign Spirit: Discerning His Gifts):

The miracles, including the power of healing, were always something occasional, determined by the Spirit…All these gifts, as I shall be emphasizing, are under the sovereignty of the Spirit.  He decides when and how and where.  We must never think of it as automatic, that you just pull a lever and there it is, it has all happened.  That is entirely foreign to the New Testament.  A power was given, a commission was given on particular occasions, and then the miracles happened (pg. 43)

The…position is that of those who assert that the full and miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit ought always to abide in the church, and that it is only from want of faith that we do not possess them now…The teaching of the Scripture is that these things are to be considered in terms of the lordship of the Spirit.  It is he who decides.  “He giveth to every many severally as he wills.”  It is he who chooses (pg. 47).

We must not say “only” for New Testament times nor must we say “always.”  The answer is, “as he wills,” as the Spirit wills.  It is always right to seek the fullness of the Spirit – we are exhorted to do so.  But the gifts of the Spirit are to be left in the hands of the Holy Spirit himself (pg. 48).

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