Born again and baptism of the Spirit
1 Corinthians 12: 3 says: “no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” That means the born again experience and salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit that happens in a human being. That also means that all born again believers have the Spirit in a measure.
But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a different experience. It happens to those who believe in Jesus Christ and are saved by faith. It refers primarily to the out pouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost on the apostles and many others who were gathered in the Upper Room. The Book of Acts goes on to narrate more incidents of the baptism of the Spirit on believers. So baptism of the Holy Spirit is what happened on the day of Pentecost, the early church and to the church today.
In this study
we are not discussing what the baptism of the Spirit is, but certain
characteristics of the spiritual experience. Out topics may be listed as:
1.
Were there,
in the early church, some who received the Spirit and some others who did not
receive? Were there haves and have nots among the early church?
2.
Were the
baptism of the Spirit and receiving the power of the Spirit, one or two
experiences?
3.
Will the
baptism of Spirit occur repeatedly in a believer?
Pentecost Day
The great
incident in the Christian church history happened on the day of Pentecost, just
after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The disciples of Jesus, Mary the mother
of Jesus, His brothers and some other men and women gathered together in the
Upper Room of a house in Jerusalem. They were 120 in number and were praying
and tarrying for the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised them. And on the Pentecost
day, the Holy Spirit came upon them like divided tongues of fire “and one sat
upon each of them.” (Acts 2:3).
Acts 2: 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
There were many Jews who came from the different provinces of the Roman Empire, to celebrate the festival. They were speaking the local languages of their dwelling place. But the apostles and others spoke in different languages, in their own provincial languages. So they were amazed. Some mocked the apostles saying "They are full of new wine."
Then Apostle
Peter stood up and explained the event interpreting the prophet Joel.
Acts 2: 16, 17
16 "But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
This is a quotation from the prophetical book of Joel. This prophesy is about the baptism of the Holy Spirit on all who believes in Jesus Christ, irrespective of their age, social status and race.
But Joel is
not the first prophet to prophesy about this marvelous out pouring of the Holy
Spirit on all those who believe. It was Moses who made such a prophecy for the
first time in the scripture. We may read about it in Numbers 11.
Moses and prophecy
While they were travelling through the desert, the Israelites and the mixed multitude with them craved and wept for meat (Numbers 11:4). They were eating only manna every day. God and Moses were displeased with the complaints of the people.
So Moses said to God that he was not able to bear all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for him. He expressed his wish to die rather than bear all these burdens alone.
So God asked Moses to gather seventy men of elders of Israel (11:16). They will be appointed as the elders and officers over the people. God asked them to stand around the tabernacle. And God promised Moses that He will take of the Spirit that is upon him and put the spirit upon the elders. There after they shall share the burden of serving the people with Moses.
So Moses gathered seventy men of elders and stood around the tabernacle (11:24). Then God came down in the cloud. He took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and placed the same upon the seventy elders. When they were filled with the Spirit, they prophesied. But they never prophesied again (11:25).
But two men among the elected seventy elders could not come to the tabernacle. We do not know the exact reason for it. But it was not disobedience. They were Eldad and Medad. They remained in their camp. God placed the Spirit upon them also and they too prophesied in the camp (11:26).
Then Joshua, the close aid of Moses came to Moses and asked him: "Moses my lord, forbid them!" (11:28). Joshua is asking Moses to forbid the two men who remained in the camp but received the Spirit. He took their behavior as a rebellion against the leader, Moses.
Moses’s answer
was not something that revealed his generosity, it was a prophecy that would be
fulfilled in future. Moses said:
Numbers 11: 29 Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD'S people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!"
When God took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and placed the same upon the 70 elders, the anointing on Moses did not diminish. None of them rebelled against Moses for his authority. Instead all served under the spiritual authority of Moses.
And it is said that when the Spirit came upon the elders, they prophesied. And they did not prophecy again. (11:25).
As speaking
in “other tongues” is a sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the New
Testament, prophesying in Spirit was sign of the impartation during the Old
Testament period.
1 Samuel 10 narrates the event of anointing Saul as the first king of Israel. Prophet Samuel anointed him with a flask of oil poured on his head. Then Samuel gives him instructions for his return journey to home. Samuel said about whom he should meet and what he should do.
As the
prophet said, on his way back home, Saul met a company of prophets. “… then the
Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.” (10:10).
And Saul was “turned into another man” (10:6).
So prophecy
was an outward sign of an impartation of the Holy Spirit, in the Old Testament.
On the Pentecost day, in the New Testament, the sign of the baptism of Holy Spirit was speaking in “other tongues”
(Acts 2:4).
Moses wished
“that all that all the LORD'S people were prophets and that the LORD would put
His Spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11: 29). Moses was prophesying about a day
on which all of God’s people will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Prophet Joel
On the day of
Pentecost, Apostle Peter explained that the out pouring of the Spirit happened
on the day was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel.
Prophet Joel
was an Old Testament prophet of Israel. He also prophesied about a future age in
which all of God’s people will be filled the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the
Spirit will have signs like prophesy, dreams and visions. And there will be no
haves and have nots among His people. None will be kept away. The prophecy is
as follows:
Joel 2: 28, 29
28 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My
Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men
shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions.
29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My
Spirit in those days.
This passage
was interpreted by the Jewish Rabbis as a prophecy about the Messianic age that
will be come in future. But on the Pentecost day, Apostle Peter interpreted
that the fulfillment of the prophecy happened on that day and through them. All
the 120 people who were praying in the Upper Room were filled with the Holy
Spirit with an outward sign of “other tongues”. None of them were exempted or
kept away from the spiritual experience.
Whenever the
Holy Spirit came upon the believers, all who were gathered in that particular
place for the occasion were filled with the Holy Spirit. There is not one
occasion when someone who believed in Jesus Christ and gathered at one place was
kept away from an impartation of the Spirit. There was nothing like “now or
later”. There was nothing like the “filled and unfilled”.
Apostle Peter
spoke about this characteristic of the baptism of Holy Spirit on the Pentecost
day.
Acts 2: 38, 39
38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who
are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."
In fact the
disciples received the Holy Spirit even before the Pentecost day. This happened
after the resurrection of Christ and before His ascension into Heaven.
The disciples
gathered in a room (may be the same Upper Room) on the day of the resurrection
of Christ. The door was shut because they were afraid of the Jews. Then
suddenly Jesus came into the room, even while the door was shut, and said to
them “Peace be with you” (John 20:19). And he commissioned them so that
“repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all
nations” (Luke 24:47).
Then, John
20: 22 says that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit upon them.
John 20: 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and
said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
But they did
not start preaching or working signs and wonders just after it. Instead they
went back to fishing at the Sea of Tiberias. (John 21). There the resurrected
Jesus met them for the third time (John 21: 14).
Later, before
His ascension into heaven, Jesus told the disciples to wait at Jerusalem for
another baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5).
Acts 1: 8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
After saying
these words, “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight”
(Acts 1:9).
Accordingly,
the disciples with some other men and women, waited, praying for the baptism of
the Holy Spirit, in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost all of
them received the Holy Spirit.
Now the
difference between the first impartation of the Holy Spirit and the second
baptism of the Holy Spirit is the “power”. Jesus said, “But you shall receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1: 8). This is the power to
witness Jesus.
And there is
no record of an impartation of the Holy Spirit and power separately at different
occasions, after the day of Pentecost. None, after receiving the Holy Spirit,
waited for another impartation of the power of the Spirit separately. When the Holy
Spirit came on them, He came with power. Because Holy Spirit, after the
Pentecost day comes upon us for witnessing Jesus. It has no other purpose in
our life.
Cornelius
There are
other occasions on which the Holy Spirit came upon all who gathered in one
place and in one accord. In Acts 10 we read about the conversion of Cornelius.
He was a centurion of Roman Empire. He invited Peter to speak about Jesus.
There was “many who had come together” in his house (Acts 10:27). Peter spoke
to them about Jesus and salvation.
Acts 10: 44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy
Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.
Even Peter did not expect this to happen. Peter and his Jewish companions were astonished to see the pouring of the Holy Spirit on the gentiles. After this Peter baptized them.
Samaria
The Samaritan
revival happened through the ministry of Philip. Acts 8: 12 says that Philip
preached to them about the “kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ”. Many
men and women believed and were baptized.
Apostles in
Jerusalem heard about the spiritual revival happening in Samaria. So they sent
Peter and John to verify the facts. When they came to Samaria, finding many who
believed in Jesus Christ, prayed for them so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 8:15).
Acts 8: 17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the
Holy Spirit.
Here too none
was left out from the baptism of the Spirit.
Paul at Ephesus
In Acts 19 we
see Apostle Paul at Ephesus. There he met some disciples of John the Baptist.
John the Baptist preached about the Messiah who will come after him. He
exhorted the people to be ready for the Messiah by repenting from their sins
and receiving baptism in water.
These
disciples of John received Apostle Paul with gladness because he also preached
about the Messiah. So Paul asked them:
Acts 19: 2 "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
believed?"
What Paul
implies here is that all who believes in Jesus Christ should also receive the
Holy Spirit, as on the day of Pentecost.
But they did
not even hear about the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19: 2 … So they said to him, "We have not so much as
heard whether there is a Holy Spirit."
Perhaps they
might not have heard that the Messiah has already come in Jesus Christ.
They were
baptized in the name of John the Baptist. That means they knew only what John
or his disciples preached to them. They received “a baptism of repentance” and
were waiting for “Him who would come after him” (Acts 19: 4). John preached:
Matthew 3: 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but
He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to
carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
So Paul
taught them about Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And all of them believed in
Jesus and were baptized in His name. Verse 6 and 7 say:
Acts 19: 6
6 And
when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they
spoke with tongues and prophesied.
7 Now
the men were about twelve in all.
Here it is
clear that all who believed in Jesus Christ, all the 12 men (there might be
some women also) received the Holy Spirit with power. None was exempted from
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Be filled with the Spirit
But the Holy
Spirit can come on the believers at different measures on different occasions. The
out pouring of the Spirit may be a fresh baptism, repeated manifestation or an infilling
of the empty space.
Acts 4 records
the second event of the baptism of Holy Spirit. This is not an exact repetition
of what happened on the day of Pentecost. But is very similar to the former
event.
Acts 3
narrates the story of a miracle healing happened through Apostle Peter and
John. They were going to the temple, after the day of Pentecost. At the gate
they saw a lame man and healed him in the name of Jesus Christ. This caused an
uproar in the city. So the priests, the captain of the temple, and the
Sadducees came upon them and put them in prison.
Acts 4: 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
On the next
day, they commanded the apostles not to speak and teach in the name of Jesus,
and set them free (4:18).
Apostles came
back to the believers and all of them prayed to God with one accord.
Acts 4: 31
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was
shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word
of God with boldness.
Though Acts 4: 4 says that “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number
of the men came to be about five thousand.” We are not sure whether these 5000
were new converts after the Pentecost day or they include the 120 gathered in
the Upper Room and the 3000 converted on the Pentecost day. Most probably this
is the total number of believers upto that time.
It is not probable for five thousand to
assemble in the Solomon's porch of the temple on the day of the miracle healing
of the lame man (Act 3: 11). This large number of believers could not gather in
any place they used to gather for prayer. So the 5000 was the total number of
believers, the former and the new converts to Christianity.
Apostles joined believers after
they were released from the prison and they prayed together with one accord. Then suddenly the place where
they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit. This is a first experience for some of them and a second experience for
some others. This gathering included the apostles also.
So the baptism of the Holy Spirit can happen again on the same person in some measure and method.
In Ephesians 5 apostle Paul speaks about being
filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is
dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,
The Greek
word for “filled” is pleroo (play-ro'-o). This word means, to make replete,
fill a net, level up a hollow, complete, fill up, make full etc. So Paul is
advising us to keep ourselves filled to the full with the Holy Spirit. That is
a more anointing.
Holy Spirit on all flesh
Let us
conclude this short study. We understand that during the early period of the
Church, all of those who believed in Jesus Christ received the Holy Spirit.
None of them were left out from the out pouring of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit
came with power on the Pentecost day. After that there was no waiting for an
impartation of the power of the Spirit separately. There was no separate fire
anointment. An impartation of the Spirit can happen again and again, in
different measures, infilling us with the Spirit.
So the
baptism of the Holy Spirit is for all who believes in Jesus Christ. There was
no haves and have nots in the early Church. It for “all the LORD'S people”, “to
you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our
God will call." (Numbers 11: 29 ; Acts 2: 39).
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