Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Among
the greatest blessings conferred by the Christian gospel is the personal
indwelling and enduement of the divine Spirit, what the Bible calls the power
from on high. The Spirit of God was
promised as the personal and permanent equipment of the Messiah for His
work; Isaiah 11:1-2 And there shall come forth a rod out of
the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; Isaiah 61:1-3 The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach
good tidings unto the meek; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be
glorified.
Other
prophets extended a similar promise to all God's people; Joel 2:28 And it
shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions:
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I
pour out my spirit. Ezekiel
36:25-27 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean:
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
In particular,
the indwelling and enduement of the Holy Spirit, which became available through
Christ to all who repent and believe, came inevitably to be linked with, and
described in the language of, that crucial public step by which individuals
first became Christians and were accepted as members of the Spirit-filled,
Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered church of Christ. Quite naturally the experience
came to be described as being baptized in or with the Holy Spirit.
Alongside
this difference of emphasis as to what qualities of life and service most
clearly demonstrate the power of the Spirit, opinion is divided also on how and
when the initial reception of the Spirit may be expected. Some insist that the
earliest experience of the Spirit coincides with conversion. They underline the
necessary ministry of the Spirit in bringing any soul to Christ. Without the
Spirit no one can call Jesus Lord (I Cor. 12:3), or be born into the kingdom
(John 3:5), or become Christ's at all (Rom. 8:9). Thus, to receive the Spirit
is an essential part of salvation itself. Some insist that in the NT pattern of
initiation, reception of the Spirit accompanies baptism in water. These argue
that apostolic baptism was certainly no mere ritual but a deliberate, and often
perilous, public commitment to the lordship of Christ. It was accompanied by
the confession of Christ before men, which was essential to saving faith (Rom.
10:9; cf. Matt. 10:32-33), on the part of each repentant believer.
With
perhaps a little more hesitation, defenders of the view that Spirit baptism
ought to accompany water baptism, draw attention to Paul's action at Ephesus,
which sought to repair a baptism which had not conferred the Spirit by one that
did (Acts 19:1-6), In this scripture they were baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ.
Others
believe that the baptism of the Spirit is an experience subsequent to
conversion and entirely independent of water baptism, possibly replacing it. It
is a second blessing, an "infilling" of the Spirit, supplementing
conversion as the young Christian advances to maturity. These would argue that
the supposed NT pattern has certainly not been familiar in the historic church.
They emphasize that Pentecost was for the first disciples later than, and
consequent upon, introduction to Jesus. They recall that some Christians are
urged to "be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). Above all,
they point to the poverty of spiritual experience of many professing (and
baptized) Christians as proof that something more than conversion and baptism
are needed for a Spirit-filled life.
Differing
exegesis and theological debate must not be allowed to obscure the primary
truth: that the Spirit of the living Christ seeks to enrich, enable, empower,
and use Christians in every generation.
But how we describe the experience is less important than that we open
mind, heart, and will, to the power and joy which the Spirit offers to confer.
The contemporary church, and the modern world, sadly need Christians baptized
with the Spirit. We are of no value to God or to ourselves without this enduement of the power from on high!
Jesus
said this to His disciples, “And
behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay
in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." This is as true today, as it was in their
day, we are quite useless without the clothing of power from on high!
Without this power from on high, we are mere men and women, but, with this
power from on high, we will demonstrate by our very lives the life of Jesus
Chris, His meekness, His patients, and His humility, will shine forth through
our lives continually!!!
See also
CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT: PENTECOSTALISM