217 When you come together – Baptism in the Spirit Part 2 – Acts

Baptism in the Spirit in the book of Acts

In this series we are looking at what we should expect in our meetings as we gather together to worship the Lord. We have suggested that 1 Corinthians 14:26 gives a clear indication about this and have noted among other things the importance of congregational participation and variety of manifestation, including supernatural gifts like speaking in tongues and interpretation.

We’ve examined the supernatural gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 and noted our total dependence on the Holy Spirit if these gifts are to be in operation in our meetings. We are now considering the significance of 1 Corinthians 12:13, and in our last talk I argued that in this verse Paul is talking about the same experience as Jesus spoke about in Acts 1:5-8, and several examples of which we see later in Acts. In this talk we’ll be looking at those examples in more detail in order to help us better understand what it means to be baptised in the Spirit.

This will be important because in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul does not define baptism in the Spirit. This is almost certainly because he knows that the Corinthians will understand his terminology. He is using their knowledge of an experience with which they were already familiar to illustrate the unity of the body of Christ. So for us to understand what he means by baptism in the Spirit we need to turn to the book of Acts which often describes experiences referred to in the epistles and helps us understand them.

To begin with, it will be helpful to understand that although Acts contains only two references to the words, You will be baptised in the Holy Spirit[1], it’s clear that Luke uses a variety of expressions to refer to the same experience. These include:

• Receiving the gift the Father had promised (1:4)
• Being baptised in the Holy Spirit (1:5)
• The power of the Spirit coming or falling on you (1:8, 8:16, 10:44)
• Being filled with the Spirit (2:4).
• Receiving (the gift of) the Holy Spirit (2:38, 8:15, 8:17, 8:19, 10:47, 19:2).

So all these expressions are references to the baptism in the Spirit and teach us something about it. For example, we’ve already noted that in Acts 1:5 Jesus said:

Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised in the Holy Spirit’…

He goes on to clarify its meaning in Acts 1:8 when he says:

…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

And the power they were to receive from the Spirit was supernatural, miracle-working power, as the opening verses of Acts 2 make clear:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:1-4).

The promise that Jesus had made them was fulfilled. He had told them to wait for the gift that God had promised (Acts 1:4) and that they would be baptised in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). This would be the power of the Holy Spirit coming on them empowering them to be witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). And this happened on the day of Pentecost when the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak languages they had never learned (Acts 2:4).

As a result of this amazing miracle, a large crowd gathered and, after Peter had preached the gospel to them, over 3000 people were added to the church. Acts goes on to tell us how, through the power of the Holy Spirit, thousands more people became Christians and churches were established throughout the then-known world.

But there’s more that we can learn from Acts about what it means to be baptised in the Spirit. Please note carefully the following points:

• It’s not the same as becoming a Christian.
• It’s not the same as sanctification.
• It’s a supernatural experience.
• It’s available to every Christian in every generation.

It’s not the same as becoming a Christian

The first thing to notice is that when the disciples were filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost they were already followers of Jesus. Their experience of the Spirit that day was not what made them Christians. They had already left all to follow Jesus (Matthew 19:27). They had confessed that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16). He had told them that they were already clean (John 15:3) and that their names were written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). But until Pentecost they were not yet baptised in the Spirit.

We see something similar when we look at the Samaritans who were converted through Philip’s preaching in Acts 8. They had believed Philip as he had preached the gospel to them and they had been baptised (v. 12), but the Holy Spirit had not yet ‘come upon’ any of them (v. 16). However, when Peter and John placed their hands on them (v.17), they received the Holy Spirit.

Other examples in Acts are the apostle Paul who was converted on the road to Damascus but was not filled with the Spirit until Ananias had laid his hands on him (Acts 9:3-17), and the Ephesians in Acts 19:1-6. The Spirit came on them after Paul had laid hands on them after he had baptised them in water after he had explained to them that it was Jesus who was the Christ about whom John the Baptist had told them. (Note, too, from the examples we have mentioned that the baptism in the Spirit was often received through the laying on of hands, but in the New Testament this was never used to impart salvation).All these examples show us that, when Luke uses expressions like ‘being baptised in the Spirit’, ‘being filled with the Spirit’, ‘receiving the Spirit’, ‘the Spirit coming upon a person’, he is not talking about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives which brings about our conversion.  Being baptised in the Spirit is different from being born again[2].

It’s not the same as sanctification

The next thing to notice from the Book of Acts is that being baptised in the Spirit is not the same as sanctification. It’s something that happens suddenly. Let’s go back to the first few verses of Acts 2. For ten days the disciples had been waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were no more filled with the Spirit on the ninth day than they had been on the first day! But on the tenth day, the day of Pentecost, they were suddenly (v. 2) filled with the Spirit (v. 4). This is clear from the use of the word ‘suddenly’ in verse 2 and from the tense of the Greek verb which Luke uses in verse 4. And the same is true of the verb used in Acts 4:31 when the disciples were filled again with the Holy Spirit[3].

Other examples in Acts include Acts 1:5 where Jesus promises his disciples that they will be ‘baptised’ in the Holy Spirit and Peter’s statement in Acts 11:15 that the Holy Spirit ‘fell on’ Cornelius[4]. Falling seems to suggest something that happens suddenly and ‘baptism’ – always by immersion in the New Testament – can certainly not be administered gradually! This is important because some Christians have mistakenly confused being filled with the Spirit with the gradual process of sanctification that takes place in our lives day by day as we seek to become more like Jesus.

So, being baptised in the Spirit is a sudden experience that’s not to be confused with regeneration[5] or with sanctification. But it’s also important to understand that it’s a supernatural experience.

It’s a supernatural experience

We only need to read Acts 2:1-4 again to see that being baptised with the Spirit is a supernatural experience. They saw supernatural tongues of fire, heard the supernatural wind of the Spirit, and spoke by supernatural power languages they had never learned. In Acts there is a clear connection between the initial experience of the baptism in the Spirit and speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4, 10:46, 19:6).

In fact, wherever there is a full description of people being baptised in Spirit, the first thing to be recorded immediately afterwards is that those who received the Spirit spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4, 10:46, 19:6). In Acts 10:46, for example, it was how Peter and his companions knew that the new converts in Cornelius’s household has been baptised in the Spirit.

But their experience of the Spirit was not to be limited to speaking in tongues. The baptism in the Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues was only the gateway to other mighty gifts. As we read on in Acts we see that by the same supernatural power of the Spirit they healed the sick (Chapters 3, 5, 8, 9, 14, 19, 28), cast out demons (Chapters 8, 16, 19) and even raised the dead (Chapters 9 and 20). As a result, thousands were added to the church (Acts 2:41, 4:4).

So Acts paints a picture of the baptism in the Spirit, which is in itself a supernatural experience, but which leads to further manifestations of the miraculous which confirm the preaching of the gospel and lead to the formation of churches. And these things were not just for the early disciples.

It’s available to every Christian in every generation

This is made clear in Acts 2:38-39 where Peter says to the crowd:

Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is available to all who will repent and be baptised. It was not just for those Peter was speaking to in Acts 2, but for their children and all those of future generations who would become Christians.

And, as we read on in Acts, we see this promise being fulfilled. The Spirit comes upon the Samaritans (Acts 8), on Paul (Acts 9), on the Roman centurion, Cornelius, and his household (Acts 10), and on the Ephesians (Acts 19). These all had similar experiences to the disciples on the day of Pentecost and nowhere does the New Testament suggest that they are not for today. Indeed, the experience of millions of Christians alive today confirms that it is!

But that does not mean that all have received it. In Acts the normal experience of those coming to faith in Christ was repentance followed immediately by baptism in water and baptism in the Spirit. Those who, like the Samaritans in Acts 8, did not receive the Spirit immediately after they were baptised in water, received soon after through the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:17, 19:6). Today, sadly, this is far less common, even among Christians who believe in these things. The root cause of this is, I believe, lack of teaching on the part of church leaders, an issue I will be addressing in the final chapter of the book I am writing on this subject.

So, to summarise, the baptism in the Spirit was promised by Jesus in Acts 1:5, was received by the first disciples when they were filled with the Spirit in Acts 2:4, was made available to all who would repent and be baptised (Acts 2:38), and received by subsequent disciples in Acts chapters 8, 9. 10, and 19. It’s not the same as the Spirit’s work in salvation or sanctification, but is an enduement with power for service accompanied by miraculous manifestations including speaking in tongues.

In our next talk we’ll see how all this applies to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13.