What Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

When I was a new Christian, I was going to a church that taught that, OK, you're a believer in Jesus, you've been baptized, you've been justified, but have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? In other words, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was viewed as something that was separate, distinct from being born again, just being a Christian. So you have some Christians who are baptized in the Holy Spirit, and then you have some Christians, many Christians, who aren't baptized in the Holy Spirit. And so, you know, one of the things that was taught to me, you know, laid hands on me to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and often, at least what was taught there was, you know, when you're baptized in the Holy Spirit, you might receive these miraculous gifts from the Lord, gifts like the gift of tongues that Paul described in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14, or maybe even the gift of prophecy. So what is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? There's a lot of dispute within the church about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and I want to talk to you about why it's significant for you today.

So a little bit of a maybe history lesson first. Oftentimes, the teaching of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is associated with an individual named William J. Seymour, early 20th century pastor, minister, associated with the rise of Pentecostalism in the United States. And he was one of the ones who taught early on that there's this clear distinction between being born again, you know, justified, sanctified as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And so this is something, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that happens later in your Christian life that you pursue, and so he distinguished between those two things, and that theology, that doctrine really gained steam, and you see it in a lot of more charismatic churches today. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You might not be baptized in the Holy Spirit, even if you're a believer in Jesus, and although you have the Holy Spirit in one sense, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit, you're not full of the Spirit like you should be. You don't have the fullness of the Spirit. Well, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a biblical concept, but I don't think that the theology that was taught by men like Seymour and others fits with the biblical teaching, and if we're going to talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we need to look at the day of Pentecost described in Acts chapter two.

Now just a little bit of background here. Acts chapter two describes this amazing scene where Jesus, after he had ascended into heaven, pours out the Holy Spirit upon his church. He told his disciples, you know, not many days from now you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, just like John the Baptist had talked about during Jesus's earthly ministry. That was the fulfillment of something that Joel the prophet saw. Joel was one of the minor prophets in the Old Testament, and he foresaw a day when God was going to pour out his Spirit on all flesh.

Listen to this. This is Joel chapter two beginning in verse 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, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes, and it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

It's really a remarkable prophecy. Essentially, Joel saying one day God is going to pour out his Spirit on all flesh, on all of his covenant people. It's not just going to be the prophets and the priests and the kings who are anointed with the Spirit of God.

It's going to be your sons and your daughters, the young and the old, men and women. And Peter says that's what took place on the day of Pentecost. Now when you get to the New Testament, Peter says that what Joel was talking about is fulfilled or was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, and it's pictured there as this baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now when we look at the first few verses, there are four things in particular that are highlighted that I think show the significance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit for you. Acts 2, beginning in verse 1, when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Let's stop there for just a second because this is the first point I want to make, and a lot of people miss this. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all together praying as Jesus told them to do, and out of nowhere, this rushing wind breaks into the room. Now if you're familiar with the Old Testament, this idea of wind rushing in might be significant to you. Did you know that in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Bible, also in the Greek New Testament, the word for wind and spirit are often used interchangeably? And in Acts 2, when Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, describes this wind, he uses an interesting word for wind that actually isn't the common word for wind or spirit in the New Testament. It's a word that's used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament on one occasion in Genesis 2, verse 7, where God breathed into man the breath of life so that he becomes a living being.

Now why does Luke use this really rare word for wind, a word that's used in Genesis chapter 2, verse 7? It's because he's highlighting that on the day of Pentecost, with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what you have is a new creation. Just like God in the Old Testament breathed into man so that he became a living being, now under the new covenant, you have this new creation community that's created on the day of Pentecost, the church. God, once again, breathing on his people. So the first thing I think that I would want to highlight with regard to this baptism of the Holy Spirit is it's all about a new creation. It's the breaking in of the new creation in and through the church, the people of God, as a gift from the Lord.

But as Luke continues, he gives us some other really interesting things to consider. It filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. Now imagine the scene. You have the disciples all gathered together. They're praying. You have this wind or spirit that breaks into the room, this violent wind, and fiery tongues appear above their heads as they're praying. You think of the fire flickering or licking. Sometimes people have made that correlation, these fiery tongues that are over their heads.

Well, what's the significance there? Well, again, often in the Old Testament, fire is associated with the presence of God. You think of Moses in the scene of the burning bush where God speaks to him from this bush that's burning but isn't consumed.

It's a picture of God's presence. Or you think of the fire that was in the tabernacle or the pillar of fire that led the people of Israel through the wilderness at night, the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. All of these are symbols of God's presence, and fire often was associated with the symbol of God's presence in the tabernacle or in the temple. Here, this is so interesting, when you have these fiery tongues appearing over the disciples, it was almost as if God was saying, now my presence doesn't rest on the temple in Jerusalem. Of course, on the day of Pentecost, they're in Jerusalem. The temple is not far from where the disciples are.

It's as if God is saying, look, my presence has moved. I'm no longer confined to that temple. Now, the temple of the Lord is the people of God. The disciples who are gathered there who have this fiery presence floating above their head, it's God saying, here is my new temple community, my people. This is really important because Jesus, in John chapter 4, he's talking to the woman at the well, and he says, one day, people aren't going to go to this temple or that temple to worship God, this mountain or that mountain. God is seeking people to worship him in spirit and in truth. When we talk about the Church of the Lord Jesus being universal, or sometimes people use the word Catholic, what we're highlighting is it's not confined to one place. It's not like you got to go to Jerusalem to meet with God or Rome or somewhere else. No, now the temple of the living God is his church.

His body on earth, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, spread abroad throughout the whole world. When we see these tongues of fire over the disciples, that's one of the things that's being indicated. Point number 3, again, verse 4, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Again, I already said this is in fulfillment of what Joel the prophet talked about in Joel chapter 2. By the way, if there's any question about that, this is precisely what Peter says in verse 14.

Peter standing with the 11 lifted up his voice and addressed the men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let it be known to you that these people are not drunk, because they were all speaking in tongues on that day, but he goes on to say, but, verse 16, this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. This is in fulfillment of Joel, and Joel said, look, one day all of God's people were going to have the prophetic spirit. It doesn't mean that we're prophets, that you're a prophet like Ezekiel or Isaiah or Joel in the Old Testament, but it does mean that the same spirit that lived in them lives in you by faith in Jesus Christ.

Actually, this was anticipated in another place in the Old Testament in the book of Numbers chapter 11, verse 29, where Moses himself said, would that all of God's people were prophets, that God would put his spirit on all of them. That's precisely what happened through the baptism of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Now, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?

Let me just say, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you've been born again, the answer is definitively yes. In other words, we need to reject the idea that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that's different from or distinct from being born again that comes after you've been justified, especially if you think of the first point, if what's being pictured here is this idea of new creation, well, that's associated with being born again with what we sometimes refer to as regeneration. This is absolutely clear, crystal clear, in another New Testament book in the book of Ephesians chapter 1.

Listen to what the apostle Paul said there. In Jesus, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He references the promise of Joel, the promise of the Holy Spirit. When you believed in Jesus, the moment you heard the gospel and believed it, you were sealed with the promised Spirit, which is to say, you, by faith in Jesus, have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

You are a new creation, you are a new temple, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and you are a part of this prophetic community called to proclaim the excellencies of the one who brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. This 60-page booklet gives a thoughtful and accessible exploration of important doctrines around the will of God. What is God's sovereign and eternal will? What is his revealed will and his law?

How can these teachings shape our spiritual growth and trust in God? You can get What is God's Will for Me for a donation of any amount. Just give what you can and we'll send you a copy. Get yours today at solomedia.org forward slash offers. That's solomedia.org forward slash offers.