Understanding the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

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Pentecostalism is usually defined as a movement in Christianity that thinks of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second experience usually after conversion, marked by speaking in tongues. That's the stereotype anyway of what Pentecostalism means. That really is an oversimplification. [01:10]

What is common among many branches of Pentecostalism is not a singular view of baptism in the spirit, but rather a strong emphasis on the experiential nature of the Spirit's presence in the life of the believer. And I think that is precisely why this emphasis on the experiential nature of the Spirit's presence has been so globally dynamic and effective. [02:02]

It's important that we clarify the meaning of biblical terms like baptism in or with the Holy Spirit because it is a biblical term and it's part of Christian experience. So what I'm going to suggest is that the way Paul uses the phrase in First Corinthians 12:13 and the way Luke uses the phrase or Jesus reported by Luke uses the phrase in Acts 1:5 are not the same. [03:19]

Paul's understanding here of baptism by the Spirit is the act by which the Spirit unites us to Jesus Christ and his body, the church. In other words, it's conversion, it's becoming a Christian. This is what it means to be a Christian, to be moved upon by the Holy Spirit in such a way that we are brought to faith and united to Jesus. [04:35]

I think Luke sees the Apostles as genuine born-again believers before this promised baptism happens to them. Luke ends his gospel like this with a description of the Apostles before the experience that they're supposed to wait for, called the baptism of the Spirit. It says in Luke 24:52 they worshiped him, they worshiped Jesus and they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. [06:49]

I think it would be a mistake to limit baptism in or by or with the Holy Spirit to a single second event after conversion. Even though you might experience one, that doesn't mean it's the normative way that this baptism is to be understood. I think the kind of filling and empowering that we receive in such experiences are needed again and again and again in the Christian life. [09:13]

It is right, I think, to ask for a fresh baptism. That's the language of Puritans, that's the language of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that's my language again and again as I approach the pulpit and seek to preach. I say, "Oh God, I need a fresh baptism, I need a fresh anointing, I need a fresh filling, I need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit." [09:36]

The language is very various in the book of Acts for these kinds of things which are not continuous. We have Paul on Cyprus and he's about to speak and it says filled with the Holy Spirit, and then he has an extraordinary power to deal with this magician there on the island. That's the kind of thing that I think Jesus was saying I want you to know this experience as you head out to evangelize the world. [10:00]

Luke describes the first baptism of the Spirit as being filled. He uses the filling language in Acts 2:4. He says wait for this baptism and then when he describes it in 2:4, he says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. These are overlapping realities: fullness, baptism, and throughout the book of Acts, that term filled with the Holy Spirit is a recurrent repeated experience in the believer's life, not just a one-time. [10:41]

Luke says that being baptized with the Spirit is a fulfillment of the promise of Joel to wait for the promise, and the promise that gets fulfilled is Joel 2 in Acts 2:16 and following. The promise of Joel 2 is not the new covenant promise of new birth, it's the covenant promise of prophetic power. You're going to speak with extraordinary power there in Acts 2. [11:04]

Luke describes being baptized with the Spirit as receiving power for witness when the Holy Spirit comes. Acts 1:8, when you receive the Holy Spirit you will have power so that you can be my witnesses to the end of the world. That's the immediate description of what's going to happen if you wait for the baptism. So it's an empowering for global Christ-exalting effectiveness. [11:37]

My understanding of baptism with the Holy Spirit is that Paul uses a form of this phrase to refer to what happens at the new birth, and Luke uses a form of this phrase, and Jesus quoting Jesus, a form of this phrase for the empowering by the Spirit, which to answer the question about this peculiar signs may or may not include various signs like tongues or other unusual manifestations. [12:28]

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