I. The Baptism:
The prepositions are key to our understanding.
a.
Baptism of
the Holy Spirit: The baptism of the Holy
Spirit is the beginning of the Christian life. It is one aspect of the new birth. In order to help us understand
what the Baptism of the Holy Spirit means, it will be helpful to
first discuss the concept of the new
birth.
John
3:5-7- “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God
Much
speculation has surrounded the phrase, “water and the Spirit”. It is possible
that Jesus meant natural human birth as the first type, “water birth”. Natural
birth is accompanied by lots of fluids, i.e. water, so that could be it. The
flesh of the baby is born out of the flesh of the mother amidst the “water”.
The second birth, the birth from above (anothen
in the Greek), is a spiritual
birth. Many believe that man’s natural spirit is dead
because of Adam’s sin and so there needs to be a new spirit born in him to
replace the dead spirit inherited from Adam. However, man cannot live without a
spirit see Lk.8:55; Mt.27:50, and furthermore, spirits don’t die. All
men have living spirits.
Spiritual
death is a metaphor and is nowhere actually mentioned in scripture. The concept
is biblical in the sense that a change needs to take place within the inner
man, a renewal or rebirth so to speak. But this does not provide what is needed
to obtain eternal life. An actual new birth, something that
wasn’t there before is what is needed, not simply a makeover of the old.
Spiritual death cannot be taken literally and has actually confused the issue
of personal responsibility for sin. It must be read into such passages as Eph.2:1
which, for example, in context is speaking of positional rather than actual
death (One was previously under the sure condemnation of future physical death,
the wages of sin. This is commonly known as the prophetic present tense.) The positional rather than the actual aspect
of the context is clearly seen in verse 6. The believer is said to be now
“seated with Christ in heavenly places”, a positional reality to be sure, but
not yet accomplished in the physical (it will become an actual physical reality
for all Christians, living and dead, at the rapture). So, there is a problem
with this understanding. The figurative is taken as literal and the positional
is taken as actual and experiential.
If
man already has a spirit, which he must in order to be alive, see Jas.2:26,
then he can not have a new human spirit born in him, for a man can not have two
human spirits alive in him at the same time. That would be confusion. A more
likely understanding of what Jesus meant by “born of the Spirit” would be that the
believer was now born into the family of God. This is a completely new state of
being and is accomplished when the living Spirit of God takes up residence
within the heart of the believer alongside of his own spirit. It is not
confusion to accept the fact that the Spirit of God can reside within a man at
the same time as his own human spirit. In fact, Jesus Christ is our perfect
model of this beautiful truth Lk.4:1; 22:42.
As
a child of God the Holy Spirit now lives within the Christian.
Along with the indwelling Holy Spirit comes the power of life that can never
die. It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead, Ro.8:11
because it is the same Spirit. In Ro.8:10 the believer even after conversion is said to
be “living in a dead body”(not a zombie, but in plain language, positionally
dead, condemned to physical death), but alive in the spirit (currently living
in eternal life) dead and alive at the same time. Both of these are current
truths positionally and will become actual physical truths in the future. The
old mortal body will be done away with and a new immortal body will be given 1
Cor.15:53.
In addition to this understanding or as an
alternative way to understand the phrase “water and the Spirit” would be to
take the water birth as a euphemism for water baptism, initiated by the person
himself by way of personal repentance. This is an act of the free will, in
obedience to the command of God; Acts 17:30, performed in the natural,
i.e. “the flesh”; not the flesh in the sense of “the seat of evil impulses”,
but the flesh in the sense of “the natural ability of man to choose”. (The term
flesh in the New Testament has many and varied connotations, not all of which
are negative, see Mt.19:5; Lk.3:6; Jn.1:14; 6:51; Acts
2:17; Ro.9:5; 1 Cor.15:39; 2 Cor.5:16; Gal.2:20;
Heb.5:7; 1 Jn.4:2, etc.) The meaning of “flesh” must be discerned
from the context. The Spiritual birth, the new
birth, is the occasion of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
whereby the repentant believer is born into the family of God, an act performed
by God alone.
So what Jesus may have been saying is that in order
for one to enter into the Kingdom
of God
Acts
19:2-6 – “He said unto them, have ye received the Holy
Spirit since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard
whether there be any Holy Spirit. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye
baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.” Obviously they acted through
their own choice. They knew nothing of the Holy Spirit. They chose to repent
and undergo the ritual of water baptism. Without question an act of good faith
on their part, undertaken in the flesh, i.e. the natural. ”That which is born
of flesh is flesh”, good as far as it goes.
But
good faith and repentance alone will not save a sinner. Neither will any action
taken in the flesh, such as water baptism. Only the grace and direct action of
God can save. “Then said Paul; John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after
him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus (A second water baptism, again performed by an act of
their own free will). And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them (by the
supernatural action of God alone, 1 Cor.12:7+11); and they spake with
tongues, and prophesied.”
Titus
3:5- “Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
The washing of
regeneration is the new birth. It is symbolized by
the ritualistic bath of water baptism.
The renewing of
the Holy Ghost is the newness of life that accompanies
the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
It is the new birth
into the family of God unto eternal life. The baptism of the Holy Spirit
reestablishes and renews the lost relationship with God that a person suffers
because of their sin.
Rom. 6:3-4
– “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into
death (portrayed by going under the water) in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, we too (as portrayed by the coming up out of the water) may live a new life.” We are born
again from the dead into new life.
The
Baptism
of the Holy Spirit
is not a second experiential blessing. It is in fact technically non-experiential.
That is to say, it need not be accompanied by any supernatural outward
experience. It is an inward work of God on the heart, mind, soul and spirit of
the believer. It is the exclusive work of God. We know that it has taken place
by many experiences that follow, but the baptism itself is not based upon of
derived from any experience. It is based upon what the word of God says and on
that alone. There should be no confusion between the Baptism of the Holy Spirit,
which is an act of God and is internal, and believers water baptism, which is
an act of the individual and is external. The later is to demonstrate the fact
that an inward transformation, regeneration and new birth have taken place in
the spiritual. Water baptism is initiated by and performed by the believer and
the church in obedience to the command of the Lord (Mt.28: 19). It is
done in the flesh, in the natural world. It does not regenerate or give new
life. Holy Spirit Baptism is initiated and performed by God alone. It is
supernatural and takes place in the spiritual realm. It brings new life and
regeneration with it. Both the Baptism of
the Holy Spirit and water baptism are the biblical norm for the Christian.
See Acts 8: 34-38 and 10: 44-48.
Just
for the purpose of clarification, and not to confuse the issue of Baptism of the Holy Spirit, let me say one thing
more regarding the two births. A third way to understand the idea of natural
birth (born of flesh) and Spiritual birth (non-flesh, i.e. born of the Spirit)
is found in 1 Cor.15:39-50. This section introduces the reality of an
actual “physical” spiritual birth yet future, when we will all receive a new
body, a glorified body, a heavenly body, a spiritual body as opposed to our
natural fleshly body. So in a purely literal sense there are two actual
physical births. We have alluded to this earlier, but I just wanted to make it
clear. This truth in no way conflicts with either of the previous two
understandings.
b.
Baptism by the Holy Spirit: 1 Cor 12:12-14
- “For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body.” The “one body” is the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit
is the active agent of the Baptism. He does the baptizing.
c.
Baptism into the Holy Spirit: 1 Cor 12:13- “and (we) have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is the
unifying agent of the Baptism. He is what makes the body one. It is the Spirit
in each of us that connects us together. We are no longer in the flesh, we are
now in the Spirit Ro.8:9-10.
Just as we are in Christ Ro.8:1.
d.
Baptism with the Holy Spirit: Matt 3:11- “I
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” The
Holy Spirit is the substance, as it were, of the Baptism. The believer is
immersed in His person and His presence.
Acts 11:16
- “Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”
II.
The Anointing: The anointing
of the Holy Spirit is God’s special work of confirmation,
Illumination and empowerment for service in His kingdom.
a.
1 John 2:20, 27
- “But you have an anointing from the
Holy One, and you know all things.” “His
anointing teaches you.” 2 Cor 1:21
- “Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is
God;” The word stablisheth in the Greek is a very powerful word, bebaioo, that is to say, confirmed or
established.
Paul
is speaking in terms of a present experience. The word stablisheth is in the
present tense, see its use in Mark 16:20 and Col. 2:7. The
concept is that the Anointing of the
Holy Spirit will bring with it a confirmation of present assurance to the
believer. An assurance that God’s hand is upon them and that they are firmly
established and secure as a child of God Ro.8:16. And God will equip
them for His work. The story of the anointing of David is a beautiful picture
of this truth. David was anointed
when he was still a youth. God then carried him along for many years through
trials and tribulations, developing him and teaching him to depend completely
upon God in all situations. The result was that David had complete confidence
in God and he became Israel
b.
The verb, translated anointed, in the Greek is chrio.
The name Christ, Christos, “The Anointed One” comes from the same root.
In fact, most of the references to the anointing
of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament refer to Jesus. See Lk.4:18; Acts
4:27; 10:38; Heb.1:9.
c.
Acts 1:4-8
- Just before Jesus departed in the ascension He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem
d.
The transforming power of the Holy Spirit is
the story of the birth and growth of the Church. The Apostles and first
disciples went from doubting, fearful and confused to bold and confident,
filled with knowledge and power and certain of their calling and mission.
The
Holy Spirit is “poured out upon the
believer” like the holy anointing oil
in the Old Testament was poured out on individuals designated for service as
prophets, priests and kings and such. It is an act of confirmation and
empowerment within the heart of a believer that God has appointed him into His
service.
III.
The Indwelling:
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the unique privilege of the Christian in
this age. If the Holy Spirit does not live with in you then you are not a
Christian.
a.
You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. – 1
Cor.3:16; 6:19
b.
If the Spirit of Christ dwells in you – Ro.8:9-11
c.
He will be with you and in you. - Jn.14:16-18:
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;
for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
I will not leave you comfortless: I will
come to you.
d.
He even lives in carnal and
sinning Christians
– 1Cor.3:1-15; 5:1-13 - “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to
spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with
milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it,
and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal.” “It is actually
reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality
as is not even named among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife!”
IV.
The Sealing:
The sealing of the
Holy Spirit is God’s Stamp of ownership upon the
believer. It is the guarantee
of successful delivery to the prescribed destination
a.
2 Cor 1:22
- “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit
in our
hearts.”
2 Cor 5:1-5
– “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a
building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because
when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and
are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our
heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very
purpose and has given us
the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”
b.
I know whom I have believed – 2
Tim.1:12, and He knows His own – 2
Tim.2:19
c.
Kept by the power of God – 1 Pet.1:2-9
– He holds us, we do not hold Him. We
are saved by grace through faith Eph.2:8-9. Our faith is not works; it
is our initial acceptance of His gift of grace. He takes it from there. Indeed,
He took it from before the foundation of the world in His foreknowledge 1
Pet.1:2; Rev.13:8; 17:8 .
d.
Nothing can separate us from the love of
God in Christ Jesus. – Ro.8:37-39
V.
The Filling:
a.
Eph.
5:18-21 – “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”
b.
The filling of the Spirit is
different from the indwelling of the Spirit in that once the Spirit
indwells a believer, He never leaves. The filling
comes and goes.
VI.
The Fruit:
a.
Gal.5:22-23
- But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there
is no law.
VII. The
Gifting:
a.
Ro.12:6-8 – “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let
us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or
ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who
exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with
diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
b.
1 Cor.12:8-10, 28-30
– “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are
differences of
ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it
is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom
through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same
Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another
discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things,
distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
c. Eph.4:11 - “And He Himself gave some
to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers.”
VIII. The
Quenching:
a. 1 Thess. 5:16-22 – “Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for
this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all
things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
IX.
The Grieving:
a. Eph. 4:29-32 – “Do not let any
unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only
what is helpful for
building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who
listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with whom you were sealed for the day
of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander,
along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
X.
The Leading:
a.
Gal. 5:18-21
– “But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under
the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy,
murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand,
just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will
not inherit the kingdom of God.”
b.
Gal 5:16, 25
– “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not
fulfil the lust of the flesh.” – “If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
XI.
The Witnessing:
a.
Rom.
8:14-17 – “ For as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified
together.”
b.
Gal. 4:5-7
– “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into
our hearts, the Spirit who
calls out,
"Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since
you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”
c.
Rom. 8:26-27
– “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we
ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans
that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the
Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance
with God's will.”
d.
Mark 14:36
- "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take
this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." The Christian
enjoys an intimate family relationship with God like Jesus.
The Holy Spirit and the Christian
have a very special and indeed unique relationship. No other group of people at
any time ever enjoyed the same intimate and permanent relationship that we as
Christians now enjoy.
The Holy Spirit in
relation to people in the Old Testament:
A.
Selective Indwelling: The preposition in,
beth in the Hebrew.
1.
Gen.41:38
– Pharaoh recognized that the Spirit was in
Joseph.
2.
Num.27:18
– God said that the Spirit was in Joshua.
3.
Dan.4:8; 5:11-14; 6:3
– It was the Holy Spirit in Daniel.
B.
The preposition upon, al in the Hebrew.
1. Many people in the Old Testament were said to
have the Holy Spirit come upon
them, in fact, this was the norm.
Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; 1
Sam.10:9-10;16:13
C.
Some were said to be filled with the Spirit, mawlaw
in the Hebrew.
1. Ex. 31:3-6 – God equipped certain
people to accomplish certain tasks in His service
by
Filling them with His Spirit. Interestingly, this is the 1st mention
of the filling of the
Spirit in the Bible and it is to equip for
manual labor.
Don Zeoli Sr.
2009
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