BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT

Theme: “Baptism with the Holy Spirit is an event subsequent to initial salvation that is available to every believer but not a requirement for salvation.”

John the Baptist testified as follows about Jesus:

Matthew 3:11:
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

So we see that is was foretold that Jesus would baptize people with the Holy Spirit.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He commanded the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit before beginning their preaching ministry to the world:

Acts 1:4-8:
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  And He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

The disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit shortly thereafter:

Acts 2:1-4:
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Some say that you get all there is to get of the Holy Spirit when you are born again, but we can see otherwise from the Word:

In Acts 8, we see that people became believers, were baptized in water, and after that received the Holy Spirit:

Acts 8:12-17:
But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.  Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them.  They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

We demonstrated two lessons ago that no one baptized unbelievers.  Therefore, we must conclude that they became believers and at a later time received the Holy Spirit.

Saul (who became known as Paul) also received the Holy Spirit after he was saved.  Ananias referred to him as a brother, but was sent so that Paul could be filled with the Holy Spirit:

Acts 9:17:
And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

We see believers filled with the Holy Spirit after being born again and baptized in Ephesus:

Acts 19:1-6:
And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.  And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”  And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”  So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  And when Paul had laid hands on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Now that we have established that receiving the Holy Spirit is something you do after being born again, we need to find out whether anyone who wants to can be baptized with the Holy Spirit, or if, as some teach, this privilege is only for some that God chooses to give it to in His sovereignty.  The passages below should settle the matter.

Acts 2:38-39:
Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

Luke 11:9-13:
So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

(The verse above also shows that we don’t have to worry about receiving a wrong spirit when we ask for the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes people worry about that.)

We have already seen John the Baptist’s testimony that Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

We also see that tongues, which are evidence of the Spirit’s infilling (we’ll develop that more in the next lesson) are a sign that believers (not just a select few) are to have following them:

Mark 16:17:
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

Although there is one initial baptism with the Holy Spirit, you can be “filled” with the Spirit again afterward. In fact, this should be our ongoing experience:

Ephesians 5:18:

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

The verb used here is in the continuous sense and actually means be being filled with the Holy Spirit!  It is not a command to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit one time; rather it is a command to stay full of the Spirit.

Acts 4:8:
then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them…

Acts 4:31:
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.

Acts 7:55:
But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

(Since seeing Jesus in the sky is not the norm for people baptized with the Holy Spirit, this must refer to a specific “filling” that took place then.)

Acts 13:9:
Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

Acts 13:52:
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
 

Question 12-1: Must I be baptized with the Holy Spirit to be saved?

Clearly not, since the people in the passages above were saved before they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Some churches have attempted to teach that being baptized with the Spirit is a requirement for salvation, but Scripture shows otherwise.  They perhaps reached this conclusion after reading this:

Romans 8:9:
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

But we must not accept any conclusion that Scripture as a whole does not agree with. This verse also answers the next question.
 

Question 12-2: Do you receive the Holy Spirit when you become a believer, and if so, how can receiving the Holy Spirit be a subsequent experience?

There is a difference between having the Holy Spirit and receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit so that you can speak in tongues, prophesy, and so on.  Any believer, as Romans 8:9 above shows, does have the Holy Spirit inside of him.  I could have a plumber inside my house but leave him standing around at the entryway. He would be in my house, but he wouldn’t be doing any plumbing until I receive him into my house to do that. If you’re born again, the Spirit of God has come to live inside you, but you will not be “baptized with the Spirit” until you ask to be.

In John 20:22, Jesus breathed on His disciples and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” I believe they were born again at that time, but they obviously were not baptized with the Holy Spirit until later, in Acts 2, after Jesus had ascended back into heaven.
 

Question 12-3: Must we tarry for the Holy Spirit as the disciples did?

Jesus said to tarry at Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost, so if we take this as literally applying to today, you must hop on a plane to Jerusalem and do your tarrying there.  The only “tarrying” mentioned is before the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2. After that, anyone could receive the Holy Spirit who wanted to, and there is no mention of anyone ever “tarrying for the Holy Spirit” after that. The Holy Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. No one was ever asked after that if God had given him the Holy Spirit! The question was, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?”  The Holy Spirit has been given already, now He must be received.  This is a faith transaction that works just like receiving healing, joy, or any other covenant blessing.
 

Question 12-4: Must I be holy before I can receive the Holy Spirit?

YES! But not for the reason some teach! Some churches teach that God will not give you the Holy Spirit until you live a sufficiently “holy” life. That would put the Holy Spirit baptism on a works basis. But Peter (see Acts 2:38-39 above) referred to the Holy Spirit as a gift!  He is not an honor badge for fine morals; He is a gift, and any believer can receive Him.  The only requirement is to be a believer, but if you are a believer, you are already holy (set apart) as witnessed by Paul and Peter:

Ephesians 4:24:
And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

1 Corinthians 3:17:
If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.  For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

1 Peter 2:9:
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation…

So based on that, you do need to be holy to receive the Holy Spirit because you have to be a believer, and believers are holy!  Jesus alluded to this also when He said that new wine must be poured into new wineskins (Matthew 9:17).
 

Question 12-5: Must I be baptized in water before receiving the Holy Spirit?

No.  The believers in Acts 10 received the Holy Spirit, then Peter said that no one should forbid them from being baptized in water.

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