What is the “baptism in the Holy Spirit”? Is it the same thing or different from being “filled with the Holy Spirit”? Is “speaking in tongues” the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit? Does it take place at or after conversion? There has been so much controversy and confusion over this subject, that I don’t pretend that we are going to solve all the difficulties in this study. We are seeking more light from the Scriptures on the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, and hopefully we have gained some ground in this study. If you see flaws in our reasoning or understanding of the Scriptures on this subject, please feel free to e-mail us and share your thoughts.

Teaching Notes:

The Baptism In The Holy Spirit – Pt. 1

Conclusions from Chart Above:

Old Covenant Work of Spirit:

• A person in the OT and the NT could be filled with the Spirit or have the Spirit come upon him, and not be saved, and remain unsaved (Balaam in OT, Judas and Mt.7:21-23 in NT). . God can use someone in supernatural gifts who is not even saved (Balaam)
• A very common result of the filling with the Spirit in the OT was prophecy. We have at least 10 examples of this.
• The most common expression for this work of the Spirit is “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him (mightily).”
• The work of the Spirit was not as extensive in the OT as it is in the NT. In the OT we do not see the casting out of demons, or speaking in tongues. Evangelism of the surrounding pagan nations was not taking place. The Spirit worked in remarkable ways in a select few like Moses, David, Jephthah, Samson, Elijah and Elisha. However, the Spirit did not indwell all believers as He does in the NT. Furthermore, in the NT , spiritual gifts are distributed widely upon all of God’s people, not just a select few (Acts 2:16-17).

New Covenant Work of the Spirit:

• Interestingly, as soon as we get to the NT, “came upon him” changes to “filled with the Spirit.”

• There is no one single result of this NT experience of the Spirit in all cases. The Scriptural results listed are power, tongues, prophecy, speaking God’s word boldly, having a vision, experiencing a healing, joy, being full of faith and wisdom, praising God, thanking God, and submitting to one another. It appears that when someone is “filled” with the Spirit, they look like Jesus either in terms of His ministry (healing, prophecy, power) or character (full of faith, full of wisdom, joy, praising, thanking, submitting). Thus, I do not agree with the charismatic view that the evidence of a person being baptized in the Spirit is that he will always speak in tongues. The possible results of this “baptism” or “filling” with the Holy Spirit are vast. We ought not try to force them into a nice, tidy, little, predictable package. In the NT, the results are widely varied, according to God’s purposes in each case.

• The speaking in tongues in the book of Acts is not the preaching of the gospel to the lost. Tongues in Acts 2 are known languages. However it must not be the proclaiming of the gospel to unbelievers because Peter addresses the entire multitude later in his own language (probably Aramaic) and preaches Christ to them. When they were speaking in tongues it was of “the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:11). In the other instances of tongues in the book of Acts, it was never the preaching of the gospel to unbelievers.

• Luke probably does not give us the 4 experiential cases of the Spirit “falling upon” a group as a pattern that all believers should expect to experience for all time. Luke is interested in showing us the advancement of the gospel from Jerusalem to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). At the same time, he is describing the time period in which there was a transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. To that end, Luke describes the coming upon of the Spirit on Pentecost (a non-repeatable event in redemptive history), to the Samaritans in Acts 8, to the Gentiles in Acts 10, and to disciples of John the Baptist in Acts 19. No believers today are in the same historical setting as these groups. Thus, we ought not expect that all believers throughout history will share their experience exactly. The doctrine of the baptism in the holy spirit as a second step postconversion experience with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues is derived by taking the 4 examples in Acts, and assuming they are supposed to be normative for all of God’s people for all time. However, it is far from clear that this was Luke’s intended purpose in recording them. It appears that God pours out His Spirit on new people groups with certain attending signs to demonstrate that they are full members of His body with all the rights and privileges as the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. Without these particular “signs”, the Jewish believers may not have accepted the Samaritans, the Gentiles, or the disciples of John the Baptist as full-fledged brothers, and divisions may have ensued early on. That is probably the reason that God sovereignly delayed the outpouring of the Spirit on the Samaritans (Acts 8:12-17) until Peter and John, Jewish apostles from the mother church in Jerusalem, laid hands on them. In this way God preserved the early church from serious schisms.

• This “filling” with the Spirit can take place in many ways: often God did it sovereignly when the person receiving was not asking for it (Mary’s conception, Peter before Sanhedrin, Stephen before executors, Cornelius’ household before Peter). On other occasions this “filling” is given in answer to prayer, and many times comes through the laying on of hands (Lu.11:13; Acts 1-2; Acts 8, Acts 19).

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