Rethinking The Baptism In The Holy Spirit
Chapter Fourteen
So What Does It All Mean
You might well be asking at this stage, what really is your point with all of
this? What really is the big deal? Well let me remind you what the most well accepted view
of the baptism in the Spirit is. It says that a person becomes a Christian by repenting
and putting faith in Jesus. At this time theperson is born again and receives the Spirit
of God. Then at some later date the person receives an outpouring, or a infilling of the
power of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The idea is what they call two works
of grace. Work one is initial salvation when one receives the Spirit, and work two is the
outpouring of the Spirit. Some take another twist and call it a release of the Spirit
already within you. The idea of release doesn't really appear in Acts.
In light of these two works of grace, I have just shown you in the book of Acts that
every time someone was filled with the Spirit for the first time. they actually received
the Spirit. In no case was there a second work of grace.
When a person receives the Holy Spirit, it is at this time that they are baptized in
the Spirit. For the most part this happens at initial salvation.
Another way put it is when you are born again of the Spirit and become a Christian you
receive this experience called the baptism in the Spirit because you receive the Spirit
Himself. That is really what Jesus is talking about in John 3 when He says that you must
be born again of the Holy Spirit. He is saying the way to salvation is through the Spirit.
When this takes place in a life there is a dramatic change. The change is so apparent that
it rivals your natural birth. As a result Jesus is calling this in fact a rebirth. This
rebirth comes from receiving the Holy Spirit in your life. His Spirit joins Himself to
your spirit producing a brand new life. When does this happen? It happens at initial
salvation. Once again I say this because in each case in Acts it was at initial salvation
when people received the Spirit, or was baptized in the Spirit. Use whatever term you
like. They both mean the same thing.
Now if you persist to make this some kind of second work of grace I might concede a
little, but just a little, not much, if at all. If the baptism in the Spirit is subsequent
to anything it is subsequent to believing. That is first you believe and second you
receive. That is as close as I come to subsequentness.
I need to elaborate here. What I really think is that believing and receiving is a
package deal. They are two things that are a part of the same package. I am saying that
you first believe in the good news, but your initial salvation, entrance into the Kingdom,
is not complete until you receive the Holy Spirit.
The people in Acts 2 were believers first. A matter of fact they were believers for a
long while before they received the Spirit of God. But we can't compare ourselves to them
because they had to wait for Jesus to ascend to the Father before they could receive the
Spirit. We do not have to wait like they did. Therefore Acts two cannot be used to prove a
second work.
Then in Acts 10 it was a similar event. This time it was the giving of the Spirit to
the Gentiles for the first time. Now no Jew or Gentile has to wait. So in the same since
as Acts 2 you cannot compare that to us today and prove the idea of a second work. There
is no need to wait. Besides these Gentiles believed and received the Spirit pretty much
simultaneously. There was no second experience here. One should note that Cornelius of
Acts 10 was "God fearing man" (Acts 10:2) God fearing alone does not make one a
Christian. Cornelius was not a Christian until he believed the Word of the Lord as Peter
preached it and then received the Spirit.
Then in Acts 19 we see believers without the Spirit. These people were not believers in
Jesus. They were believers in John's message, which was that some day Jesus would come.
These people did not even know that Jesus had come when Paul met up with them. So we can't
compare ourselves to these folk either. Besides, once they believed in the real good news
they received the Spirit within a matter of minutes. For these people it was a package
that was unwrapped in one experience.
There seems to be one exception and that is the Samaritans in Acts 8. These people were
believers in Jesus. They did mentally accept the good news as preached by Philip. But they
did not have the Holy Spirit at that time. In this case the baptism in the Spirit, or the
receiving of the Spirit was subsequent to believing. This is the only place where we see a
true subsequent factor. We do not know how long it took Peter and John to get to these
people and pray for them, but it was definitely at some later date, most likely a few
days. or maybe longer. I would say that the Samaritan’s salvation was not complete
until they received the Holy Spirit. Their salvation was a process. It was a package that
took a little longer to unwrap, but still a package, consisting of believing and then
receiving the Spirit.
You may inquire about Paul's conversion. To a degree there was a subsequent factor of
three days. He had the bright light and voice experience. He had the vision. He had his
healing and outpouring of the Spirit. He was in prayer for three full days without eating.
This was one long altar call. You might expect that because of where he was coming from
and where the Lord was going to take him. His conversion was more dramatic than most.
Still in Paul’s case as well, you can see the idea of a package, believing and then
receiving.
You might suggest that Acts 19's baptism was subsequent to believing. To be precise you
might be right. We do not know just how much time lapsed from them first believing until
they received the Spirit. It could have been minutes, or longer. We do know that in
between believing and receiving they were water baptized. So that took some time. Most
likely there was a lot of talking involved. For the most part this all transpired at the
same event. You can surely see the package idea at work here. If you ask what would have
happened if Paul would not have laid hands on these people. I would think that their
salvation would not be complete. Paul knew better than to leave them in such an unstable
position before the Lord.
If there is a subsequent factor it is this. The baptism in the Spirit, or when one
receives the Spirit, is subsequent to believing. The baptism in the Spirit is not
subsequent to receiving the Spirit. I believe that it is the Lord's intent that you
believe and then immediately ask for and receive His Spirit.
Chapter Fifteen
More On This Subsequent Factor
I am wondering if many Christians fit into the Samaritan pattern. I suppose
there could be some around that believe yet do not have the Holy Spirit. It is my thinking
that a person cannot last long in this spiritual vacuum. You need the Holy Spirit to
survive let alone grow as a Christians. Then in light of Rom. 8:9 (he that does not have
the Spirit of God does not belong to God), how can someone really just believe for any
length of time. What I think is that most Christians do have the Holy Spirit but do not
walk in the Spirit.
Then the questions that presents itself now is, where do the non Pentecostals stand in
relation to the Holy Spirit and in particularly the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
Let us take a good born again evangelical non Pentecostal Christian.
At one point in his life he repents and comes to faith at a church altar. His life is
changed as a result. He continues on but does not exhibit any gifts of the Spirit or any
manifestation as a Pentecostal would see it. I do believe this person has the Holy Spirit
within, which is evident in his changed life. Once again, for him it is a matter of
understanding that there is a life in the Spirit to live, and then go ahead and live that
way.
That means all these non Pentecostal evangelicals really have received the baptism in
the Spirit. They are Pentecostal but they just do not know it, or maybe they do not want
to know it.
You ask then, what about the manifestations? First of all I say that these people can
manifest the gifts anytime beyond their initial point of salvation, assuming that is what
the Lord wants for them. They don't because they have been told they can't. They also
don't because their church has limited the power of God by their doctrinal position on the
Spirit and the gifts. They could participate in spiritual gifts if they thought they could
and asked the Lord for His help in this area. They could do this at initial salvation if
the church provided the proper atmosphere and situation for them.
To me this way of thinking would help to break down many walls that have been built in
today’s evangelical church. Pentecostals would not isolate the rest by saying they
need the baptism in the Spirit. They would believe that these people already have it. All
they need now is to understand what the life of the Spirit is all about. This life of the
Spirit is just simply the Christian life that Jesus wants us to walk in. This thus becomes
very practical at this point by having another wall torn down.
This issue really comes down to living in the Spirit at this point. The non Pentecostal
believes he has the Spirit. If the Pentecostals would believe that as well, then everyone
would be on the same street. The next step would then be to live in the Spirit, but that
obviously means different things to different people as well. When it comes right
down to it, there are probably just as many Pentecostals that don't walk in the Sprit as
there are non Pentecostals that don't walk in the Spirit.
Chapter Sixteen
My Own Experience
In light of what I have said you I will ask another question. How do you
interpret what happened to many in the Charismatic Movement of the 1960’s and
70’s, and even Pentecostalism in the twentieth century? What did they experience?
You most likely ask this question because many people who disagree with this thinking
feel that their experience is being threatened or ignored. I have no idea to make light of
your own personal experience. I am suggesting that you might want to rethink it through.
This is what I have done in my own case. I have not invalidated my experience. I have
re-interpreted it according to the Biblical standard that I believe I see and understand.
This is how I interpret, or re-interpret my own experience. I believe before that night
in Kentucky when I prayed for the baptism and felt nothing, that I already had the Spirit.
Maybe that is why I felt nothing happened to me that night. How could I receive something
I already had. I do believe that prior to that point I had the Holy Spirit. Then when I
began speaking in tongues it was a result of meeting with the Lord. These were times of
other fillings of the Spirit for me. Before this time I really did not have much of an
understanding of God's Spirit in my life. This was most likely due to doctrinal church
positions that limited His activity. Now since those days I have experienced many more
outpourings that were even more dramatic.
This is true with the people in Acts chapter two as well. The Acts 2 people had the
Spirit poured out on them in Acts 4 as well, along with other times to. We don't really
call these other outpourings the baptism in the Spirit, although it is like a baptism all
over again. We don't call these other outpourings third, fourth and fifth works of grace
either.
Either one of two things could have happened to those in the Charismatic Movement. Some
of us might have already been Christians like myself, with God’s Spirit within. We
received an outpouring of God’s Spirit that brought us into a greater awareness of
His Spirit which enabled us to begin to walk and live in the Spirit. The other possibility
is that some were not Christian at all, bust merely believed from a mental standpoint
which does not constitute personal salvation. These people actually got saved. They
received the Holy Spirit in a dramatic way, much like Acts 2.
Chapter Seventeen
Concerning Believing
Jesus spoke a lot about believing. In fact during His three years of ministry He
taught more about believing in Him and what He stood for, than He did about the Holy
Spirit. John 3:16 is the prime believing verse. "For God so loved the world that
whosoever believes should not perish..." Here and in other places Jesus says, believe
and you will be saved. The question here is, what does it mean to believe?
Is believing more than just giving mental assent or recognition of the fact that there
is a God and He does save people. The scripture says, and it is obvious, that the devils
believes in the existence of Jesus and His salvation. (James 2:19 KJV) The fact is that no
devil can apply this salvation to himself. One can mentally assent to the salvation story
and still not have it applied to their lives. One can realize they have a Christmas gift
under the tree for them, but unless they take it and open it, it means nothing to them.
The same with salvation.
Giving mental assent to the gospel is most likely the beginning of true believing. True
belief is reaching out and taking what is being given to you, and what is being given to
you by Jesus? There are many things that Jesus has to give us, the first is forgiveness of
sins. Why do we have forgivness of sins? The reason why our sins are forgiven is because
then and only then can we be reconciled to Christ. This is the real message of salvation.
Salvation is not merely going to heaven. Salvation is being reconciled back to God through
Christ. How are we reconciled? We are reconciled through the receiving of God's Holy
Spirit. We are made one with Him in spirit. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:11, God's Spirit
actually dwells, or lives within us. His Spirit joins our spirit. This is reconciliation.
In Acts 2 those people were reconciled to God through the pouring out of His Spirit.
What I am saying here is that there is a purpose for believing. The purpose for
believing is to receive the Holy Spirit and all that comes with Him. Believing is an
action word in the Bible. Believing is reaching out from the heart and taking what the
Lord is offering, not just realizing that He is there with something to give.
With this understanding of the word believe you would have to concede that believing,
and then receiving the Spirit is a package. The two words are all wrapped up in the same
package. This means that once you believe you receive the Spirit, making this one
experience, not two. The reason why you believe is to receive, if not, why believe.
I have shown the baptism in the Spirit and receiving the Spirit is the same thing. Now
I show that believing and receiving the Spirit are virtually the same thing. By using the
word virtually I am suggesting that there is a slight difference. Believing is reaching
out your hand, and then as a result you receive the Spirit from God. It is all one
experience but two parts of that one experience. These are two very related and
intertwined aspects of the salvation package.
Another question arises here that we have already touched on. That is, can one believe
and yet not receive at the same time? Can the receiving of God's Spirit be delayed? Well
we would have to say yes, because that is what happened in Acts 8 with the Samaritans.
Therefore their salvation experience was spread out over a few days.
Again what about non Pentecostal Christians today? Do they fit into this Samaritan
example? I suppose there could be some evangelicals who have believed yet have not
received. I have tended to put these in the minority though. I think most evangelicals
have had a real spiritual, and even spirit filled salvation experience. Therefore they
only need more outpourings, as we all do to help understand and walk in the Spirit. For as
Paul talks about in Galatians 3, we need to walk in the Spirit. These Galatians began in
the Spirit, that is were born again, but then after, they lived their Christian life out
in a very human, non spiritual way. That is not why we received the Holy Spirit. Maybe
there are more Galatian type Christians around the church than Samaritan types. I think
this is the case. There are many Christians who have begun in the Spirit, (born again) who
now lives their lives out in the flesh. When we forsake the Spirit we slip into working
out our salvation by works. No, not Old Testament works, but modern day church type works,
rules and regulations. Our own human effort replaces the life of the Spirit. To me this is
very scary, for Paul tells the Galatians that if you think you are justified by law, then
you have fallen from grace. To me this is the message that should be preached to the
Evangelical church today. That is, we live by faith. We believe in order to received
God’s Spirit. We receive His Spirit in order to live in Him and Him work salvation in
us.
Chapter Eighteen
The Charismatic Movement Rethought
When I look back at my own experience I see that I was looking for, and asking
for an experience called the Baptism in the Spirit. I felt that I had already received the
Spirit at some earlier date, or time in my life. So what I was after was a second
experience, a second work of grace. Whatever I was looking for it finally came, but it
came in bits and pieces. Really what came was the gift of tongues
I believe in my own life that I did receive the Spirit at an earlier time. It was at my
born again experience. At that same time I was baptized in the Spirit. So what happened
when I began to speak in tongues? It was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It was
the Lord giving me a spiritual gift. It was a real experience. All the times I received
one little word of tongues was a step in the Spirit. The Lord was helping me better
understand Him. Receiving the gift of tongues was not the baptism in the Spirit. It was
merely receiving a gift. I have received other gifts along the way as well. Since those
early days I have had many other outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Some of these were quite
significant and some even more important to me than the outpourings when I received the
gift of tongues. I do not call these times a third, or forth or fifth, or so on work of
grace. They are just special times with the Lord where He decides to meet with me in a
special way. These are all outpourings of God's Spirit. That is how I view my own
situation. What a Pentecostal would call my baptism experience I call one of many
outpourings.
Now concerning the charismatic movement as a whole. I feel in many cases what happened
to people was a real born again experience. Take the Catholic, or the Anglican who never
had a real born again conversion. To them this was conversion. .That is this baptism, the
giving of the Spirit was their salvation. They started speaking in tongues and prophesying
because the Spirit enabled them they were allowed to use their new gift. Now for others,
and I am one of these, this charismatic movement was a time where the Lord reached down
and poured out His Spirit on many. We already had His Spirit. We just needed to wake up to
spiritual facts of life and clearly see what He was all about. So to this group it was a
revival, an awakening, a time of entering into a place in God where they had never been
before.
The outpouring of the Spirit in the late sixties and early seventies was a different
experience to different people. To one it was salvation; to another a revival; to another
an awakening. No matter what it meant to you it drew you and others close to the Lord.
For me this outpouring was critical. It was a crossroads in my life. I will never
regret what the Lord did for me in 1971. The effects are still with me even to this day. I
doubt if there is a day that goes by where I do not speak in tongues. Blinders fell from
my eyes and I saw the Lord and His kingdom in a way I never saw before. I learned and
experienced that the life of a Christian takes place in the Spirit, not the carnality of
the flesh
Chapter Nineteen
In Conclusion
One problem with the traditional Pentecostal view is that it limits the Lord. It
is packaged way too neatly. Everything is laid out so simply. If you do this, then that
will happen. Well life is not always so simple. Things don't always fit into our nice neat
packages and formulas. Besides I am not sure that the Lord is willing to operate in the
confines of our prepackaged doctrinal positions, even when it comes to my own. You can
readily see in the five examples we looked at in the book of Acts. They are not all the
same, although they have their similarities and basic point of necessity. In every case
faith had to be present resulting in the reception of the Spirit.
Another problem with the traditional thinking on this subject is the separation it
causes. I do not mean to suggest that the moving of the Lord does not cause separation at
times. We all know that it does. To me if all Christians knew they had received the Spirit
beyond a shadow of a doubt, thus also experiencing this baptism in the Spirit, we wouldn't
have so many arguments. We would all be in the same boat. We would not be putting that
particular wall of distinction between us. The question would then not be over the baptism
in the Spirit but over walking in the Spirit that you already have. Isn't this really the
true issue we should be encouraging each other with. Walking in the Spirit means being
attuned to the Spirit within. It means receiving gifts of the Spirit and using them in the
way we should. It means walking in love, a love that can only come from the Spirit of the
Lord within.
Another problem with the traditional thinking is that it places so much emphasis on
this second work that I think at times once we get it, we get stuck at that point. We all
need more outpourings of the Holy Spirit. As I have gone over these scriptures this is the
one point that I am left with. The point being that we must be leaky earthly vessels. We
need outpourings over and over and over and over again. Once or twice is really not
sufficient. If we are like cups that the Lord fills then I think that we must have holes
in the bottom. Therefore we need refilling. That may not sound theologically correct but
you get the point. I do not think the Spirit can totally leak out of us. I think the
analogy stops at that point, but the idea of continual infillings is right.
In conclusion, this is my position. I see the baptism in the Spirit as that experience
in which one receives the Holy Spirit into his or her life. I understand that to be the
case because in every reference in Acts that is what happened. The two are one experience,
and it has to be at initial salvation since if you do not have the Spirit you do not
belong to God. Then I see believing in Jesus and receiving the Spirit as two aspects of
this one experience. That is as simple as I can put it.
Now after saying all that I have said, it does not concern me too much what people
think and believe. Obviously I think it would be nice for people to agree with me, but
that is not really necessary. Why? Because the Lord works beyond the point of our thinking
and our doctrine. The Lord will do what He wants to do no matter what title we put to this
experience. What He wants to do is to pour His Spirit out on us so we can participate with
Him. So I have no problem praying with hard-line Pentecostals. They can pray all they want
in terms of the baptism of the Spirit. I can stand with them asking the Lord to pour out
His Spirit. I also have no problem praying with the non Pentecostal. What they both really
want is more of the Lord in their lives. That is what I want. And if that is what we all
want I am sure the Lord will do that, no matter how we think doctrinally. The main thing
is not to limit the Lord. We can't want more of him, and then give Him a few exceptions
like no tongues. It will not work. We all need to be open to what the Lord has in spite of
our doctrinal positions, even though I believe doctrine is important.
I am not minimizing doctrine. It should be clear to you that my way of thinking is well
thought out. Whether I am right or wrong I know what I believe and why. Every Christian
needs to know what they believe and why they believe it. Then they need to be able to
logically express that to others. We need to think for ourselves, not just accept the flow
of the day. Then after reaching our conclusions let them be tested. Then give grace to
each other in our varying opinions.
So that is my thinking on the subject. Maybe it will provoke you to rethink your
position. Maybe if your thinking differs from mine, you will become more steadfast in your
thoughts. Whatever the case let us all pray that the Lord pours out His Spirit on more and
more people. Let's ask and seek the Lord for more outpourings for ourselves. We don't want
it merely for the sake of feeling good. We want to draw closer to Jesus and we want to be
more effective in His kingdom.
Here is one last thought. Do you know what is the best way to receive an outpouring of
the Spirit from the Lord? Do you think it is by praying and asking? Well that is part of
it. The way to receive an outpouring from the Lord is to lift your heart and begin to
worship Him the best way you know how. The external presence of God can be found in a
place of worship. This is where the Lord wants to be. Worship is the door into the
presence of God. So when you go to church, just don't ask God to be there. A matter of
fact I don't believe that you need to pray before a meeting and ask the Lord to be there.
You only need to worship. Lift your hearts and hands to Him and He will come. He will
come. There is no question about it. He will be there when you worship Him. It is a waste
of time to ask the Lord to be in your meeting and then not open the door for Him to enter
in. It is like me calling you on the phone and asking you to come over and visit. Then
when you come to my door I don't open it for you. You are left out in the cold. The Lord
will be left out of our meetings when we don't let Him in through our worship. So worship
the Lord and He will visit you.
Consider what I have said. Think on these things. Open the Scripture for yourself and
read, study and meditate on what you see. Do it in the presence of the Lord. Let the
mental understanding sink deep into your hearts so that you will develop strong
convictions to live by.