Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
At the age of seventeen I was converted in an Assemblies of God church in South Wales, where the Spirit filled pastor immediately instructed me about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
For some time, although I was in earnest, I received nothing. Looking back I suppose that I was trying so hard by my own effort to get filled that I missed out on simply receiving by faith. The Lord graciously filled me with His Spirit as I slept in bed one night. I already been asleep for several hours but awoke to find the whole room, and my body, filed with a glorious light. Although this light filled the room it seemed neither to come from any source nor was it going anywhere. As I opened my mouth to speak in a language I had never heard, so also the light began to flow out of my mouth like a mighty river. I continued speaking in tongues, not wishing this experience to stop, for about half an hour and then went back to sleep. From that day on I found that I could speak in tongues at will, and it was not long before I received other gifts of the Holy Spirit and began a fruitful evangelistic ministry.
Twenty years later I am the senior minister of the very church where I first came to know the Lord; and now it is my turn to pass on the instruction I received as a young man concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In these latter days of outpouring, where millions of believers all over the world are receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is crucial to understand the doctrinal basis of this experience.
The Doctrine of the Trinity
Our understanding begins with the doctrine of the Trinity, the scriptural basis of our Pentecostal experience. Scripture clearly teaches that whilst there is only one God, there are three persons in the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and each of these persons is God.
The Father is God (1 Cor. 8:6 and Eph. 4:6).
The Son is God (John 1:1 and Heb. 1:8).
The Spirit is God (Gen. 1:2 and 1 Cor. 2:10-11).
When asked by the ancient Irish whether there were three Gods or one, Saint Patrick took a shamrock and declared that as there are three petals but one shamrock, so there are three persons in the Godhead, but one God.
Patrick was simply restating a teaching of Jesus:
Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (See also 2 Cor. 13:14 and 1 John 5:7)
The persons of the Godhead worked together in creation. The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters and God (the Father) spoke the Word (Son) saying "let there be light" and there was light.
The persons of the Godhead worked together in redemption. God (the Father) so loved the world that He gave His Son to be our Saviour. Through His atoning death and glorious resurrection, the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the highest place and is able to pour out the Holy Spirit on His church, to be our helper and comforter, abiding in us forever.
The persons of the Godhead may also be seen at work together with regard to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Three distinct baptisms
It is helpful to note that there are three distinct modes of baptism in the New Testament.
1. When a sinner receives Christ as Lord and Saviour, he is born again by the action of the Spirit. It is at the moment of our regeneration that the Spirit baptises the believer into the body of Christ; and so now the believer is included "in Christ". "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13). In this baptism, the agent is the Holy Spirit and the medium is the body of Christ.
2. The believer's baptism in water is an open confession of his Christian faith, and is performed by a minister in the medium of water. In this baptism, the agent is the minister and the medium is water.
3. In the third baptism, the baptiser or agent is the Lord Jesus Christ and the medium is the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist declared of Christ "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matt. 3:11). Peter emphasised this on the day of Pentecost, that "being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear" (Acts 2:33).
A clear understanding of these distinctions will help prevent young converts confusing the baptism in the Holy Spirit with regeneration.
Is conversion the baptism of the Spirit?
There are Christian denominations who maintain that every believer receives the Holy Spirit when they are born of God, and deny the reality of what they refer to as a "second experience". But whilst sinners can be born of God, only saints can be baptised with the Spirit. Conversion is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' own experience is our example
The life of Jesus provides us with a rich illustration of this truth. We have no doubt that Jesus Christ was supernaturally conceived of the Holy Spirit - in a unique way He was born of God. Yet at the banks of the Jordan River, He saw heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descending on Him in bodily form like a dove. The inspired historian Luke relates that He was about thirty years of age when this occurred. There was a gap of thirty years between His being "born of God" and His receiving the Holy Spirit.
The receiving of the Holy Spirit did not make Jesus a Son of God. He already was the Only Begotten Son. Yet it empowered Him for His life work and ministry. In the same way, the believer does not become a child of God when baptised with the Holy Ghost. He has already become a child of God through faith in Christ. As an old English missionary to China once told me "The Holy Spirit comes only on Jesus. So you must have Jesus in your heart before he will come upon you."
Through the baptism in the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Trinity has come to dwell within us and empower us to live out God's great mission for our lives: to be witnesses for Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Believer, have you consciously sought the Lord Jesus Christ to baptise you in the Holy Ghost? Will you lay your whole life upon the altar for God and ask Him to empower you through this baptism for a life of effective service?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1
Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
At the age of seventeen I was converted in an Assemblies of God church in South Wales, where the Spirit filled pastor immediately instructed me about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
For some time, although I was in earnest, I received nothing. Looking back I suppose that I was trying so hard by my own effort to get filled that I missed out on simply receiving by faith. The Lord graciously filled me with His Spirit as I slept in bed one night. I already been asleep for several hours but awoke to find the whole room, and my body, filed with a glorious light. Although this light filled the room it seemed neither to come from any source nor was it going anywhere. As I opened my mouth to speak in a language I had never heard, so also the light began to flow out of my mouth like a mighty river. I continued speaking in tongues, not wishing this experience to stop, for about half an hour and then went back to sleep. From that day on I found that I could speak in tongues at will, and it was not long before I received other gifts of the Holy Spirit and began a fruitful evangelistic ministry.
Twenty years later I am the senior minister of the very church where I first came to know the Lord; and now it is my turn to pass on the instruction I received as a young man concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In these latter days of outpouring, where millions of believers all over the world are receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, it is crucial to understand the doctrinal basis of this experience.
The Doctrine of the Trinity
Our understanding begins with the doctrine of the Trinity, the scriptural basis of our Pentecostal experience. Scripture clearly teaches that whilst there is only one God, there are three persons in the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and each of these persons is God.
The Father is God (1 Cor. 8:6 and Eph. 4:6).
The Son is God (John 1:1 and Heb. 1:8).
The Spirit is God (Gen. 1:2 and 1 Cor. 2:10-11).
When asked by the ancient Irish whether there were three Gods or one, Saint Patrick took a shamrock and declared that as there are three petals but one shamrock, so there are three persons in the Godhead, but one God.
Patrick was simply restating a teaching of Jesus:
Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (See also 2 Cor. 13:14 and 1 John 5:7)
The persons of the Godhead worked together in creation. The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters and God (the Father) spoke the Word (Son) saying "let there be light" and there was light.
The persons of the Godhead worked together in redemption. God (the Father) so loved the world that He gave His Son to be our Saviour. Through His atoning death and glorious resurrection, the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the highest place and is able to pour out the Holy Spirit on His church, to be our helper and comforter, abiding in us forever.
The persons of the Godhead may also be seen at work together with regard to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Three distinct baptisms
It is helpful to note that there are three distinct modes of baptism in the New Testament.
1. When a sinner receives Christ as Lord and Saviour, he is born again by the action of the Spirit. It is at the moment of our regeneration that the Spirit baptises the believer into the body of Christ; and so now the believer is included "in Christ". "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13). In this baptism, the agent is the Holy Spirit and the medium is the body of Christ.
2. The believer's baptism in water is an open confession of his Christian faith, and is performed by a minister in the medium of water. In this baptism, the agent is the minister and the medium is water.
3. In the third baptism, the baptiser or agent is the Lord Jesus Christ and the medium is the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist declared of Christ "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (Matt. 3:11). Peter emphasised this on the day of Pentecost, that "being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear" (Acts 2:33).
A clear understanding of these distinctions will help prevent young converts confusing the baptism in the Holy Spirit with regeneration.
Is conversion the baptism of the Spirit?
There are Christian denominations who maintain that every believer receives the Holy Spirit when they are born of God, and deny the reality of what they refer to as a "second experience". But whilst sinners can be born of God, only saints can be baptised with the Spirit. Conversion is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus' own experience is our example
The life of Jesus provides us with a rich illustration of this truth. We have no doubt that Jesus Christ was supernaturally conceived of the Holy Spirit - in a unique way He was born of God. Yet at the banks of the Jordan River, He saw heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descending on Him in bodily form like a dove. The inspired historian Luke relates that He was about thirty years of age when this occurred. There was a gap of thirty years between His being "born of God" and His receiving the Holy Spirit.
The receiving of the Holy Spirit did not make Jesus a Son of God. He already was the Only Begotten Son. Yet it empowered Him for His life work and ministry. In the same way, the believer does not become a child of God when baptised with the Holy Ghost. He has already become a child of God through faith in Christ. As an old English missionary to China once told me "The Holy Spirit comes only on Jesus. So you must have Jesus in your heart before he will come upon you."
Through the baptism in the Holy Ghost, the third person of the Trinity has come to dwell within us and empower us to live out God's great mission for our lives: to be witnesses for Jesus Christ to the uttermost parts of the earth.
Believer, have you consciously sought the Lord Jesus Christ to baptise you in the Holy Ghost? Will you lay your whole life upon the altar for God and ask Him to empower you through this baptism for a life of effective service?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1
Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1 || Theology of Pentecost 2015 Part 1
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