Baptism in The Holy Spirit
PART 3 - Second Blessing
There are numerous terminologies in the New Testament that all describe in some
way the salvation picture. This range of expressions should not be taken to
imply that they must all be referring to different events, but rather that the
gift of salvation is so multifaceted as to require many diverse explanations and
analogies. Because in one place we read of ‘new birth’ and in another of
‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ as elsewhere we read of ‘regeneration’ or ‘passing
from death to life’, we need not go hunting for multiple explanations as to what
they all mean. Jesus used yet another illustration of the way to salvation, He
said, “I am the Door.” This is what all of these pictures ultimately suggest, a
doorway into eternal life. However, there are a few specific instances in
Scripture that some interpret to show that new birth and baptism in the Holy
Spirit are somehow different events. I can understand why these instances are
interpreted so, but it is largely because of a preconceived and usually
inherited notion of ‘second blessing’. Reinforcing this idea is something most
powerful in influencing human thinking, people’s experiences. We shall next
examine these Scriptures and then afterward we shall examine a range of
possibilities concerning people’s personal experiences.
‘Second blessing’ is not a biblical phrase but what I want to address here is:
Is it, or any other equivalent type idea, a sound biblical doctrine? Holding a
correct doctrine about something does not necessarily equate with living in the
life of it the way God intends, but holding a wrong doctrine about something is
very likely going to affect the way you live and grow in and experience life in
Christ. Our beliefs will also tremendously affect the way we minister to (help)
others along the way, so it is very important that we address this belief that
so many hold.
By stating that many Christians hold to some kind of ‘second blessing’ belief,
what is it in reality that I am referring to? To give some examples it is this:
Some ‘groups’ (denominations and/or individuals) say – first you are ‘born
again’ and later you are ‘baptised in the Spirit’. A variation on this may go
something like, first you get ‘converted’ and later you experience a ‘new birth’
or ‘baptism in the Spirit’. This latter ‘baptism’ for some is considered to be
in order to fill the believer with ‘the gifts of the Spirit’, for others it is
to give a man or woman ‘power for service’ and for others it is ‘a baptism into
holiness’; the destruction of the ‘Old Man’. What is interesting in all of this
is that all of them have picked up quite correctly on some aspect or other of
the Holy Spirit’s ministry in, to and through us. Many are the variations on the
terminology used and also with the given reasons and expected results. However,
I trust that you understand in some way the subject that I am on.
In this section we shall examine four incidents from the Bible (three from the
Book of Acts and one from the Old Testament), which are offered as evidence for
a second blessing doctrine. I do not know if there are any others of this
nature. These are the only ones I have heard of in this context. Following this
doctrinal examination, I then want to move on to something else that is probably
even more responsible for guiding many Christians in what they believe or do not
believe - experiences. The latter should never be our foundation for doctrine
but we will say more when we get that far.
INCIDENTS FROM SCRIPTURE
Acts 8
There are three incidents in the Book of Acts where we read of people
‘believing’ in the Lord but it was some time later that they ‘received’ the
baptism in the Holy Spirit. The first is in Acts Chapter 8. Below are the
relevant verses that relate to this instance:
Vs. 5 - 8 “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ
unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which
Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits,
crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many
taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in
that city.”
V. 12 “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women.”
Vs. 14 - 17 “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria
had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they
were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as
yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptised in the name of the
Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy
Ghost.”
To take this above passage as illustrating ‘second blessing’ is a
misunderstanding of a very fundamental nature. Just because someone has
‘believed’ in the Lord and has even been baptised in water, it does not follow
of necessity that they must have been ‘born again’ (filled with the Spirit of
God). These people had certainly ‘believed’, they had witnessed miracles, some
had been delivered from demons and others had been healed. Following all of this
excitement Philip, in obedience to the command of his Lord, baptised them all in
water, but nowhere do you read that at that stage any of them were born again.
Of course, you quite rightly ask, “Why didn’t God pour out the Spirit on these
people immediately then? Their obvious faith in Him would suggest that there was
no special reason to withhold this gift.” Under normal circumstances I would
have to agree, but there was a special reason in this instance, which meant that
God wanted something else to happen before he would pour out the Holy Spirit on
this particular group of believers. God has His reasons and His timing, as we
shall see.
So what was the reason in this instance for God’s holding back from bringing
these people immediately into His Kingdom? The initial clue to the answer lies
in vs. 14-17. Why was it that as soon as Peter and John went down to Samaria,
God opened the gates of heaven wide and they were all then born from above? Was
Philip’s Gospel somehow deficient? Not at all. He did all that was in his power
to do, a wonderful work for his Lord, but the key to understanding this
withholding of the Spirit is to be found in the presence of Peter at this event.
You will remember how that Jesus had committed the ‘keys of the Kingdom’ to
Peter (Mat 16:19). You will remember too that the apostles were charged with
preaching the Gospel at Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the
earth – the Gentiles. A simplified summary of this is: to the Jews first, the
Samaritans next and then to the Gentiles. As we have already seen in this study
it was Peter who preached on the Day of Pentecost. This was at Jerusalem. The
Jews heard him and responded and the door of heaven was unlocked and the Holy
Spirit fell on three thousand of them that day alone. Moving further on in the
book of Acts, after this Samaritan incident we see also that it was Peter who
was sent to preach to Cornelius and all those other Gentiles gathered with him.
This was following the vision of the sheet and the revelation to Peter’s own
heart that God was going to save the Gentiles in like manner. Peter was God’s
chosen vessel to open the way for the Gentiles to come in. Before he went down
to Samaria we only read of ‘believing’ and ‘water baptism’ but no spiritual
baptism. Why? Because Jesus is always faithful to His promises. He had reserved
the special privilege of unlocking the door to the Jews, the Gentiles and the
Samaritans for Peter. We shall not speculate on the possible reasons why Peter
was chosen for this privilege here, but we must take note that this was the
reason why the Samaritan believers could not receive the baptism in the Spirit
prior to his coming.
In summary, on this specific occasion, for the sake of fulfilling a promise, God
was keeping this most precious gift of His Spirit until His chosen ‘key man’ was
on the scene. God knew their faithful, believing hearts and he was committed to
bringing them all into His Kingdom, but He had plans and purposes about how it
was all to be fulfilled.
Acts 9
I think that Paul’s conversion has been used in an attempt to illustrate that
new birth and baptism in the Holy Spirit are not synonymous. We will now look
briefly at his experience.
Vs. 3-9 “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined
round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice
saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the
city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed
with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose
from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him
by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight,
and neither did eat nor drink.”
Vs. 17 & 18 “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting
his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto
thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy
sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his
eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was
baptised.”
Once again there is no hint that Paul was born again on the Damascus road. He
had encountered the Lord, he was repentant, he had even seen visions but God
knows when best to bring a pregnancy to the birth. In Paul’s case he was, as it
were, three days in the womb and then God said, it is time for you to enter my
Kingdom, Paul, and he did. I can only speculate as to why God dealt thus with
Paul. Perhaps he needed to go through those three days of blindness in order to
learn some valuable lessons. Maybe it was a necessary part of God’s plans at
that time that Paul should humble himself before a disciple of Jesus. Who knows?
God may have previously promised some special privilege to Ananias. I’m sure his
faith was greatly encouraged by the whole episode. God loves to involve His
people in his dealings with men and women. All that we need to see here is that
God came in a blinding revelation to a man and three days later that man was
made a new man.
Acts 19
I think this is the last instance in Acts that is misunderstood in this way.
Vs. 1-7 “And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having
passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they
said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And
he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptised? And they said, Unto John’s
baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptised 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 baptised in the
name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy
Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men
were about twelve.”
Here we read that there were ‘disciples’ at Ephesus who had not yet received the
baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now the term ‘disciple’ was commonly applied to the
twelve who followed Jesus before He went to the Cross. It does not necessarily
denote one born again. None of the disciples in the Gospel accounts were born
again. We have already seen that Jesus said, to be born again you have to be
born of the Spirit and the Spirit at that time was not yet given. These people
were obviously ‘believers’ in some respects but there is nothing to indicate
that they were as yet born again. On the contrary, there is something that
indicates that they were most unlikely to be born again. They had not as yet
heard the New Testament message. The end of the previous chapter shows us what
they had heard.
“And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and
mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of
the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the
things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak
boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him
unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. (Acts 18: 24-26)
This lovely man, Apollos, had come to these people at Ephesus before ever Paul
did. Apollos was a lover of God, a lover of righteousness, a man of faith even,
but he did not know the way of New Testament salvation. He had preached to these
people ‘the baptism of John’. We have covered this already; it is the message of
‘forgiveness of sins’. But Apollos preached this message in ignorance of the
fuller facts of the Gospel of the New Covenant. These people responded to his
message hence they received the baptism of John not the baptism of Jesus. They
had faith in God and in the message of sins forgiven, but they hadn’t as yet
entered the Kingdom by that “new and living way.”
We must not think that Apollos’ message was a false Gospel. It was simply a half
Gospel. The evidence that this man was at least speaking in all good conscience
from the heart is there to be seen. When Paul came and met these people they had
no trouble receiving the rest of the message. They were ready and eager to enter
the fullness of Christ once they heard the better Gospel. Before Paul came, they
were ‘disciples’, they were ‘believers’, but they were not spiritually the
children of the living God.
THE LESSONS FROM ACTS
I want now for us to see some crucial lessons from these three instances in
Acts. From these we can see that all kinds and categories of people are assumed
to be born again when actually they are not.
Acts 8 – The Samaritans
These were ‘believers’, they were baptised in water, they witnessed miracles,
healings, deliverances from demons and they had great joy. However, they were
not at that time born of the Spirit of God. They were not ‘saved’ according to
the New Testament fullness of salvation.
Acts 9 – Saul
There was repentance, astonishment, trembling and fasting - but it was only
until a few days after that he was born of the Spirit of God – Paul could not
have been ‘saved’ until after he received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 19 - The Ephesians
These people had heard some mighty and eloquent preaching. They had heard the
message of forgiveness of sins and they had become ‘disciples’. However, they
were the recipients of a deficient Gospel. It was not until they came into
contact with the fullness of the New Testament message that they were ‘saved’.
Chapter 8 teaches us that God has global plans and purposes into which we fit.
It is His Church and His Gospel; He will bring things forth at the time and
place and through the people that suit His purposes. Chapter 9 shows us
something similar, albeit perhaps on the smaller scale of God’s dealings with
individuals. He knows how best to bring a soul through to salvation and what
experiences are necessary for our edification. Acts 19 shows us something quite
different; people, who are kind of half-saved, so to speak. They are sincere
believers in Almighty God but, due to a deficient gospel, they have only been
brought so far. My sincerely held belief is that if such folk really do want all
that God has for them, then God will ensure that somehow they will
hear/read/know/encounter, whatever is necessary to bring them into the fullness
of New Testament salvation.
OLD TESTAMENT TYPOLOGY
There is one other Scripture based incident that I have heard used as an example
of new birth followed by baptism in the Spirit. It is taken from a typological
point of view and straight away we are on unsound ground for making a case for
New Testament doctrine. Not that there are not types and figures in the Old
Testament, it is full of them, but always we must be grounded first in the New
Testament then we must interpret the Old by the New.
This takes us to a very well known part of our Old Testament. It is the story of
the exodus. Most would agree that there is a striking picture in this whole
episode of a person’s migratory experience of leaving Egypt (the world’s system)
and starting on a life-long journey with God. The exponent of the ‘second
blessing’ belief says: Egypt is The World, the crossing of the Red Sea is New
Birth, after that follows the inevitable ‘Wilderness’ time but then, finally,
comes the ‘second blessing’ – the crossing of Jordan into the Promised Land.
There are variants of this, but the thread that I am examining here is: Does the
later crossing of the Jordan show us that there is some kind of second major
event, a second baptism as it were? We have to say a second baptism because it
is plain from the New Testament that the Red sea crossing already depicted a
baptism:
“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our
fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all
baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” (1Cor 10:1&2)
We have to dig a little deeper to see the baptism picture typified in the
crossing of Jordan. But I have no doubts that such is there too:
“…the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far
from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the
sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people
passed over right against Jericho.” (Joshua 3:16)
We should recognize the baptism connection in this latter crossing since we
spent some time considering part of Romans chapter six, which links with this,
earlier in the study. Romans six teaches us that it is by baptism (remember,
baptism into Jesus Christ, not water) that our ‘Old Man’ is crucified – ‘cut
off’. He is thereby removed from our lineage and a ‘New Man’ takes his place -
Jesus Christ. It is abundantly clear who the ‘Old Man’ is. He is a theme of the
previous chapter in Romans – He is Adam. So can you see the typological
connection? The children of Israel were ‘passing over’ into the Promised Land
(the Promised Land is a type of spiritual life in Christ – the ‘new man’), and
the flow of Jordan, (which runs into the Dead Sea – see your Bible atlas) was
‘cut off’ from ‘Adam’. The city ‘Adam’ is no irrelevant detail, it depicts the
Romans six teaching perfectly. In typological terms, we can see here a picture
of spiritual baptism and some of its effects.
So now we have two pictures of baptism in the book of Exodus. As with all
typology and terminology, each has its own distinct tones and aspects of some
spiritual truth to reveal but it would seem that in both of these instances we
do have a picture of baptism. So now comes a simple, but vital, piece of
application. Do we take this all as one whole, a linear lesson, and deduce that
there must be two baptisms? No! Why not? Because of rule number one. The New
must interpret the Old, not the other way round. In the New Testament we are
told quite unambiguously that there is only “one baptism.”
“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Eph 4: 5&6)
Here we have it, in the New Testament, post Pentecost apostolic teaching, in
plain words and with huge force! Would any of us dare to question any of the
other ‘ones’ in this list? I hope not, and so neither do we need to question the
statement that there is only “one baptism”. (See note at end of section
regarding Heb 6:2)
Accepting this as plain fact we now go back to our Exodus account and see the
truth of these ‘two baptisms’. There are indeed here two pictures of spiritual
baptism, but both must be showing us the same picture. As I said earlier, each
may have its own special facets to show us but we would be contradicting Paul to
say that we have here a picture of two different baptisms.
Now comes the question, “if we are not expected to have ‘two baptisms’ how come
they did?” Easy, they didn’t! That’s right, we need to see that this picture
lesson revolved around the events that happened to a company of people. The
typology here isn’t bound up in following the exodus route and entrance into the
land of any one individual. This whole episode, covering both the Red Sea
crossing and the crossing of the River Jordan, is the story of two different
generations.
If you have been reading the Bible any length of time you will have noticed by
now how that groups of people, whether it be a tribal family or a multitude etc.
is usually counted by the number of male adults. Children and women are not
counted in the figure. Here is an illustration of this practice from Jesus’ day:
“And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and
children.” (Mat 14:21)
Neither the womenfolk nor the children are ‘numbered’. The five thousand men
(adult males) are clearly considered sufficient to ‘represent’ the multitude on
these occasions. Such also was the case concerning the ‘numbering’ of the
children of Israel following their exodus from Egypt.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of
the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after
they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the
congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of
their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; From
twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel:
thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.” (Numbers 1:1-3)
So here we see the criteria for being a ‘representative’ of this nation: male
and above twenty years. You will see this principle repeated throughout the
‘numbering’ process that follows in these early chapters of the Book of Numbers.
The point is this, when we say, the ‘children of Israel’ did this or did that,
or the tribe of Dan did such and such, or the Israelites all said “……” what we
really mean in precise terms is this: All, or the majority of, the males, 20
years and upward, said or did, this or that. They were counted as the nation, or
the tribe etc. The women and the children were not considered to be ‘The
Nation’. To put it one way, women and children were not given ‘the vote’, but
neither were they counted responsible for the consequences of what happened.
What did happen here makes this quite clear. You will know the story well no
doubt. Moses sent out twelve spies into the Promised Land to scout around and
return their findings to the people. The ‘people’ (the majority of the males
over 20 years) all decided that the faithless report of the ten outweighed the
faith-inspiring report of the two and so they refused to budge. “We’re not going
into that place!” Instantly, they quenched the Spirit of God in their midst and
the privilege that was intended to be to their blessing was taken away from
them. What a fearful lesson to us! So we read:
“Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you,
according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have
murmured against me.” (Num 14:29)
With only the exceptions of Joshua and Caleb all those who were at that time
considered to be ‘the children of Israel’ (all males 20 years and over) were
going to die in the wilderness during the next forty years.
What does this mean then in relation to our typological picture? It means that
the generation that crossed the Jordan were not the same generation that had
previously crossed the Red Sea. Had all the spies brought back a faith building
report and the people said, “let us go up and take the land,” there wouldn’t
have needed to be any Jordan crossing. Their location at that time (Kadesh)
meant that they could have marched straight up with no Jordan to cross and
possess their inheritance (you’ll need to check that Bible atlas again!). But
they didn’t and a new generation had to then figuratively go through their
baptism before entering the Land of Promise. There is no other way to enter into
the promises of God and all the goodness of His Land. The typological outcome
then: these were two different generations who had one baptism each.
INTERPRETING EXPERIENCES
Here I think we come to the most prevalent reason why so many are ready to
accept a belief in a second blessing. Assuming that one is in an environment
where you are taught that there are two distinct ‘blessings’, invariably as soon
as something significant takes place following an initial encounter with God in
some way, such a person will readily interpret that significant something as
being the second blessing. I will try to illustrate some possible permutations
of experiences:
Experience 1 - Fred
Fred was blessed when he heard the life-changing message of the Gospel two years
ago and he responded to Jesus with all his heart. God met with Him, baptised him
in the Holy Spirit and Fred began his Christian walk in clarity. He was
possessed of a quiet joy and was making steady progress in all things, but he
had never personally experienced tongues or prophecy or any spiritual gift
during that time. One night he was merrily praising the Lord in the meeting and
suddenly he just filled up with the Spirit of God. The next thing Fred knew was
that he was speaking out in a strange language, which he had never known before.
He felt so uplifted and filled with joy.
Interpretation of Fred’s experience...
Because the group of people Fred meets with are of the second blessing
persuasion they told him after the meeting that he had just been ‘baptised in
the Spirit’. That was their interpretation of the matter, but the truth is, Fred
has long since been baptised in the Spirit but it just so happened that night
that God moved upon him/within him in a way that Fred had not previously
experienced and caused him to begin to function in one of the gifts.
Experience 2 - Angela
Angela was in exactly the same position as Fred. She was a fully
baptised-in-the-Spirit, living member of the Body of Christ. She had been
struggling for a long while with a particular besetting sin. No matter how hard
she had tried it seemed as though she couldn’t get free from it. She went along
in prayer and reading the Scriptures and one day God’s truth just seemed to open
up to her in revelation. Maybe it was a Scripture she read, maybe it was a book,
perhaps a timely comment, or even prophetic word from a friend but suddenly life
seemed to turn around. She had discovered the secret of an abiding walk with
Christ, moment by moment. Freed from the sin that she struggled so long with,
she found a new lease of spiritual life.
Interpretation of Angela’s experience...
Angela meets with a particular group of people and when she shared her
experience they told her confidently that she had experienced the destruction of
the ‘Old Man’ within her. They believed that Angela’s experience was the second
blessing of holiness. The fact is Angela had already received that holy life of
Christ within her some while ago but her new found liberty was simply due to
learning to abide in that life.
Experience 3 - Geoff
A third similar case occurred with a man named Geoff. He was a Spirit-baptised
believer who a little way down the road, suddenly found himself coming into a
new and fresh release of spiritual power. He started to preach with a
significant authority and people started getting converted through his ministry.
When he prayed for people following this time they really felt the difference
his prayers made to them.
Interpretation of Geoff’s experience...
The people Geoff meets with were beginning to say, “Have you seen the power
Geoff is moving in these days? He must have been baptised in the Holy Spirit,”
believing that this gift is for ‘power for service’. The reality is, it was just
God’s time to stir up Geoff in this way. God does have specific gifts and
ministries to lead people into but He also has His time to open things up in
this way.
Experience 4 - Sheila
The case for Sheila is very different from the others above. She had been a
churchgoer for many years. She was involved with lots of the activities and was
a stalwart in every way. “A sound Christian woman if ever there was one,” all
her peers thought. But they were wrong. She may have been a good woman so to
speak, she was even a God-fearing woman, very well versed in her Bible but she
had never yet been filled with the life of God. Although Sheila referred to
herself as being a ‘Christian’, deep inside she knew that she never had the
confidence and security in the Lord that some others had. One day a visiting
preacher came to her church. I wouldn’t like to say whether it was something
more in this man than in others she had heard before, or whether it was for a
different reason but that night Sheila saw the whole Gospel in an entirely new
light. In fact, she saw everything in a new light. That night Sheila called out
to God in her innermost being in a way she had never done before. God came and
she was born again - baptised in the Holy Spirit. Following that occasion she
felt quietly more joyfully and became much more interested in the detail of
spiritual things. Although on the surface there did not seem to be anything very
different, the change was noticeable to all knew her well.
Interpretation of Sheila’s experience...
None of her congregation was ever prepared to think for one moment that Sheila
wasn’t actually born again. They weren’t much used to talking about ‘the baptism
of the Spirit’ there either. A friend who went to another church told her that
she had received the second blessing of the Spirit.
This is the most worrying case of all in my opinion. It seemed that none around
Angela were able to discern the difference between someone being a ‘good’
‘religious’ person and someone who has the Spirit of God living within them. The
fact is most of the people at Sheila’s church were in the same position Sheila
herself was in before she was born again.
Conclusion of experiences
I could go on with other possible scenarios, but I trust you see the picture?
All kinds of people have all kinds of ‘experiences’ of God. There are times when
someone previously considered to be born again but isn’t really, does enter in
to the new birth. Among those who are already truly born again there are all
sorts of events and occurrences that take place during our Christian lives, some
of which appear to be life-changing for a second, or even third or fourth time.
But our doctrine must not be derived from any of these. We have been given the
God-breathed Scriptures to tell us what the facts are and it is far safer that
we interpret our ‘experiences’ by God’s word not vice-versa. The facts are:
There is only “one baptism.”
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