Baptism in The Holy Spirit
PART 1 - Spiritual Baptism
THE MEANING OF ‘BAPTISE’
If you were to wander through a hall, meeting and greeting all of the people who
are mentioned by name in the New Testament I wonder what subject you would bring
up with which person? In this study I want to examine the question of ‘baptism’.
I really want to get at the heart of this matter and, in particular, I want us
to see what it really means to be ‘baptised in the Holy Spirit’. This specific
term, or something very similar, is used by a number of people in the New
Testament. John (the Apostle) records John (the Baptist) using such language;
Luke records Jesus using the same at the commencement of the Book of Acts. It is
a phrase/expression of thought that is used also by Matthew, Mark, Peter and
Paul. So to which of them do we go to for help and enlightenment on this
subject? Of course the answer is, all of them, and anyone else besides who might
have some further insight into it all. However, due to a little prior knowledge
of this topic, I think that, possibly, the best person to give us just a general
introduction to the subject would be… Lydia!
We meet her in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Acts. Paul had been very
specifically led to Philippi where he encountered this woman named Lydia, and so
we read:
“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended
unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptised…” (Acts
16:14,15)
It is not the fact that Lydia was the recipient of a ‘baptism in water’ that day
that makes me go to her as a starting point for this topic, but rather it is her
place of origin and her business that is most relevant. Thyatira was an industry
centre for the cloth dyeing trade and Lydia was a cloth merchant. She would know
and be able to explain all about the process of dyeing cloth, which was a
technique known as ‘baptising’. Although the term ‘baptism’ had a religious
usage in both the Jewish and the heathen world at this time it was also, and was
possibly better known as, an industry word. It is in this simple context that we
will see the foremost and obvious implications of what it means to be
‘baptised’.
This was the process. A piece of greyish, characterless cloth was plunged into a
vat of specially prepared dye. The dyes would have been formulated from plants,
berries and other natural substances, each according to the desired colour and
depth of colour. The cloth would have to be entirely immersed and well soaked in
the dye if you didn’t want to end up with a patchy garment. The fibres of the
fabric soaked up the dye and took on its colour. If it were a quality dye being
used the colouring would become permanent.
This is all very simple of course, but the profound illustration in it all is
this: The cloth was totally immersed into the dye and the dye impregnated deep
into the cloth. Put even more simply, the cloth was in the dye and the dye was
in the cloth. This process was a common industry standard and although it would
be very interesting to talk to someone like Lydia and perhaps find out some of
the finer points of the procedure I believe she would quickly tell any inquirer
that those are the basic facts of the matter and she might add, “Everyone knows
that!”
THE LANGUAGE OF BAPTISM
Before we move on to look at some of the Bible references that mention the
specific phrase ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’, I would like to point out
something concerning the whole nature and language of our New Testament. One of
the Gospel accounts, John’s, uses the language of baptism often in recording the
things that Jesus said would come to pass as a result of the Holy Spirit coming.
We will encounter quite a few of these references as we proceed through the
study. After Pentecost (i.e. following the time that the Spirit was poured out
on men) our Bible is full of the language of baptism. Starting with Acts 24:24
and ending with 1 Pet 5:14 the little phrase “in Christ” appears some 74 times
(at a rough count). Not every single use of this phrase is directly in the
context of stating that Christians are ‘in Christ’. E.g. we read 2 Cor 5:19 that
“God was in Christ…” We read of the “grace” that was “in Christ”, but a good
many references (more than I care to count precisely) speak of the believer
being “in Christ.” Further to this we read also that the children of God are
said to be “in God”. (NB. Usually where Scripture uses ‘God’ in the same passage
as ‘Christ’ you can take the former to denote God The Father). In addition to
all this we also read that the believer is “in The Holy Spirit”. The following
are just a few random examples of all these:
You are in God
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” - Col 3:3
“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” - Jo 4:15
“God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” - 1Jo 4:16
You are in Christ
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” - Ro 8:1
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new.” - 2Co 5:17
“Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus.” - 1Pe 5:14
You are in The Holy Spirit
“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you.” - Rom 8:9
“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” - Gal 3:3
“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” - Gal 5:25
Further to this most simple and oft repeated declaration that we are ‘in Him’ –
in God, in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, we also find that it is constantly
affirmed throughout the New Testament that He is ‘in us’ – once again, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Below are some more random samples of Scriptures that show
how frequently these phrases occur:
God is in you
“One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” - Eph 4:6
“…and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.” – 1Cor 14:25
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” - Php 2:13
Christ is in you
“…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” - Col 1:27
“Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” – 2Cor 13:5
“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” - John 14:20
The Holy Spirit is in you
“know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.” - 1Cor 6:19
“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” - 1Cor 3:16
“Even the Spirit of truth … for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” - John 14:17
Above we have eighteen random samples of the New Testament language concerning
the believer’s relationship to God. There are scores more in the same vein. Such
talk of our being ‘in Him’ and He being ‘in us’ is without doubt the language of
baptism. What does this show? Well, before we even begin to examine the specific
references on this subject, it is clear that what we have here is the continual
affirmation that we have (at some point? some how?) been baptised into God.
(This is of course making the assumption that this act of God has actually taken
place in your life and mine and we therefore do meet the biblical criteria for
being known as ‘a Christian’ – more on that later). Assuming the latter then He
is ‘in us’ and we are ‘in Him’. I once spoke to a Christian who told me that he
realized that the Holy Spirit was in him. I think also he realized that Christ
was in him but he’d never before thought that God the Father was in him too.
Well, of course, they are all one. God is One. A good meditative reading of John
chapters 14, 15 &16 will show us without doubt that it is Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, all Three, who come to make their abode in us. The following short
excerpt from those beautiful chapters will show us a glimpse of this:
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will
come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:
because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (Joh 14:16-20)
Jesus states that He is in his Father and He and His Father are one. Above he
says that He is going to send the Holy Spirit to be in His disciples, and then
he says, “I will come unto to you.” God and Christ in the person of the Holy
Spirit have come to take possession of those who believe unto salvation. Note
from the above quotation that at that time the Spirit was “with” the disciples
but was not yet “in” them. Spiritual baptism was not available to them at that
stage. They were disciples only (followers of Christ); they were not yet
Christians (Christ was not yet in them).
A Quakerism!
A short but hopefully interesting and informative aside here might illustrate
something of a previous generation’s thinking about the Oneness of God and His
manifestation in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Quakers of old had a rather
quaint way of putting this. Having observed that a person was genuinely changed
in their whole manner of life and that they professed to be saved and filled
with the life of Jesus, they would say of such a man, “he’s been Godded with
God.” “Aye, indeed,” his friend would reply, “there’s no mistaking it, it’s
plain for all to see - he’s been Christed with Christ.” Such was a way that
these folk found to express what is more Scripturally known as ‘baptised in the
Holy Spirit’.
WATER BAPTISM
I do not wish to spend time in this study focussing on water baptism but it
seems necessary to just briefly comment on this in order that we can proceed
with clarity on the subject of spiritual baptism. Suffice to say that Paul tells
us in Ephesians 4 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 4:4-6)
I don’t think that any orthodox Christian would ever contest his statements that
there is only one Spirit, one God or one Body etc, therefore it would be unwise
to try and tamper somehow with the stated fact that there is only one Baptism.
If the New Testament talks of a baptism into God and also talks of a baptism in
water then surely one of them must be the real thing and the other just a symbol
of it. A major difficulty in presenting the topic of baptism in the Spirit is
that many people’s minds are so pre-conditioned that whenever they read the word
‘baptism’ in Scripture they have a tendency to immediately think of water. Be
careful not to do this. If it is not explicitly stated whether the subject is
water or spirit baptism then you need to meditate carefully on the context in
order to see what is actually being talked about.
I do not intend to return to this subject again so I shall simply summarize
water baptism like this: it is an outward sign of an inward reality. Water
baptism in and of itself has no power at all to change lives. All of the water
in all of the oceans of the world do not contain one drop of regenerative power
in them. However, as a sign to God, angels (rebellious and faithful) and men
(believers and unbeliebvers), all trueborn followers of Christ are commanded to
be baptised in water. If anyone has serious reservations about following this
most simple of commandments then I would seriously doubt that their life has yet
been regenerated in the Spirit of God and it is best that they do not do it.
JOHN’S BAPTISM – JESUS’ BAPTISM
All four writers of the Gospel accounts introduce us very early on to a man
named John. He was a man chosen of God for a most special purpose. His mission
was to announce the arrival of the long awaited Messiah. As part of this
preparation he baptised people in water and this baptism was said to be for ‘the
remission of sins’. In other words, by a humble obedience to God in response to
John’s message a man could submit himself to this simple act of water baptism
and as a result his sins would be forgiven him. However, apart from the method
employed the end result of this was actually no different from what was already
available to every believing Jew/proselyte under the terms of the Old Covenant.
Forgiveness of sins was not the unusual part of John’s message. What he declared
about Messiah’s coming ministry was the message hitherto unheard of. John drew
everyone’s attention to the fact that he baptised men with water, but Messiah
was going to baptise men with the Holy Spirit.
"I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is
mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptise you with
the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (Matt 3:11)
Inevitably the end result of these two baptisms was going to be very different.
We have just seen that the outcome of receiving John’s baptism was the
forgiveness of sins. As you may imagine the effect of receiving the baptism in
the Spirit is going to be very much more. Shortly we shall explore this but
first we shall look a little deeper into what it meant to have one’s sins
forgiven, and then afterwards we shall see all the more strikingly how this
contrasts with being a recipient of Messiah’s baptism.
Under the Old Testament there was, once a year, a sacrifice made that would
‘atone’ for the sins of the people. The Hebrew word for ‘atonement’ is KAPHAR.
Part of the essential meaning of KAPHAR is ‘to cover’. In other words, Israel’s
sins were ‘covered’ by the sacrificial system which was able to cover the debt
on the basis that at some future point in time it would actually be paid for in
full. Let me illustrate this: let’s say I owe you a hundred pounds. You ask me
to make my payment and I say, “I’m terribly sorry. I don’t have that sort of
cash on me, I’ll write you a cheque.” I take out my pen and write on the cheque
an instruction to my bank to pay you the full sum. Question: Have I made full
payment of my debt? Answer: No. Full payment will not have been made until the
actual money has been transferred from my account into yours. Until this actual
transfer of cash the debt is not paid. However, provided that you trust my
cheque, the debt is undoubtedly ‘covered’. All of Israel’s sacrifices and
ceremonies and even John’s baptism only ever ‘covered’ the debt of sin. They
were all cheques waiting to be cashed. The debt was not actually paid and so the
people of that Covenant could never be actually set free from their inward tie
to the power of sin. Hence the whole process of atonement would have to be
repeated continually. Atonement therefore could only buy forgiveness and
temporary reconciliation to God.
Now, let us see the astounding words that were spoken on the day that John saw
Jesus at the commencement of His public ministry:
“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” (Joh 1:29)
John was declaring that Jesus was the one who was going to be the actual payment
for all of those centuries of covered sin. As a result, from such a time as this
was effected, when a contrite soul came to God in faith, his sin would no longer
be merely atoned for but taken away. The payment was made at Calvary and, just a
few weeks later, this New Covenant came into force on the day of Pentecost.
If you were to read the wider context of this passage (John 1:26 – 33) you would
see that there is a kind of comparison taking place here between John’s ministry
and Jesus’ ministry. In actual fact, this is a comparison between the best that
the Old Covenant can offer (for there was no greater prophet of the Old order
than John – Luke 7:28) and the New Covenant, which was about to come into place
as soon as Jesus had accomplished “all things” given Him from the Father to do.
So the comparison takes place: John baptises with water, Jesus will baptise with
the Holy Spirit. The net result of John’s ministry and baptism is that sins are
forgiven (remission of sin). This is good. The net result of Jesus’ ministry and
baptism is that sins are taken away. This is better! The fact that Jesus came to
take away our sins is confirmed elsewhere by John as well as Paul and the writer
to the Hebrews – 1John 3:5, Ro 11:27, Heb 10:4 (by implication). Yes, it is true
that we also read that Jesus’ sacrifice gives us the ‘remission of sins’ but
this of course is a necessary part of the process of taking them away. If the
sacrifice of Jesus only left us with ‘sins forgiven’ then what difference is
there between Old and New Covenants except that we no longer need to sacrifice
an animal? Our Lord Jesus didn’t die as a one-off atonement in order to save us
the trouble of making a few animal sacrifices. He came not only to pay the debt
of the accumulated Old Testament atonements but also to provide us, the New
Covenant people, with something so much better. In a nutshell, John preached a
baptism of repentance; this leads to the forgiveness of sins. Jesus came to
declare a baptism of regeneration; this leads to a changed heart.
But in a sense this was John’s day not Jesus’ day yet. John was fully equipped
for his ultimate ministry. He had walked with God as a prophet of the Old
Covenant and there he was at Jordan, not only with a message, forgiveness of
sins, but also with a means to baptise - water. But Jesus yet had a work to
accomplish ahead of Him. He had the message, not solely forgiveness of sins but
added to it, “Go and sin no more.” However, as yet He lacked the means of
baptising men and women with His baptism. It was some three or so years after
this meeting with John, after the Cross, burial and resurrection that finally
Jesus was able to announce – “For John truly baptised with water; but ye shall
be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” (Acts 1:5). At last,
Jesus’ baptism was about to come upon mere mortal humans.
PENTECOST & POWER
There are numerous other instances throughout the Gospel accounts of Jesus
talking about His baptism and how that it was yet to come. E.g. a conversation
that took place with the two sons of Zebedee one day:
“But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that
I drink of? and be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with? And they
said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the
cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptised withal shall ye be
baptised.” (Mark 10:38,39)
But skipping over all of these we will move on to that great day when at last He
was able to fulfil this promise (known as “the promise of the Father”) and pour
out the Holy Spirit upon mere mortals. I am talking of course about the day of
Pentecost. As we read in the first few chapters of the Book of Acts about those
things that relate to this event, we read of ‘power’, ‘preaching’, ‘prophecy’
and much more. It has commonly happened that people have become so focussed on
all of these ‘manifestations’ of the Spirit that they have often missed the more
central and deeper purpose of this outpouring. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit
upon human lives wasn’t to be just some enhancement to the Christian life.
Without Him there can be no Christian life. On that great occasion Peter, who
was now without doubt empowered in every sense, preached to the onlookers. What
did he tell them? He told them that they too could be baptised in the Holy
Spirit. This is not a reserve blessing to follow their salvation. No, the
filling of the Spirit would be their salvation. Peter told them that this was
something that God had previously promised to all who were “afar off.” “Afar
off” does not denote an added blessing for Christian people but rather the means
of God bringing people into His Kingdom.
This was The Promise spoken of throughout Scripture and Peter makes the
connection with that Promise very clear Acts 2:17,33,39. Here is what just one
of the old prophets had to say about it:
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh. (Ezek 36:26).
In the following chapter of Ezekiel we read about the dry, lifeless bones that
are brought to life. The grand finale, so to speak, was when the
wind/breath/Spirit (all the same Hebrew word) of God came into them and they
stood upon their feet. Note that Ezekiel’s vision makes it very clear that this
event brought LIFE not just power or blessing.
Paul also takes up the theme of ‘The Promise’ in Galatians chapter 3. He says
that God had promised the gift of the Holy Spirit long ago to Abraham. That is,
the fulfilment of this promise would come upon Abraham’s descendants. Thank God
for Paul’s sharing this revelation with us. If I only had an Old Testament, I
would never have known that what God actually promised to Abraham was not so
much a chunk of land for his descendants to inherit but that they would receive
the Holy Spirit. No wonder we are told that even angels would love to enquire
deeper into the things that have been given to man! God never made any such
promise to them.
Anyhow, back to Acts chapter 2, and we read at the close of that chapter:
“And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
As a result of this outpouring of the Holy Spirit two significant things had happened:
- The ‘Church’, which Jesus had previously talked about, had begun, and;
- Men and women were being ‘saved’ (that is, under the new terms of New Covenant salvation).
We shall see yet more of how the baptism in the Holy Spirit is, under the New
Covenant, the means of our salvation. Next however, we shall just deal briefly
with the subject of membership of His Church.
MEMBERSHIP OF THE CHURCH
It may come as a surprise to some to be told that you cannot be a member of The
Church apart from having been baptised in the Holy Spirit. We have just seen in
Acts 2 that only after the coming of the Holy Spirit, first into 120 and then
into another 3000 souls, that ‘The Church’ was formed. I must emphasise here
that I am talking about The One and Only Body of Christ. Interestingly, there
are no references in the New Testament to anyone becoming a member of a local
church. It would seem that it was an automatic right of all who were born of
God’s Spirit to gather with, and fully participate in, the local church.
So we have in Acts 2 the first mention of people being added to (made members
of) The Church. Paul makes this point abundantly clear too. He says:
“For by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews or
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit.” (1Co 12:13)
There is no ambiguity in what the Scripture teaches here. The only possible way
to become a member of Christ’s Body, The Church, is by means of the baptism in
the Spirit. There is no other way in. It is clear too that all have ‘drunk into’
the One Spirit of God. The Church simply does not have any members at all who
have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I think this point has been
made now!
NEW TESTAMENT SALVATION
I have already been drawing a distinction between Old Testament salvation and
New Testament salvation, so I feel I should explain a little bit more about
this.
It is so vitally important that we understand the real meaning and implication
of our terminology when we use the term ‘saved’. We hear all the while that, “I
got saved…” and “such and such has just been saved,” but what do we mean? More
importantly what does Scripture mean when that term is used? I emphasised
earlier that on the day of Pentecost New Testament salvation began. So what had
changed from the Old Testament time?
The fundamental difference is this: Under the Old Covenant a person’s sins could
be forgiven him but that person, though pardoned, remained quite unchanged
inside. His sins were undoubtedly ‘atoned for’ but they were not actually ‘taken
away’, and neither was the overpowering sin principle within. Under the New
Covenant we not only have our sins forgiven but the indwelling power of sin can
be taken away from our hearts too. This latter ‘operation’ is something that the
Old Covenant people only had in various types and figures; one of these types
was circumcision. Circumcision and all other ‘picture lessons’ from the Old
become actual, spiritual reality in the New. In the New Covenant era
circumcision is “of the heart, in the spirit” (Rom 2:29). This complete ‘taking
away’ of our sins and the ‘cutting off’ of the ‘Old Man’ of sin within us means
that we can thus be made into receptacles of the Holy Spirit. This abiding,
indwelling presence of God Himself was not possible under the conditions of the
Old Covenant but has now been made the distinctive mark of the New. Therefore,
forgiveness of sins, and even this spiritual circumcision are only means to an
end. They are for the cleaning up of our human vessel in order to make us fit to
be a habitation of God through the Spirit.
In the Old Testament sense, to be ‘saved’ was to be temporarily reconciled to
God. I say ‘temporarily’ because it is plain that the people needed to have
their sins atoned for repeatedly. Those people were therefore ‘saved’ from the
consequences of their sins, but not from the power and presence of sin within
them. So we see that in New Testament times things have moved on considerably
from that position. Jesus did not come merely in order to save us from the
consequences of our sins but He came to save us from sin itself, that is, the
underlying root cause of sin in us.
The first New Testament reference to the subject of salvation tells us this:
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS (Saviour)
for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Mat 1:21)
The essential, fundamental truth concerning salvation under the New Covenant is
that salvation relates to the subject of the power of sin within us, not whether
or not people are destined for heaven or hell - the consequences of sins
committed. As I once heard it put: “Jesus did not die in order to get men and
women out of hell and into heaven, He died in order to get God out of heaven and
into men and women.” God could not possibly live in a man or woman simply and
solely on the basis that his or her sins have been forgiven. There must also be
an actual (not ceremonial as in the Old Covenant) spiritual cleansing that takes
place along with this forgiveness. This is why the baptism in the Holy Spirit is
also described as being a ‘baptism of fire’.
“He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (Mat 3:11)
John Baptist’s words concerning the latter were not denoting a distinct and
separate baptism from the one we are talking about here for there is only one
spiritual baptism (Eph 4:5). In keeping with certain principles of speech in
those days, a statement would be repeated using alternate words/expressions in
order to emphasize a different aspect of the same one truth. The ‘fire’ part
speaks of judgement (of Sin and the Old Man within us) and purification (the
cleansing of our inner temple). The reality is, you shall be baptised with the
Holy Spirit and it will be a baptism of fire. When Jesus entered the temple at
Jerusalem He demonstrated this holy intensity of God by casting out all that
offended Him, and this he did with a most fiery zeal!
We cannot examine here all the biblical evidence for why it was Pentecost that
marked the commencement of this New Testament era but most relevant to our theme
we should read again these words in John:
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he
may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will
come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:
because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14: 16-20)
Jesus comforted His disciples by telling them that a day, “that day,” was soon
to come when the Holy Spirit would take up residence in their hearts and, in so
doing, both He and the Father would indwell them too. Plainly that could not
happen while He was still bodily present with them, but His ascension to the
Father was only a matter of a few weeks away. Ten days after this event Peter
had no hesitation in announcing to his hearers on the day of Pentecost that this
is “that” which the prophet Joel had spoken of – the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit of God. This was a new era when ordinary men and women would ‘know’ (have
intimate relationship with) God personally as He began to pour out His Spirit
upon all flesh. Jesus was no longer ‘straitened’ (restricted) as he had
previously expressed. From this time forward all (potentially) could know Him
“from the least to the greatest” (see Jer 31:31-34).
We must not think that the part of our Bible called ‘The New Testament’ is all
based in the actual New Covenant period. The Gospel accounts show the coming of
Messiah and the heralding of the New Covenant shortly to be made in His blood.
John’s baptism denoted a kind of transitional phase as this was neither the
strictly correct procedure for the Old, and by his own admission he, and his
ministry, were shortly to pale into insignificance now that Israel’s Messiah was
manifestly on the scene. We must never make the mistake of thinking that the
disciples in the Gospel records were ‘Christians’. They had not yet the nature
of ‘Christ’ within them.
A fuller comparison between Old and New needs to be studied separately. We
cannot unfortunately cover all of this now, but the essential difference where
sin is concerned is what I want us to see here:
Old = sins forgiven, you’re on the way to heaven – hallelujah!
New = sins taken away, God is coming from heaven into you – astounding!
SINLESS PERFECTION
Now just in case anyone begins to leap from his seat and say, “Oh! He’s
preaching sinless perfection!” I will just make it clear where we are, and where
we are not going. As I understand it, there is a teaching that states that
somehow or other it is quite possible for a Christian to reach a state where one
cannot sin. The New Testament does not teach this, but it does teach that we are
set free from the power of indwelling sin and we can and are intended by God to
live without it.
The following Scriptures taken from 1 John should hopefully sum up the New
Testament position on sin:
“And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not.” (1John 3:5,6)
Clearly, if the root cause of sin has been initially taken away from us (Rom
6:1-7) and following this we abide in the life of Christ, then we do not sin.
John also answers our question of, “But what if I do sin?”
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
(1John 2:1)
Here, ‘if’ denotes that sin can still occur if either of the two conditions
above (baptism into Christ and thereafter abiding in Him) is not met. (In fact,
in the proper sense of the biblical meaning of ‘sin’ if we are not ‘in Christ’,
or, are not found ‘abiding in Him’ we are already in sin even if no other
evident wrong is done!) If we do sin Jesus will still intercede for us and we
will be forgiven.
Now this all leads to some basic Christian analysis. How many who claim to be
Christians struggle constantly with sin of some sort or the other? I am not
talking about an out of the ordinary occasion here and there; I am talking of a
besetting condition from which someone, apparently, cannot get free. So what is
the remedy? It is simple; there are only two possible reasons and only two
possible remedies. Continually confessing how terrible you are, or constantly
asking some other man or woman to pray for you is not the solution. The
diagnosis is simple; the remedy is plain:
Diagnosis 1: Despite your own conceptions and those of all the well-meaning folk
in your church or elsewhere, you have never been born again; the root of sin
still dwells within you. That spiritual operation of circumcision, which is a
vital aspect of spiritual baptism, has simply never taken place. The ‘Old Man’,
who cannot do anything but gravitate toward sin, is still at the centre of your
life. He has not been crucified; he has not been deposed.
Diagnosis 2: Assuming that this radical work of God has taken place in you and
you have without doubt experienced this ‘cutting off’ of the Old Man of sin
within, why should there still be this constant struggle? John tells us that it
is not only he who is born of God that is freed from sin but it is he that
thereafter abides in Him. Sanctification (living holy lives) springs from both
an event and a process. If you have truly entered into Christ by this mighty
baptism of God and yet seem to continually meet with the failure of sin it is
because you simply have not yet learnt how to abide in him moment by moment.
The ‘cure’ should be self explanatory in both of the above cases. You must be
born again and you must thereafter ‘walk’ every day in that quickening
fellowship with Christ. This latter aspect of our Christian lives will fill much
of our thought, speech etc. for those who are truly born again. We cannot take
time to look at this now but I would encourage you to make a careful reading of
Romans chapter 8 and elsewhere in the New Testament and note the difference
between the statements that talk of being ‘in’ the flesh and walking ‘after’ the
flesh. The person who has passed through the Romans 6 experience is no longer in
the flesh. That is, his central life-source within is no longer his own self; it
is Christ. However, that does not mean that a person cannot still pursue his
life after the flesh, that is, live after all the former manner of thinking and
acting that one has acquired as a result of living in this sin-infected world.
Once again this whole topic requires extra attention that I cannot give to it
now, but I trust that we shall see how all of this is so central to the baptism
in the Holy Spirit.
THE BAPTISM IS FOR LIFE
It has been mentioned earlier that in connection with the baptism of the Holy
Spirit we read of people being endued with power (ability to serve God) and
given gifts such as tongues, prophecy, miraculous healings and more. This is all
wonderful and to be prized. However, we must be careful to realize that all such
enablings have been, and indeed can be, imparted by God quite apart from the
baptism. Old Testament prophets served God in most remarkable ways, they moved
in all sorts of gifts, both oral gifts and miracles. Further to these we recall
that the disciples (first the twelve then another seventy of them) were sent
forth under the command of Jesus and performed all kinds of miraculous acts.
Neither Old Testament prophet nor any of Jesus’ disciples, whilst He still
walked the earth, were Spirit baptised; for the Spirit had not then been given
in this way. Even an ass (ref Balaam) was once caused to speak the Word of God
on some matter! It would seem from the New Testament record that the baptism in
the Holy Spirit does cause men to manifest gifts but it would be a mistake to
think that such is the reason for God’s granting us this baptism. What I so
desire for us to take hold of here is the fact that God’s primary purpose in
baptising us in the Holy Spirit is not to impart gifts and special abilities but
to impart to us LIFE. Put another way, the Spirit has been given in order that
we might be: Sons of God, members of the Church, Christians (those anointed with
the life of Christ) and so on. There is no Christian life outside of His
presence; there is no salvation (New Testament salvation) outside of Him.
"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
(Romans 8:9)
I have underlined references to the Spirit in the above quotation. We have
already seen how that the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and the
Spirit of Christ are all one and the same. You cannot receive the Son without
receiving the Father and the Spirit. Romans 8:9 alone should be sufficient to
show us that we cannot belong to Christ (be a Christian) without being indwelt
of the Holy Spirit. Note from the above that God does not distinguish between a
‘little’ or a ‘lot’; it is either a case of we “have” or we “have not” the
Spirit of Christ. God does not withhold the baptism in the Holy Spirit as
something in store for later in your Christian life. This is not intended to be
some sort of ‘second blessing’. We do not read throughout the pages of Scripture
about the ‘promise of the Spirit’ as being an ‘extra’ to our salvation. He
doesn’t come upon a man or woman just because God wants them to have some
special gifts and abilities. No! He comes in order that we might have LIFE, and
without Him we do not have LIFE!
RECONCILED, THEN SAVED
Accepting that the Holy Spirit of God has come to bring us into the Life of the
Son of God, we of course want to know, “How does this process work?” Whenever a
believer wants to enquire about the ‘mechanics’ of spiritual events, frequently
the best person to explain things in this way is Paul. He took a lot of care to
do so in the letter he wrote to the church at Rome. This was an assembly he had
not previously visited and so it must have seemed good to him, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to write to them about the fundamentals of the
Faith. So having explained to them the principle of ‘faith’ as opposed to ‘law’
and ‘works’ in the earlier portion of Romans he comes step by step to the heart
of his message (and I would suggest that for us this is the central core of the
whole New Testament Gospel).
There are two distinct elements of the message of New Testament salvation
brought out in chapter five of Romans. These can be found in one simple verse:
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his
Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10)
The two elements that I would like to consider here are: Reconciliation and
Salvation. The first is chiefly concerned with what Christ has done for us. The
second is to do with what Christ is doing in us. Paul makes the point that all
people are, by virtue of their first birth (being inheritors of the nature of
fallen Adam), enemies of God. Therefore, the first requirement for our salvation
is that we must be reconciled to Him. Essentially this has to do with the
forgiveness of sins, which God grants on the basis of His Son’s once-for-all
sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. The problem so often is that
‘reconciliation’ is preached as though this were the whole Gospel. It certainly
isn’t, and preached alone it amounts to nothing more than an Old Testament
message – a kind of Old Testament salvation. Please read my next statement
carefully, and I ask that you do not get offended at this point before reading
on… The death of Jesus Christ alone is NOT sufficient to ‘save’ a man, that is,
in the way that God calls ‘salvation’. The fact that Jesus died on a cross as a
substitution for you and for me is a wonderful, wonderful part of the Gospel,
but alone it is not enough to bring us salvation. Jesus’ death at Calvary
brought you and me forgiveness for our sins, and through this selfless act of
love we can be ‘reconciled’ (brought into divine favour) to God, but alas, it
cannot ‘save’ us in the New Testament sense of salvation. But Paul goes on
beyond the message of ‘forgiveness of sins’ and tells us what can, and shall,
‘save’ us… it is His Life in us… not His death for us. Here, I am sad to say, I
have noted a serious failure in the traditional ‘evangelical’ Gospel. In many
environments it is well understood and laboured fervently that Jesus died for
you, and you can enter into the good of His sacrifice simply by faith – Amen.
However, it is less often explained that no man can be saved except he be filled
with His Life – literally immersed (baptised) into it through the Holy Spirit.
The fact that He died for you will avail you little in this Covenant except He
also live in you, and there is only one way in which God permanently takes up
residence in any man or woman. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath
not the Son of God hath not life.” (1Jo 5:12)
DEATH, THEN LIFE
Our concern in this study is not with the reconciliation aspect of things but
with the life in us part. We have seen that we are reconciled by His death for
us but we can only be ‘saved’ by His life in us. Remember, the issue of New
Testament salvation is not whether or not a man or woman is going to heaven or
hell, but whether they have been saved (delivered) from the power of indwelling
sin. Having been saved from something, namely sin, we must see that we have also
been saved unto something, actually someone, namely God. Paul teaches us that
there is really no such thing as a ‘free’ person, we are either servants to sin
(and therefore the devil) or we can be servants to God. Serving ‘sin’ is
essentially synonymous with serving ‘self’, or, put another way, the sin
life/the Adamic life within us. This breaking free from sin/self/the Old Man
(Adam) has everything to do with spiritual baptism. Paul moves on in his letter
to explain some of the finer detail of what happens when Jesus’ saving Life
enters into a person. Romans 6:3 tells us that the Life of Christ enters us by
means of a spiritual baptism. If your mindset has been pre-programmed to always,
or firstly, associate this word ‘baptism’ with water, you will immediately start
thinking of such when you read this verse. However, Paul does not leave this
point open to misinterpretation. He tells us quite clearly and emphatically that
this process all comes about by baptism into Jesus Christ NOT water.
I have already made plentiful efforts in this study to outline the fact that
God, the Father, Jesus, the Son and the Holy Spirit are but One. So, when we
read of being ‘baptised into’ the Spirit or into the Son it is all one and the
same. The subject matter of Romans 6:3 is without any doubt that of a spiritual
baptism not baptism in water. On this occasion it is the Son that is being
emphasised because Paul is highlighting an aspect of this spiritual baptism in
which we are identified with something that Jesus has done.
The early part of Romans 6 furnishes us with the particulars of the effects of
this spiritual immersion into Christ:
V.3 - Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were
baptised into his death? Also v.6 - “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin.
The first effect of this baptism is that we become united with Christ in His
death. Our ‘Old Man’ is crucified – totally, once for all annihilated, never to
be resurrected again under any circumstances. The Old Man is Adam - our
inherited life (or rather state of death!) that we received from him. He was the
controlling force in us and the first step towards actual salvation (not just
being forgiven) is his departure – for good. This cannot happen outside of this
spiritual baptism from God.
V.4a -“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:”
The second part of this phase is that ‘the dead’ are buried out of sight. He is
gone, and in his case should be forgotten forever, as he no longer has any part
to play in our life in Christ.
V.4b - “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
V.5 - “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
Step three, thank God, we are not left dead, buried and forsaken. The final
stage in the operation of baptism must take place. What point would there be in
immersing the cloth into the vat of special dye just to leave it there? None of
course. It is ‘raised up’, and behold something entirely new has been produced.
The cloth has been fully immersed and so is fully impregnated with the colour of
the dye. Even so, the believer is raised again but now impregnated, indwelt with
the nature of Christ. He loved me and gave Himself for me and now by this
miraculous act He Himself indwells me. I am in Him and He is in me; Father, Son
and Holy Spirit have come to make their abode in this human but now regenerated
heart.
BORN AGAIN
Such talk of ‘salvation’, ‘regeneration’, the ‘Life of Christ’ and the like may
cause some to wonder. Is this not language usually reserved for a talk on ‘The
new birth’ - the subject of being ‘born again’? Of course it is, and if you are
not yet sure what I am saying regarding this I feel it is a good idea that I
make this point absolutely clear. The ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ and being
‘born again’ are entirely synonymous terms. In the next section I will tackle
head on some instances in the Scripture that are sometimes taken to show that
the new birth and baptism in the Spirit must be distinct events. Further to
these we will move on to the real issue in this misunderstanding which is how
people interpret their ‘experiences’. Here I will just deal briefly with the
phrase ‘born again’.
One reason why some people think that being ‘born again’ and receiving the
‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’ are some how distinct events is simply because they
are two different phrases. A simple look at the many references to these two
phrases should be sufficient to show us that the centrality and effect of such
is one and the same. Throughout the Bible many things have more than one
name/phrase. Our God is a God of variety and the Holy Spirit in inspiring the
sacred writings has given us precious insights by causing the writers to use
differing analogies. In the New Testament we read about something called ‘The
Church’, we also read of ‘The Bride of Christ’, ‘The Body’ etc. Are these
therefore all talking about different things? I’ll give just one more example of
interchangeable terms here: In the book of Acts we are told on several occasions
that it was Paul’s custom to appoint ‘elders’ in each assembly of believers. In
1Timothy he writes about the qualities needed for ‘bishops’ in the churches.
Does this denote a change of practice? Or is this another order of overseers?
Neither. It is confirmed quite clearly in Titus 1 that these are one and the
same people (vs. 5-7). So why use two different terminologies? Quite simply, the
two different terminologies allow us greater insight into the character and role
these men were to have. I’ll leave you to conduct your own research on this
subject.
The above instance is one simplistic example of how one man, Paul, uses two
varying words to describe the same thing. When we come to our current topic,
which ultimately is about spiritual/eternal life it is not at all surprising to
find that different people, and on some occasions the same people, used varying
terminologies/pictures/analogies in their attempt to give expression to this.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John (the apostle), John (the Baptist), Peter and Paul all
use the terminology of ‘baptism in the Spirit’. But only John, and Peter use
also the term ‘born again’ in their writings. Does this mean that Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John Baptist and Paul had nothing at all to say on the topic of ‘the new
birth’? Of course not. But their chosen terminology to describe the process of
entering eternal life was different, that’s all.
Are these the only two expressions used when talking of our entrance into New
Testament salvation? No they are not. Even way back in Jeremiah and the Psalms
we read of a ‘new heart’ being given to men. The Hebrews writer picks up on this
expression. We read also of being ‘translated’ from the kingdom of darkness to
the kingdom of light. We read of ‘passing from death to life’. We read of being
‘sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise’. There are many and varied words,
phrases and allusions to the whole picture of man’s salvation. (See conclusion
for some more ‘terminologies’). We have followed this topic with particular
reference to the phrase ‘baptism in the Holy Spirit’; hence we have looked at
the cloth and the dye analogy, which is brought to mind when using this
terminology. We have considered very much the aspect of being ‘in’ Him and He
‘in’ us. Had we pursued the ‘new birth’ analogy instead we could have seen some
slightly different facets of salvation. We could have considered the ‘seed’ and
‘conception’ in the womb, which imply that God must already be at work in a
person before ever they come to the day of their spiritual birth. We could have
thought about the actual birth process with the blood and water and baby’s first
breath. In this latter thought I believe we can see a significant correlation in
these two analogies – the infants first breath. Breath, wind and spirit being
but one in Hebrew thinking (the same Hebrew word is used for all three in the
Old Testament). Imagine, the blood and the water, the labour, toil and pain then
finally the babe emerges - he comes out ‘into’ the air and the air enters ‘into’
him – the child is then said to be ‘born’. Think about these associations as you
read again this marvellous conversation between Jesus and a man of religion:
“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The
same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a
teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except
God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second
time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born
again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that
is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:1-8)
I should have added Jesus to the list above of those who use the term ‘born
again’. Actually this phrase can be rendered ‘born from above’. Why ‘from
above’? Because the Holy Spirit descends from heaven into our hearts at that
moment in time when we are born of God. Look at what Jesus says above. The first
birth is when a man is ‘born of water’. He parallels this with ‘flesh begetting
flesh’. But a man’s rebirth is when he is born of … THE SPIRIT. It is impossible
to be ‘born again’ without entering into the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit
entering into you. This is the whole sum of what it means to be ‘baptised in the
Holy Spirit’.
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