As we continue to look at the person and work of the Holy Spirit we come to the question of what we mean when the Bible speaks of the baptism of the Spirit or the fullness of the Spirit. This is one of the more controversial doctrines regarding the Holy Spirit and has led to a variety of interpretations amongst different denominations. Indeed some denominations have been formed around an interpretation of this single doctrine and what happened at Pentecost and we have a branch of the church called Pentecostal, which incidentally is one of the most growing denominations in the world.

Some theologians make a distinction between the two terms and say that baptism and fullness are speaking of two totally different things, one initiatory and the other an ongoing experience which can be repeated. Now I think that there is some truth in this but my own opinion is that sometimes this distinction is pressed too far and the Bible I think uses the two words to a degree interchangeably. I will come back to this. The other major issue is that there are Christians who say that the Christian life is basically a two stage experience – an initial coming to Jesus, led by the Spirit, and then a later second stage of blessing and baptising or filling with the Holy Spirit which is marked by an outward manifestation such as tongues speaking.  But before we get into that let us look at where the concept of baptising in the Spirit mainly occurs in the bible and then I will come back to the main interpretations of the terms baptism and fullness.

The words do not actually occur that often. First of all regarding Baptism of the Spirit John the Baptist said in Mt.3:11  “I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I ma not fit to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”  Similar words are recorded in each of the other gospels in Mk.1:8, Lk.3:16, and Jn.1:33.  In Acts 1:5 Luke records Jesus saying to the disciples “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit”. So Luke links Jesus words closely with what John the Baptist had said. The promised baptism of the Spirit is about to happen. In Acts 2 at Pentecost note that the words baptism in the Spirit are not used but in v.4 it says “All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit”.  Then in Acts 4 after Peter speaks to the Sanhedrin and meets again with the believers for prayer the house is shaken and they are filled with the Holy Spirit (4:31)

The concept of the coming of the Spirit is next seen in Acts 8:14 where people in Samaria responded positively to Philip’s preaching and they were baptised in water. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had received Jesus they sent Peter and John who prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit and as they laid hands on them they also received the Spirit. The words baptism of the Spirit do not occur here but it seems to be similar to what happened in the next two places in Acts, Acts 11 and 17.

 We next see the phrase in Acts 10 and 11 regarding the conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile. When Peter preaches to Cornelius and his friends and relatives “the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message” and Peter says of it in 11:16 that this again was a fulfilment of what Jesus had said “John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” The baptism of the Spirit, the gift of the Spirit, now had come to gentiles (non Jews).

The final place in Acts where the Spirit comes upon people is in Acts 19:1-6 in Ephesus. Paul comes across some disciples and asked “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed”. No they replied. They had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. They had received the baptism of John (a baptism of repentance) but they had not really understood what it meant to believe in Jesus. They received Jesus, were baptised, and then as Paul laid hands on them they also received the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.  

The only other main references to being baptised or filled with the Spirit occur in Paul’s writings. In 1 Cor.12:13 it says “For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body-and all were made to drink of one Spirit”.   In Ephesians 5:18 he says “Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit”.  

Now putting this all together there are two main interpretations of these passages. 1.  The standard evangelical view is that the baptism of the Spirit is initiatory, it happens when we become believers in Jesus. The Spirit leads us to Christ and he then enters us and dwells within us. The stories in Acts reflect this idea of an initiation into the church. Luke in Acts wants to show how the Spirit given at Pentecost was now being given to each aspect of humanity as they received Jesus. Thus when the Jews received Jesus it was confirmed at Pentecost. When the Gentiles received Jesus (represented by Cornelius) this was confirmed by a baptism of the Spirit, when the Samaritans received Jesus this was confirmed with the baptising of the Spirit and the Acts 19 were a strange bunch who just believed in John and again the new era was confirmed when they received the Spirit. M Green says – “God did not give his Holy Spirit to the Samaritans at once: not until representatives from Jerusalem came down and expressed their solidarity with the converts by praying for them and laying their hands on them.”

This was the beginning of the church and the Spirit was freshly given and was manifested clearly so that there would be no doubt that God was in this. The standard evangelical view says that from this time on the Spirit is automatically received when a person comes to faith and the outward manifestations of tongues and fire and so on is no longer normative. These things only occur in frontier situations where the faith is first received by a people group and God is confirming what he is doing. S Ferguson says “these are staging posts in the advance of the programme in Acts 1:8”.

 2. The other standard view of these passages is that they refer to a second stage blessing of the Spirit and it is not to do with initiation into Christ  but rather Christ empowering us for witness and ministry. The Pentecostal church would say that we should be seeking a second blessing/ filling/ baptising of the Spirit subsequent to conversion. Just as the disciples believed on Jesus and then received the Spirit at a later stage this is the norm, this is what should happen and Acts 8, 11 and 19 confirm that this is the pattern; it is nothing to do with the church spreading to different people groups, it is simply describing what happens at a later stage after people believe.  Throughout church history there have been Christians who believe in this second stage blessing. There were four main groupings in church history:-

a) The Reformed Sealers:  17th century Puritans who included John Owen, focused on the sealing work of the Spirit. Key verses for them were Rom.8:16 “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” and Eph.1:13 “Having believed you were marked in him with a seal.”  ML Jones was a prominent holder of this view.

b) Wesleyan sanctification. John Wesley and the early Methodists taught a form of second blessing or more commonly called “entire sanctification” or “Christian perfection”. Wesley defined this as the loving of God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength….all our thoughts words and actions are governed by pure love.” This teaching developed into the idea of a two stage Christian life – those who were saved and those who were saved and sanctified. Methodism has pretty much abandoned this but the seeds of Pentecostalism are here.

c) Keswick teaching or holiness teaching. This was a twist on Wesley and emphasised the promise of the victorious Christian life. A second work of God’s grace produces a victorious life with a perfection of deeds. The key here is resting, looking to Christ for perfection of performance. There is a good emphasis here in terms of growing holiness and a faith producing good works, but surely our holiness keeps falling short of perfection. But we should still strive for holiness.

d) Pentecostalism. The culmination of all the above is represented in Pentecostalism which teaches that when we receive Jesus we receive the Spirit but later at a second stage -  a baptism of the Spirit occurs which empowers for ministry and is evidenced usually by speaking in tongues.  The Spirit does not fill us automatically but we must seek him through obedience and faith.  

Now what do we say to all this. I think that we can say a number of things.

1. The idea of baptism is usually initiatory but not exclusively so when referring to the Spirit.

2. The Bible uses words fullness and baptism interchangeably. (Acts 2:4)

3. I think Luke was making a point about the spread of the church and the confirming that God was in this explains why the baptism of the Spirit and the accompanying signs were such an emphasis. This emphasis disappears in the rest of the New Testament. The assumption is that the Spirit indwells the believer at conversion (Acts 2:38; 1 Cor.12:13).   Nowhere are people urged to seek a second stage blessing but they are urged to an ongoing being filled with the Spirit (Eph.5:18).

4. It is clear from what Paul says that all Christian do not speak in tongues (1 Cor.12:10, 30). It is not the sole mark of being Spirit filled or else he would urge all of us to speak in tongues. Also the point of the tongues speaking in Acts 2 was not so much to confirm the spiritual maturity of the individuals, although that was part of it, it was more a means of communicating the good news to the gathered pilgrims in Jerusalem for the festival. It was a powerful witness to them of God being there and in this movement. Also they were clearly actual languages – a lot of the tongue speaking of Pentecostals is not actual language, it is a heavenly language, a different kind of tongues which Paul refers to in his letters.

5. There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit is key at the beginning of our christian life and throughout it. The role of the Spirit is to mediate the presence and power of Jesus Christ. Jesus dwells with us and in us by His Spirit. Just as in the Old Testament he empowered for special service and gave gifts so he does today and even more so. In the OT he gave special anointing to a small number of people – prophets, judges and kings – in the NT he is pouring out his Spirit on all people old and young, male and female. The Spirit may be in us but sometimes he comes on or upon us in special power. The Spirit blows where he wills, he is sovereign and we should be open to Him, but sometimes he falls upon us in exceptional power out of the blue. We must be ready, willing, seeking to be pure that he might use us.

6. There is no doubt that at certain times in the history of the church God has been pleased to pour out unusual and exceptional blessing and power. We can think of revivals and we can think of people that he has especially used in evangelism like Moody, Finney, Billy Graham.

We are in the days of the Spirit and we should expect and rely upon the Spirit more and more.  We should be open to God filling us in special ways for certain tasks or to empower for witness. How much we need this empowering – we are no longer a witnessing church or a church on mission. We have lost that cutting edge as a church.  Some of the people who were described as being full of the Spirit were great servants in the early church and people who boldly proclaimed Jesus as Lord and suffered for it. In Acts 6:3,5 the ones chosen for practical tasks were described as men full of the Holy Spirit. Stephen (7:55) and Barnabas (11:24) were also described in this way. John the Baptist was described as “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb”.

We are urged by Paul to be filled with Spirit in Eph.5:18. The verb is a present imperative. It is an imperative not a polite request - a command - be filled. It is present ongoing, keep on being filled. It is in the plural form – it is for all of us – all of you keep on being filled. It is in the passive voice, it is something that is done to us by God, we need to be in a spirit of yielded-ness and openness. Ps.81:10 “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it”  We cannot baptise or fill ourselves. Baptism is something that is done to us and so is this filling or outpouring. Keep coming to Jesus because we leak. Jesus has good things for us if we really desire him. Desire him first and foremost and then he will give us himself and other things as well, but the desire is for him.

I love the words of John 7:37-39.  “On the last and greatest day of the feast of Tabernacles Jesus stood and said in a loud voice If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive.”   

I do not think Jesus is talking about two stages here for the Christians – after Pentecost the Spirit was available to all. But I do think that when we are thirsty for him he will fill us anew. As we continue to live in a sinful world we are sapped in our spiritual energy, we are fighting spiritual battles every day and we need the empowering and infilling of Christ by His Spirit. We cannot do it alone, we need him. How much are we hungering and thirsting for him?  Do we long to know God better, do we long to see more people coming to faith.  We need a fresh anointing where we experience not just the quantity but the quality of God’s Spirit in us empowering us for witness and worship. It is not about a second blessing, but rather a second, third, fourth etc. We leak the Spirit so we need a continual refilling and refuelling.   

And so we need to be led by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit and so on. We need to be a Spirit led as individuals and as churches. We need the breath of God, the wind of God, to blow upon us and revive those who are weary or jaded, refresh those who are tired, empower those who are fearful enabling us to be better prayers and worshippers. The Spirit is willing and so often the flesh is weak. May Jesus come to us afresh and pour out his Spirit upon us and may we be hungry and thirsty for more of HIm in our lives and to God be the glory.

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