Are you baptised with the Holy Spirit?

 

In Acts 2, we see that on the day of Pentecost, the disciples were baptised with the Holy Spirit. This was the fulfilment of what Jesus told them in Acts 1:8.

        In this study you will see the chronological order and establishment of the Church based on the geographical expansion that Jesus spoke of. 
"...but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8).

Jerusalem 

        However, this would not happen until Christ had been glorified. It is, therefore, sensible for the Lord Jesus to tell the disciples to "wait" in Jerusalem, because prior to this, the Holy Spirit had not been given yet.

But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39)

        The coming of the Holy Spirit, therefore, marks the beginning of the Church Age, which is the beginning of what we call the end times (ἐσχάταις) as spoken of by Joel: 
"but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel:
AND IT SHALL BE IN THE LAST DAYS,’ God says, 
‘THAT I WILL POUR FORTH OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL MANKIND; (Acts 2:17)
        So, in fact, the end times (ἐσχάταις) had already begun since Pentecost in Acts 2. It began on Pentecost Day in Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus.

Samaria

        We then fast forward to Acts 8 where the Samaritans were also baptised with the Holy Spirit. 
Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)
        Here again, we read the words, "For He had not yet fallen upon any of them..." Although the Holy Spirit had been poured on the Jews in Jerusalem, the Samaritans had not received the Holy Spirit. 

        Verse 17 continues, "they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." The Greek word for 'simply' is μόνον, an adverb which can also be translated as 'only, alone'. By this time, the Holy Spirit had only been poured out on the Jews, but not the Samaritans or the Gentiles.
 
        Because of this, some claim that being baptized in the Lord Jesus is insufficient; one still needs to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. However, looking at the bigger context, we see that the author of Acts of the Apostles, Luke did not have this in mind. 

        Instead, we see the progression of the spread of the gospel later to the Gentiles and along with the gospel, the Holy Spirit was poured out on those who believed. 
    
Gentiles

        Again, we fast forward to Acts 10, the Gentiles were also baptised with the Holy Spirit. This time, it happened when Peter was still preaching the gospel. It was evidence that this was in response to the word of God being received by faith by Cornelius and the other Gentiles in his house:
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered,“Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (Acts 10:44-48) 
        There was no laying of hands and the Gentiles did not have to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit unlike the early disciples who were told to wait in Jerusalem. 

        Here, we have a case where the baptism of the Holy Spirit preceded even the water baptism. This clearly shows us that the outpouring of the Spirit followed the expansion of the Church geographically, "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8).
 
Disciples of John the Baptist

        What about Acts 19? Paul encountered twelve men in Ephesus who had not received the Holy Spirit. I want you to note what criterion Paul applied (marked in bold and red) when he asked this question to the twelve men: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
 
        The reply Paul received was an obvious statement that these men did not even know the Lord Jesus or that He came to baptize with the Holy Spirit. It is, therefore, obvious that these were merely the disciples of John Baptist: 
And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 19:2-5)
        As the Jews during Jesus' time were living in disapora, it is not surprising that after they were baptized into John's baptism, these twelve men had returned to their hometown in Ephesus, without even knowing about Jesus. There was a knowledge gap in these followers of John the Baptist.

        For this reason, Paul had to explain to them once again the meaning of John's baptism and about the Person, our Lord Jesus, whom they should believe in. This is the reason why Luke said that "they were (subsequently) baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."
    
        At the same time that they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, Paul "laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying." (More about tongues read this blogpost)

In Paul's Epistles

        Throughout His epistles, the apostle emphasized on the criteria for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In one of the passages, He uses the term 'sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.' 
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
        As we have seen from the case of the twelve disciples of John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit was received when they placed their faith in the Lord Jesus according to the gospel Paul preached. 

        John tells us that:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)
        Interpreting this Scripture with another Scripture, we see 
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. (Romans 8:15-17)
        If this is not convincing enough, read further Paul's explanation in Galatians 4:6: 
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
        After Acts of the Apostles, which showed the progressive movement of the Holy Spirit with the geographical expansion of the Church, no where in the Bible does it tell us to (a) tarry in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit (b) receive the baptism after one has personally believed in Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. 

        To say that one needs to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to undermine the triunity -- God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. 

        People who insist that born again believers still need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit again after receiving Jesus as their personal Saviour is committing a sin of trying to split the Trinity of God. 

       For us, we believe that God is One and when we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are automatically baptized with the Holy Spirit. 

What then?

        This leaves us with the next question. If we receive Christ and we are baptized with the Holy Spirit because of our faith in Jesus, what then? 

        I have already answered the question about speaking in tongues in another post earlier. 

        The Bible tells us that Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30) and quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). The Holy Spirit is grieved when we sin against God willfully. The Holy Spirit can be quenched when we choose to live by our human nature. 

        Hence, for believers, the command is clear: 
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit (πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι) (Ephesians 5:19)
        We are told to seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is what believers in our Lord Jesus should be seeking for. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

STOP LISTENING TO ALL KINDS OF FALSE PROPHECIES. READ YOUR BIBLE INSTEAD!

Image
  These days with Zoom, we can attend all sorts of classes taught by good Bible teachers from across the world.           With the recent Trump vs Biden presidential election, there also many false prophets and false teachers! It takes just some discretion to find out who they are. Most of them love to quote, "God spoke to me" or "Jesus appeared to me in a vision to tell me what is going to happen." You will hear this time and again in a number of videos. WARNING! Matt. 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." It is time for us to read our Bible -- the Word of God -- instead of going after these false prophets!          Let us begin with the presidential election.     Donald Trump vs Joe Biden Presidential Election                    In the Old Testament, we are told that the punishment of false prophets is stoning to death. This shows
Read more

HOW RIDICULOUS CAN THIS FALSE PROPHET STRETCH THE SCRIPTURES?

False prophet, Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj is spewing out all sorts of theological rubbish and sadly, people are gullible to follow after him.      As our Lord warned us that in the last days, there will be many of such false prophets who will deceive even the elect, we ought to be more careful.      In this video, the false prophet from India made the following bizarre claims that:  (1) The Lord told him why his 22-year-old associate was called home. He claimed that God told him that there was a need to recruit young people so that God could raise up an army with these young people.       This is absolutely rubbish! The LORD of Sabaoth is already the LORD of a great army. In fact, in Hebrew,  יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת is translated as "LORD of Hosts", which means that He is the Lord of a mighty army.      God does not need an additional young person in the army of God in the way this false prophet puts it. Instead, all of us -- whether we die young or old  ( כָּל )-- will be given a new b
Read more

Take Speculation out of Revelation

Image
  Ottheinrich (Rev4-5)  By Stephen Ng   A lot of things in Revelation are not for speculation. To be true to the meaning of the metaphors and symbols used this concluding book of the New Testament, we have to take Speculation out of Revelation.          The author John wrote this: “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book” (Rev 22:18). This is a very strong word of caution against all sorts of speculations.          Instead, we should be like Mary mulling over the word of God when the Angel Gabriel first revealed to her that she would have a son, whose name will be as Hebrew suggests, יְשׁוּעָ means, ‘Saviour.’          Mary did not jump into the conclusion like the zealots, who were looking for a political deliverer. When Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a colt, the people shouted, “Hosanna!” (which in Hebrew, means, ‘Deliver us, please!’). Understandably,
Read more

DO YOU BELIEVE IN A FALSE PROPHET AND APOSTLE?

Image
              They no longer use crystal balls, but laptops.           I  will show you from the scriptures that the office of prophets and apostles is the very foundation of God's household; thereafter, I will give you some hints on how to exercise some discernment.               The Bible tells us in  Hebrews 1:1-3 that: God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.          In short, in these last days (or in Greek,  ἐσχάτου) our focus is to hear the Son of God. He no longer speaks through the agency of the prophets as He did "long ago" (πάλαι), but through Christ Himself. The Bible is the written Word of God that we should always go to if we want to know who our God is
Read more

Be Warned of latest group from Korea entering Malaysia

Image
  I was asked about a so-called 'mission' group known as InterCP International from Korea.          A friend of a fellow OCFer has a daughter who is supposed to join  a short trip with  a “mission” group. The father wanted to know more about this organisation, and started enquiring about it more.          I thought this was the Mission Frontiers  that I had known back in Australia.  Even the title of the brochure used words that were similar to the organisation.           However, something prompted me to take a look at the organisation's website again. I made enquiries with a number of people,  but no one appears to know anything about this organisation which has set its base in Malaysia, until a missionary friend of mine responded. She said she would check with a Korean missionary counterpart of hers.           This is his advice. I have modified the names of the people in the chat to protect their identity. Marilyn James is my friend while Richard Richardson is a Korean.
Read more

Flawed and false teachings are spreading fast

Image
  In recent years, we have seen an increase in all kinds of flawed and some even blatantly  false teachings that pastors have no choice but to find ways to warn, educate and protect their flocks against these ravenous wolves.           It is not enough these days to just have a good Sunday sermon; even more important is both Word-based and proper theological grounding for your flock, and making sure that they are fully aware of the various kinds of false teachings these days. A lot of people "join" these groups without realizing what they are getting into.         Due to the widespread usage of social media, these influences are also spreading very fast and unknowingly affecting your church members . Overnight, we see such people appearing on the social media with all kinds of strange doctrines.           There are also many warnings a nd exposé made by individuals or groups about some preachers such as Kenneth Copeland, Peter Wagner and the New Apostolic Reformation, Kenn
Read more

BE CAUTIOUS LEST WE BE FOUND SPEAKING FALSE PROPHECIES

Image
  We have to be extra cautious not to turn our own New Year well wishes into a prophecy lest we be found to be giving false prophecies (see video).           I believe God has also used the US presidential election to confound many so-called popular "prophets" and "apostles" who claimed that Donald Trump would become a second-term president. Religion is used as a tool towards a political agenda.           One even said he was asked to look into God’s scroll and urged people to pray:  "Between Nov 3 and Jan 20, anything can happen to overturn, right? So, you want to don't stop praying till Nov 3, you want to continue till Mr Trump is safely installed (inaugurated) on Jan 20."  (1)         Watch how this jerk from India speaks:           I am not a fan of Trump and I didn’t even know who Joe Biden is until the election but I saw how false prophets were making all sorts of declarations that Trump would win. One even used Divine Code to make such predicti
Read more

DOING CHURCH AND SEMINARY DIFFERENTLY IN 21st CENTURY

Image
29 March 2020 It was just in December 2019 that I wrote on my blog urging seminaries to go on the digital platform to reach a wider audience, especially countries where training of lay leaders is still very lacking or where it is too expensive to set up a seminary. This was just three months ago and I sensed the deep resistance. However, God in His wonderful ways lifted up this resistance with His one little finger what I could not do through my clarion call. He sent the COVID-19 outbreak to force all of us to go online. In short, digital. Would we still let go of this platform after the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted, or would we make this part of a permanent hybrid platform for both churches and seminaries? In short, we have the physical seminary or church; at the same time, the classes and services are broadcast online. Are we ready for this new way of doing church and seminary? This is a question that I would like us to think about seriously. When things go
Read more

APPALLING AND SHOCKING DISTORTION OF SCRIPTURES

Image
          In my earlier blog post, I wrote, " Grounded in Scriptures to avoid being swayed by all winds of doctrines ." For the sake of people who find my blog posts a bit too long to digest, I have summarised below. Some I will name later if they persist with their flawed teachings; others are already making an impact on many that have been misled with their false teachings. In the last days, we know that we have many wolves in sheep's clothings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------           It is shocking when I heard a preacher claimed that the letter Alef א  has a hidden meaning in it -- that it represents the crucifixion of Christ.           Confidently, he described how the letter aleph is made up of the letter wav ו (meaning, a peg) and two yods י (meaning, two hands).          Of course, people without any knowledge of the Hebrew language would be mesmerised, but not for me. As a atudent of
Read more

WHAT ABOUT THE GIFT OF PROPHECY?

Image
  There have been many debates in the social media whether Trump or Biden should win in the presidential election. That is because a lot of people have been listening to false prophets who claim that they heard the Lord telling them that Trump would serve the next term.          Whether Trump or Biden will be the president of the United States of America is really none of my business. As God has even used Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar or even the Persian King Cyrus, there is no reason why God cannot use both of them to fulfill His blueprint which even Satan will never be able to guess or know.           What I am more interested is: "What does God say in His Word?" What is the role of the prophets both in the Old Testament and the present era? Are there still prophets today? What about prophecy as a gift of the Holy Spirit?  Let me Illustrate           We have 66 books in the entire Bible. Many of us have not even read all 66 books of the Bible and if a Bible quiz is conduct
Read more