Spirit Baptism – A Clarification

Introduction

There is a remarkable disparity of positions regarding Spirit Baptism among the groups within orthodox Christendom. The variations begin with the different case (in the sense of English grammar) employed in regard to Spirit Baptism, where the phrase is constructed variously, including:

baptism of the Holy Spirit
baptism with the Holy Spirit
baptism by the Holy Spirit
baptism in the Holy Spirit

Contributing to the general confusion is the spectrum of views regarding what it is, how one receives the Baptism, when it takes place in the Christian, and what the evidence or result of Spirit Baptism is. A sampling of the positions includes:

Assemblies of God[1]: The General Council of the Assemblies of God has recognized the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as an experience distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth. It has also recognized that the initial physical evidence of the baptism in the Spirit is speaking with other tongues…The baptism in the Spirit…is subsequent to and distinct from the new birth.[2]

International Church of the Four-Square Gospel[3]: We believe that the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is to endue the believer with power; and that His incoming is after the same manner as in Bible days (Acts 2:4)[4]

In every account of the reception of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit recorded in the book of Acts, the initial evidence of that experience was declared to be, or unmistakably inferred to be that of speaking in other tongues. Therefore, on the basis of Scriptural precedent, and guided by our original Foursquare teaching, we affirm that the initial physical evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is that of speaking in other tongues.[5]

We believe that the baptism of theHoly Spirit is the incoming of the promised Comforter in mighty and glorious fullness to endue the believer with power from on high; to glorify and exalt the Lord Jesus; to give inspired utterance in witnessing of Him; to foster the spirit of prayer, holiness, sobriety; to equip the individual and the Church for practical, efficient, joyous, Spirit-filled soul-winning in the fields of life; and that this being still the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, the believer may have every reason to expect His incoming to be after the same manneras that in which He came upon Jewand Gentile alike in Bible days, and asrecorded in the Word, that it may be truly said of us as of the house of Cornelius: theHoly Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning.[6]

Calvary Chapel[7]: “There are many gifts of the Holy Spirit you can possess…With Jesus in your heart, you can be like a vessel for the Holy Spirit to fill…The Holy Spirit is a free gift of God. You don’t have to continually beg God for it. You have to receive it by faith. Many times when someone is baptized by the Holy Spirit, God will bless them with the gift of speaking in tongues… Now, people talk about the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And you've heard no doubt many times people say, "Well, the only true evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. And if you haven't spoken in tongues then you're not baptized in the Holy Spirit." But I believe that the only true evidence of the filling and the baptism of the Holy Spirit is really the Agape love.[8]

Grace Community Church[9]: The baptism by the Holy Spirit is not an experience. It is a fact that occurs at your salvation. It is the fact that when you believe God, He places you into the Son by His Spirit. That is the baptizing by the Holy Spirit.[10]

The above sampling represents a spectrum of Charismatic and Pentecostal viewpoints, as well as a more characteristically cessationist viewpoint. On further exploration, one can find other shades of variation on the subject. The following chart systematizes the viewpoints presented:

Timing vs. Event or

Entity Case Salvation Evidence

Assemblies of God in subsequent tongues

Foursquare with subsequent tongues

Calvary Chapel of, by subsequent love, all gifts

Grace Community by simultaneous salvation

There are core doctrines of the Christian faith that we can call “orthodox”, and all the above church entities would subscribe to them (one God, a Trinity, virgin birth, etc.). All of the above church entities’ doctrinal statements subscribe to a dispensational, premillennial doctrine, which should (one would think) further assist in unifying their viewpoints on Spirit Baptism. However, when it comes to Spirit Baptism, the above church entities positions are divergent as to the case, timing with respect to salvation, and the initial event or evidence of Spirit Baptism. Obviously all entities cannot be right.

Dispensational Presuppositions and Considerations

Since all four of the church entity examples presented above are ostensibly dispensational and premillennial, there are some presuppositions that all four should hold in common when approaching the matter of Spirit Baptism. These would include:

Spirit Baptism takes place in the dispensation of the church (aka, dispensation of grace).
Spirit Baptism includes Jews and Gentiles, each of which in the prior dispensation of law had been dealt with differently.
There is a transition from one dispensation to another, and one or more persons who are pivotal in the implementation of a new dispensation (e.g., Adam, Noah, Moses, etc.)
A new dispensation is put in place by action of God, and not the will of any man, although the stewardship is man’s responsibility, as assigned by God.
The Scriptures are to be interpreted literally.
Israel is to be taken as the nation and people of Israel, and not as equivalent to or usurped by the church.

Some General Observations

The first two positions as presented above (Assemblies of God and Foursquare) require that the Acts tongues experiences (chapters 2, 10 and 19) are typical of God’s intent for all believers today. The third position (Calvary Chapel) asserts the continuity of all spiritual gifts, including tongues[11], but does not make tongues a universal evidence of Spirit Baptism. The fourth position (Grace Community) holds that tongues has ceased since apostolic times. Now while a comprehensive treatment of tongues is outside the scope of this paper, there are some important observations that should be made regarding the New Testament use of tongues, considering its bearing on the question of Spirit Baptism:

In the New Testament, the gift of tongues is only given when an apostle is present and never otherwise (cf. Acts 2, 10 and 19).
There is never a begging or pleading for tongues or Spirit Baptism, neither is there any practice, preliminary babbling or the like.
Only one gospel (Mark 16:17) mentions tongues, and that in a list of occasional miraculous actions, including surviving the drinking of poison and handling of poisonous snakes, which only obscure cults claim is the norm for Christians today.
As for Spirit Baptism as a critical requisite for speaking in tongues, there is never any guidance in the New Testament as to how one goes about receiving Spirit Baptism.
Acts, the only narrative New Testament book about events in the church age, mentions tongues once with the Jews in Jerusalem, once with the Gentiles in a Gentile land, and once with Jews in a Gentile land. Tongues in each of the three narrative cases appears as a sovereign act of God, unpracticed, uncoached, unanticipated, and not requested in advance.
The only epistle that mentions the gift of tongues (I Corinthians) does so in the context of dealing with gross sins, immaturity, and problems with abuse of spiritual gifts.
There are three “major” lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament (Romans12, Ephesians 4 and I Corinthians 12). Of the three, only I Corinthians 12 lists tongues.

In I Corinthians 12, Paul says:

1 Corinthians 12:6-10

6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

1 Corinthians 12:29-30

All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? 30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?

Each of the above passages – in the only epistle that mentions tongues – indicates that tongues, by the will of the Holy Spirit, was not a universal gift among the Corinthians, nor was it intended to be.

While not intended in any way to be a definitive treatment of passages on the gift tongues (which would be outside the scope of this paper), the points made above do not paint a favorable backdrop for tongues as a universal and critical evidence of Spirit Baptism among all believers today. Even aside from the examination of specific critical texts, the proponents of tongues as universal evidence for Spirit Baptism do not have a good general biblical context from which to base their claim.

When is the Spirit Received?

The Assemblies of God and Foursquare statements referenced above indicate that receiving Spirit Baptism is different from and subsequent to the receiving of or being indwelt by the Holy Spirit which is universal upon salvation[12]. Chuck Smith, of Calvary Chapel, on the other hand, has some statements that seem to indicate that actually receiving the Holy Spirit is a separate act and belief from salvation:

Peter said we should receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus also called the Holy Spirit a gift. And the only way to possess a gift is to receive

it. The gift of the Holy Spirit must be received by faith. Receiving the Spirit is like believing on Jesus for salvation.

You must ask for the Holy Spirit. God is not going to force on you something that you do not want. You must desire what He has to give. God will not violate your free will. You must ask the Lord in faith for the gift of the Holy Spirit.[13]

Nowhere does Scripture indicate that we must ask for the Holy Spirit. This contention is scripturally groundless. On the contrary, Scripture makes it very clear that those who are Christ’s have received the Holy Spirit, in texts such as:

Rom 8:9b

And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Romans 8:11

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Galatians 4:6

6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Examining The Biblical Texts

There are basically eleven texts which address the subject of Spirit Baptism, each of which are quoted and explained further below (NASU).

Matthew 3:11

11 "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Mark 1:8

8 "I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Luke 3:16

16 John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John 1:33

33 "I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, "He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'

In each of the above parallel passages, John the Baptist (actually, “the Baptizer”) is announcing Christ as the One who would baptize with (or in) the Holy Spirit. These passages all look ahead to the point of initiation of Spirit Baptism, which will occur in Acts 2. Now “baptism” here is not water baptism – the symbol – but points to a spiritual reality. John points ahead to it, but does not here explain what Spirit Baptism is.

Acts 1:5

5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Again, the resurrected Christ is looking back to the time when John baptized with water, and looking ahead in the very near future to the time when the apostles would be baptized with the Holy Spirit, as John had predicted. The disciples are still thinking at this point in time that Christ could be setting up his (millennial) kingdom on earth (Acts 1:6), but Christ puts that out of the near term context, then explains the event that is about to happen to them by telling them that they would receive power to be witnesses when the Holy Spirit has come upon them (Acts 1:8). Note that the next reference to Spirit Baptism is not in Acts 2, but in Acts 11, when Peter is explaining to the others in Jerusalem about the Gentiles having become a part of the church.

Acts 11:16-17

16 "And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" .

Note from this passages that after about a decade Peter recalled what Christ had said in Acts 1:5. Note well that Peter, in verse 17, describes the point of receiving the “same gift” as the Jews did in Acts 2 as “believing in the Lord Jesus Christ”. It was belief in Christ that precipitated the gift, and not a separate receiving of or believing in the Holy Spirit. This is the first instance where Spirit Baptism is something that they began to look back upon, rather than ahead to.

Romans 6:1-4

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Paul, in the first of the epistles in which we hear about “spiritual baptism” (as opposed to water baptism), speaks of being “baptized into Christ”. He unlocks the understanding of baptism to us, in that he conveys that baptism is identification. Now the literal meaning of the Greek word baptizo is to “immerse”.[14] Believers were identified with Christ, in his death, burial and resurrection. Baptism, in its spiritual sense, therefore, means being placed into something for the purpose of identification[15]. We were baptized into Christ, so that we might be identified with his death, burial and resurrection, since that is God’s means of dealing with who we were (deserving of death) and making us who we now are (walking in Christ’s life). This is why Paul could tell the churches in Galatia that it was no longer Paul who lived, but Christ who lived in Him. The next passage addresses that explicitly.

1 Corinthians 12:13

13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

This is the defining passage addressing the meaning of Spirit Baptism. In the context of explaining spiritual gifts to the “renegade” Corinthian church, the apostle Paul is telling them that by the action of the Holy Spirit we were all placed into – made to identify with – the Body of Christ. It is one thing to be saved individually, but it is the action of the Holy Spirit that places each previously individual believer into the body of Christ. Being a Jew or Greek (standing for Gentile) no longer matters most, because the primary identification of believers will be that they are “in Christ” – that is – identified with Him and placed into His body. Now notice Paul’s use of the word “one” in this verse. One Spirit who does the identifying (mentioned twice) and one body of Christ with which we are identified. That is the meaning of Spirit Baptism. Wallace, addressing the Greek construction of this verse, says:

Some suggest that Spirit-baptism is normally a post-conversion event (as on the day of Pentecost), but the double emphasis on “all,” coupled with the passive verbs, suggests that this took place at the point of conversion. The analogy with Pentecost fails, too, because the disciples did not fully realize nor apprehend the spiritual events of that day at the moment they occurred (note the passive verbs in Acts 2:3, 4).[16]

At this point it is worth noting that not only do the specific details of the Greek of this verse (and Acts 2) point to Spirit Baptism as taking place at the point of conversion, but the general pattern of the New Testament (as underscored in the section entitled “Some General Observations”) does as well.

Galatians 3:27

27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Paul uses the same “picture” with the Galatian church as he did with the Roman church. Being baptized into Christ is being identified with Christ. It shows the meaning of Scripture’s use of baptism in the spiritual rather than physical sense (of washing with water). Paul’s use of the figure of having been clothed with Christ is obviously in a spiritual sense.

Ephesians 4:4-6

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

This passage is not speaking of baptism in a physical sense. That would be incongruously switching from things with spiritual meaning to one item in the middle (baptism) which would have a symbolic meaning. Note that Paul says that there is “one baptism” – one “being identified with”. That goes along with one body (of Christ) and one Spirit (who placed us into that body).

Colossians 2:9-14

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Paul switches from the figure of circumcision – which was not the physical act of circumcision, but rather the spiritual sense – to baptism. He also puts baptism in a spiritual sense (as opposed to a physical sense). Note that baptism is used here in a manner very much the same as Romans 6:1-4 and Galatians 3:27. We have been, as believers, identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Baptism has consistently meant identification in each passage.

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Salvation

In order to establish a frame of reference for evaluating the contention of some regarding Spirit Baptism, we will now look at the work of the Holy Spirit that takes place at the point of salvation and afterward. The chart by House, given on the next page, summarizes it well[17]:
The Work of the Holy Spirit in Salvation

Activity	Description of the Activity	Scripture Reference
Regeneration	Through the ministry of the Spirit a person is born again, receives eternal life, and is renewed.	John 3:3-8; 6:63; Titus 3:5
Indwelling	The Spirit abides in the believer. Without the Spirit’s indwelling the person does not belong to Christ.	John 14:17; Romans 8:9,11; I Corinthians 3:16; 6:19
Baptizing	Believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit by Christ, uniting them all into one body.	Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; 1 Corinthians 12:13
Sealing	God seals believers with the Holy Spirit, providing a statement of ownership and guarantee of final redemption.	2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; cf. Romans 8:16
Filling	Believers are commanded to be “filled with the Spirit.” The filling ministry of the Spirit can be divided into the general filling relating to spiritual growth and maturation and to special capacities given by the Spirit for special tasks for God.	Ephesians 5:18; cf. Acts 4:8; 4:31; 6:3; 9:17; 11:24; 13:9
Guiding	Believers are commanded to walk in the Spirit and be led by the Spirit. The Spirit keeps the believer from enslavement to legalism and also provides discipline and direction for the Christian life.	Galatians 5:16, 25; cf. Acts 8:29; 13:2; 15:7-9; 16:6; Romans 8:14
Empowering	The indwelling Spirit provides victory in the Christian life, development of Christian fruit, and the ability to win against the works of Satan.	Romans 8:13; Galatians 5:17-18, 22-23
Teaching	Jesus promised that when the Spirit came he would lead believers into truth. The Spirit illuminates the mind of the believer to the revelation of God’s will through his Word.	John 14:26; 16:13; 1 John 2:20, 27

The Assemblies of God position paper referenced earlier has appropriately noted an important distinction, that the filling of the Holy Spirit is separate from Spirit Baptism. Spirit Baptism is a one-time event whereas the filling of the Spirit may take place at various times and is a matter of process. As we examined in the section entitled “Examining The Biblical Texts”, Spirit Baptism is something that takes place at the point of salvation. The above chart lists eight ways in which the Holy Spirit works in the life of the believer, the first four taking place at the point of salvation, and the second four taking place as an ongoing process in the life of the believer. Seeing in the above chart the comprehensive ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer allows us to put Spirit Baptism in perspective. Like regeneration, indwelling, and sealing, Spirit Baptism takes place at the point of salvation. There are no commands in Scripture to be regenerated, indwelt or sealed with the Holy Spirit, just as there are no commands in Scripture to be Spirit Baptized. These four ministries (including Spirit Baptism) are not commanded because all believers have already had them all take place at the point of salvation. The other four ongoing (i.e., process) ministries of the Spirit cannot take place without the initial four ministries having already taken place. Since these last four process ministries must take place beginning with and subsequent to salvation, one will indeed find commands and/or instruction regarding them in the New Testament epistles.

A Return to Dispensational Distinctions

A critical matter in evaluating the four positions presented earlier in this paper is that of dispensational distinctions. Since all four of those positions presented hold to a dispensational premillennial viewpoint, then the pattern of ending one dispensation and initiating another should be clear to all. When one dispensation is ended, and another initiated, there will be one or more individuals who are appointed to receive and pass on the new stewardship given by the sovereign will of God (e.g., Adam, Noah, Moses, etc.) and take part in the transition to the new stewardship. When a new dispensation is initiated, there are unique things about the initiation period of that dispensation (transition) that are not typical of the entire dispensation (stewardship). Moses, for example, went up on the mountain to receive the law from God, but the Israelites were not expected to go up as well. They did not have the entire law given at once, but instead it took a period of time to convey all the God had for them. In fact, some elements of the new dispensation of law were not revealed until about 40 years after the initial giving of the law (see the book of Deuteronomy). The transition period of the new dispensation of law, then, took several decades to implement. When the transition period was completed, the word makes it clear that God did not speak to any other prophet in the same way as he spoke to them through Moses:

Deuteronomy 34:10-12 (NASU)

10 Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

Note that the Lord spoke in unique ways to the man who would lead the transition to the new dispensation, that He would have Moses do unique signs and wonders for the Israelites as authentication, but that this kind of interaction and introduction were not to be expected as typical of the dispensation of law. In the same way, the Lord communicated with and spoke through the apostles uniquely and performed unique signs and wonders through them, but the manner of speaking and the signs and wonders are not to be expected as typical through the dispensation of grace (aka, the church age)[18]. The Book of Acts, then describes events which are not to be expected as typical of the church throughout this dispensation, since the times described are unique to that transitional period. Indeed, there is no narrative description of signs, wonders, and miracles taking place (including the more spectacular gifts) in the New Testament except in the presence of, or most often, explicitly by the hand of the apostles. These were the signs of an apostle (II Corinthians 12:12). That is why Paul calls the apostles and prophets a “foundation” (Ephesians 2:20), since their ministries were unique to the start or founding of the dispensation of the church.

Further, since the dispensation of law instituted under Moses treated the Jews differently and distinctly from the Gentiles, the transition from the dispensation of law to the dispensation of grace (aka, the church age), it is understandable that the transition period should involve separate treatment of each group. That is what we find in the book of Acts, which describes the transition from the law to grace. First, only Jews received Spirit Baptism (Acts 2), then Samaritans (Acts 8), then Gentiles (Acts 10), then Jews in a Gentile land (Acts 19). The ethnic division of the introduction of Spirit Baptism was characteristic of the transition into the new dispensation, because of the racially specific character of the former dispensation of law, but not at all typical of the entire dispensation of grace (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11).

Conclusion

Spirit Baptism is not an event separate from salvation. There is no command to receive Spirit Baptism separately from salvation, nor any exhortation to a church or individual believer to receive Spirit Baptism. That is because Spirit Baptism, like the regeneration, indwelling and sealing of the Spirit, takes place at the point one believes on Christ for salvation. What is claimed as evidence for Spirit Baptism as a separate event from salvation in the Acts narrative is mistaking the character of the transition of a dispensation for the subsequent and ongoing nature of that dispensation. The Assembly of God, Foursquare and Calvary Chapel approach also denies the apostles the unique position that Paul claims the apostles had. The hazard of claiming Spirit Baptism as a separate event from salvation is that it casts doubt and ambiguity on a basic truth regarding a believer’s salvation. Consequently, the primary means and focus of spiritual growth in the life of a believer is thereby misunderstood and misdirected, and the opportunity for true spiritual growth is thereby diminished.