Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

We have previously examined the questions of Who is the Holy Spirit? and What is the Purpose of the Holy Spirit? Today we’ll have a look at the concept of a “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” and the idea that it is a possibility today. We read of the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus, the Apostles, and Cornelius’s and his household. The only other way the Scriptures have recorded the Holy Spirit being given was by the laying on of the Apostle’s hands. We are quite simply not baptized in the Holy Spirit, as Romans 6:3 shows us, we are baptized into Christ and Matthew 28:19, in the name of the Father, the Son and of The Holy Spirit. We receive the gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38), “who is the guarantee of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14), therefore the gift of the Spirit that we get at our baptism is not the gift of miracles, it is the promise of our eternal rest after our time on earth is finished.

If the Holy Spirit were to operate and convert separate from the Word of God, how could we be judged by the Word in the last day? (John 12:48). A direct operation takes away personal responsibility and accountability. A direct operation of the Spirit would contradict the plain passages of the Bible which tell us the gospel is the power to save (1 Corinthians 1:21; Romans 1:16; John 6:44-45). The Holy Spirit is promised only to sons of God, those who obey him, never to alien sinners (Galatians 4:6; Acts 5:32; Acts 2:38). A direct operation of the Holy Spirit would violate the nature of man as given by God. God never violates man’s freedom of choice. How strange that men should rely on fickle feelings rather than the bed-rock assurance of the written testimony of God. Some say they feel happy because they are saved; others say they are saved because they feel happy! But the only evidence of pardon promised to the sons of God is the testimony of the Spirit in the New Testament

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Filed under: Butch Adams, Doctrine on September 16th, 2008