Below is my notes on the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is my view on this subject of theology after a lifetime of study. I hope you enjoy reading it--and thanks.

 

 

Baptism with the Holy Spirit

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Other Scripture Taken from:

The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English, © 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 2nd ed. 1986 by Jay P. Green, Sr. (Lafayett, IN: Sovereign Grace Publishers).

The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, copyright © 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985 by P. Green, Sr. This work was contained in the side column of Green’s work referenced above.

Or the King James Version (Authorized Version)

When God wished to show that a person or persons had received the Holy Spirit he gave the gift of tongues or the gift of prophesying: It tells you and others that you have the power of the Holy Spirit upon you as He was on the Old Testament prophets. (January 3, 2010, revised May 13, 2013)

It is usually in tongues because (1) tongues are a more obvious miracle and the main purpose of the prophesying is to demonstrate that the power of the Holy Spirit has come; and (2) tongues are in a different language from the one spoken by the speaker—this is a symbol of our calling as a church to go into all the world and make disciples.

Consider the 70 elders of Numbers 11, esp. vv. 14-17 and 24-30.

God does not always wish to give a sign such as the gifts of tongues and prophecy to provide evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Christian leaders who were full of the Holy Spirit sometimes prayed for new Christians to receive the Holy Spirit. For example:

Acts 8

Philip apparently had not prayed for the Samaritan believers.

Acts 19:6: “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.” This was the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. The Bible says “the Holy Spirit” here but in the parallel passage it says, “what is good.”

In Acts 10:15-16 no one prayed.

We can ask God for the Holy Spirit ourselves.

Acts 9:17 (KJV): “And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.'”

Ananias prayed for Paul to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Paul was already a believer before Ananias came to Paul's residence. Ananias did not preach the Gospel to Paul before he laid his hands on him and prayed for him to receive the Holy Spirit. Since Ananias did this when he laid his hands on Paul and since Ananias was told to go and lay his hands on Paul so that he would receive his sight, we can conclude that it is the filling with the Holy Spirit that accompanies the laying on of hands, not the rebirth experience which includes the coming of the presence of the Holy Spirit. So when Peter and John came down to Sumeria and laid hands on the new believers, it was in order that the new believers would be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Paul apparently did not speak in tongues when he was filled with the Holy Spirit. That he did later is beside the point. Speaking in tongues is not a requirement for the reception of the Holy Spirit, although, if God wants to give a specific, invincible sign for it, He usually gives tongues and sometimes prophecy and sometimes both.

Titus 3:5-6: by the bathing (3067) of becoming again (3824) and renovation (342) by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you become clean and new. It is the Holy Spirit that does; He poured out the Holy Spirit upon us, “richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Water baptism symbolizes our cleansing from Christ's death and from the our renewing by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. The people at Samaria had already been baptized so they had already been renewed by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, when Peter and John came down and laid their hands on them and prayed for them then that they would receive the Holy Spirit, they were praying that the Samaritan believers would receive the filling of the Holy Spirit. God wanted the gospel to go out to the Samaritans; He would therefore give a strong filling of the Holy Spirit to the first Samaritan group of people who believed in Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. Comparing this verse with Titus 3:5-6, we see that it is the work of regeneration that makes us new and clean in our hearts. Therefore, these verses in Ezekiel are speaking of the work of regeneration which as we know from Titus 3:5-6 is a work of the Holy Spirit.

John 7:37-39: “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.' 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.” This is basically speaking of the work of regeneration (new-birth) that the Holy Spirit first performs when He comes into the new believer. As can be seen, this work of the Spirit is received from believing in Jesus because in this verse believing is the only condition for receiving this living water. Prayer for the Holy Spirit is not required to receive the Holy Spirit as the one who provides the new birth through regeneration. Prayer is generally required to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

John 7:39: The Greek says, “...those who were believing in Him were about to be receiving...” The ones who were believing in Him. We can see that this is speaking of ones who were believing and it is placing this over against the time they would receive the Holy Spirit in this new way. Note that the present tense is used here probably because it is speaking of a number of people; they don't all believe at the same time and they don't all receive at the same time. When John wrote, “for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” he must have been referring to the believers' receiving the Spirit for purpose of providing to them the new-birth experience. John 7:39 is not making reference to their receiving the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The following verses also speak of drinking of the Holy Spirit:

1 Corinthians 12:13 “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 (aorst) of one Spirit.

John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.'” It is plain that the water that one receives at conversion is received only once and this living water wells up and becomes a river of water from its own living nature. It is the regeneration of the Holy Spirit.

John 6:35: “Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

What about 1 Corinthians 12:13?

You receive by drinking in the waters of salvation only once.

1 Corinthians 12:13 is speaking of this initial born-again experience. It was one spirit that performed this rebirth. Therefore, we have all been baptized by one spirit. He goes on to write that we were also baptized into only one body, this body being the body of Christ. Paul is addressing divisions in the church here. Proving that they are members of Christ’s one body.

The Spirit that you get that produces the born-again experience is never repeated.

John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.; After a little while the world will behold me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.”

John 14:25-26: “These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

John 15:26 When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me...”

John 20:21-23: “Jesus therefore said to them again, 'Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained,'”

At this point the disciples understood that Jesus had risen from the dead as He had said. John had believed earlier and Mary Magdalene also. When a person believes, he then receives the New Testament born-again experience. The context of John 20:21-23 is that of the apostles' commission to proclaim the Gospel and to found the church of Jesus Christ. Therefore, when Christ breathed on them He was giving them the power of the Holy Spirit to help them understand and face the daring work that He was assigning to them. On the Day of Pentecost they received the full power of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

John 3:6-8: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is every one who is born of the Spirit.” You see the results of the wind, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. When a person is born-again, you see the results of it in his life, but you cannot tell from where the Spirit comes. This was not the case when Jesus breathed on the disciples; the Spirit came to them from Jesus. Likewise, when the Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost, He came from Heaven and He came upon the disciples. They knew from whence the Spirit came. The wind came from Heaven.

Acts 10:44-47: “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” God gave an evidence, not specified in the Scriptures, for the giving of the Holy Spirit to these believers. It was necessary that the circumcision part see that these Samaritans were candidates for Christian salvation.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven and it is for power:

Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 1:4-5: “And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, 'Which,' He said, 'you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit no many days from now.'”

Acts 1:7-8: “He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall 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 2:1-4: “And when the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance.”

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is an anointing:

1 John 2:20-21: “But you [pl.] have an anointing from the Holy One, and you [pl.] … know all. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.”

1 John 2:23-27 “Whoever denies the son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And as for you [pl.], the anointing which you [pl.] received from Him [Jesus] abides in [or among] you [pl.], and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

Luke 4:18:

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor.

He Has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are downtrodden...”

Acts 10:38: “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.”

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hears as a pledge.” Here we see that the sealing of the Spirit, which is God's regenerating work upon our heart, is a separate thing from the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 3:1-5: Paul says in verse 2 in the past tense, “…did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” He then asks, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” He then brings them up to the present to ask them, “Does He then [meaning, therefore], who provides [present tense] [Green tr. supplying] you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” He asks them the same question, but now to the present situation that is in reference to Christians who are in the process of “being perfected.” So the Spirit is supplied to Christians here.

The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit includes both the regenerating experience and the infilling:

Acts 2:36-40: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this, they were pierced in the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as he Lord our God shall call to Himself. And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation!'”

Acts 2:36-40 shows that Joel 2 and Acts 2 are speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit as a result of the institution of the New Covenant. The result being the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. Since this is referred to in reference to the born-again experience that one receives upon believing in Christ and since it refers also to the baptism of the Holy Spirit that the apostles received on the Day of Pentecost, these Old Testament expressions that speak of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit include both of these works of the Holy Spirit.

Titus 3:5-7 also speaks of God's outpouring of the Holy Spirit: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” This passage concerns the cleansing of regeneration (or new birth) by the Holy Spirit and yet it attributes this act of the Holy Spirit to the outpouring of Holy Spirit.

Acts 10:44-47 attributes the experience of the people who believed in Cornelius's house and were filled with the Holy Spirit to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The circumcised believers “were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also” (Acts 10:45).

Proverbs 1:23 Pour out my spirit on you

Isaiah 32:15: “Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high...”

Isaiah 39:29: “for I will have poured out my Spirit on the House of Israel.”

Conclusions:

Jesus makes a distinction between the infilling and the indwelling:

The Old Testament prophecies do not distinguish between the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration and His work of filling. Therefore, Peter does not make a distinction between them when he refers to Joel 2. Jesus makes a distinction between them in his discussion with the apostles in John 14-16. Jesus says that He will come to them, that He and the Father will come into them.

John 14:23 is very helpful: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, 'Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.'”

On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father upon Jesus' request to come to the believer.

John 14:16: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever.” The Comforter or Helper will come to assist them in evangelizing the world.

*John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me, and you will bear witness also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”

Paul makes a distinction between the infilling and the indwelling:

*Galatians 3:1-5 (This shows that the Christian is supplied with the Holy Spirit after receiving the Holy Spirit at salvation.)

Understanding Acts 19

Acts 19:1-2: “And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found some disciples, and he said to them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' And they said to him, 'No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.'”

There are various ways that they would have known if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed:

1. The Spirit could have fallen upon them and they could have spoken in tongues and prophesied.
2. The evangelist, who was most likely Apollos, could have laid his hands on them, and they spoken in tongues and prophesied.
3. The evangelist, who was most likely Apollos, could have laid his hands on them, and they felt a strong presence of the Holy Spirit at this time.
4. The evangelist, who was most likely Apollos, could have laid his hands on them, and they felt a strong presence of the Holy Spirit at a later time.
5. The evangelist, who was most likely Apollos, could have laid his hands on them, and after this they experienced a boldness that they never had before.
6. The evangelist, who was most likely Apollos, could have laid his hands on them, and then assured them that God had answered his and their prayers to receive the Holy Spirit.
7. The evangelist, who was most likely Apollos, could have laid his hands on them, and then instructed them in God's willingness to fill them with the power of the Holy Spirit if they pray to the Father for Him, and they had done this and believed that God had answered their prayers.

None of the above had occurred. However, most likely Paul asked this question to find out if Apollos had laid his hands on them and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit, that is, the filling of the Holy Spirit for power to serve. Paul would have constructed his question with the positive assumption that God had answered the request if it had been made, just as Paul usually wrote his epistles to the churches with the assumption that they were all saved, that is, he addressed them all as though they were born-again Christians.

We can receive more than one in-fillings. This is seen for a number of reasons:

1. Jesus breathed on the apostles and they received the Holy Spirit (this, as noted, was most likely an experience of infilling due to the context of this verse, John 20:) and then later they were filled on the Day of Pentecost.
2. Paul was filled at his baptism, but later he increased in power, which must reflect a greater in-filling.
3. The disciples who were in the upper room of the Day of Pentecost, even after this were among those who were filled with the Holy Spirit when Peter came and reported what had happened to him and John (Acts 4:23-31).
   
   

Not everyone speaks in tongues as the evidence for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul didn't at the time he received the in-filling, and neither did the disciples who prayed after Peter and John were released.

People want to be filled with the Spirit for the sake of being filled with the Spirit. This is not a good reason. If you ask God for the filling of the Holy Spirit and believe that He will give you this gift, you will be filled as to your need which is determined by His will for your life. This may be a strong filling or a not so strong filling. Your power to live the Christian life does not depend upon your filling. You already have in your innermost being the Holy Spirit and out of here comes rivers of living water.

Philip was full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:3-5) and had gifts of healings, but he did not pray for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit.

The Baptisms

The Name The baptizer With What Into What? Reverence(s)

1. John’s baptism John or Jesus’ Water (Mt. 3:11) Into repentance Matthew 3:11

Or the baptism Disciples in preparation for Acts 19:4

Of repentance Jesus Christ

2. Water baptism An apostle, Water Formula: Into the name Matthew 28:19

Or into the an evangelist, Of the Father and Acts 2:38

Name of Jesus or their Of the Son and

disciples Of the Holy Spirit

Into or to the forgiveness

Of sins

3. The Baptism God (Col. 2: The Holy Spirit Into Jesus Rom. 6:3-11

Into Jesus 13) (Tit. 3:5) We partake of Jesus’ Ephesians 2:10

(1 Cor. 12:13) death and resurrection *Colossians

2:13-14

To new life Ephesians 2:4-6

We are taken out Rom. 8:11

From under the Law. Eph. 1:20

*2 Cor. 1:21-22

Galatians 3:27

Rom. 2:29

(Also the God The Holy Spirit Into The Body of Christ 1 Cor. 12:12-13

Baptism into (1 Cor. 12:13) A member of the *1 Cor. 12:27

Jesus) Body of Christ and 1 Cor. 6:17 “one

given access to drink spirit with Him”

Of the Holy Spirit

4. Baptism with Jesus Christ The Holy Power for witnessing Acts 1:8

Spirit and Filling with the Holy Matt. 3:11

Spirit fire (Matt. 3:11) Spirit

Thoughts on the baptism

Hebrews 6: The laying on of hands is connected with the washings.

Meaning of the baptism with the Holy Spirit

1. Acts 1 for witnessing
2. Acts 2 burning flames in the form of tongues representing the tongues of the witnesses
3. Luke 24:32 our hearts burned within us
4. Isaiah 61:1

Further Study on the baptism with the Holy Spirit

Verses:

1 John 2:27 “And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him [Jesus] abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

Acts 1:8 “but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem…

Luke 4:18

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted;…

Acts 10:28 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with him.”

1. Joel
2. Hebrews 6—first principle
3. The purpose of it--power to witness. The unsaved are still with us.
4. The Spirit is still with us, and He came to witness of Jesus
5. 1 Cor. 13
6. The baptism in the H. S. is sandwiched between two things that we know are to be taught throughout this age.
7. The great commission: Jesus said to go into all the world teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have spoken unto you and I am with you until the end of the age.
8. The Hebrews six logoi of Christ are what the church felt was to be preached until the end of the age. The formalized it.
9. According to Hebrews they all should be teaching these formal principles to others. It was to be a continuous passing on and multiplying of believers. It made Christianity self-propagating. Look at it closely:

Leaving the discourse of the beginning of Christ

Hebrews and baptism

Hebrews 5:12 Stoichon elements of learning, fundamental principles

Healing in the atonement

See Hebrews 13:20-21

Matthew 8:16-17 [The basic meaning of astheneia is that of weakness, but it is used often in the New Testament for sickness or disease (see Acts 28:9; Luke 5:15). In its verb form it is used frequently for suffering bodily weakness; that is, being sick (see Matthew 25:39; John 11:1–3,6; James 5:14). Nosos, a synonym, means disease or illness. (Curiously, the Septuagint at this point in Isaiah 53:4 translates the He­brew word into hamartias [sins], for which there is no justification.) It is found with this meaning in passages like Acts 19:12; Matthew 4:23, 9:35; Luke 7:21; and many others. Ref. Anthony D. Palma, “Healing and the Atonement,” http://agchurches.org/Sitefiles/Default/RSS/IValue/Resources/Divine%20Healing/Articles/HealingandAtonement.pdf ]

Isaiah 53:4

1 Peter 1:18-20

1 Peter 2:24

Possible books

The Topeka Outpouring of 1901

Drinking of the Spirit:

Ephesians 5:18-19 “be filled with the Spirit” (KJV)

Revelation 22:17 “take the water of life freely” (KJV)

Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

John 4:13-14

John 6:35

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is only for Born-again Christians.

According to Acts 2:16-21 The baptism of the Holy Spirit is poured out on believers. The four thousand prayed for it and specifically called themselves “bond-servants” to make God realize that they were candidates to receive his promise given by Peter from Joel.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not for unbelievers. Peter makes this plain in Acts 10.

Also see Galatians 3:1-5: Paul says in verse 2 the past tense, “…did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” He then asks, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” He then brings them up to the present to ask them, “Does He than [meaning, therefore], who provides [present tense] you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” He asks them the same question, but now to the present situation that is in reference to Christians who are in the process of “being perfected.” So the Spirit is supplied to Christians here.

What we know:

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is for all believers, both Jews and Gentiles. Acts 10

It is for all. Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. Acts 19

It is for the whole present age. Hebrews 6

Joel 2 and Acts 2 both say that the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh and they will prophesy.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is separate from the born-again experience. John 14-16

God wants His people to seek the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

It is not necessary to speak in tongues to have the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The best preposition to use when speaking of the baptism is with.

The presence of the power of the Holy Spirit should not negate the desire and requirement for the man of God to know the scriptures and true Christian doctrine.

There are various degrees of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Acts

IMPORTANT:

Insight comes to us when we realize that the New Testament very often indicates, through narrative or preaching, that the New Covenant is powerful and that it replaces the Old Covenant. This helps us see why the people spoke in tongues and prophesied at times when that received the Holy Spirit, that is, the filling of the Holy Spirit.

It should be realized, as can be seen from these verses, that John the Baptist lived baptized, and taught under the Old Covenant. Matthew 11:13 and Luke 16:16. The reason that the tongues and prophesying was given in Ephesus when Paul laid his hands on the believers was to show that the New Covenant had replaced the old Covenant. Paul was a preacher of the New Covenant and it was important to show that God was with him. It put God's approval upon Paul's rebaptizing these believers into the baptismal formula of the New Covenant.

As was mentioned, the circumcision party was present in Cornelius's house when they spoke in tongues and prophesied. At Samaria Peter and John prayed that these believers would receive the Holy Spirit. It does not say that they spoke in tongues and prophesied; every other place this happened Luke records it. They probably spoke in tongues and prophesied, but we do not know for sure. There was no need to even mention it because it was not necessary to convince anyone that these people had gotten saved at this point. This had already been demonstrated. It says,

“For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice;; and many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was much rejoicing in that city.... (Acts 8:7)

“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” (Acts 8:14-15).

This story turned into a story about Simon the sorcerer. The leaders at the Jerusalem church had already been convinced before they sent Peter and John down to pray for these new believers that they had been saved. This is another reason to believe that this was for the filling of the Holy Spirit rather than for regeneration. Peter and John were already convinced that these people had experienced a work of God in their hearts.

On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), this was the first time believers had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. God had promised to send the Holy Spirit. Both the disciples and the people in Jerusalem at the feast needed to know that the Holy Spirit had been given and that the new age of grace had begun.

Invitation to Visit My Blog on Human Origins, Creation, and Evolution

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The Structure of the Book of the Revelation

About fifty years ago, when I was a teenager, I became interested in the book of The Revelation. Recently, I have become excited at just having discovered how it is structured and a number of very interesting things about it. You may want to request from me a copy of my Works chart of The Book of Revelation at garytmayer@gmail.com. You may also want to ask me about when the rapture occurs in relation to Daniel's 70th week. After a life time of periodic study of eschatology, I think I have discovered where it fits in. It was there explicitly stated by Jesus all the time, and many of us missed it. While Jesus was on the earth in the flesh, he did not know the time when the 70th week of Daniel would arrive, but he sure knew how it was going to transpire when it does arrive.