Recently, it was Pentecost Sunday, when we remember the Day of Pentecost and the birth of the Church, as recorded in Acts chapter 2. Strangely enough, this special event in church history is not usually celebrated in the way that we celebrate Christmas and Easter. Pentecost is more important than many people realize.

In this Langstaff Letter, I will begin a series on Pentecost and Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second experience of God in a believer’s life (the first is conversion), where a person begins to receive the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Let us be clear at this point – you can not be a christian without receiving the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to Christ when we receive salvation.

I should also point out that there are Pentecostals and Charismatics who hold the view that you get the Baptism of the Holy Spirit when you receive conversion, an all-in-one experience. John Wimber, who founded “Vineyard” churches, was one such person who believed you get it all when you get salvation.

I would agree that this is what happens to some people but not all. I have a friend who had that happen and he was puzzled at first why others did not experience it that way.

BIBLICAL FOUNDATION

Now, we must turn to the Bible to see what it has to say about the Baptism in the Holy. The New Testament can be divided into four sections:

  • The 4 Gospels that give us a record of Jesus’ birth, life, teaching, death, and resurrection.
  • Acts of the Holy Spirit that deal with the birth and the early history of the Church.
  • The Epistles, mainly written by Paul, but also others, that give us solid teaching on Christianity, such as the book of Romans.
  • Revelation, the last book in the Bible that gives us prophetic insight into the last days.

Now, the book of Acts supplies us with the most information regarding the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Some theologians have suggested we should base our understanding of the Holy Spirit on the Epistles. In other words, the Epistles are for today, but the Acts are simply the start of how it occurred. But that is not consistent with Scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 declares, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (ESV) (emphasis added). In other words the Acts of the Apostles can bring insight into the study of the Holy Spirit.

With that in mind let us look at what the Acts of the Apostles shows us. But, first let’s look at when the disciples received the Holy Spirit and salvation. When did this happen? When did the disciples first become Christians? Look with me to John chapter 20: 19-23 which states, “On the first day of the week Jesus appeared, following His resurrection, to the disciples and He breathed on them and said to them ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'”

One commentary put it this way: “After greeting them Jesus breathed on them and said “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v.22 RSV). How should we relate this giving of the Holy Spirit to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost? Luke recorded a subsequent appearance of Christ after His resurrection, and at that time He ordered His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they would be endued with power from on high (Luke 24:49). So they did not receive supernatural power when the Lord breathed on them. Rather, they received the new resurrection life of Christ who had just risen from the dead. This was the first occasion when He could actually impart to them eternal life in its fullest sense. This is the climax of the Gospel of John, the Gospel of life in the Son of God. It is the beginning of the new creation. The disciples enter the New Covenent through the new birth.

“The Greek verb for “breathed,” emphusao, occurs only here in the N.T. But it is used in Gen. 2:7 in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the O.T.) in the account of man’s original creation: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The verb is also found in Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones, depicting the national and spiritual rebirth of Israel: ‘Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath . . . ‘Thus says the Lord God, ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life’ (Ezek. 37:9 NASB). The new birth is pictured here because God says in Ezek. 37:14, “I will put My Spirit within you, and you will come to life” (NASB). The Hebrew word ruach, like the Greek word pneuma, means either ‘wind,’ ‘breath,’ or ‘spirit,’ according to the context. Thus wind or breath is an especially fitting symbol of the Spirit of God in His invisible operation (see John 3:8). When God breathes, a creative act takes place.”

Therefore when Jesus blew upon His disciples, His act had symbolic signification. He was imparting the Holy Spirit to convey regeneration to His followers and make them new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). At that moment they were born of God.

In the Acts of the Apostles, there are five main accounts regarding the Holy Spirit

  • The Day of Pentecost – the disciples Acts chapter 2
  • The Samaritan Pentecost – Acts 8:4-25
  • Paul’s Conversion – Acts 9:1-19
  • The Gentile Pentecost – Acts 10 – 11:18
  • Disciples at Ephesus – Acts 19:1-10

We also need to look at the question of speaking in Tongues. Many Pentecostals see that the initial evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the gift of Tongues.

One commentator commented as follows – “Also there was another sign given for the first time that day but which has continued. In the early Church it became the normal accompaniment of receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had told His disciples that certain signs would accompany those who believe, and speaking with new tongues was one of those signs (Mark 16,17). When the disciples were overflowed with the Holy Spirit, they ‘began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance'(v.4 NASB). This is the phenomenon often called glossolalia, coined from the two Greek words glossa, meaning ‘tongue,’ and laleo, meaning ‘to speak.’

Without going into a long proof (for such proof see Henry Alford, The Greek Testament, 4th ed. [1861], II, 15-17), it is certain that the ‘tongues’ which the Christians spoke were not gibberish, but real languages. However, these were “other”than their native language or any other language which they had ever learned. ‘The miracle was in the giving of the ability to speak these languages, not in sensitizing in some way the ears of the hearers’ (C.C. Ryrie, The Acts of the Apostles [Chicago: Moody Press, 1961], p.19). This sign was meant especially for the unconverted Jews present at the festival, just as Paul later wrote that tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers (I Cor. 14:22). Certainly the result on the Day of Pentecost agrees with this stated purpose, because Jews were amazed and marveled when each one heard his own particular language or dialect spoken by one of the Christians. What they heard was not incoherent, unintelligible utterance, but language which communicated ‘the wonderful works of God’ (Acts 2:11). Most of them could account for it only by recognizing it as something miraculous and supernatural, although a few mockingly said the disciples must be drunk. Luke states that the 120 brethren were all filled with the Holy Spirit (v.4 NASB).”

This occurrence at Pentecost was somewhat unique. The other examples in the book of Acts suggest tongues to be a heavenly language imparted by the Holy Spirit.

So, on five occasions in the Book of Acts, we can see tongues related to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will look more closely at this in later articles.

Likewise,, we will look at how people receive the Holy Spirit later.

RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT

My wife Dorothy was virtually bedridden in the last year or so of her life,, but that did not stop her from sharing her faith with others. Her bed became her pulpit.

One such example concerned a man who was part of her hospice team. She gave him, as she often did, her book “Called Together.” He spent the weekend reading it and came back with questions for Dorothy from the book. Dorothy ministered to him, and I came into her room just before he was about to go to another appointment. He mentioned the Holy Spirit, and since we didn’t have time to talk, we suggested he get the book “They Speak In Other Tongues” by John Sherrill. This he did and read it right through. Shortly later on, he was kneeling by his bed praying when the Holy Spirit fell on him, and he began speaking in tongues without anyone ministering to him.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not just for Biblical days. It is happening today and is available to all believers.

In later editions of the Langstaff Letter, we will explore this further.

REFERENCES

“Layman’s commentary on the Holy Spirit”: A Logos Strong Guide.

The commentary is written by a group of writers, most of whom are highly qualified theologians and teachers.