by Alan Langstaff

Last Sunday was Pentecost, the least celebrated day in our Christian calendar. We remember Christmas and Easter, but few people and few churches remember this most significant day: the day the disciples and other followers were filled with the Holy Spirit, and the day that is the birthday of the Church.

You can read all about it in the second chapter of the book of Acts. However, the Church has not always agreed on how we receive the Holy Spirit.

TWO DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS

Among those who base their beliefs on Scripture, there are basically two understandings of when and even how people receive the Holy Spirit. 

1. ONE EXPERIENCE

The belief that you receive the Holy Spirit when you are born again, and you are saved. This view is that when you give your life to Jesus, you not only receive Salvation but also receive the Holy Spirit. Most evangelicals hold this position, and a few charismatics or Pentecostals.

2. TWO EXPERIENCES

The belief that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a second experience beyond salvation. That they are not the same. Most charismatics and Pentecostals believe in a second experience of the Holy Spirit.

In regard to these two views, note that you cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that brings us to our Savior, and when we receive Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit as well. However, we need to note that:

  • When we receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, we receive Life. Salvation is all about receiving the eternal life that is promised to us in verses like John 3:16.
  • When we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we receive Power. Such as when Jesus spoke to the disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8).

We should also note that sometimes a person receives at the same time. I know a friend for whom this was his experience. He received salvation and the Holy Spirit at the same time.

How do we put all this together? Well, let us realize that there are four basic building blocks to our foundation as a Christian. 

1) Repentance. When we realize that we are sinners and we need to repent of our sins and come to Jesus.

2) Faith. At that point, we receive by faith the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, who died for us on Calvary to be our personal Savior.

Now, when these two steps are taken, a person becomes a born-again believer, but that is not the end of Christian formation.

3) Water Baptism. The most normal thing that people did after they became born again was to be water baptized. Which is the sacrament wherein a person identifies with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. There is more to water baptism than many people realize. 

4) Baptism in the Holy Spirit. As stated previously, this is when a person asks for and receives the gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Now, if you read the Acts of the Apostles in Scripture, that is what happens normally and regularly. There are five times in Acts that record people receiving the Holy Spirit.

  • Day of Pentecost – Acts 2
  • The Samaritan Pentecost – Acts 8
  • Paul’s Conversion – Acts 9
  • The Gentile Pentecost – Acts 10
  • Disciples at Ephesus – Acts 19

In 4 of the 5 occurrences, it happened separately from conversion. In the story of Peter and the Roman Centurion in Acts 10, it was simultaneous. So it is possible for a person to receive salvation and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit simultaneously. 

THE QUESTION OF TONGUES

Scholars not only argue about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, whether it is one experience or two, but the bigger dispute is over the issue of “speaking in tongues.”

There is no question that the first Christians spoke in tongues.

  • Acts 2 – they spoke in tongues.
  • Acts 8 – It doesn’t mention tongue speaking, but one can argue that is what happened.
  • Acts 9 – It doesn’t mention tongues specifically, but we know that Paul certainly spoke in tongues.
  • Acts 10 – Cornelius and the others certainly spoke in tongues.
  • Acts 19 – records the people Paul prayed for who spoke in tongues as a result [20 years after Pentecost].

The question: Was this only an experience to get the church started, or was it something that was available to Christians of all ages?

At the time of the Reformation, the concept of “cessationism” developed regarding tongues and the spiritual gifts. The main argument of this view is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were only given for the foundation of the Church, they were given to confirm the apostolic ministry with miraculous signs until the canon of the Scripture was complete.

The opposing view is what is known as “continuationism.” Where it is believed that the gifts of the Holy Spirit continue throughout Church history.

Let it be noted that there is no biblical basis for believing in cessationism. They often refer to 1 Corinthians 13, which speaks of “tongues ceasing.” But this is in the context of the second coming of Christ.

Even in the Reformation period, reformers like John Calvin rejected the spiritual gifts, but when they did, they did not have a biblical basis for their point of view.

So, one can argue that the Holy Spirit and the spiritual gifts are available today, and believers should seek everything that God has made available to us on the basis of Scriptural teaching.

HOW DID THEY RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT?

It is interesting to note that there were two ways people received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Firstly, it sometimes came as a direct act of the Lord with no human involved. This was certainly the case of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost when God took the initiative; it was a sovereign act of God. This is what happened at Cornelius’s home.

Secondly, it comes as a result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit through human agents. This is clearly what happened in the case of the Samaritans, and that also happened with Paul when Ananias prayed for him to receive the Holy Spirit. The disciples at Ephesus received the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by Paul.

I am not so much concerned with how it happens, but rather the fact that people receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is the promise of the Father promised by Jesus. Sometimes they get water baptized first, then they receive the Holy Spirit, or vice versa – i.e., they receive the Holy Spirit and then get water baptized.

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION

Let me finish with a closing story that I have probably shared on previous occasions. In 1972, I went with a group of young people to be part of the Youth with a Mission outreach to the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. 

We were housed in a big castle in Hurlach. I slept in the Attic, which had double beds on both sides. There was someone directly opposite from me who often when he went to sleep, would speak out, first in tongues and then an interpretation. When you heard the first part, you waited for the other shoe to drop, so to speak.

Years later, I was ministering in Scotland, and I heard the other part of the story confirmed from that man’s daughter. He was a Scottish race car driver who swore continually, even when he spoke when he was asleep. Then he got saved, and he no longer swore in his sleep but spoke in tongues.

Truly, he had an encounter with the power of the Lord and with the Holy Spirit that changed even his subconscious speaking when he was asleep. Such is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Let me ask you the question that Paul asked the seekers at Ephesus, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? They had not even known about the Holy Spirit. So Paul prayed for them, and they all spoke in tongues.

So, have you received the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues? I encourage you to seek to receive them and let the power of God flow through you as you experience your own Day of Pentecost.