By Bob Vaughn - uca@uncommonanswers.com
"Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints"
Uncommon Answers Home Page
THE BAPTISM WITH THE
HOLY SPIRIT
John the Baptist spoke of such:
"I indeed baptize you with
water but one mightier than I is coming, the latchet of whose shoes I
am
not worthy to unloose: He will baptize you with the Holy Spitit and
fire"
(Luke 3:16).
Jesus
spoke of such: "For John truly
baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not
many days from now". (Acts 1:5).
Peter
and Joel spoke of such: "But this is that
which
was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the
last days, says God, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh"
(Acts
2:16-17). Notice that as Peter quotes Joel 2:28, he sees the event
that Jesus spoke of in Acts 1:5 - the baptism of the Holy Spirit -
as the fulfillment of the prophecy that God would pour out His Spirit
on all flesh.
After this event on the day of Pentecost the scriptures never again speak of anyone being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Consider the word "baptize". It means to be whelmed, covered, submerged, as when we are baptized with water. When we are baptized with water we are not filled with water, and likewise being baptized with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean we are filled with the Spirit. John, Peter, and Joel said that all were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost it happened. All flesh, as the Word says, were baptized with the Holy Spirit.
This truth is further taught by Jesus in John 16:7-8, "And when He is come" - the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit - "He will reprove the world of sin, and of rightousness, and of judgement". The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, was to reprove the world, all people, not just believers.Again,
this truth is taught by Paul in Acts 17:27-28, "they might feel after
Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of
us: For in Him we live, and move, and have our being". All men
everywhere can find the Lord, for they are baptized in His Spirit
- living, moving, and having their being in Him.
Peter
began to realize this truth in Acts 10:44-47, "while Peter yet
spoke
these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as
came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles was also poured out
the gift of the Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with tongues,
and
magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these
should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as well as
we". He saw that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles as
well as the Jews -- this he confirmed in Acts 11:15-17.
