The Proclaimer

Baptized With The Spirit

Jesus promised His apostles that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, would come and “guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13).  “He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father ye heard from me . . . ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence” (Acts 1:4, 5).  He says further, “But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8). The promise of Jesus to His apostles was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). 

Many believe that on that day The Holy Spirit not only fell upon the apostles but upon the multitude that gathered as well.  But notice the Scripture says, “And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1).  It goes on to say, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4).  To determine who was baptized or filled with the Spirit we must determine the antecedent of the pronoun “they.”  The last verse of Acts chapter one says that Matthias “was numbered with the eleven apostles,” hence, we know who “they” were – the apostles. The Spirit fell on the apostles before the crowd ever formed, for “when this sound was heard, the multitude came together” (Acts 2:6).  The baptism of the Holy Spirit was promised and limited to Christ’s apostles.

To be sure, the Holy Spirit dwells within every faithful child of God.  Paul writes, “Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19)  This passage, along with many others, teach that the Holy Spirit dwell within us.  The question is, how does the Spirit dwell in us?  To answer this question consider what Paul writes to the Ephesians, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16, 17).  This passage indicates how God dwells within us whether it be God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit.  God dwells within our hearts “through faith.”  And where does faith come from?  Faith comes from God’s word (Rom. 10:17).

The idea that the Holy Spirit personally dwells within the Christian separate and apart from the word of God is a popular doctrine in the religious world.  Many people believe that the Spirit operates upon their heart directly giving guidance and insight to their life.  They believe that the miraculous manifestation of the Holy Spirit is evidence of one’s salvation and that all true believers will be “Spirit filled” in just this way. As we have seen, Jesus did promise His apostles that the Spirit would come and “guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13), but no such miraculous manifestation of the Spirit was promised to all believers. Instead, the Spirit operates through the written word of God revealed by the Spirit through the apostles (Eph. 3:3-5). 

Paul declares that the man of God is made complete and “thoroughly equipped for every good work” by the Scriptures, God’s written word (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).  Now think about it.  If the Scriptures provide everything we need “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” there is nothing more for the Holy Spirit to give us.  Either we receive it all from God’s written word, or we don’t.  Either the Scriptures make us complete, and equip us thoroughly, or they do not.  The fact is, there is nothing that the Holy Spirit could tell us that God wants us to know that He hasn’t already revealed.

                                                                                           -- Clark Dugger

The Proclaimer