The Pentecostals and Charismatics are the weird cousins of the Christian denominational family. They’re the ones that go on about how important it is to be “baptized in the Holy Spirit” and preach “the full Gospel” while they get slain in the Spirit and hold Jericho marches. But you usually just end up praying they won’t start speaking in tongues at the family reunion this year.
The fervor of the Pentecostals and Charismatics for their distinctive doctrines is understandable. The foundational doctrine is that every Christian can (and should) receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as first instructed by Christ in Acts 1:4-5, 8:
While he was with them, he declared, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait there for what my Father promised, which you heard about from me. 5 For John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.” (NET)
If Christ considered the Baptism of the Spirit so important that he commanded his first disciples not to begin their ministry until they received its power then how much more should we consider it an essential component of our walk and ministry? The Pentecostal/Charismatic perspective sees a Church that neglects the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as a Church that has cut itself off from a critical divine empowerment and ministerial enablement, one that Christ himself instructed His Church to seek.
However, notwithstanding the good intention and sincerity of this perspective, it has caused some good questions to be raised by those Christians not so quick to believe in this doctrine. First, we believe that the Christian receives an impartation of the Holy Spirit immediately upon salvation, sealing the Christian with the identity of the redeemed and giving assurance of the hope of our future glorification (Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 1:21-22). If every believer receives this impartation of the Spirit upon salvation, why should we believe there is another that should be received? Couldn’t the Pentecost event simply have been the inauguration of the impartation of the Holy Spirit that is given at salvation?
Second, Christ gave instruction to his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come after His ascension. Isn’t it possible that the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a one-time event that occurred at the beginning of the age of grace and the Church? In other words, why should we believe that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is meant to be received by every Christian today, not just the first generation of Christians?
And third, the question that overarches the first two: what biblical support is there (1) that there is an impartation of the Spirit that God wants believers to receive that is different than that received at salvation and (2) that this impartation is meant to be received by Christians of every era? It’s one thing to (mistakenly) believe God has given you an extra impartation of the Holy Spirit and utter some syllables that sound like a foreign language in a moment of emotional excitement. But what scriptural support is there for the doctrine of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
Pentecostal Polemics
For the most part, I grew up within Pentecostalism. Through my high school years, I heard the average Pentecostal response to the above questions: to cite proof texts from the book of Acts that describe the first disciples receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and take that to mean the experience should be the same for us today. This response disappoints me because it doesn’t truly address the above questions. How do we know the Pentecost event wasn’t simply part of the salvific impartation of the Spirit? How do we know that God still wants us to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit today? Citing proof texts doesn’t provide good answers.
It wasn’t until I took a Pneumatology class at my Pentecostal alma mater, University of Valley Forge, that I heard a much better polemic: a predominantly deductive argument for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
What follows is my own re-articulation of this argument, the reason why I’m persuaded that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a biblically legitimate impartation of the Spirit that is distinct from and subsequent to salvation and intended for Christians today. Please note that I don’t deal with the issue of Initial Physical Evidence (an observable evidence that a person has been baptized in the Holy Spirit) in this polemic.
A Foundational Premise
A critical foundational premise in the following polemic is the one I articulated earlier: every Christian receives the salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit at the moment of their salvation. Biblical support for this premise can be found in Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30, 2 Cor. 1:21-22. Since I presume this premise is widely accepted, I’ll continue without arguing for it further.
- A person receives the salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit upon salvation.
This premise logically allows us to create a second IF/THEN premise.
- IF a person is saved THEN the person has received the salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit.
I’ll abbreviate these premises symbolically as follows:
- S
- If PS Then PI
The Samaritan Event
The next step in this polemic requires examining events recorded in Acts 8:14-17.
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 These two went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 16 (For the Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, and they received the Holy Spirit. (NET)
There are several important premises we must glean from this passage. Note in verse 14 that the Samaritans had “accepted the word of God” and in verse 16 that they had “been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” The baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus refers to baptism by water, by which the new believers publicly declared their faith in Christ. I highlight these verses to produce the premise that the Samaritan believers were saved. This is premise #3.
- The Samaritan believers were saved.
Abbreviated:
- BS
Now let’s plug premise #3 into premise #2. Logically we can say:
- IF a person is saved THEN the person has received the salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit.
- The Samaritan believers were saved.
THEREFORE
- The Samaritan believers had received the salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit.
The symbolic argument is as follows:
- If PS Then PI
- BS
THEREFORE
- BI
Now look back to verse 16. It says “the Spirit had not yet come on any of [the Samaritan believers].” What impartation of the Holy Spirit does this refer to? The expression could easily imply the Baptism in the Holy Spirit the disciples received in Acts chapter 2, but how do we know for sure if it’s the Baptism of the Holy Spirit rather than a salvific impartation of the Spirit?
For the sake of argument, let’s simply say that…
- The Samaritan believers had NOT received a particular impartation of the Holy Spirit described in verse 16.
Abbreviated:
- ~BR (~ denotes negation)
Now let’s add premise #5 into the preceding premise. We find an opportunity for inductive reasoning.
- The Samaritan believers had received the salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit.
- The Samaritan believers had NOT received a particular impartation of the Holy Spirit described in verse 16.
THEREFORE
- The salvific impartation of the Holy Spirit is NOT the particular impartation of the Holy Spirit described in verse 16.
The symbolic argument:
- BI
- ~BP
THEREFORE
- II ≠ IP
So we’ve determined that the particular impartation of the Holy Spirit described in verse 16 is NOT that received upon salvation. The next question is, what impartation is it? The only other impartation of the Holy Spirit described in the New Testament is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. We must therefore conclude that the impartation described in verse 16 is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
This argument therefore concludes that the Bible reveals that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a legitimate impartation of the Holy Spirit that is distinct from and subsequent to salvation.
The Continuance of the Baptism In The Holy Spirit
But how do we know that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is something we should continue to seek and receive today, two thousand years later?
First, note that in the biblical description of the Samaritan event that the apostles intentionally prayed for the Samaritan believers to receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, and their prayers were effectual.
14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 These two went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 16 (For the Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:14-17 (NET)
This reveals that God didn’t intend the Baptism in the Holy Spirit to be a one-time event on the day of Pentecost.
But how do we know that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was intended to be received by every generation of Christians, not just the first generation? To answer this question, let us turn to the Apostle Peter’s Pentecostal sermon.
In Acts 2:14-39, Peter addresses the crowd’s attempts to explain the strange behavior the disciples exhibited after being baptized in the Holy Spirit (i.e. speaking in tongues). He begins by explaining that the people are witnessing an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that God intended and then spends most of the sermon describing the resurrection and divinity of Christ. The conclusion of the sermon is relevant to our application.
37 Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” Acts 2:37-39 (NET)
The “gift of the Holy Spirit” to which Peter refers is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit the crowd saw the disciples experiencing. In verse 39, Peter states that this gift, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, is “for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
In saying, “it is for you,” Peter states that God gives the Baptism to everyone, not just the apostles. In saying it is “for…your children,” Peter shows that the Baptism is intended for succeeding generations. In saying it is “for all who are far away,” Peter reveals that the Baptism transcends all geographical boundaries. It is for every person on earth, most of whom would hear of it some time later. And in saying the Baptism is “for all whom our God will call,” Peter makes it clear that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is for every person that God calls to faith in Jesus Christ. That includes every Christian of every generation and era, including us today.
Conclusion
We see, therefore, through these biblical passages, (1) that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a legitimate impartation of the Holy Spirit that is distinct from and subsequent to salvation and (2) that God intends for this gift to be received by all Christians of every generation.
Considering how Christ himself urged his disciples to seek this empowering impartation of the Spirit before beginning ministry and the Apostles Peter and John didn’t hesitate to direct the Samaritan believers into receiving this gift, we should not neglect to seek to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit in our own lives. The God-ordained empowerment of the Holy Spirit is too precious to be overlooked.
Image courtesy of Reji.
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