Baptized in the Spirit
Taken from the baptistpillar
Heavily edited.
The Holy Spirit resides with every saved person
at the moment of salvation
never to depart.
The Holy Spirit does not come at a later date.
One is not a member of the Church
until he is saved and water baptised
by the authority of a New Testament Church
The Church is the Bride of Christ
First question:
The New Testament speaks of a baptism in water and a baptism in the Spirit.
In which connection is the word baptism used in a literal sense
and in which one is it used in a figurative sense?
I put it upon your consciences to answer that question.
Is the baptism in the Spirit the literal baptism,
and the baptism in the water the figurative, or vice versa?
Second question:
Is there any command in the New Testament imposing on you
the obligation to be baptized in water?
Third question:
Is Spirit baptism or water baptism
designated and required in the following Scriptures?
- 5 And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem,
- and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Is that water baptism or Spirit baptism?
- 22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea;
- and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
- 23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim,
- because there was much water there:
- and they came, and were baptized.
Is that Spirit baptism or water baptism?
- 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
- and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Does that require water baptism or Spirit baptism?
- 29 And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God,
- being baptized with the baptism of John.
- 30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves,
- being not baptized of him.
- Then Peter said unto them,
- Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
- for the remission of sins,
- and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- 39 For the promise is unto you,
- and to your children, and to all that are afar off,
- even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
- 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying,
- Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
- 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:
- and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
- 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God,
- and the name of Jesus Christ,
- they were baptized, both men and women.
- 36 And as they went on their way,
- they came unto a certain water:
- and the eunuch said,
- See, here is water;
- what doth hinder me to be baptized?
- 37 And Philip said,
- If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.
- And he answered and said,
- I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
- 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still:
- and they went down both into the water,
- both Philip and the eunuch;
- and he baptized him.
- 39 And when they were come up out of the water,
- the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip,
- that the eunuch saw him no more:
- and he went on his way rejoicing.
- 47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized,
- which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
- 13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side,
- where prayer was wont to be made;
- and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
- 14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple,
- of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us:
- whose heart the Lord opened,
- that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
- 15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying,
- If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
- come into my house, and abide there.
- And she constrained us.
- 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord,
- and to all that were in his house.
- 33 And he took them the same hour of the night,
- and washed their stripes;
- and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
- 8 And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
- believed on the Lord with all his house;
- and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.
- 16 And now why tarriest thou?
- arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins,
- calling on the name of the Lord.
Do these Scriptures designate and require water baptism or Spirit baptism?
Is the baptism in these Scriptures a literal one or a figurative?
Do these Scriptures obligate you to water baptism?
Fourth question:
In trying to understand your duty concerning water baptism
should you study what is said in the New Testament
about water baptism or about Spirit baptism?
Fifth question:
Is there a command in the New Testament
which imposes the obligation of Spirit baptism on you?
If so, where? Will you quote it?
Sixth question:
Does it exempt you from the necessity of obedience
to plain and positive commands to submit to water baptism?
Seventh question:
Because something is said in the New Testament about the Spirit baptism,
using the word in a figurative sense,
should you shun, avoid, neglect, or depreciate a positive and unequivocal command
expressed in a literal sense of the word?
- “I indeed baptize you in water ...
- but he that cometh after me is mightier than I,
- whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
- he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost.”
This text is a contrast throughout.
There is a contrast between two baptizers, John and Jesus.
Jesus is mightier than John, in the purity of His character,
by so much as an immaculate one is superior to a sinful one;
in the power which He holds,
in so much as omnipotence transcends temporary, limited, and derived power;
in the dignity of His character and of His office,
by so much as all authority in heaven and on earth surpasses a brief earthly commission;
and in His ministry by so much as that one was to decrease and cease
and the other to increase and endure “alway, even unto the end of the world.”
There stood the two baptizers;
and of the one it is said that he was as great as any man ever born of a woman;
and hence it is not instituting a comparison
between an insignificant man on the one hand and a greater man on the other,
but it is instituting a comparison between the greatest man
and a Being infinitely greater than the greatest man.
Hence, it unequivocally teaches the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as to His immaculate nature, as to His omnipotent power,
as to His investment with all authority,
and as to the perpetuity of His kingdom.
The second point of contrast is in the baptism.
- “I indeed baptize you in water.”
- “He will baptize you in the Holy Ghost.”
Here are two elements which stand over against each other
as the two baptizers stood over against each other.
One element is water; the other element is the Holy Ghost.
There is not only a contrast between the baptizers and the baptism,
the element, but there is a contrast in the subjects.
John baptized in water only penitent believers,
men who had repented of their sins,
men who had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus baptizes in the Holy Ghost.
There is also a contrast in the design of the two baptisms.
John baptized in water penitent believers who in that ordinance,
visibly and before men, confessed their allegiance to Jesus Christ,
and showed forth His burial and resurrection.
The design of the baptism of the Holy Ghost was to confer power on Christians,
whether they had been baptized in water or not, as you will see directly.
Thus, between the baptizers and the elements in which they baptized
and the subjects they baptized, and the design of the baptism,
they stood over against each other in contrast,
and the essential feature of the contrast was power. Power!
John said to these Pharisees and Sadducees who came to this baptism,
“I cannot baptize you. You do not repent.
You do not bring forth fruits meet for repentance.
I announce to you that the axe is laid at the root of the trees,
and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
But I cannot take that axe and cut down the trees,
I cannot make that discrimination.
I cannot separate between the righteous and the unrighteous:
but there cometh one after me mightier than I.
He can and He will.”
Neither of these baptisms supersede or displace the other.
You could not plead an exemption from the water baptism
because you had received the other.
Each one stood upon its own merits.
Now I want to show you in the next place what the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not.
I want to discuss it negatively.
In the first place, it is not conversion for the following reasons:
In conversion the Spirit of God is the agent or administrator;
but in the baptism of the Spirit the Spirit of God is the element,
and Jesus is the agent or administrator.
Jesus will baptize you in the Holy Ghost;
as the water was the element in which John baptized penitent believers,
so the Spirit was the element in which Jesus baptized
those who received the baptism of the Spirit.
But in conversion the Holy Ghost is the divine agent,
the direct administrator.
He originates, He acts, He confers, and this is the first point of distinction.
In the second place,
the subjects of the Spirit baptism
and the subjects of regeneration are totally different.
The subject of regeneration is a sinner, a lost sinner.
=========================================
The subject of the Spirit baptism is a Christian,
one who is already regenerated and converted.
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There is not a man living who can show one instance where a sinner
received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Take Acts 2
where it is said that the Christian people being assembled together in one place,
on these Christian people came the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus had said unto His {disciples} Church:
Tarry ye in Jerusalem until I send to you the promise of the Father,
which ye have heard of me.
And at the close of that sermon Peter makes faith in Jesus Christ
the condition of receiving that Spirit baptism:
as Paul does, when he says to those disciples whom he met at Ephesus.
Have you received the baptism of the Holy Ghost since you believed,
or did you receive it when you believed?
In Acts 8 Philip preached in Samaria,
and it is said
that “When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God,
and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized” in water,
but as yet the Holy Ghost had fallen on none of them.
The apostles came down and prayed
that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost,
and these penitent believers, those baptized Christians, received it.
Take the case in Acts 10 when Cornelius and his household
received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
The disciples, to whom the matter was rehearsed,
argued from it that they must have previously repented unto life
and had their faith purified by Christ,
as you will find from Acts 11 and Acts 15.
Cornelius the Gentile had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Then hath God granted unto the Gentiles repentance unto life,
purifying their hearts by faith.
Concerning the Samaritans it is taught expressly
that they received that baptism after they believed.
Jesus breathed upon them and they received the Holy Ghost <ref>
Those baptized believers already had the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
Was nobody ever converted until that time?
Was not Abel a Christian? Was not Enoch? Was not Noah? Was not Elijah,
who went up to heaven in a {chariot of fire}? WRONG It was a whirlwind <ref>
Old Testament saints did not have the Holy Ghost.
Their sins were "covered" until the cross.
Were not the apostles,
who had themselves been baptized in water and who had sent out as baptizers?
Jesus breathed upon them and they received the Holy Ghost <ref>
Those baptized believers already had the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.
The baptism in the Spirit is regeneration or conversion,
Jesus said at Cæsarea-Philippi,
- “On this rock will I build my church,”
referring to Himself and the faith which Peter had expressed in Him.
In the first letter to the 1 Corinthians 12 1 Corinthians 13 1 Corinthians 14
we learn that many who had received the baptism of the Spirit were far from being sanctified.
They were selfish, they were proud,
they were magnifying these extraordinary powers
which had been conferred upon them,
and they were depreciating the graces of love and faith and hope
which in their highest development constitute sanctification.
There in that church were men who possessed the gift of tongues,
who could work miracles, who could interpret tongues, who could heal the sick;
and yet they were exceedingly imperfect Christians.
Joel 2.28-29
The baptism in the Spirit was a figurative and not in a literal sense.
When John the Baptist says, “I baptize you in water,”
that is a literal baptism,
“but Jesus will baptize you in the Holy Ghost,”
that is a figurative use of the word.
Baptists are the only people called Christians on the face of the earth
that require salvation before baptism.
There are no others on the earth today who take that position.
Instead of making baptism essential to salvation
Baptists are the only ones who demand in every case
that its subjects must be saved before they are baptized.
