The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
When we become a Christian we are made part of God’s
family through the Holy Spirit!
The baptism of
the Holy Spirit is the process by which the
Holy Spirit unites a believer with Christ
and with other believers in Christ’s body at
the moment of their salvation.
Jesus promised His disciples before He left that the Holy
Spirit would be given to His followers (John 14-16).
The coming of the Spirit would benefit
Christians more than even the actual
presence of Christ because the Spirit could
live inside every believer at the same time.
The Holy Spirit’s Baptism
Every Christian receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of
their salvation (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13). The Holy Spirit
does many things in the life of the new
believer. The Holy Spirit regenerates us
(Titus 3:5-7; John 6:63; 1 Pet. 3:18; Rom. 8:16), the Holy Spirit seals us
(Eph. 1:13-14; 4:30; Rom. 8:16; 2 Cor. 1:22; 2 Tim. 2:19), the Holy
Spirit anoints us (1 Jn. 2:20, 27; 2 Cor. 1:21), the Holy Spirit indwells
us (John 14:17; Rom. 8:9-11), and the Holy
Spirit baptizes us (1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 6:3-4).
The statement, they
were “baptized with the Holy Spirit” is
found seven times in the New Testament and
the reference is to the once-for-all act
whereby Christ places all true believers
into the Holy Spirit’s care and safekeeping
until the day of His return (Acts 1:5;
Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; 1 Cor. 12:13).
1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For in one
Spirit we were all baptized into one
body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all
were made to drink of one Spirit.“
The Spirit joins all believers to the
body of Christ. The tense of the verb
indicates a past action, and it is something
all believers experience, even the carnal ones
(Rom. 8:9-11). The saying, “all were made to
drink of one Spirit” is a reference to the
Spirit’s living and dwelling inside us (John 7:37-39). The church is the spiritual body
of Christ and is formed as believers are
immersed by Christ with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ himself is the baptizer
who brings each believer into
union with all other believers by immersing
them in the Spirit (Matt. 3:11). Paul was not writing
about water baptism in 1 Corinthians 12:13,
water baptism is an outward sign that
symbolizes the believer’s union with Christ
in His death and resurrection (Rom. 6:3-4). This baptism is with the Holy Spirit
whereby all believers are immersed
spiritually into the body of Christ.
In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul was
emphasizing the unity of believers. There
cannot be any believer who has not been
Spirit-baptized (Rom. 8:1-11), just as
there cannot be more than one Spirit
baptism. If there was, the concept of
oneness and unity in Christ’s body would
become meaningless. All true
Christ-followers are Spirit-baptized and
become members of the one body of Christ
(Eph. 4:4-6), and are called to function in
harmony with one another (1 Cor. 12:14-20).
After the
Spirit descended on the church in Acts 2,
the baptism is always spoken of in the past
tense. The baptism of the Spirit was a
one-time event that grows numerically as
time goes on. It is not a
second blessing to seek, or an experience that we
feel, but rather a position we gain through
faith in Jesus Christ. The sphere of the
baptism grows numerically as more and more people
accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior
(Acts 8:17; 10:44-45; 11:15-16; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 12:13;
Gal. 3:26-28; Eph. 4:4-6).
The apostles had to
wait until the Day of Pentecost to receive
the Holy Spirit, but ever
since then, all true believers are baptized with
the Holy Spirit when they come to faith in
Jesus Christ (see: 1 Cor. 12:13; 6:19-20; Rom. 8:9; Titus 3:5-6).
Every true believer receives the
baptism of the Spirit at their
conversion.
