Baptism With or By the Holy Ghost

Baptism With or By The Holy Ghost I. Some clarity is needed concerning the doctrine of the Holy Ghost/Spirit. A. Scripture speaks of gifts of the Holy Ghost which He distributes. 1CO 12. B. Scripture speaks of gifts of the Holy Ghost in which He is the gift. LUK 11:13. C. Scripture speaks of baptism with the Holy Ghost. MAR 1:8. D. Scripture speaks of baptism by the Holy Ghost. 1CO 12:13. E. Scripture speaks of visible manifestation of the Holy Ghost. LUK 3:22. F. Scripture speaks of invisible operation of the Holy Ghost. JOH 3:8. G. This is a study in rightly dividing the word of truth. 2TI 2:15. II. Baptism WITH the Holy Ghost refers to the fulfillment of various prophecies of the coming of the Holy Ghost as Comforter to indwell and empower the N.T. church. JOEL 2:28-29; MAR 1:8; JOH 7:37-39; ACT 1:5-8. A. Mind the contrast between “baptize with water” and “baptize with the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Ghost is the element of this baptism. B. The prophecies were fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the infant N.T. church was filled with the Holy Ghost. ACT 2:1-4, 16-21. 1. This came only upon the 120 disciples who had just performed a church function in electing Matthias as Judas' replacement. ACT 1:15-26. 2. Multitudes had earlier been baptized with water. MAT 3:5-6; JOH 4:1-2. 3. No record is given of any other than the church receiving the baptism with the Holy Ghost. 4. The institution which Jesus said He would build and preserve (MAT 16:18) was thus uniquely filled and empowered. 5. The spiritual body which is Jesus Christ's church in this world is thus connected with its Head. EPH 2:22. C. A similar baptism occurred when the first uncircumcised Gentiles were converted and baptized. ACT 10:44-48. 1. The acceptableness of uncircumcised Gentiles was a radical concept to the Jewish believers. ACT 11:1-3. 2. To prove that Gentiles by grace and faith were on equal standing with Jews by grace and faith, “...God gave them THE LIKE GIFT...” (ACT 11:15-17). D. That which needed to be done to bring together Jewish and Gentile believers in the same institution was accomplished by these two baptisms with the Holy Ghost. It was never repeated since there was no further need of it. III. ACT 2:38-39 promises a gift of the Holy Ghost to believers. A. This gift of the Spirit is conditioned upon repentance, faith and water baptism to “...as many as the Lord our God shall call.” B. The 3000 who were converted that day would have received this promised gift. C. The Lord added them to the church, that institution which was now the dwelling place of the Spirit. ACT 2:41, 47. D. This is a giving by the Lord of a place in His house, per ISA 56:5. IV. This brings us to the baptism BY the Holy Ghost. 1CO 12:13. A. Unlike baptism WITH the Holy Ghost where the Spirit was the element of baptism, this baptism is BY the Holy Ghost. He is the One doing the baptizing. Baptism With or By the Holy Ghost Page 1B. In 1CO 12, Paul is writing of gifts that the Lord gave to believers in the church. 1. The Spirit gave these gifts severally (distinctly, separately) according to His will. 1CO 12:4-11; 28-31. 2. Diversities of gifts amongst the church members need not have been an issue of contention in view of the bigger picture: all were recipients of a common gift as members of the church. The Spirit had given them all a place in the church which He indwelt. 1CO 12:12-13. C. This is baptism BY the Spirit (Holy Ghost). 1. Upon confession of sins and faith in Jesus Christ, when the believer is baptized in water, the Spirit baptizes him into the church. 2. Relate this with ACT 2:41, 47. a. The Lord adds converts to the church which is Christ's body. b. “Now the Lord is that Spirit...” (2CO 3:17). 3. The Spirit baptizes (immerses) converts into the church He indwells where they are “...made to drink into one Spirit” (1CO 12:13). 4. This answers to Jesus' promise in JOH 7:37-39, “...if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink...” a. Coming unto Christ is to be “...built up a spiritual house...” (1PE 2:4-5). b. The spiritual house of Christ is the church. 1TI 3:15. c. Believers there uniquely may drink their fill of the Spirit. EPH 5:18. D. For penitent believers, the Spirit is the giver of the gift of a place in the body of Christ where the Spirit ministers His graces and comforts and uniquely joins them to Christ. It is the communion of the Holy Ghost. 2CO 13:14. V. There were special givings of the Spirit. ACT 8:14-18; 19:2-6. A. Consider ACT 8:14-18. 1. This gift of the Spirit came well AFTER faith and baptism with water at which time they would have received the gift of the Spirit which is addition to the church. This then is something different. 2. This giving of the Spirit was by the apostles' laying on of hands, something different than the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost or Cornelius' house. 3. Things that are different are not the same. B. Consider ACT 19:2-6. 1. This gift of the Spirit is similar to ACT 8:14-18. 2. It came by the laying on of an apostle's hands. C. The office of an apostle was restricted by rule and time (ACT 1:21-22). There are no true extra-biblical apostles. Therefore we have no basis to expect a recurrence of these special givings of the Spirit today. D. These two events were special givings of the Holy Ghost that were unique to those days when God was confirming the apostles' words. HEB 2:3-4. Baptism With or By the Holy Ghost Page 2