Acts
1:1-8
1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day
when He was taken up to heaven, after
He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles
whom He had chosen.
3 To these He
also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the
things concerning the kingdom
of God.
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem,
but to wait for what
the Father had promised, "Which," He
said, "you heard of from Me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this
time You are restoring
the kingdom to Israel?"
7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
We each may remember reading these words or hearing them
from someone, especially verse 8. Many a son or daughter from a Christian
family recited them in front of the church or in their missions group. This
week, though, God drew my attention to verse 5. Jesus told the disciples, “You
will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Many people
equate baptism by the Holy Spirit as a separate occurrence from salvation. When
they do this, they create another level that Christ did not teach. My curiosity
piqued, I delved into what this baptism by the Holy Spirit meant in this
passage and in the New Testament as a whole. By doing this, I hope we can understand
and not be misled. Many believe that your actions must speak of your baptism by
the Spirit in ways such as speaking in tongues or miraculous healings. Let us
dive deep into the Word to understand what Christ and the New Testament writers
meant when they spoke about baptism with the Holy Spirit.
First, we must understand what the word “baptized” means
in this context. Baptized comes from the Greek word baptizo. Baptizo means being permanently changed. This permanent
change is such that a union and identification with Christ occurs. A person
becomes so Christlike that people cannot see the original person so much as they
can see Christ living in and through the person. Intellectual assent to Christ
is not enough, but a permanent change to the person occurs so that the person
can say as Paul did, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I
who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me”
(Galatians 2:20, [NASB]). If we read Galatians to 3:27, we find that Paul spoke
of his baptism in Christ. He meant that he was clothed in Christ. His being
sank into Christ so that it was as if he put on new clothes, a new life. Jesus
is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said this in
Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, and John 1:33, though he did not say what
this meant. Our verse today tells us that Jesus spoke of baptism by the Holy
Spirit, but did not say what it meant. In the sixth of seven references in the
New Testament regarding baptism with the Holy Spirit, Acts 11:15-16 refers us
to an incident in Acts 10. In this incident, Peter preached the Gospel to the
household of Cornelius. Three things occurred there: 1) they received salvation,
2) they spoke in tongues, and 3) they received water baptism. Peter understood
that the promise of baptism with the Spirit occurred. Yet, no statement occurred
as to what was the baptism of the Spirit..
The final
occurrence in the New Testament of baptism with the Holy Spirit is in 1
Corinthians 12:13. This passage says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized
into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all
made to drink of one Spirit.” Scripture affirms that this baptism is the same
as the other six. First, Ephesians 4:5 declares only one baptism, so each of the
seven references must speak of the same baptism. It does not refer to water
baptism (an ordinance of Christ symbolizing outwardly what Christ has done
within a person), but to baptism with the Holy Spirit. Christ unites the
believer with Himself through the Holy Spirit in this baptism. Believer’s
baptism into the body of Christ is one baptism. Second, the preposition before
Holy Spirit in each of these passages in the Greek can mean “by”, "with”,
or "in”. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 and the other six passages referred to
above, this Greek preposition translates as “by one Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is
not the one who baptizes; Jesus is the baptizer. Jesus baptizes the believer
into His spiritual body by, with, or in the Holy Spirit. Third, in 1 Corinthians
12:13, the special ending on “Spirit” in the Greek language shows how the Holy
Spirit is not the one doing the action of baptizing. Jesus is the baptizer. Concluding
this part of the study, Jesus Christ is the one who is the baptizer and He
baptizes every believer into His spiritual body with the Holy Spirit. This
baptism occurs because the person experiences a life change when he or she
acknowledges with their heart, mind, and soul that Jesus is the Lord and Savior
of his or her life. The person becomes so identified in union with Christ that his
or her old self is no longer identifiable, but Christ in him or her was.
What does the
Holy Spirit do in us? Why do we need to receive the Father’s promise of
Christ’s Holy Spirit? What Jesus said in John 16:14 sums it well, “He will
glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” What is it
the Holy Spirit helps the Christian with since Jesus Christ, in John 14:16 and
26, calls Him the Helper? The Holy Spirit lives in the Christian and ministers
to every spiritual need that the Christian’s heart is willing to receive. These
ministries of the Holy Spirit encompass two distinct areas – ministries to the
person and ministries through the Christian. The first part covers the person’s
conversion experience:
Convicting (John 16:8),
Participating
in new birth (John 3:5),
Imparting new life (Romans 8:11),
Uniting the
Christian with Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13),
Sealing the
Christian as God’s own (Ephesians 1:13), and
Guaranteeing
the Christian’s inheritance (Ephesians 1:14)
and the person’s daily life:
Indwelling the Christian (John 14:23),
Enabling
victorious living (1 John 4:4),
Being the
Helper and Teacher (John 14:26,
Calling the
Christian for special service for Christ (Acts 13:2),
Interceding in
prayer for the Christian (Romans 8:26-27),
Assuring the
Christian of his or her salvation (1 John 4:13), and
Working in the Christian’s life to make him
or her more fruitful and like Jesus (Galatians 5:22-23).
The second part of the Holy
Spirit’s work is through the Christian. He works in these ways:
Empowering the Christian for witnessing (Acts 1:8) and
Giving spiritual gifts to each Christian
for edifying the church (1 Corinthians 12:4-31 and 1 Peter 4:10).
These show that God continues
to take part in the Christian’s life through the Holy Spirit from the point at
which the person seeks for and accepts Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and
Savior. The Holy Spirit works in the life of the Christian so that Jesus Christ
is glorified.
This topic
often leads to the question where people wonder: why do others say a person
must speak in tongues or heal people through miracles to be considered a
Christian? They speak of two baptisms: the baptism with water and the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. First, the baptism with water does not give salvation. This
baptism is a physical outward symbol of what occurred within a person when they
accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. This baptism is a testimony by the
person to the work Jesus Christ did in him or her. The water baptism is enacted
in obedience to Jesus' ordinance that believers be baptized with water. Second,
as explained in earlier paragraphs, no mention of the Holy Spirit baptizing
people is found in the New Testament. If you look at the seven texts in the New
Testament speaking on baptizing with, by, or in the Holy Spirit, none of them
say the Holy Spirit is the one performing the baptism. They say Jesus Christ is
the one who performs baptism. There is just one baptism, the baptism of a
believer by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit into the spiritual body of
Christ. This baptism with the Holy Spirit means a believer has within him or herself
the residing presence of Christ. The Father gave this promise of a Helper to His
people and Christ reminds them of it in Acts 1:4. In John 14:16 and 26, Jesus
said this promise is a “Helper” that will “teach you all things and bring to your
remembrance all that I said.” Jesus further identified this Helper as the
Spirit of truth whom He sent to believers from the Father. He said the Spirit
will testify concerning Him. In Acts 2:33, Peter testified to this promise
coming from the Father just as Jesus said. This last verse tells us that because
the Holy Spirit filled the apostles, they spoke in tongues and testified of Jesus,
which resulted in three thousand people believing in Jesus and being saved.
This
outpouring of the Spirit resulting in the speaking in tongues makes it appear as
if the mark of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues. People then
interpret this as being required for every Christian. At least, that is how
people read it. In this case, the in-filling of the Holy Spirit produced speaking in tongues (glossolalia). Yet,
the result was that three thousand people received salvation. At the time of
the preaching in tongues at Pentecost, there were many people from other
countries in Jerusalem for the Passover. When the apostles spoke in tongues, they
were speaking in the languages and dialects of the people present in Jerusalem.
(See Acts 2:4-12). Paul, later in 1 Corinthians 14”1-18, instructed about the gifts
of the Spirit, from which he pointed to speaking in tongues. He taught that
speaking in tongues is speaking to God. When there is no interpreter, it does
not edify others in the church. They cannot understand and say Amen to what the
person prayed to God in tongues. Paul said it would be better to speak in
tongues and interpret so that everyone in church can take part in the prayer
with God and give their Amen. He said that speaking in tongues without a
translator is like speaking into the air. On the day of Pentecost, the
manifestation of the Holy Spirit, by speaking in tongues, had an audience who
understood since the apostles spoke in the dialects of the people in Jerusalem
that day. The proclamation of the Gospel by the apostles reaped fruit for the
kingdom; three thousand believed and brought into the kingdom of God. From this
then, we find that the Holy Spirit within a person can cause them to speak in
tongues. Speaking in tongues, though, is not something for which we strive, but
occurs as we commune with God as do any other of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
The meaning of what was spoken on tongues should be interpreted for the
edification of others to the glory of God. Also, no baptism of the Holy
Spirit occurs in the Bible, as said in earlier paragraphs. Jesus is the one who
baptizes with the Holy Spirit. There is just one baptism and that is into the
body of Christ. This baptism is a permanent uniting of Christ’s Spirit with
ours so one cannot be differentiated from the other.
What we need
to differentiate between, then, regards being baptized with the Holy Spirit and
being filled with the Holy Spirit. In reading the above, you should understand that
being baptized with the Spirit means being brought into the body of
Christ - His Church and Kingdom - through the person’s acceptance of Jesus as
his or her Lord and Savior. Being filled with the Spirit results in witnessing
or other ministry through which Jesus is glorified. The work of the Holy Spirit
is always to glorify Jesus. There are many examples of people being filled by
the Holy Spirit for a task in the New Testament. A few examples of being filled
with the Holy Spirit include:
- Luke’s account of how John the Baptist would serve the Lord (Luke 1:15),
- Luke’s telling of how Elizabeth recognized the presence of Jesus though He was still in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:41),
- Luke’s record of the apostles speaking in tongues to the people on Pentecost (Acts 2:4),
- Luke’s record of Peter speaking boldly of Jesus (Acts 4:8),
- Luke’s record of Stephen being comforted and witnessing of Jesus while he people stoned him (Acts 7:55),
- Luke’s account of Paul being filled with the Spirit to rebuke Elymas, the magician, and impose temporary blindness on him led Sergius Paulus to accept Christ as his Savior (Acts 13:9), and
- Paul’s letter to the Ephesians where he commands Christians to be filled with the Spirit so they can edify one another (Ephesians 5:18).
The filling of the Holy Spirit
empowers us to minister, glorify Jesus Christ, and have power over Satan. There
was no one way the Holy Spirit manifested His power in individuals in the New
Testament. The Holy Spirit determined the power needed by the circumstances at
that time. The New Testament recorded speaking in tongues a couple of times to
the glory of Jesus. One we studied was when the apostles spoke in tongues in
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Another time was when the household of
Cornelius spoke in tongues after Peter told them the Gospel and they believed
and accepted Christ as Savior. The glory given to Jesus in that instance was to
show Peter and his coworkers that the power of the Holy Spirit does not rest solely
upon them, Jewish Christians and apostles. The Holy Spirit gives power as
needed to both Jewish and Gentile Christians for ministry anywhere so that Jesus receives the glory. The filling
of the Holy Spirit equips Christians with power for service and victorious
living. The Holy Spirit fills a person who ministers for Christ, the reason you
hear of ministers and other witnesses asking for a filling of the Holy Spirit.
They want to give one hundred percent of themselves over to Jesus for His
purposes and allow Him to use them for His power and glory. Believers are
commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Each day a Christian
must go before God, put aside him or herself, and allow Jesus to be the master
of his or her day. Each day Christians must choose to follow Jesus instead of his
or her own way. By confessing of one’s sins, renewing one’s vows with God, and
asking Him to fill one’s self with His Holy Spirit, a person gives his or her
life completely to God that day. Each day, Christians must intentionally give themselves
to Christ for His purposes because humans are fallible, sinful, and willful.
One other question might arise from this study. Why were
the apostles only baptized with the Holy Spirit after Christ ascended to
heaven? Did they not believe that Jesus was the Son of God before that time? Jesus
somewhat answered that question when He spoke to John’s disciples and the
Pharisees regarding fasting in Matthew 9:14-17. Jesus answered that His
disciples did not need to fast because He was still with them. Using this
reasoning to answer our question, Jesus’ disciples were walking daily with
Jesus. They did not have the need for the Helper in their lives because Christ walked
in person with them. Christ gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit after He
ascended into heaven while they were in the upper room. Jesus said the Holy
Spirit is given to teach all things and to bring to remembrance of all He said
(John 14:26). The answer is that the apostles had Jesus walking with them until
His ascension, so they did not need the Holy Spirit until Jesus left them. When
Jesus left, He sent His Holy Spirit to them. The Spirit, then, filled them with
His power to speak the Gospel in multiple dialects to the people who were in Jerusalem
for the Passover celebration.
Now, since we understand the gift, the purpose, and the
power of the Holy Spirit, we must return to Acts 1:1-8. Jesus gave two commands
in this passage of the Bible. He told them to “wait for what the Father had
promised, which you heard from Me” (vs. 4) and “You will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you. You shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, in all
Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (vs. 8). What does this
mean for us, especially at this Easter time? Since we are Christians, followers
of Jesus, we do have the Holy Spirit living in us because we are part of the
spiritual body of Christ. To fulfill Jesus’ command, we must ask to be filled
with the power of the Holy Spirit so we can witness to our city, country,
neighboring country, and the world.
Jesus told His disciples what was the most important
thing for them to remember right before His departure from earth after His
resurrection. He told them to be filled
with the Holy Spirit’s power - call upon and walk in His power. Next, He
told them to be witnesses
of Him - His love, salvation, resurrection, and power. The latter should
not be done without the former. Yes, Christians do have the Holy Spirit in them,
but, they must daily choose to walk in God’s path with His power, which comes
through the Holy Spirit. Without the centering of ourself in Christ each day, we
become self-focused and take any glory for ourselves. Satan’s lies lead us the
wrong way because we are not focused on God and do not have His power to combat
Satan. We can only fight him with our own strength then. Satan will try to
sidetrack Christians from witnessing of Jesus Christ. One of the biggest ruses
Satan uses is pointing out that Jesus has not returned in 2000 years so He will
not be coming soon. Satan wants us to believe this so we do not rush to witness.
He says we have plenty of time, so play, relax, and enjoy life. Jesus addressed
this, too in Acts 1:6-7. He said you do not know the times or epochs which the
Father has fixed by His own authority. You do not know, it could be today,
tomorrow, or next year. Consider though, as Paul told the Corinthians, it will
happen “in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Jesus
said in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the
angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Jesus told the apostles
and He tells every one of His disciples that we do not know when He is returning
to earth to reclaim His children. He commands us each to be filled with His
Holy Spirit and go out everywhere. We are to witness about Him, His love,
and His salvation freely given and offered for everyone.
Each of us has a choice to make regarding Jesus. Will we
believe He is the Son of God who took away the sins of the earth and accept His
forgiveness and salvation? If so, at that point of your belief Jesus Christ
baptizes you into the spiritual body of Christ with the Holy Spirit. Jesus told
His disciples to go and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). In verse 18, Jesus gave His power
to His disciples to work for Him in ministry. This power is available to us
through His Holy Spirit living in us. We must choose each day to walk in Jesus’
path, for His purposes, and ask to be filled by the Spirit for His work that
day. When we do this, we follow what Christ told His disciples in Acts 1:1-8. Instead
of saying, “Christ has not returned in these last 2000 years, thus we have time
to play” or worrying over the signs that He may be returning soon, we should be
busy with the task He left us. We should be witnessing of His Gospel of love
and salvation with our words and actions through the indwelling power of the
Holy Spirit. We must be busy with God’s work while we are on earth using the
fruits of the Spirit with which He gifted us. If we do not, then we should
consider if we are definitely disciples of Christ. If you are not united and
identified with Christ in such a way that you are displaying fruits of the
spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control – then you need to decide if you are truly a
disciple of Jesus. You need to decide if you are saved by His love and grace
from eternal punishment in hell.
Do you have a decision to make today? Have you decided to
ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? Have you determined that you are a
Christian but have not been following Jesus’ last commands? Now is the time to
make those decisions. Now is the time to decide to accept God’s love, grace,
and forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ. Now is the time to decide if you
will follow His commands to witness to all people about the Gospel of Jesus by
the filling of His Holy Spirit, His gift to Christians. Come before God now and
make those decisions today for you do not know the time when Jesus will return.
When He returns, it will be too late.
What is your decision
today?
