We saw last week in verse 1 that the first of the two volumes – The work of the volume, the Gospel according to Luke – deals with everything that Jesus BEGAN to do and teach (Acts 1:1), which implies that the second volume, the book of Acts, will deal with what Jesus CONTINUES to do and to teach. The book of Acts is not just the acts of the apostles, but the acts of the living and risen Jesus.
Then we notice that Luke mentioned three things that the apostles needed if they were to be the kind of instruments through which the living Jesus could do his work and speak his Word.
- First, they needed a commission or mandate authenticated by the Spirit of the Lord. So verse 2 says that he gave them orders through the Holy Spirit.
- Second, they needed verification that Jesus was indeed alive and triumphant over death. So verse 3a says that Jesus appeared to them alive after his death and many proofs appeared to them for 40 days.
- Third, they needed more instruction about the kingdom of God. So verse 3b says that he spent time during those 40 days between his resurrection and ascension telling them about the kingdom of God.
The need to be baptized with the Holy Spirit
That’s where we stopped last week. But verses 4 and 5 go on to show that there is another absolutely crucial thing that the apostles needed to be the most effective instruments in the hands of the living Jesus. They needed to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
“And being with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which said: ‘You have heard of me, that John baptized with water, but before many days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit ‘”. (Acts 1:4–5)
Three years earlier, John the Baptist had led a brief renewal movement among the Jewish people by calling them to repentance. and receive forgiveness of their sins and be baptized as a sign of their new relationship with God (Luke 3:3). But John made it clear that the Messiah would soon come and baptize people not only in water but in the Holy Spirit. In Luke 3:16 he says:
“I baptize you in water; but he comes stronger than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to unloose; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
So Jesus is saying here in Acts 1:5: “This is going to happen in a few days: you will be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Juan immersed you in water; I’m going to immerse you in the Holy Spirit. Juan soaked you in water; I’m going to soak you in the Holy Ghost. This is the fourth thing you need to be effective instruments of my life in the world. You need to be baptized in the Holy Ghost.”
Now what was this baptism with the Holy Ghost? What did they need and what did they get when this happened?
What happened on the day of Pentecost
Let’s start by looking at what happened when the day came. Acts 2:1-4:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And tongues like fire appeared to them, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
filled with the spirit
So when the baptism of the Spirit comes, it is like a mighty wind that submerges and fills the whole house with sound. The effect on the disciples was that they were filled with the Spirit (notice the word in verse 3: “they were all FILLED with the Holy Ghost”). Tongues of fire appeared on each of them and they began to speak in languages they did not know.
Verse 11 tells us what they were saying: “We heard them speak in our own tongues the wonders of God.” So what they were filled with was an overwhelming sense of God’s greatness and awe at his works. The Spirit was filling them with his own vision of God and his own passion for God and his own prophetic words of praise.
Peter’s explanation
So when Peter explains what happens at the baptism with the Holy Ghost, he says in verses 16 and 17:
This is what the prophet Joel said: “And in the last days, says God, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.”
So when Jesus said in Acts 1:4, “Wait on the promise of the Father,” what he meant was, “Wait until the promise of Joel 2 is fulfilled.” The promise of the Father is what the disciples are now experiencing. This is confirmed in Acts 2:32-33. Pedro continues with his sermon interpreting what is happening and says:
This Jesus was resurrected by God, and we are all witnesses of that. Therefore, exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you see and hear.
Here we see Jesus doing the actual work of baptizing the disciples with the Holy Spirit. He enters heaven. He receives from the Father what he had promised. And he pours out what the Jews are seeing and hearing at Pentecost; namely, the rushing wind, tongues of fire, speaking in other languages, prophetic praise, and jubilation.
What is the essence of baptism with the Spirit?
Now, what is the crux of the matter here? What is the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit? Is it the sound of the wind, the tongues of fire, the other languages, the words of praise, the prophecies and the dreams and visions? Can we get to the heart of what it means to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, or does it have to include all of these things?
I think we can get to the essence, and I want to get to it by first saying what I think it is not. I think that being baptized with the Holy Spirit (as Luke says) is not the same as being born again or being united to Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, I don’t think what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is the same as what happens here in Acts.
Paul says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jew or Greek, slave or free.” The context shows that he is referring to a work of the sovereign Spirit that unites all believers to Christ. This is virtually the same as the conversion job. When you are born again and put your faith in Christ, the Spirit of God joins you to Christ so that you are part of his body and joint heir with him of eternal life.
I used to assume that Paul and Luke were talking about the same thing when they used the word “baptism” and related it to the Holy Spirit; in other words, that the baptism by the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:13 and the baptism with the Holy Ghost in Acts 2 were the same. Many very capable scholars and teachers still make that connection. The point of view I am about to give you is not the only orthodox one, nor is it one that you have to agree with to be a part of this fellowship. But it is one that I am increasingly convinced is correct and one that the church desperately needs.
We are trying to answer the question: What is the heart or essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit? I have said that I do NOT believe that the essence is the new birth or conversion or joining the body of Christ. What is it then? And why don’t I think it’s the same thing Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 12:13?
I believe that the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a person, who is already a believer, receives extraordinary spiritual power for the exalting ministry of Christ. So let me try to show you the reasons why I think this is the heart of the matter.
Jesus’ focus on being empowered
First, let’s go back to Luke 24:49. Keep in mind as we go there that in Acts 1:4 Jesus said, “He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father”: the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Now, in Luke 24:49, Jesus says pretty much the same thing. “And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but remain in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high. What is important here is to see that what Jesus focuses on, of all the things that he could focus on in the baptism with the Spirit, he is being empowered. So that’s the first indicator that the heart of this issue of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an issue of empowerment. He told them in Luke 24:47 that they are to preach to all nations. And the point of verse 49 is that we cannot do that with the greatest success unless we are clothed with the power of God, that is, unless we are baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Represented as power to testify
The second indicator that this is the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is found in Acts 1:6-8. Immediately after Jesus says that they would be baptized with the Spirit (v. 5), the disciples say: “’Lord, will you restore the kingdom to Israel at this time?’ He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. So here the baptism with the Spirit is seen as a “come upon” that gives power to witness. So that’s the second indicator to empower as the heart of being baptized with the Spirit.
New birth/conversion issues not in sight
Notice that none of these texts suggest that what is happening in the baptism of the Spirit is rebirth or conversion or union with Christ. There is good reason to believe that these disciples were already born again and converted and had the Holy Spirit indwelling them (John 13:10; 15:3; Romans 8:9; John 3:5). But even more important than that is the fact that the theme of the new birth and the conversion of the disciples is simply not in view in Acts 1 and 2.
Jesus does not say, “Wait in Jerusalem until you are born again or converted or put into the body of Christ.” He says, “Wait until you are clothed with power.” He does not say, “You will receive membership in the body of Christ when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” He says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”
And notice, third, that when Peter explains what promise of the Father is being fulfilled in the baptism of the Spirit, he focuses on the promise of Joel 2. There are promises that could have emphasized the promise of the Spirit to bring a new birth (such as Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26–27). But that is not what Peter or Luke focus on. Peter says that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is a…