In this third blog on the subject of spiritual gifts, I want to explain the difference between the indwelling Spirit of Christ, who comes to reside in every believer immediately upon salvation, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a separate experience that is promised to every believer who earnestly seeks it. In studying this out again, I have had to relearn some things I’d forgotten and unlearn some others I thought I knew, and so this is the result.
The Bible teaches us that whenever a person is born again they receive the Spirit of Christ, who immediately resides within them. Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they were “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” This relationship has often been illustrated as God giving us an engagement ring, the Holy Spirit, assuring us that one day we will acquire our full possession and be seated with him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
The disciples became the first converts of the New Testament when Jesus, after rising from the dead, “breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” This word breathed was also used when God breathed into Adam’s nostrils “the breath of life.” It is used similarly when Ezekiel spoke to the dry bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.” Paul in addressing this indwelling Spirit wrote. “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.” And to the Romans, he wrote, “anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
This is the indwelling Spirit of salvation. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience. Unlike the Spirit of Christ that dwells in every true believer, this baptism is not necessary for salvation, but it greatly empowers it, and God intends for every believer to have it, as promised by John the Baptist. (Luke 3:16). In March of 1977, a few weeks after I had a Divine Encounter with God along a desert road in Arizona, I received this “baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience” It involved three men, a small room, and a lot of shouting. The only requirement to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, besides being born again, is to have a humble and hungry heart for more of God.
Before Jesus ascended back to heaven, he promised this “second blessing” to his disciples. He told them it was expedient that he leave so he could send them the Holy Spirit. They had recently been converted and received the indwelling Spirit of God, and now on the Day of Pentecost, a hundred and twenty obediently gathered for a prayer meeting in the Upper Room. There, they received “the promise of the Father” and were “clothed with power from on high.”
In Acts 19, Paul asked some Ephesian believers if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. One interpretation of this text is that when Paul discovered these Ephesian believers had only been baptized in John’s baptism, the same baptism that the early apostles received, Paul baptized them in the New Testament baptism of repentance and then proceeded to pray for them to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit whereby they spoke in tongues.
The other possible explanation of this text is that these Ephesian believers were genuinely saved in the baptism of John. Thus, they already had the indwelling Spirit within them and would already possess the Spirit of salvation. But they hadn’t yet heard about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the “second blessing,” so Paul laid hands on them to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
In this latter interpretation, Paul wouldn’t have asked this question, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed,” if salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit was the same. They responded, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” When Paul laid hands on them, “the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues.” In fact, every time someone got filled with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, they spoke in tongues, but that’s for another blog. I could build a solid case for either of these interpretations, but I’ll let you decide for yourself.
I’ve heard the accusation that Pentecostal-type believers consider themselves superior to other believers. On the surface, that would seem plausible; wouldn’t it be inevitable that having more of the Spirit would make one a greater Christian? But that logic doesn’t hold in real life. In truth, many of the greatest saints in all history didn’t claim this “second blessing.” And many who do claim it, make very little use of it and oftentimes have less of the fruits of the Spirit than other believers. And most Pentecostal churches today have no more “Spirit-filled” activities than your mainline Methodists. And some who do claim Pentecost, open themselves to another spirit that incites them into flopping, flagging, and making laughing fools of themselves, and fools of the Holy Spirit. And no one can act as wacky and weird as an unhinged Pentecostal. Paul said, “not to use your freedom as an excuse for the flesh.”
I hope I have clearly shown the difference between the Spirit of Christ that comes to dwell in every believer upon salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. My sole purpose in pointing this out is to do the work that many pastors and Bible teachers have for various reasons failed to do. It is my hope that every believer would have access to the fire of Pentecost that God intended for all of his saints, especially in these perilous times as we await his soon coming return.
Changing from glory to glory 