Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit at a Glance
The Holy Spirit is God. He is a Person. He is God’s presence on Earth. He loves us. There are many aspects of the Holy Spirit that seem to be muddled and confused and this has been the case since the dawn of the Christian Church.
Is there any controversy? I think yes? Should there be? No, of course not. I think personally that even though there is controversy; but yet we still see clear workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church and the Wider World, is evidence that God’s plan for Salvation is unhindered by us. It’s a clear sign of grace to us as Children of God. I plan to discuss briefly the facets of the Holy Spirits Ministry, both areas with wide mainstream agreement and disagreement. The danger some ideas bring, and the glories of others.
Firstly, the Holy Spirit is a great gift. Not only to Christians but also Non-Christians. The Holy Spirit gives life, both New Life (John 3:6-7) and sustaining of old/first life (Ps 104:30). He gives and sustains life, both for the Child of God and for the Unregenerate. No matter how ignorant some may be of God in creation, and that it displays his glory, it is truth.
Sanctification
When we become Christians, I believe we are sealed with the Holy Spirit immediately. This is a direct result of a true repentance and being Born Again. (Eph 1:13-14, 1 Cor 12:13) Now I plan to return to this argument later. Whatever your opinion on receiving the Holy Spirit, we cannot argue that it is He who sanctifies and brings forth the purposes of God in our lives. (Tit 3:5, Rom 8:28-29). We are washed and we are sanctified in the Spirit (1Cor 6:11). As Children of God we now have the will and power(Spirit) to resist Sin and no longer be slaves to it, (Rom 6:12-13). We all as true Christians will be sanctified by God. From what Paul says in Romans, we are to continually fight against the power of Sin and no longer will ourselves to it. It is a continual process; in fact it is lifelong process. A process not ending till the LORD returns, a process of continual striving to be Holy, (Heb 12:14). Now we come to our first disagreement. Many argue that we can attain sinless perfection on this earth and use seemingly Biblical contexts to enforce this. “Perfect as the Father is Perfect” Matt 5:48 and “No one who abides in Him sins” 1 John 3:6. Here are just two prominent verses that suggest perfection must be obtained here on earth. But lets have a look closely as these. Jesus in Matthew is clearly showing us the level we should be aiming at. It is the level that God will hold us to account. Just because we can’t meet it, does not mean the bar should be lowered. The same goes for Paul when he writes to the Churches. It’s the goal he desires them to reach. If it were possible to achieve ‘perfection’ in this life, then surely the whole Christian Church should be a deemed a ‘write off’. John also says the same, but paraphrasing it, he is saying, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning”. He can’t go on in sin. Also if this was to prove sinless perfection, surely then John would be contradicting himself or better yet lying when he writes, “If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” 1Jo 1:10. Also as a conclusion James, the brother of Jesus I might add states this in his Epistle “We all make many mistakes” Jam 3:2. If the brother of Jesus can say this, they we can jolly well too. The very fact of denying this boasts us to a level pride beyond all others. So therefore sinless perfection is not Biblical, but it is an aim we all should have as Children of God and strive to obtain it, knowing full well it will be complete at the Throne.
So…. what part do we play? Are we passive or active? First let us look at the role of God. It is He who sanctifies. “May the God of Peace himself sanctify you wholly” 1Thess 5:23. God also disciplines us as his Children, (Heb 12:5-11). Also finally Paul writes to the Philippians “God is at work in you, both to will and for his good pleasure” Phil 2:13. God is at work in us, changing our very hearts, souls, minds and wills. What about us? What part do we play? To be honest the answer is that we are both to be passive and active in this. We are dependent on God to do this work in us, but striving also to obey the Word of God at the same time. Paul writes to the Romans that we should “Yield ourselves to God……….” Rom 6:13. Also “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live Rom 8:13. We to be dependent on God to help us achieve these fatal blows to Sin in our lives. Subsequently many would use this as an excuse to be completely passive. Yet if we look closer at Romans 8:13 again, we see the word ‘You’ pop up. So by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body. Here in this verse is direct scriptural evidence of Us and God working in partnership to achieve sanctification and become more like Jesus; to which this is the final goal of God for his Children (Rom 8:28-29). We are to as Children of God to abstain from evil since “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality…….” 1Thee 4:3. We are to walk in Spirit (Gal 5:25), we too be in communion and to hold close to Him, fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). We are too cleanse ourselves (2 Cor 7:1) and make every effort (2 Peter 1:5) to grow in godliness, to put on the character of God with Love, Hope, Joy and Forgiveness etc? The language used by both Peter and Paul here suggests, toil and endeavor. It is a hard process, but we have the very Spirit of God within us. God himself, the creator of the Universe lives with us and works with us in this task. God has moved in to live with us John 14:23. God is now decorating, he has chosen the colours of the walls, (Snow White, pardon the pun), are to help paint the walls with him. We get tired and weary. God does not. The work of Sanctification is partnership and a glorious partnership it is. From whence came in the stench of Sin, He in his great Love and Mercy chose to fix rather than destroy.
Gifts
Gifts are given to Christians for the equipping and encouraging of the Churches Ministries across the world. This area is probably the most variant in the working of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian is given one or more Spiritual gifts 1 Cor 12:7,11. See to it that Paul states in 1 Cor 12:4-5 that there are many gifts for different acts of service. The gifts are to be used in terms of service, not for selfish gain.
So God in his wisdom has assigned gifts to men. The gifts are different and varied, to build up the Church and advance the Kingdom. This is why some may ask or note that the Spirit can and does work in different ways. I would argue however that he uses the Body of Christ in different ways. He himself remains the same, the unchangeable God. He purposes remain the same. So the answer to the above discussion, The Holy Spirit works in different people in different ways, is true in the essence of his gift allocation, but anything else noted to be different I would be sceptical off. So yes, works in different people in different ways in terms of gifting.
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
This is most likely to be the strongest of the controversy, in terms of what this is? Does it still happen? Is it Biblical? Baptism of the Spirit is considered an event that happens post conversion. Prayer, evangelism, worship and study have become more exciting and alive. They argue that Jesus’ disciples were born again before Pentecost and I would agree. Also Jesus in Acts 1:5, said that they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit. So what is the argument for this? Basically people in the Church today, particularly in the Pentecostal and Extreme Charismatic Movement would claim to have this ‘second’ experience. Most if not all would claim to have a “Deeper Presence and Excitement” and this ‘second’ experience. This is being achieved through deep commitment to God in prayer. A result of a true heartfelt repentance and an asking for God to change them deeply and passionately. A heartfelt cry to God for transformation. Now this is a good and great thing, and surely if all this happened in a true heart state of mind; then of course a deep love and fellowship with God is going to happen! But I would argue still, it is not a ‘second’ experience. I believe it is a filling, I shall however come back to this. But why did this happen to already born again believers in the first century? Whilst the disciples were with Jesus, the Holy Spirit would not come to them. Jesus tells them is in Jhn 16:7 "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you”. The Holy Spirit will not come unless Jesus goes to the Father and is send by Jesus. So the disciples were in a unique position, unlike any of us. The same goes for Pentecost; for both Jew and Gentile were there. This happened so that then people would know Joel’s prophecy had come true and the Holy Spirit was outpoured on all people. There was no divide between men anymore. Logically then the Apostles being he highest authority in the Church, under Christ, they in an act of God’s providence were able to pray for the Spirit to come upon people. There is a danger of the Doctrine of Baptism of the Spirit, simply because it promotes a two-class Christianity; the Baptised Christians and the Ordinary Christians. This is scandal and robbery of the Christian Gospel and the famous verse “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”, Gal 3:28. There is no baptised and non-baptised Christian all are one Christ Jesus. Do you see the scandal and potential damage this two tier Christianity can do? Paul concludes the argument by saying “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves for free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit”, 1 Cor 13:13. The word all is repeated twice, we ALL have been baptised into the Spirit. There is no special Baptism. There is however filling! This is the mix up I believe the enemy has inflicted upon us to disrupt unity and love between us. I believe that ‘second’(or third, forth and hundredth) experiences can be described with what Paul says in Ep 5:19-20 when he writes about being Filled with the Spirit. He also says to be continually filled, suggesting a repeat experience, often resulting in further sanctification. In Acts 4:8,23, we see this repetition happening. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and then again later filled once more. It is a repeated event to which I believe is the common misconception with Baptism, since we all all Baptised anyway, but we become more and more filled with the Spirit. Already full of the Spirit, yes, but more as we are able to hold more. The same goes for a balloon, it is full of air, but can hold more air, but it is still full; so you expand the balloon to hold more air, both times the balloon is full of air.
In conclusion I believe therefore that the statement “The Holy Spirit works in different people in different ways; the controversy over His work and place in the church arises out of the work he is doing” does indeed work in different ways according to the allocation of gifts, but in other ways I would argue not. I do understand that I did not take into account the grieving or quenching mentioned in Eph 4:30 and 1 Thee 5:19. I do accept that this affects the working of the Spirit, but only purely down to our sin and rebellion. His work is the same and always has been; Conviction of Sin, repentance and faith in Christ and Sanctification. No matter what vocabulary is used to describe this, this is the working of the Spirit. The very fact and truth that He works even when we describe what is happening in a wrong way His grace is massive and His love remains and therefore resulting in His mission staying the same. Praise God.