 | "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel... By which also ye are saved... unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) |
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Baptism in the Holy Spirit
By Henry Morris
"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13)
This is a definitive verse on one of the great themes of the Bible. The preposition "by" is the Greek en, which can take many meanings (by, with, through, etc.) depending on context, but is most frequently and most naturally rendered simply as "in." The baptism in one Spirit is the theme of this passage, teaching us that every one of the "brethren" (v. 1)--those who "speaking by the Spirit of God" have acknowledged Jesus to be their Lord (v. 3)--have been "baptized into one body," the body of Christ Himself.
This baptism is accomplished in the Spirit for every genuine believer, Jew or Gentile, slave or master, male or female, young or old. Furthermore, the passage is actually in the past tense: "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body." This baptism does not take place repeatedly in one's life, as may be true of the "filling" of the Spirit, but once, at the time of true conversion. There are only seven explicit references in the Bible to the baptism in the Holy Spirit. All except our text are referring to the initial baptizing work of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). It deals with the ongoing work of the Spirit in all future instances of true conversion to Christ. Since His first baptism of Jewish believers (Acts 2) and then of Gentiles (Acts 11), all--both Jews and Gentiles--are baptized in the Spirit into the body of Christ.
Therefore, let true Christians rejoice that the Holy Spirit has placed each of them securely in the body of Christ, united to Him and sharing His resurrection life, with all functioning together through "the same God which worketh all in all" (1 Corinthians 12:6). HMM
From the Daily Devotional Guide, Days of Praise, a ministry of The Institute of Creation Reasearch.
(© 2009 Institute for Creation Research. All Rights Reserved. http://www.icr.org)
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I'm a man who's been taught by the Lord Jesus who appeared to me almost 43 years ago, showed me His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection and then stood in front of me and said, "I did it for you, because I love you and I want you."
That experience told me what no Baptist had never told me in my entire life--that one can genuinely know God, hear and see Him and learn from Him.
Just so you'll know, I was surrounded by Baptists; they were everywhere, with their stinking unbelief that REFUSES to believe the Bible in spirit and in truth. Their rank, stinking unbelief caused me to reject God because NOT ONE OF THEM ever told me of a specific incident of answered prayer, God speaking to them (Jn 10:27), healings, miracles, or experiences with God, yet this is the experience of EVERY man of God in Scripture.
How do you deal with that? BY PRETENDING YOUR UNBELIEF IS "SCRIPTURAL" WHEN IT'S NOT!
You don't believe any of WHAT I'VE EXPERIENCED because you're taught by men, yet your Bible is full of men who have experienced God just as I have yet your church is empty of such men.
Yet, you won't listen but think you know all the answers.
What's wrong with this picture? The answer is YOUR UNBELIEF. That's why you don't hear the Lord. You twist the Scripture to conform to your unbelief. You should be ashamed, as I already stated.
Gary, you are not the first person who claimed some supernatural experience. Oral Roberts said he saw a 900 foot Jesus that told him many things. I know a guy personally, a leader of an international ministry, who told me he was translated and walked with Jesus on the beach of Israel, and he used this experience to authenticate his apostleship and he said he can mail handkerchiefs to people for them to be healed, although I never met a man who was ever healed by his handkerchief. I saw some of his trying to "cast out a demon" out of a retarded boy. What a sad sight.
Now, I do not doubt that these saw something, that they had some sort of experience. I do not know, maybe somebody stuck some LSD into their cereal that they were not aware of. But I do not think they are lying. They saw and heard something. But the day we turn away from the Scriptures and use experiences to justify our belief, we are being prepped for a strong delusion.
Now Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible that is, told His own that He was going to prepare a place for us, and that one day He would return, but the time that He does return, He would be coming back for His own to receive them for himself. (John 14:1-4)
Now in this interim, He said he would not leave us comfortless but would send another Comforter in His absence. This of course was the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, to be with us and abide in us. (John 14:16-17)
So, Jesus today is on the right hand of the Father waiting TILL His enemies be made His footstool, and one day, He will return, exactly as the angels told His disciples when He was ascending up to heaven from the Mount of Olives saying, "this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." (Acts 1:11).
Now "this same Jesus" is the Jesus that I believe in, who is now at the right hand of the Father making intercession for His own. And one day He will physically return to this earth, but it will not be to the beach at Israel, it will not be to Oral Roberts University, nor will it be to your back yard, it will not be to certain individuals to give them extra-Biblical revelations, NO! When He returns, "every eye shall see Him" (Revelation 1:7) and He shall return to the mount of Olives as the angels said He would (Zechariah 14:4). The Bible says that Jesus is gone "to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." (Luke 19:12) and when He returns it will be to save Israel from annihilation and to set up His kingdom here on earth.
Now the Scriptures tell us to beware of "another Jesus" (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) as many would come saying "I am Christ and shall deceive many" (Matthew 24:5). These experiences like yours are increasing greatly in these last times, and we would be warned that they would be coming as angels of light and ministers of righteousness.
Now, you said you were surrounded by Baptists, I do not know about the Baptists today, but it seems to me that at least some of the old Baptists had pretty good doctrine. But let us not forget that the Scriptures foretold that in the church some would, "depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing Spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1). You want to chase after these extra Biblical revelations, dreams, visions, and seducing spirits, you are surely headed for a shipwreak of the faith. Watch and see that thou be not deceived....
This teaching is darkness and deception. The very fact that Paul referenced two distinct experiences AS ONE BAPTISM shows very clearly that "in the cloud" meant the baptism in the Spirit and "in the sea" meant water baptism.
To wrest the Scripture because it goes against the teaching of the men you like is ungodly and dishonest.
The baptism in the Spirit occurring after water baptism is clearly shown in Scripture in the upper room (the 120 were all already baptized in water), in Peter's command in Acts 2:38:39, in Acts 8:12-18 (and whom did you ever see told that they could get born again if hands were laid on them ?????--that also exposes your error) and Acts 19:1-6. (Let every fact be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses-I've given you three right out of Scripture)
Now, for two that were before water baptism. Paul (Acts 9:18) and Cornelius' household (Acts 10:47).
With two before and three after, what's CLEARLY established is that the experiences of water and Spirit baptism are not the same experience AND that Spirit baptism isn't the New birth because everyone knows that a birth is not a baptism. That error is so obvious, one must be perverse to adopt it.
The baptism in the Spirit is for power (dunamis) for ministry.
Water baptism is the cry for a clear conscience and the FIRST volitional act of obedience. Spirit baptism is God's response to our obedience and His setting His seal on us and tongues is most often the sign that people see, though any of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are evidence, just as the testimony of Jesus, good fruit and the witness of the Spirit is evidence of the new birth.
Gary, you must be a charismatic or Pentecostal, as this is a most common error among them which you appear to hold also. The main text of this article has nothing whatsoever to do with water baptism. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one SPIRIT are we all BAPTISED into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13) When a repentant sinner believes the gospel of Christ he becomes a new creation, he is born again. When this happens he is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, he is baptised by the Spirit into the body of Christ whether he is a Jew or a Gentile. Today, this happens only once at conversion.
Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:37-39) John the Baptist said Jesus "shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 3:11), and Jesus told His disciples before He ascended into heaven, "ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:5), and this is what happen on the day of Pentecost.
Now, what charismatics fail to recognize, is that the Acts of the Apostles is a transitionary book where you see the Acts of the APOSTLES, and the doctrine or teaching on any given subject is not necessarily worked out until the epistles were written to correct errors that were beginning to fester in the early church.
What charismatics also fail to see is that the disciples were saved on the OT side of the gospel, they were saved before Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. But they had to wait till Pentecost to receive the promise of the Holy Spirit who from that day forward would "abide with [them] forever" (John 14:16-20).
But that is not the way it is today. On the new testament side of the cross, since Pentecost was fulfilled and the promise of the Spirit was already sent by Jesus from heaven, people today are not saved and then have to wait for another Pentecost or some other time after they are saved to be placed into the body of Christ via the Baptism of the Spirit. Today, when a sinner repents and believes the gospel they are immediately saved and become a member of the body of Christ and are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. They are sealed by the Spirit from that day forward according to the good promise of God. And the Bible tells us today, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).
So today, one first hears the gospel, He believes, He puts His trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is sealed, indwelt, and baptised by the Spirit of God into the body of Christ. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:13-14) Outside of Christ there is no salvation, but once a person is saved he is "in Christ", made a member of His body by the baptism of the Spirit.
As the new believer goes forth in his Christian walk he has the privilege now of being filled with the Holy Spirit as He yields his life to God, which is something altogether different from the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism only happens once in the believers life, but the filling can happen in varying degrees throughout a believers walk as he grows in the grace and the knowledge of his Saviour Jesus Christ.
Now that the new believer is indwelt by the Spirit he can also grieve or quench the Spirit, but He will never leave them nor forsake them as He is the Spirit of Christ.
This verse (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) is the only verse in the Bible that teaches the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:13)
