Baptism in the Holy Spirit

What distinguishes Pentecostal Churches from other Churches is a twofold conviction. First, Christians can be baptised in the Holy Spirit, and this is an experience different from conversion and from water baptism. Second, God still performs miracles today. This lesson presents this position, which is the position of this course, and the reasons on which it rests.

A promise of Jesus

The New Testament speaks of this experience in varied terms. In Luke 24:49, Jesus simply announces “power from on high”. In Acts 1:5, he speaks of a baptism: “For John baptised with water, but in a few days you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.” And in Acts 1:8, he gives its purpose: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses.”

Not all Christians agree on the vocabulary to use, nor on the weight of the texts quoted. We must therefore examine the objections.

What divides Christians

First objection, we are all baptised in the Spirit at conversion. Many non-Pentecostal Christians rely on 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body.” For them, baptism in the Spirit is what incorporates us into the body of Christ. There would therefore be no second experience.

This course’s answer is that the purpose of this passage is not to teach about baptism in the Holy Spirit. Paul is calling a divided Church to unity, using images (the body, the Spirit given to drink). Many commentators in fact think that he is referring here to water baptism. The whole chapter emphasises the unity of Christians within the diversity of gifts.

Second objection, the book of Acts is supposedly only historical. It is sometimes said that Acts recounts events without teaching, whereas the letters of the apostles are normative. Acts 2 or Acts 8:12-17 could therefore not be used to define an experience for today.

Yet no book of the Bible is entirely narrative or entirely normative. All biblical texts are partly historical, and all contain truths for the believer’s life. That is precisely what makes interpretation demanding.

The position defended here is therefore clear. There is no difference between Christians as regards salvation. But there is a second experience, distinct from conversion, which concerns the effectiveness of each person’s service.

Have the gifts ceased?

Cessationists think that miracles and the power of the Spirit were reserved for the first Christians. For the author of this course, no biblical text supports this idea, and many texts point the other way.

The history of the Church points the same way. The Didache, a very early Christian writing, mentions prophets and warns against those who ask for money. The Shepherd of Hermas urges listening to those whom the Spirit inspires. Justin Martyr writes that men and women can still be seen who have received the gifts of the Spirit. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and Origen also mention these manifestations. Traces of them are then found among monks such as Pachomius, in Symeon the New Theologian, Francis of Assisi, then among Anabaptists, Huguenots, Moravians and in the great revivals of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The modern Pentecostal movement grew out of the Holiness movement, which came from Methodism. In Topeka, Kansas, Charles Parham opened a Bible school in 1900. Around forty students studied faith, sanctification, divine healing and the return of the Lord there. After studying the book of Acts, one student, Agnes Ozman, asked for prayer that she might be baptised in the Holy Spirit. She then spoke in tongues, at the very beginning of January 1901. So it was the study of the Bible that led to the experience, and not the other way round.

What is this baptism?

David Petts, drawing on Acts 1:8, describes it as being clothed with the Spirit. We can add that it means receiving something special from God, not in order to set ourselves apart, but with a purpose. According to Acts 2, this purpose is to bear witness to those around us. More broadly, the Spirit draws us closer to God and equips us to serve him.

Can someone be a Christian without being baptised in the Holy Spirit? Yes. But they then lack a gift that God wants to give, a greater closeness to the Father, which everyone can seek and receive.

This work of the Spirit can produce supernatural effects, such as speaking an unknown language, having dreams or visions, or prophesying. On the other hand, some movements highlight falling, convulsions or shouting. The Bible never shows the Spirit acting in this way. His works build up, and they astonish because no one can reproduce them by themselves, whereas collective excitement can produce such phenomena. Paul asks that the gifts be exercised in an orderly way, “for God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Corinthians 14:33).

How to receive it?

The accounts show great diversity:

• In Acts 2:1-4, the disciples are gathered in one place, without any particular action on their part.
• In Acts 10:44-48, the Spirit comes down on those listening to Peter, even before their water baptism.
• In Acts 8:14-17 and 19:6, the Spirit is received through prayer and the laying on of hands.

Today too, many are baptised in the Spirit during meetings where people seek God together, others alone, at home or on the way. We must not confine God to a method or look for a formula.

Two things matter. If this baptism is given with a purpose, I must ask myself whether I am pursuing that purpose. And perseverance in prayer, fellowship, the pursuit of holiness and service are indispensable conditions for receiving it.