The Holy Spirit

Is there any command in Scripture to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

No. The believer is taught that he is baptized with the Spirit, and indwelt by the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12, 18; Eph. 1:18; 1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9; Rom. 5:5). But he zs commanded to be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18).

It should be added that all who comply with the biblical conditions (Rom. 12:1; Eph. 4:30; 1 Thess. 5:19; John 7:37-89) are filled with the Spirit, though they may inaccurately speak of being “baptized.” Christ, in whose hands the whole power in respect of the Spirit is lodged (Matt. 3:11; Acts 2:32, 83), responds to right moral conditions, even if the term used is incorrect; and it is better to be filled with the Spirit, and call that filling a baptism, than to have the terms right, and miss the blessing. The best way of all, is to have the blessing and to call it by the right word.

If ‘“‘every believing sinner has, in the moment of his trust in Christ, been baptized by one Spirit mto one body,”’ had not the disciples of our Lord received the Spirit before the day of Pentecost?

The statement quoted applies to believers at and after the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:44-46). The personal disciples of our Lord were not baptized with the Spirit before Pentecost because “he was not yet given”

(John 7:39). The twelve, however, had received the indwelling Spirit on the evening of Christ’s resurrection day (John 20:22).

Up to the evening of Christ’s resurrection the disciples had the Spirit with them, but not in them (John 14:17). On that evening He indwelt them (John 20:22). On the day of Pentecost He baptized them into one body and filled them (Acts 2:1-4; 1 Cor. 12:12, 138). After Pentecost, so long as the gospel was offered to Jews and Jewish proselytes only, that is, from Acts 2 to Acts 9, inclusive, the Holy Spirit was not given but by the mediation of the apostles through prayer (Acts 8:15, 17) and the laying on of hands. But when Peter in the household of Cornelius opened the door to the Gentiles, “the Holy Ghost fell on them,’ without interval, prayer, the laying on of hands or any other means. It was the answer to believing hearing of the Word. Since that day the Spirit indwells every believer (1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9, etc.) and baptizes every believer into the one body (1 Cor. 12:12, 18).

It should be observed, however, that not all believers are filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18); and that while no condition but faith in Jesus Christ is required for receiving the indwelling and baptizing, there are conditions for receiving the filling.

Almost hopeless confusion has been created in the minds of believers by the modern insistence upon “‘seeking the baptism” with the Spirit. There is not a line of Scripture for it. Our Lord’s words in Luke 11:13 could not have referred to the baptism with the Spirit because it was impossible for the Spirit to so come until Christ had departed from the earth (John 16:7; Acts 2:33); and when Christ was exalted to the right hand of the Father He did, according to His promise, send the Spirit. For that coming of the Spirit the disciples were not taught to “seek” but only to “tarry.” “Ye shall be baptized,” etc. In all the fourteen epistles of Paul there is not one exhortation to ‘‘seek the baptism with the Spirit.’ On the contrary, he says, “we all” have been baptized by one Spirit into one body. But he does exhort us to be filled with the Spirit, which is quite a different thing. The baptism unites to the body and imparts gift; the filling gives power. On the day of Pentecost the disciples were both baptized and filled. The great need of God’s people today is to be filled with the Spirit.

If all believers are born of the Spirit, what is meant by being “‘filled with the Spirit’’?

The Scriptures distinguish between having the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit (compare Eph. 1:13; 4:30 with Eph. 5:18). All believers are indwelt by the Spirit, and by Him baptized into Christ (1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 1:18; 1 Cor. 12:12, 18, etc.), but alas! all are not filled with the Spirit. The point of urgency lies just there. All may be so filled. The conditions are of two kinds, negative and positive. We cannot be filled while allowing things which grieve or quench the Spirit (Eph. 4:30-82; 1 Thess. 5:19). This involves consecration in the sense of Romans 6:16-19; 12:1.

The positive conditions are stated by our Lord in John 7:37-89, where the central words are “thirst,” ‘“‘come,” “drink.” The method is the prayer which claims and the faith which takes. Thousands pray all their life for the Spirit but ignore (1) that they already have Him, and (2) that His fullness must be received by a definite act of faith.

Does not “quench not the Spirit” imply that we
may lose Him?

The thought is not putting the Spirit out of His temple the believer, but quenching His fire, His energizing power. If we could “put out,” drive away the Holy Spirit, then our power would be greater than His, since Jesus sent Him to abide with us “forever” (John 14:16); and by the same blessed Person we are “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 1:18, 14; 4:30).

What is blasphemy against the Holy Ghost?

See Matthew 12:31. The context, especially verse 24, shows the nature of that sin. A Christian could not commit this sin, (1) because of the new nature in him, and (2) because if he did, there would be no salvation for him, and this, according to Scripture (John 10:29; 3:16; etc.) could not be possible for any believer.

Why does Ephesians command believers to “‘be filled with the Spirit’? in 5:18, when already believers have been told that they are “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise’? in 1:13?

Because the sealing and the filling are two different operations of the Spirit. The distinctions are (1) that all are sealed, not all are filled. (2) That while the sealing is “unto the day of redemption’’ — that is final and once for all, the filling must be renewed so often as the Spirit has been grieved or quenched. Normally, the sealing and the filling are synchronous (Acts 2:1-4).

That the filling with the Spirit marks an advance upon the sealing is clear in Ephesians from the differences between the exhortations which are addressed on the one hand to the sealed, on the other hand to those to be filled. (Compare Eph. 4:17-32 with Eph. 5:19-33.) The first exhortations relate to common morality — “put away lying’; “‘let him that stole steal no more, but let him labor, working with his hands.” Bitterness, wrath, etc., are to be put away. The second class of exhortations rises to the highest spheres of victorious living. It is equal error to deny the universality of the sealing among believers, or to deny the need of the filling as a blessed and continuously renewed experience. The sealing has to do with standing before God; the filling with the state of soul.

What distinction is to be made between regeneration and the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Also between the baptism and the filling?

Regeneration is that operation of the Holy Spirit by which the believer on the Lord Jesus Christ is, in the moment of his act of trust, “born anew” (John 3:3, R.V.), thus receiving the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), and the life of the risen Christ (1 John 5:12; Col. 3:4).

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is that operation of the Spirit by which the believer is baptized into the body of Christ. ‘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 Cor. 12:12, 18).

So long as the gospel was being preached, after Pentecost, to Jews only (Acts 2-9) an interval elapsed between regeneration and the baptism; but from the opening of the door to the Gentiles, in the house of Cornelius (Acts 10), the baptism follows immediately the believer’s regeneration. The act of trust, regeneration and baptism into Christ are practically simultaneous, though following the above order.

The confusion which exists in some minds concerning these various operations of the Spirit arises from making the baptism with the Spirit and the filling with the Spirit identical. All believers are baptized and sealed with the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7, 11, 12, 18, 18; Eph. 1:13, etc.), but not all believers are filled with the Spirit (cf. Eph. 1:13 with Eph. 5:18); and power depends upon the state of being filled with the Spirit. The filling is an experience subsequent to faith, regeneration and Spirit baptism. Christ said that power should follow the baptism (Acts 1:8) and accordingly, in the account of Pentecost (Acts 2) we find first the baptism in verse 3 and then (verse 4) “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak,’ etc. Here the filling followed immediately upon the baptism. Evidently this had not been so at Ephesus (Eph. 1:13 with 5:18), nor is it usually so now. It is not the fact of having been baptized with the Spirit, but the state of being filled with the Spirit which gives power. There is too much discussion of Spirit-baptism, too little of Spirit-filling.

Luke 11:18 was an instruction suited to the then condition of Jesus’ disciples. Not one of them (unless Mary of Bethany was an exception) had faith to comply with the instruction. So our Lord, in John 14:16, said: “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter,” etc. Pentecost was in answer to the prayer of Christ. It is a pure assumption that the disciples between the ascension of Christ and the day of Pentecost were praying for the Spirit. They had an absolutely unconditional promise of the Spirit.

Finally, consider this immensely significant fact that not once in the Epistles is the believer urged to “seek’’ the baptism with the Spirit. He is told that he has the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9, 18; Eph. 1:18; 4:30, ete.), but is commanded to be filled with Him.

Is it necessary to be conscious of a definite change in order to be filled with the Spirit?

Many Spirit-filled believers have never been conscious of any definite change, nor could put any date upon this experience, which is, nevertheless, an experience subsequent to conversion in most cases. If the evidences — the fruit of the Spirit, — are manifest in a life, that is proof enough. The degree in which the evidences are manifested determines the measure of the filling. Of course, there is often leakage, so to speak, unless one is watchful and prayerful, and the need to “keep being filled” (Eph. 5:18) is an imperative command implying a continual necessity.

Who is “he who now letteth’” in 2 Thessalonians
2:7?

“He who now letteth,” or literally, “hindereth,’” is the Holy Spirit, who restrains the outbreaking of lawlessness in the world “until he be taken out of the way,” with the translation of the Church, of which the Holy Spirit is the bond of unity. While He will leave the earth with the Church, He will return upon individuals as in previous dispensations, 2. e., Psalm 51:12; Micah 3:8; Judges 3:10; so that conversion work will go right on during the tribulation, as now, in individuals though with greater hindrances through Satanic agencies.