Acts 1-2: Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Do you know what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is? The word "baptize" means to immerse. If there is no qualifier (i.e. "baptism of fire" or "baptism of the Holy Spirit"), it is rightly assumed the immersion is in water. If I said I immersed myself, you would automatically translate that to "I dunked myself in water." But if I said I immersed myself in a book, you would understand something different. The same is true in the Bible. When you read that someone was baptized, you can immediately know he was immersed in water. But there are a couple of times in Scripture where the word "baptize" is qualified and used in a different way.

I say these things because there are some religious folk who understand almost every passage on baptism as referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a very special baptism, and it's easy to see exactly what it was by using the Book of Acts.

1. Jesus promised the Baptism of the Holy Spirit to His apostles. "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). By looking at Acts 1:1-2, you can see the ONLY men who were in conversation with Jesus were the apostles. This promise was not a blanket promise given to all of mankind. It was given only to Jesus' choice messengers.

2. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit would come not many days from when Jesus ascended. "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5). This was going to be a one-time event. It would not be years in the future...or even weeks. The time was measured in days. We can look ahead into chapter 2 and see where the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles in a powerful way. Could this be the baptism of the Holy Spirit? It's not told us directly at this point...we must look farther in Acts to find the answer.

3. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit caused men to have spiritual gifts without the laying on of men's hands. The Holy Spirit fell upon Cornelius and his family and caused them to start speaking in tongues - just like the apostles had done on the day of Pentecost. Peter did not lay his hands upon them. The Spirit just took control. Peter ties everything together for us in Acts 11:15-17:

15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning.
16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
17 Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?

Peter shows that what happened to Cornelius and his house WAS Holy Spirit baptism. He also tied it together with what happened to the apostles "at the beginning" (on Pentecost) - that, too, was the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

4. We only have two recorded baptisms of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles and Cornelius are the only two verifiable Holy Spirit baptisms. From here on out the power of the Holy Spirit (the power of spiritual gifts) was passed on through the agency of the Apostle's hands only (Acts 8:14-19). I have to assume the apostle Paul was also baptized by the Holy Spirit - unless one of the other apostles laid hands on him. But if he was, it's not recorded for us.

5. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was intended as a sign. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the sound as of a mighty rushing wind and tongues as of fire on the heads of the apostles drew a great crowd. They realized something BIG, something GREAT, was going on, and they wanted to see the action. This was a sign to the Jews that these men really did have a message from God. And about 3000 obeyed the gospel message! When Cornelius and his family were baptized in the Holy Spirit, this was also a sign to the Jews - but it was a sign that "God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life" (Acts 11:18).

Let's not get befuddled and bent out of shape when someone wants to treat the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as some mystical thing that must happen to every Christian. It's not. It was intended for a specific purpose, and it fulfilled its purpose in a mighty way!

God bless,
Nathan

Tomorrow's Reading: Acts 3-5