Conversion vii / Baptism in the Holy Spirit
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
(Ezek.36:25-27)
He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
(II Cor.1:21-22)
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies.
(I Cor.6:19-20)
The place of the Holy Spirit in our conversion and subsequent discipleship has been the topic of much debate, not to mention (tragically and ironically) the cause of much division. The confusion is often focussed on the use and meaning of phrases such as ‘being filled with’ or ‘being baptised with / by / in’ the Holy Spirit. Although the language of being ‘baptised in the Holy Spirit’ only occurs a handful of times in the Bible (Matt.3:11; Mk.1:8; Jn.1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16; I Cor.12:13; though the language of ‘being filled’ is more common), the question of what is being referred to is hotly contested, and differences of opinion have proven so strident that they have led to Church splits, the birth of new denominations and movements and an extraordinarily widespread and unprecedented experiment in the revision of Christian worship and spirituality. Recent history has made us very reticent to speak of the Holy Spirit at all.
What precisely is the role of the Holy Spirit in our conversion? And are there subsequent experience(s) of the Spirit that we should seek / anticipate post-conversion, that open to us a qualitatively different experience of discipleship or empowering for ministry? In the passage we’ll be studying in this session, Paul teaches that baptism with / by / in the Spirit is common to all Christians (I Cor.12:13). It is not possible to be a Christian without having received the Spirit in this way (Rom.8:9; Gal.3:2). We receive the promised Holy Spirit when we believe, as a ‘seal … a deposit guaranteeing out inheritance’ (Eph.1:13-14, see also Rom.8:11; II Cor.1:21-22, 5:5; & likely I Thess.1:5). In Him we receive this first, authenticating instalment of all that God has promised us in Christ. This is what it means to be a Christian (Acts 2:38), and it is our receiving the Spirit that launches us into a relationship with God that results in our growth into Christlikeness (I Pet.1:2). Of course, our relationship with the Holy Spirit isn’t static. But, whilst we may experience differing degrees of intimacy, uneven patterns of growth and spiritual development, and seasons of empowering for particular tasks or ministry, the fundamental category of having received the Spirit doesn’t change. The Heidelberg Catechism teaches us that ‘He has been given to me personally so that by true faith, He makes (i.e. causes) me to share in Christ and all His blessings, comforts me and remains with me forever’ (Lord’s Day 20, emphasis added).
As with any relationship, there may be moments of deepening, or times that are particularly rich. But always it is His Spirit in us, progressively enabling us to act on the desires of our new heart to follow His decrees and laws (Ezek.36:25-27, notice how this answer’s David’s cry in Ps.51:10-12). He isn’t simply the Agency of our new birth, and our union with Jesus, but He is the One on whom we depend to preserve us in our new creation states. He provides all we need to enjoy growth into our relationship with Jesus and into His likeness. He is constantly active in fulfilling God’s plan for us and our redemption. As the Holy Spirit is promised to the Son to equip Him for His work of salvation, so He is promised to us - the Church - to equip us to enjoy all the benefits of that salvation (Is.59:19-21; Jn.14:16-17 & 26; 16:13-15; Eph.3:16-17 etc. You might also want to re-visit our JCL term on the life and work of the Holy Spirit to see this explored more fully).
The posture of the Christian life with regard to the Spirit is to be continuously being filled. It is an ongoing, life of dependence, and exploration of all that He is and brings into our life. This is Paul’s point in Eph.5:18 where the command to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ is addressed to the whole Church, and where the tense he renders the verb stresses this continual renewal of relationship and experience (see also e.g. Peter’s experience in Acts 4:8 & 4:31). It is worth noting that in contrast to being ‘drunk on wine’, Paul anticipates the impact of being filled with the Spirit to stimulate self-control, and so to further and enhance unity and worship, discipleship and holiness in the life of the Church.
Questions
So what do you make of those passages that do seem to suggest a second experience of the Spirit, after conversion (e.g. Acts 8:14-16; 10:44-46; 19:4-7)?
What would say to someone who testified to experiencing a ‘second blessing’ after they had become a Christian, and who likely sees that as opening a new chapter of Christian experience, or was associated with spiritual blessing?
How have you experienced the ministry and presence of the Holy Spirit in your own life as a Christian?
Read I Cor.12:1-14
What ‘influences’ do you think Paul has in mind when he talks about how the Corinthians had – as pagans – been led astray to dumb idols (12:2)? Do you think such influences are still at work today in different religions and spiritualties?
Why does Paul link the presence of the Spirit to our confession of Jesus as Lord (12:3)? What do you think is going on at Corinth that means Paul feels he has to make this point?
Why does the Spirit distribute ‘different kinds of gifts’ throughout the Body of Christ (12:4 & 11-14)? How can we discern if people are using their God-given gifts for the ‘common good’ (12:6)? How should we handle it if someone is using their gifts for more selfish ends?
Do you think the list of gifts in vv.8-10 should be the experience of every Church? Are (some of) these gifts limited to the ministry of the Apostles? Why / why not? Given that unity in the midst of diversity is such a significant theme in this passage, why do you think the question of ‘gifts’ is so divisive amongst Christians?
Why does Paul shift his imagery from ‘baptism in/by/with the Spirit’ to being ‘given one Spirit to drink’ (12:13)?
Memory Passage:
‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,’ declares the Lord. ‘As for me, this is my covenant with them,’ says the Lord. ‘My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants – from this time on and for ever,’ says the Lord.
Is.59:20-21
For further reflection:
One of the deepest mysteries of our faith is found embedded in the doctrine of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit. ‘We were’ as Paul puts it ‘all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body’ (I Cor.12:13). There is both the personal experience of His indwelling and equally essential is the corporate aspect of His indwelling (I Cor.3:16; Eph.2:22). The Spirit who indwells us indwells the entire congregation of which we are a part. Our experience of the Spirit is as essentially corporate as it is individual. We are added to and united with the Body of Christ through the pervasive ministry of the Spirit. This is what we mean in ‘the Grace’ when we speak of ‘the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ (II Cor.13:14), or indeed ‘the unity of the Spirit’ (Eph.4:3). The Spirit who unites me to Christ, and who unites my brothers and sisters to Christ, in so doing unites us to one another. My relationship with the Church is of a piece with my relationship with Christ. And together we are united to the Father, through the ministry of Christ (Eph.2:15-16).
The inexorability of this union and the fellowship it constrains us to is further underlined as we reflect on our union together within the life of the Trinity. As we are each, and as we are together, united to Christ by His Spirit, we indwell Christ by His Spirit as Christ indwells us by His Spirit. And as Christ is in His Father, so we are in Christ. ‘On that day you will realise that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you’ (Jn.14:20). Our fellowship with each other is as profoundly unbreakable as the fellowship of the Trinity, for it is in that fellowship that we now share (II Pet.1:4). Each loving disciple shares in the mutual indwelling of the whole Trinity through the indwelling of the Spirit, and as such shares union and communion with each and every other Christian (Jn.14:15-24). What might our congregational life look like if we grasped this truth?
