The paper we are writing on is about “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” In this paper we will explain how your body is the dwelling place for the Spirit and how we are to take care of it. How the spirit came on people and what the evidence was that followed. What power was given and when it was given. What the difference in water baptism and spirit baptism is and how the first water baptism came about. How it is that we can be a Christians and not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Setting the Stage: Pledge of the Spirit
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a pledge that is stated three times. The three verses they are in are, II Corinthians 1:21, 22 “Now he who established us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit as a pledge,” II Corinthians 5:5 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge,” and Ephesians 1:13, 14 “…having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance.” Our ineritance is a life of eternity in heaven. Once we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us we have already began to live in a life of eternity in the Spirit.
“The Apostle Paul used the word pledge to indicate that the Holy Spirit was given to the believer as a pledge of his forthcoming inheritance which is received fully in eternity. Dwelling within the believer, the Holy Spirit is the pledge of full salvation, which he is to receive at the second advent of Jesus Christ.”1 The Temple of the Spirit
The Apostle Paul used this term to indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of each believer. I Corinthians 3:16-17: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.” This is why people who drink excessively have liver failure, people who smoke have lung cancer and people whom do not eat right have health problems. If we ate and drank in moderation and used pure, fresh, and clean vegetables, oils, and meats and if we would get high and drunk on the Holy Spirit instead of wine and drugs we would not have the health problems we do know days. If you take care of God’s body (temple), He will take care of you. The Wind of the Spirit
There are different beliefs about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “On one side is the Holiness-Pentecostal position, including the neo-Pentecostals and the mainstream of the Jesus movement. What distinguishes the Pentecostals from the mainline Holiness movement is that tongues are considered the evidential sign of being in the Spirit. Pentecostals hold that tongues are only one such sign or evidence of Spirit-baptism. Romans 8:9 “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” 1 Corinthians 12:3 “Elsewhere he declares that one cannot say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
The gift of tongues is a way for God to speak directly to you through someone else. The gift of tongues is a heavenly language or a language of man that edifies the speaker (1Corinthians 14:4). In order for it to edify anyone else there has to be an interpreter. Water-Baptism and Spirit-Baptism in Luke-Acts
The difference in water and spirit baptism, water baptism is the forgiveness of sins2 and it is a public dedication into the body of Christ. Spirit baptism is when Jesus comes in and fills you with His Holy Spirit making you a new person in Him, transforming your mind to be like the mind of Christ. John Baptized with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is more powerful than I. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11).
Water baptism first occurred in the days of Noah. The first experience is when Noah built an arch for him, his family (Genesis 6:18), two of every unclean animal of its kind and seven of every clean animal of its kind, male and female (Genesis 7:2). After this God used water to save people from their sins before He came to baptism them with His Spirit.3 The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Scriptures are not speaking of physical baptism when speaking of a “baptism unto repentance (Matt. 3:11), a baptism unto the remission of sins (Mark 1:4), a baptism unto the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), a baptism by the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s heart, that is, the baptism of a believer into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).” All of these are baptisms that must be repeated. Things we have to do all the time to have a right4 standing with God. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is permanent. The word “βαπτίζω is used only in its secondary meaning, apart from a physical intusposition; for it secures the merit, the dominating influence, and headship of Christ.” When a believer is baptized by the Spirit into Christ, the believer’s desire is to never be taken out again. The believer at this time is identified with Christ and receives the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. With this they are able to carry out signs and wonders in His name. 5 They are being transformed and molded into the mind of Christ. Their Spiritual eyes, ears, and mind are being open to hear His voice, see what He sees, and think like He thinks. Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Issue of Separability and Subsequence
The baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues started at Pentecost. It is the “evidential sign that such a baptism had indeed taken place.”6 The Spirit came on them after the laying of the hands (Romans 8). The laying of the hands is for the anointing of the Spirit. It is where whoever is praying for this to happen is in agreeance with the person receiving. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9). If you do not have the Spirit of God living inside of you then you are not yet a child of God and you are still separated from him because of sin from the first Adam. Conclusion
To bring all of this together the first step is to accept Him and believe that he is Lord. Then we are to be baptized by water for the forgiveness of our sins. Then in order to have power and do the works of the Lord Jesus Christ we must have His Sprit dwelling in us and the evidence of this is the gift of tongues. If we have His Spirit dwelling in us then we are going to want to take care of His temple and live a life pleasing to Him.
Bibliography
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Fee, Gordon D. “Baptism in the Holy Spirit: The Issue of Separability and Subsequence.”
Pneuma 7, no. 2 (1985): 87–99.
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