Spirit Baptism

This was a comment I posted on someone else's blog, but I felt that it is important enough to warrant posting on my own blog. This is a discussion of the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Most of it I prepared for my Trent Christian Fellowship study on the Holy Spirit in January. This is a bit more in depth than I went in that study however. I also have notes prepared on Spirit Indwelling, Sealing, Filling, and all 18 of the Spiritual gifts. If anyone is interested in seeing those notes feel free to leave a comment and I'll post them in the future.

Spirit Baptism

Despite what Charismatics teach, every believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit, at the moment of salvation, and baptism of the Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with speaking in tongues... or any of the other Spiritual gifts for that matter... at all.

This is quite easy to prove, because there are only 7 verses in the entire bible that have anything to do with Spirit Baptism.

Four of them are recordings of John the Baptist's prophecy concerning it (Matthew 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; and John 1.33).

One of which is Christ's promise of it (Acts 1.5)

One of which is the Apostle Peter's reflection on its occurrence (Acts 11.16).

That leaves only one verse regarding Spirit Baptism in any doctrinal sense. Let me make this abundantly clear: though it may be possible to debate some minor doctrines of scripture. It is impossible to debate the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Since there is only one doctrinal verse concerning it, any varying position that contradicts what that verse says is incorrect and must be discarded.

Unfortunately most Charismatics have it in their heads that Spirit Baptism is some sort of “second blessing” with the Holy Spirit that is manifested by Speaking in tongues. This is in no way taught in scripture.

So, without further delay, here is the verse that contains the doctrine of Spirit Baptism:

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12.13; ESV)

The context of 1 Corinthians 12 deals with both the unity of the Body of Christ and the proper use of Spiritual gifts. (Paul addresses both issues to dismantle Spiritual pride.) Note what the Baptism of the Spirit accomplishes: believers are baptized into “one body,” regardless of social position. Also notice that, “all were made to drink of one Spirit.” Now, clearly this verse has absolutely nothing to do with speaking in tongues. It is also clear that Spirit Baptism is not something that happens subsequent to salvation, or that it is something that some believers have and some do not. ALL are baptized into one body. Why? So that “Jews, Greeks, slaves and Free” are united as one in Christ. The point of the verse is that we are all have positional equality in the body of Christ, and in the context of the chapter, that the more subtle gifts of the Spirit are equal to the more showy gifts. (As a side note: I find it interesting that Charismatics have invented this notion that Spiritual Baptism is related to tongues speaking when the only doctrinal verse regarding Spirit baptism is in the middle of a section in which Paul downplays the importance of tongues!)

So to sum up: Spirit Baptism is the doctrine that all are baptized into equality in the body of Christ at the moment of salvation. It has nothing to do with tongues or other Spiritual gifts, except to illustrate the equality of all gifts. To teach that it is a “second blessing” or happens subsequent to salvation has no textual basis in scripture and is false doctrine. It also convolutes and undermines the fact that Spirit baptism is given specifically to unify the church.