Understanding the Work of the Holy SpiritSample

Baptizing with the Holy Spirit

Prophesied by Jeremiah. Projected by Ezekiel. Proclaimed by John the Baptist. Promised by Jesus Christ. Poured out on Pentecost. This was the original baptism with the Spirit. Peter expressed this truth: “God has raised this Jesus; we are all witnesses of this. Therefore, since he has been exalted to the right hand of God and has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you both see and hear” (Acts 2:32–33).

Baptism with the Spirit is not a mighty work of God confined to that first Pentecost. On the contrary, it is the work of Jesus Christ to bless every Christian at the beginning of their salvation. As John the Baptist underscored, the Messiah would be “the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). An ongoing ministry of Jesus is His pouring out of the Spirit on His new disciples. He inundates them with the Holy Spirit!

This point bears repeating. There is a bit of confusion about who does this work. Some Christians hold that it is the Spirit who baptizes new believers. But that is wrong or, at the least, not sufficiently precise.It is Jesus Christ who baptizes new Christians. And for what purpose does Jesus do this? According to Paul, “We were all baptized by [in/with] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor. 12:13). The purpose of Jesus baptizing His new disciples is to incorporate them into His body, the church.

Upon closer examination of this verse, three points emerge. First, though Paul doesn’t state it, Jesus is the one who baptizes. This point about the agent of baptism with the Spirit lines up well with John the Baptist’s promise (noted above) that Jesus Christ would baptize with the Spirit. Second, “we all” refers to all Christians, so this mighty act of Jesus takes place as people embrace the gospel and become His disciples.There is no such thing as a non-Spirit baptized Christian. Third, Jesus baptizes His new followers with the Spirit; the Spirit is the element with which they are inundated. The Spirit doesn’t baptize new believers with Himself. He doesn’t pour Himself out on new disciples of Jesus. The Spirit doesn’t give Himself for Christians to drink (that is, taste or experience). No, Jesus does the outpouring, and the element with which (or, better, whom) He inundates His new followers is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one who gives the Spirit to imbibe (that is, encounter). Baptism is with, not by, the Spirit.