THE HOLY Spirit Difference

Receiving the Spirit and Being Baptized by the Spirit – the same?

Acts 2:38,39 – “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord God will call. ”

The “gift of the Holy Spirit” is referred to as “the Promise.”  In Acts 1:4,5 Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the “Promise of the Father,” and in verse 5 He referred to it as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 11:15-18 the baptism of the Spirit is called “The Same Gift” as Peter and the apostles had received on the day of Pentecost, and Peter says that it came “when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Putting all of this together:  BAPTISM = GIFT = PROMISE

Therefore, receiving the H.S. is the same as being baptized by the Holy Spirit.

Conviction by the Spirit

In our study of the Gospels, we looked closely at Johns’ Gospel, specifically chapters 6, and 14 -16, wherein we see the Father is the One who draws people to Salvation thru the working of the Holy Spirit whom He sends.  That leads us to understand that you cannot receive the Holy Spirit unless the Spirit convicts you and draws you to Christ.  To carry it a step further, some believe that you cannot believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unless you are born again by the Holy Spirit.  The order would be something like this:

     1.      Conviction by the Holy spirit

2.      Regeneration by the H.S. (being born again)

3.      Confession and repentance

4.      Faith in Jesus Christ

5.      Baptism, indwelling, and sealing of the Spirit

In John 16:7-11 Jesus taught us concerning the work of the Spirit:  “I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more: of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

Notice that the Holy Spirit will “come to you,” meaning to all believers.  The text says, “When He has come, He will convict the world.”  This assumes that when He comes to the believers, He will convict unbelievers.  The conviction of unbelievers by the Holy Spirit is done through the lives of believers whom the spirit indwells. 

Why the need for the Spirit’s conviction?  Jesus says, “Because they do not believe in Me.”  The only way to come to Jesus is by being convicted of sin by the Spirit.  How does the Spirit convict the world of righteousness?  Believers become the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” which unbelievers see and by which they are drawn by the Spirit to Christ.  What does it mean when Christ says that “the Spirit convicts the world of judgment of sin because the ruler of the world is judged?”  Who is the “ruler of this world?”  Satan!  But he couldn’t defeat Christ at the Cross and now, through Christ’s resurrection, Jesus won the victory and Satan was judged.  It was the Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead (Rom. 8:1) and because He lives, the Spirit now indwells all believers, proving that Christ rose from the dead and Satan was defeated.

Born Again by the Spirit

The Bible teaches that we must be born again.  John 3:3, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  John 3:5, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  John 3:7, “ You must be born again.”  Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”  1 Peter 1:23-25 tells us that this regeneration is through the Word of God; “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever…Now this is the Word which by the Gospel was preached to you.”

Putting it all together – The Holy Spirit uses the incorruptible seed of the Gospel to cause spiritual birth.

The Bible speaks of our responsibility to ask, believe, repent, and receive, but it also speaks of the Spirit’s work of convicting, regenerating, baptizing, sealing and indwelling.  Our ability to receive the Spirit is based upon the work of the Spirit that convicts and draws us to Jesus.  The Spirit opens our eyes to the truth of the Gospel and causes us to respond to its message.  What our response should be: Faith in what God says, leading us to confess that we are sinners, causing us to repent from our sins, and drawing us to Christ, our Hope and Savior.

Bottom line – If you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you have received the Spirit and have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into God’s family.

Are Tongues the Proof of the Baptism & Filling of the Spirit?

Actually, tongues is not limited to Christian belief.  It was a common practice to speak in tongues among many Pagan cultures and religions. There exists a record as far back as 1100 B.C. that an Egyptian, worshipping the Canaanite god, Ahman, spoke in tongues.  Many throughout church history have debated whether speaking in tongues today is valid.  Martin Luther said that tongues was a sign to witness to the Jews, while John Calvin said that God had removed tongues from the church.  The Shaker cult instituted the practice of men and women dancing together naked while speaking in tongues.  Joseph Smith and Brigham Young spoke in tongues and called it a “pure Adamic language.”   Because the practice of speaking in tongues is so widely used by cults and other false religious systems, it is important to keep in mind that Satan, the father of lies, always counterfeits the gifts of the Spirit.

The word for “tongues” (glossa) is used 50 times in the N.T.  Its normal usage refers to language.  Tongues are mentioned in Rev. 7:9, 14:6, in Mark 16, Acts 2,10, and 19, and in 1 Cor. 12-14, referring to the spiritual gift from God as well as the practice of the church in Corinth.  One passage in the Gospels refers to it: mark 16:17, Jesus predicted, “They will speak with new tongues.”  He called this a sign (vs.) that “confirmed the Word.” (v.20) Which His apostles were to preach.  * The word “new” (kainais) means new to the speaker, as different world languages are new to a user.

Acts 2:4 tells what happened to the 120 believers in the upper room: They were all filled with the H.S. and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.  The word “other” (heteros) is “another of a different kind.”  Those who heard them heard in their own language.  Acts 11: 15-18 very clearly teaches that the pouring out of the Spirit (prophesied in the O.T.), or the Gift of the Holy Spirit, or the Baptism of the H. S. was clearly evidenced by speaking in tongues and was for proof to the Jews of the salvation of the Gentiles.

The Big question: what is the purpose behind the tongue experience and is it to be repeated every time a person believes in Christ?

The confusion stems from Acts 2:4, “They were all filed with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in tongues.”  Ephesians 5:15-21 teaches about being filled with the Spirit but makes no reference to speaking in tongues.

1. If the tongues of Acts are known foreign languages (unknown to the speaker), why do believers today who speak in tongues not use known foreign languages?
2. Why is there no evidence that other people spoke in tongues when believing in Jesus Christ?
3. Are all believers who have not spoken in tongues saved?  Ephes. 2:5 tells us that "by grace you have been saved."Are they baptized in the Spirit?  If not, how can we explain 1 Cor.12:13? - "For by One Spirit we are all baptized into One body...and have all been made to drink into One Spirit."
4. Is tongues the only evidence that one is baptized or filled with the spirit?  No - the gifts given to each believer by the Spirit are evidence of His filling and baptisim. Why doesn’t God command all believers to speak in tongues if it is essential for all believers?  Why does 1 Cor. 12:30 imply that some believers do not speak with tongues? Because not all do!  God gives to those what He will.
5. What about interpreting tongues?  1 Cor. 14:27 tells us that one person was to interpret two or three speakers in tongues.  The idea is a direct interpretation of the known language to another.  If no interpreter was present, the tongue-speaker was to keep silent.  Why?  Because all things were (and still are) to be done for the edification (to strengthen morally; to enlighten) of the church.

Summary: Tongues were a sign, but not to believers.  Paul tells us that tongues were a sign of the removal of the national blessing upon Israel and the coming of the blessing of God upon all nations and languages.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit refers to the salvation of both Jews and Gentiles: God’s new Covenant with the Gentiles and His subsequent rejection of Israel was announced and declared by the presence of tongues.