The phrase baptized in the Spirit is a first century Christian expression, and the book of Acts in the New Testament is the vital source for understanding what early Christians meant when they used the phrase. This complicates getting an answer, because Acts was written to tell a story, not answer questions.
Here’s what I mean:
Acts is a history book, the earliest record of the disciples’ activities after Jesus’ resurrection. Acts records events from an essentially neutral standpoint, describing events without prescribing any involved behaviors or beliefs. Like any history, principles can be derived from the book, but usually these are personal insights rather than doctrines the author intended the book to teach.
With this caution in mind, let’s see if we can answer the question.
The first occurrence of the phrase baptized in the Spirit in Acts comes from the mouth of Jesus, himself, and it sets the tone for the expression’s usage throughout the rest of the book:
While Jesus was still with the disciples, he said to them, “Do not leave Jerusalem; wait here for what I told you the Father has promised. John the Baptist baptized in water, but in a few days from now you will be baptized in the Spirit.” (Acts 1.4-5)
A few days later the baptism happened:
On the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all together in a house. Suddenly, roaring from heaven came a noise like a violent blowing wind. It filled the entire house and flames, like fiery tongues, appeared and descended onto each person. And so all of the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2.1-4)
This moment marked the initiation of a new ministry for the Spirit. It is similar to the conception of Jesus, the moment when God the Son took on a human nature and lived as a human on earth – something he’d never done before. The Spirit followed Christ’s steps, commencing a new, more intimate, sort of relationship with humans. Like Christ, the Spirit had been always been involved in the life of God’s chosen people, but the moment Christ referred to as the baptism in the Spirit inaugurated a different type of involvement, where the Spirit personally indwells each believer for the duration of his or her time on earth.
The physical signs accompanied by this baptism seem to have been for the purpose of bearing witness to the event. The noises, wind, and speaking in other languages caused those nearby to question what was going on. The incident gave evidence to the disciples’ claim that God was spiritually working through them to deliver the message of Jesus Christ. Those physical manifestations seem to be limited to just a few other occurrences, and each one appears to be for the same purpose of providing physical evidence of what God was doing spiritually: Acts 8.14-17; 19.1-6.
Various groups in the Church feel that divine manifestations of power such as people speaking in tongues, healing the sick, and casting out demons continue today. Some refer to these experiences as being baptized in the Spirit, so that a person might be baptized in the Spirit multiple times, even weekly.
Whether or not individuals in the Church are still receiving these sorts of powers from God, the ecstatic events where these manifestation are said to occur should probably not be referred to by the expression baptized in the Spirit. Jesus paralleled the baptism of the Spirit with the baptism of John the Baptist. John’s baptism was an act of initiation, a one time event for each person. It seems the expression baptized in the Spirit was meant to express a similar reality, that of being initiated into the Church as one who believes the message of Christ. It might even be the case that baptized in the Spirit was meant to refer only to that singular event of Acts 2, meaning that when the first disciples were baptized, in a way, all believers were, too.
So my short answer is that the expression baptized in the Spirit means to be initiated into the Church, and includes all of the divine powers that come with that initiation. If it still happens today, it occurs once in a believer’s life -at the moment when (s)he believes in Christ, and only in extremely rare cases have physical manifestations accompanied it.
How about you? Would you answer the question differently? Post your thoughts in the comments below.
Tue, Aug 26, 2008
Miscellany