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July 1, 2005, Vol.4, No.13. Baptism With The Holy Spirit Keith Sharp Our Charismatic friends contend: ......that the Baplism of the Holy Ghost is a needed and promised experience for every believer who will ‘tarry,’, ‘ask, seek and knock’ until they receive, and that the receiving is always evidenced by the ‘speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance.’ (Dennis,.7) The New Testament undeniably records the promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit, But. to correctly apply the promise, we must note to whom it was given. For example, Jehovah promised, "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). But that great pledge was addressed specifically to Abraham, thus, I do not hope for my heirs to inherit one square foot of Canaan. Is baptism with the Holy Spirit "a needed and promised experience for every believer"? Is It Promised? Is baptism with the Holy Spirit promised to every believer? If not, to whom was it promised? John the Baptist warned his audience: And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:10-12; cf. Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3:7-17; John 1:26-27,33). John pledged two baptisms in Matthew 3:11, one with the Holy Spirit and one with fire. It is a gross mistake to confuse the two. What is the baptism with fire? The Baptizer’s own words, the context of the promise, reveal the answer. The fire of verse ten is that of punishment, and the same is true of verse twelve. Luke records the same threats of fiery punishment (Luke 3:9,17). In fact, in this very connection, John denounced, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" (Luke 3:7). Obviously, the baptism with fire was promised to that disobedient "brood of vipers" and was "wrath to come." However, our Pentecostal friends respond, "Didn’t tongues of fire come upon the ones gathered in the temple in Acts two?" The Scriptures record, "Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them" (Acts 2:3). "As of fire" is a "simile," a figure which expresses a comparison. To say a tongue is "as of fire" is not to say it actually is fire, any more than to say a girl’s cheeks are "as of roses" is to say she has a rose bush sprouting from her jawbone. The baptism with fire is "wrath to come" promised to a "brood of vipers." Whatever you do, don’t pray to receive baptism with fire! But John also promised baptism "with the Holy Spirit." To whom was this promise made? To answer this inquiry, we must determine who the "you" are of Matthew 3:11. Sometimes the pronoun "you" doesn’t include the entirety of the audience addressed. In the same passage, John said, "I indeed baptize you with water." Not all those who came to John received his baptism (Matthew 3:7; Luke 7:30). And not all were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Even our Pentecostal friends realize this. John called his audience a "brood of vipers," yet our Charismatic friends limit the promise of Holy Spirit baptism to "every believer who will ‘tarry,’ ‘ask, seek and knock.’" To determine to whom the promise was extended, we must consult other passages which deal with the pledge of Holy Spirit baptism. In Luke 24:49 we find the beloved physician’s record of a portion of the Great Commission, which the Lord delivered "to the eleven" (Mark 16:14-16), who were "the apostles whom He had chosen" (Acts 1:2). Christ commanded, "Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." Remember four particulars of this verse: the promise was to the Lord’s chosen apostles, it was the promise of the Father, it was to be received in the city (Jerusalem), and the pledge was of "power from on high." Now note Acts 1:1-5: The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ In this text we find the application of all preceding occurrences of the promise of baptism with the Holy Spirit. The promise of John recorded in Matthew 3:11 and the pledge of the Father preserved in Luke 24:49 are one and the same (verses 4-5). The promise is "to the apostles whom He had chosen" (verses 2-4). They, the apostles, were the ones commanded to wait in Jerusalem in order to "be. baptized with the Holy Spirit" (verses 4-5). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself specified to whom John promised baptism with the Holy Spirit. He applied the promise to his own chosen apostles. We dare not attempt to widen the scope. Acts 2:1-4 records the fulfillment of the divine pledge. When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Who are "they" of Acts 2:1, "they" who were baptized with the Holy Spirit? "They" is a pronoun. To determine to whom a pronoun refers, one must find its antecedent, the noun which identifies the pronoun. The preceding verse declares, "And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles" (Acts 1:26). The antecedent of "they" in Acts 2:1 is "apostles" in Acts 1:26. The apostles alone in Acts two spoke and performed wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:7, 14, 37, 42-43). The apostles were recipients of baptism with the Holy Spirit. This harmonizes perfectly with the fact the apostles were the objects of the promise of Holy Spirit baptism. This exhausts the New Testament passages which specifically promise baptism with the Holy Spirit. Pentecostal people contend, "the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is a needed and promised experience for every believer," but the Lord himself limits the promise to his own "apostles whom He had chosen." Will you believe modern experiences and denominational preachers, or will you believe Jesus Christ and his chosen apostles?
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