“In
the power of one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body … and have
all been given to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13 JND). On the day of
Pentecost the Holy Spirit took up 120 individual believers in Christ and
baptized them into one body, thus forming the Church of the new dispensation.
By this act He established the believers into Christ, making them one body with
their glorified Head and linking them one with another in a union as close as
members in the human body. The baptism of the Spirit is therefore collective.
It is not something to be sought or prayed for, nor tarried for, since the body
has already been formed.
In
the four Gospels and the first chapter of Acts the baptism of the Spirit was
yet future. In Acts 2 the promise was fulfilled. In 1 Cor. 12:13 we have the
only reference to the Spirit’s baptism after Acts 11. It is a doctrinal
statement to be believed, not an exhortation to seek after an
experience.
Four
times, as related in the Acts, special supernatural manifestations accompanied
the reception of the Spirit as various companies were incorporated into the
body of Christ. In chapter 2 all were Jews. In chapter 8 the same blessing came
upon regenerated Samaritans, adding them to the body of Christ. In chapter 10
the nucleus of Gentiles was baptized into the same body. And in chapter 19 a
remnant of John’s disciples were brought in. There was a special miraculous
endowment in each instance to confirm the souls of the saints and to make known
the truth that all distinctions were done away in Christ, and that there is but
“one body and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling”
(Eph. 4:4).
What
grace on God’s part to give this fourfold testimony in the beginning! But what
folly for Christians now to expect a duplication of these initiatory
manifestations. The body is formed; all believers have their part in it. And as
each individual is born of the Spirit, he or she receives Him as the indwelling
Guest and is thus brought into the good of the Spirit’s baptism.
If
some Scriptures seem to indicate that the baptism of the Spirit is a blessing
to be received subsequent to conversion, it is well to examine them carefully,
noting the context, and asking, “Was this spoken before or after Pentecost?”
The difference is immense, for a new dispensation began when the Holy Spirit
descended to indwell the believer.
Let
me mention several such passages and seek to help you to place them. Jesus
said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him” (Luke 11:13). Many take this as their authority for seeking the gift of
the Spirit by prayer. But this was spoken by our Saviour before the cross. The
Father gave the Spirit at Pentecost; He does not now wait for us to ask Him to
do so again, for the wondrous gift once given abides in the Church and indwells
every believer, having baptized all into one body, as we have seen.
What
of the words, “He dwells with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17)? Does it
not imply that some are only born of the Spirit, and others indwelt?
When did Jesus so speak—before or after Pentecost? Before! In this passage the
Lord contrasts the two dispensations. The Spirit was with believers
before the cross; He is in them now. “If any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9).
But
did not our Lord command His disciples to tarry till endued with power from on
high? He did, and He particularly indicated where they were to tarry—“in Jerusalem.” No other place would do, for there the Spirit came, just as the Son came to Bethlehem.
As
the disciples waited at Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit came like a rushing, mighty
wind, sent from the Father and the Son to form the body of Christ. The Spirit
also endued the waiting disciples with power that they might bear testimony
concerning the risen Christ to those of many nations and languages gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost.
Let
me not be misunderstood. I am not insinuating that it is a vain thing for any
believer or company of believers to wait on God for power to overcome the enemy
or to preach the gospel or to serve the Lord in any other way. It is always
well to be thus before Him. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength” (Isa. 40:31). This is true in all dispensations. But we wait, not for
Him to send the Spirit, for He is already here, and by His baptism we
have all been joined to the body. We need, however, to wait on God to show us
any hindrance in our lives that may be restraining His working in us to will
and to do of His good pleasure. As we judge ourselves, and learn from our past
failures to walk humbly and in self-distrust, we make room for the Holy Spirit
to fill us with divine power, and to use us for the glory of God and the
blessing of a needy world.
To
tarry for the baptism of the Spirit is to evidence ignorance of God’s
dispensational ways. Remember, the only place where the baptism is mentioned in
the Epistles of the New Testament is this one verse, 1 Cor. 12:13; and here it
is distinctly spoken of as a past event. All who have put their trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ have been brought into the good and blessing of that baptism.
(From
The Mission of the Holy Spirit.)