Holy Spirit Baptism
Good and honest people are often found who think that one can receive Holy Spirit baptism today. It is a popular doctrine with the various denominations. People are taught to pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They read of its promise in the New Testament and erroneously think that such baptism is in force and for the people of this day. Then, they read in the Old Testament of the Lord talking directly to people and of some being peculiarly and miraculously endowed with the Spirit of the Lord, and they think God moves in the same way today. A full and fair study of the New Testament, however, will reveal that the gospel of Christ demands and permits only water baptism now.
The same study will reveal, too, that the law of Moses, the law of the Old Testament, was abolished on the cross of Christ (CoL.2:14); that we are "not under law, but under grace" (Rom. 6:14); that God does not speak to us as He did in Old Testament days, but now speaks to us through Christ (Heb.1:1-2), as He and the Holy Spirit gave the truth to the apostles (Jno.17:8,20; 16:13; 14:26), and as they wrote it down in the New Testament scriptures. (1 Cor. 2:12- 13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17) That study will reveal that the Old Testament scriptures are profitable for their purpose; as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24), but that the Old Testament law has been taken away and we are under the New Testament.
Thus, the book that we call the New Testament contains the new covenant of Christ, which is represented as His last will and testament. (Heb. 9:15-17) That simply means that if we are saved, it will be by the terms of the will of Christ. It is also an unavoidable conclusion that we are not to confuse the way that God spoke to people in the Old Testament with the way that He speaks to us. He does not speak to us even as He did to some during the days of miracles of the New Testament. Those miracles were to "confirm the word." (Mark 16:20) Since the New Testament has been written this need for the miracles has passed, and God withdrew them, speaking now to us in that volume. It is "the sword of the Spirit;" (Eph. 6:17) All of the talking that God does to people today is done in the written word. But when people do not understand these simple truths about the proper division of the Word, they confuse the different laws of the Bible, and naturally confuse the different ways that God communicated with people under those varying laws. So, when you understand that we are to be governed by the New Testament law, you are then prepared to go more thoroughly into the matter of Holy Spirit baptism.
There are two cases of Holy Spirit baptism in the New Testament--the first in Acts 2, and the second in Acts 10. In Acts 1:5-8, Jesus promised the apostles: "For John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence. They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." If you will read the four verses just before this passage, and note especially the second verse, by running the pronouns you can see that Christ spoke only to the apostles in making that promise. You will notice, too, that He calls it a baptism in or with the Holy Spirit, He also said that when they (the apostles) received the power of the Holy Spirit, they would be His witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem. (vs. 8 and Luke 24:47-49)
Now, turn to the second chapter of Acts and see all of this fulfilled. Ten days after Christ's ascension, on the day of Pentecost, the apostles were "filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Run and pronoun "they" in that verse (vs. 4) back to Acts 1:26, and you will see that the power of the Holy Spirit (vs. 1-4) fell only upon the apostles. In vs. 15 21 Peter uses this outpouring of the Holy Spirit to prove that it was in fulfillment of prophecy and to confirm what he then preached as being the word of God.
From that point onward the apostles witnessed for Christ, beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 2), then into Judea and Samaria, and then into all the world, according to the procedure Jesus commanded. But this outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2 was in precise fulfillment of the promise by Christ in Acts 1:5-8, and in verse 5 He designated it as Holy Spirit baptism. This is the first case of it under the gospel dispensation, or new covenant under which we are, because this was the time and day when that new covenant went into force, when the church was established. Upon this occasion the Holy Spirit baptism was only upon the apostles, as we have already seen, for the one purpose of proving to their Jewish audience that they preached the truth of Christ. There is positively no record in the chapter that anyone received the Holy Spirit baptism except the apostles. Men then simply are deceived and lead you astray when they pray today for a "Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit," because they mean by that prayer that they want the Lord to send down the Holy Spirit and convert the crowd and that was not what the Spirit did on Pentecost. But upon that day by baptizing the apostles with the Spirit the Lord simply convinced many of those Jews that the apostles spoke for God. Then the apostles converted the people by preaching the word. "Now when they heard this (the sermon), they were pierced in their hearts, and said..." (vs. 37)
The second case of Holy Spirit baptism is in Acts 10. The story is that an angel of the Lord instructed Cornelius, an upright Gentile who devoutly worshipped God and generously helped the poor, to send to Joppa for the apostle Peter. When Peter arrived, he found Cornelius with his kinsmen and near friends (10:24), "present in the sight of God, to hear all things that have been commanded thee of the Lord." (vs.33) In Acts 11:15, as he tells the story to others, Peter said that, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning." Exclaiming that he perceived that "God is no respecter of persons," (Acts 10:34-35) meaning that he had learned then really for the first time that Gentiles could be saved on the same terms as Jews, Peter then proceeded to preach a sermon on remission of sins in the name of Christ, (vs. 43)
But note carefully that Peter said that "the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning. (11:15) Well, if when the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles at the beginning (Acts 2) that was Holy Spirit baptism, as the Lord called it, in Act 1:5-8, and the falling on the Gentiles was like that, then this case in Acts 10 was necessarily a Holy Spirit baptism. Further, because they received the Holy Spirit before water baptism has no bearing on the question of one receiving water baptism in order to remission of sins (Acts 2: 38), because the people in Acts 10 were not converted by Holy Spirit baptism--that was not its purpose. Then, what was its purpose? In chapters 11 and 15 Peter used it to prove to Jewish Christians that Gentiles could be saved in the same way as the Jews and without subscribing either to the old covenant of circumcision or the law of Moses, both of which had been abolished. Since this was the use Peter made of this case of Holy Spirit baptism, and the decision of the church in Acts 15 was based on that, this shows the purpose beyond a doubt.
Then, if anyone should insist further that the Gentiles of Acts 10 received the Holy Spirit baptism to save them, they should read Acts 11:14. In that verse Peter tells of the angel telling Cornelius to send for Peter "who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house," Since the gospel was God's power unto salvation, in revealing the terms of salvation, according to Rom. 1:16-17, and since Peter was to speak that word, you can see how Cornelius and his people were to be saved by the word--not by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
At no other point in the New Testament after the church was established does the New Testament say that anyone received Holy Spirit baptism. Many will point out instances to you and claim that they are cases, but kindly insist on the verse that calls them cases of Holy Spirit baptism, and the evidence will be absent. These are the only two cases so specified by the New Testament.
Advocates of present-day Holy Spirit baptism rely strongly on the prophecy of Joel, as quoted by Peter, in Acts 2:16,17: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." But Peter said that "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." (vs. 16) So, Peter makes the point that the Holy Spirit baptism received by the apostles was in fulfillment of that prophecy. If the prophecy was fulfilled then, and this is Peter's argument, how can it be claimed that the prophecy is still being fulfilled? They then urge that the Spirit was to be poured out upon "all flesh." But the 5th verse says that "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under Heaven." In that sense, "all flesh" was present. Then, in Acts 10:44-46 the Gentiles received Holy Spirit baptism, speaking with tongues. In Acts 11:15 Peter explained that that case was "as on us at the beginning," meaning that that was a case of Holy Spirit baptism on the Gentiles as the apostles received in Acts 2. It was in further fulfillment of that prophecy, and the two instances included Jews and Gentiles--hence, again "all flesh." There being no other scripture speaking of the prophecy in Joel extending to other cases, or any later date, we are forced to conclude that the prophecy of Joel as quoted by Peter in Acts 2 can have no application beyond the 2 cases identified in the scripture.
But here is another important consideration. Several years after the second case of Holy Spirit baptism, as recorded in Acts 10, the apostle Paul said that there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." (Epn.4:5) That "one baptism" of Eph.4:5 is either water baptism or Holy Spirit baptism. It cannot be both. Two different, distinct baptisms cannot be the same. Hence, either Holy Spirit baptism or water baptism is the "one baptism" of Eph.4:5.
In Matt. 28:19-20 Jesus Christ said: "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." This commission, along with the other statement of it in Mark 16: 15-16 and Luke 24:47-49, was the commission under which the apostles moved through the book of Acts, from Acts 2 until the end of their lives. And that commission is still in force. Note that they were to (1) teach, (2) baptize, and (3) teach those baptized to observe all that Christ commanded. As Christ promised to be with them "unto the end of the world," He thereby promised to be with that which they taught "unto the end of the world." Their teaching and practice, as here commanded, were thus to last that long. The baptism of that commission was of necessity water baptism. Why? It was commanded, and was to be performed by the apostles and those who followed. Men could not baptize with the Holy Spirit. Only the Lord could do that. But men could baptize with water as the element. This baptism, here commanded, then was water baptism, and not that of the Holy Spirit. It was in force when the two cases of Holy Spirit baptism, as found in Acts 2 and 10, took place. The commission as given by Matthew 28 will never cease, as you can see there the command that those taught, baptized, and taught are to continue the process. As long as that commission remains in force, that long will water baptism remain in force.
But mark this: Paul made his statement of Eph. 4:5, that there is "one baptism," after the two cases of Holy Spirit baptism found in Acts 2 and 10. That meant that either water or Holy Spirit baptism had been abolished. But it could not be that water baptism had been abolished, for we have seen that Matt. 28: 19-20 shows that water baptism was to continue, and never stop as long as time should last. Hence, if water baptism was not to stop, and one of the two necessarily had to cease, we are forced to the conclusion that the baptism that came to an end was that with the Holy Spirit.
It served its purposes, namely: first, to convince the Jews that the apostles preached the truth, and secondly, to convince Jewish Christians that Gentiles could be saved on the same terms of obeying the gospel as did the Jews. Hence, it is no more, and we today must submit to water baptism as a command of the gospel and necessary to salvation. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Mark 16:16)
(Original tract printed in 1950.)