“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:4)
Jesus was risen and ascended to heaven. (Luke 24:51,52; Acts 1:9-11) He told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:4,5) And they gathered together in Jerusalem in the upper room, 120 disciples of Jesus including the women who followed Jesus, Mary His mother and the brothers of Jesus, praying and waiting. (Acts 1:14)
It was during the Feast of Weeks. The Feast of Weeks were fifty days after Passover, the celebration of the deliverance from Egypt. Pentecost is the Greek word for fifty. On that fiftieth day, the Holy Spirit came to the 120 believers in the upper room. (Acts 2:1) This is known as the beginning of the New Testament church. The Holy Spirit came with great manifestations. There was the sound of wind from heaven that filled the room. Flames of fire appeared over each one of them. And they started speaking in tongues or in other languages. (Acts 2:2-4) Some denominations know this as the baptism of Holy Ghost and fire that John spoke of in the Gospel of Matthew. “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” (Matthew 3:11). We are baptized into Jesus by the Holy Spirit when we believe. And the baptism with fire is that extraordinary grace with the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” (1Corinthians 12:4-11)
Today there are Christian denominations that say and believe that the Holy Spirit indwells the believer, but they don’t believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for today with the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit including speaking in other languages. And there are other Christian denominations that practice speaking in other languages with a separate occurrence known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And other Christian denominations believe that even if you believe in Jesus, are saved and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, unless you speak in tongues you have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit. I will not attempt to argue any of these beliefs for the Holy Spirit, but let’s allow the Word of God to lead and guide what we believe. Will we be open to God’s Word in spite of our experiences as a child of God and member of different churches and denominations? We are all seeking God’s Truth. And sometimes we just have to allow the Word of God to change our thinking.
Paul writes, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6) When Paul speaks of one baptism, he is talking not merely of the rite of baptism, but what it represents, us believing and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the death of the old man and our resurrection as a new person in Jesus. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2Corinthians 5:17) Then we have a controversial incident recorded in Acts with Paul and some believers in Ephesus. “He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.” (Act 19:2) These Ephesians were believers who had been baptized by John unto repentance, meaning they repented and believed on the Messiah. They had the Holy Spirit indwelling when the Holy Spirit came to earth to indwell believers. He indwelled all who believe. He is the promise Who came on Pentecost. Paul asks about the special grace given to those who have the Holy Spirit indwelling in which are manifest the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is some confusion in understanding about what exactly they did say. Surely as believers they had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but not the extraordinary grace of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. John Gill, a renowned commentator of the Bible states that in order to avoid this confusion, the Ethiopic version has translated their response to read, “we have only heard that there was an Holy Ghost.” We are at the mercy of human writers and translators. But certain facts are irrefutable. They were believers. They had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul baptized them in the name of Jesus. And they received the grace of the gifts of the Holy Spirit when Paul laid hands on them. “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” (Acts 19:5-6)
Many want to be specific in their terminology. And they may not want to say this is another baptism, which in some denominations it’s known as a separate baptism, but it’s evident in Scripture that it is something else with the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which were and still are manifest in many believers whether some denominations recognize this grace for today’s believer or not.
I will give a little testimony. I was in a prayer group in which the pastor began to speak in another language. To my surprise I understood, not because I had received any special gift of interpretation, but because I am a bilingual person who speaks English and Spanish. The pastor, an Anglo American was praising and exalting the Lord in perfect Spanish. After the prayer meeting, I asked him if he spoke Spanish. He said, “I don’t.” I then told him that when he was praying in tongues, he was praying in perfect Spanish. He wanted to know what he was saying, and I told him. This is just one example of my experience. It’s unfortunate that we do make our experiences our beliefs. Some who have not experienced this exceptional grace of the Holy Spirit refuse to believe that it’s available to all believers through the Holy Spirit Who indwells in them. But as a fellow believer said, “It’s in the Bible. We can’t deny it.”
Paul spoke of the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This study is extensive, and volumes have been written about it. My only objective is to discover that there are marvelous gifts available to the believer through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us whatever we may call it, right or wrong, our terminology doesn’t define the Holy Spirit and His working in us and through us. But what is important and essential is our complete surrender to Him and what He wants to do in us and through us.
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