Implications

For over a century, God has been moving powerfully giving Christians Holy Spirit experiences. This move of God has been so large that approximately 25 percent of Christians today identify themselves as Pentecostal/charismatic. Since experiences, spiritual or otherwise, are rarely self-defining, Christians must interpret what has happened to them and/or others and try to figure out what God is doing. This task definitely has not been made any easier with the wide acceptance of a likely misunderstanding of a key Bible verse pertaining to this move of God- 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Both current evangelical and Pentecostal/charismatic theology pertaining to the Holy Spirit and his activity have fallen short for me. Perhaps I must expect this state of affairs given that Christian theology develops slowly and this particular move of God is barely over a century old. However, I want answers that I can wholeheartedly accept so I have explored the issues for myself. I even went to seminary!

Here are some of the conclusions I have drawn and questions I still have thus far:

  1. Most, if not all, of the Christian Church today does not correctly understand what the Bible teaches about baptism in the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals/charismatics appear closer to the truth than traditional evangelicals. The traditional evangelical position simply does not hold up well under scrutiny and seems doctrinally redundant and unnecessary. Baptism in the Holy Spirit appears to be distinct from and subsequent to salvation and an empowerment for service. However, other Pentecostal/charismatic beliefs and assumptions about Spirit baptism prove problematic.

  2. Why is it commonly assumed in Pentecostal and charismatic circles that baptism in the Holy Spirit will occur only once in a given believer's life? If previously Spirit-filled believers feel inadequate for a task to which they believe God has called them and cry out to God for empowerment, what would prevent God from re-immersing and thus re-filling these individuals? I see no biblical or practical barriers to repeated baptisms in the Holy Spirit. In fact, I believe Acts 4:31 chronicles another such Spirit baptism. The possibility exists that Luke did not overtly identify the 4:31 incident as Spirit baptism because doing so would have diluted his theological intent in Acts-- Spirit baptism as the sign that God accepts all people into His family.

  3. The Pentecostal idea of tongues as the initial evidence of Spirit baptism remains very strange to me. My alternative interpretation of 1 Corinthians 12:13 appears to present serious problems for the Pentecostal universal tongues doctrine. The context of 1 Corinthians 12:13 (1 Corinthians 12) plainly states that the Holy Spirit decides which gifts each individual Christian will receive and that not every Christian will receive any given gift. Pentecostals try to get around this point by differentiating between tongues as a sign (Acts) and tongues as a gift (1 Corinthians), but if Paul and Luke's understanding of Spirit baptism is essentially the same, this theological argument completely breaks down. Plus, even if a successful argument for universal tongues as a sign could be made, why would Spirit baptism need evidence, tongues or otherwise, today in light of the fact that the unity issues in the early Church have long been resolved? In the Bible, Spirit baptism itself served as a "sign" of salvation for all people who accepted Christ. Maybe a case could be made that the "sign" (Spirit baptism) needed its own "sign" (tongues) at the beginning of Christianity but today, why would Spirit baptism need any sort of universal evidence? How did the idea of speaking in tongues as the initial physical evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit arise in Pentecostalism especially since the term "initial physical evidence" is not found in the Bible? Check out my master's project on tongues in first-generation Pentecostalism to discover potential answers to this particular question.

  4. Before Pentecostalism began in 1900, growing numbers of evangelicals were experiencing baptism in the Holy Spirit in the latter years of the 19th century according to Reuben A. Torrey, an associate of Dwight Moody. Check out Torrey's short book copyrighted in 1895 and 1897, The Baptism with the Holy Spirit, for the full story. Interestingly, Torrey notes in the book (p. 18) that he expected the gift of tongues to accompany Spirit baptism but instead, Spirit baptism was occurring without tongues in every case known to him. Why were tongues not prominently connected to Spirit baptism in the latter part of the 19th century given their strong correlation to Spirit baptism in the 20th century and today?

  5. I believe Spirit baptism's essential nature makes it especially difficult for the Western Church to understand. Western Christians love pinning down doctrines and truth, controlling them and setting them in stone if possible. However, it appears that baptism in the Holy Spirit is fluid, dynamic, and often unexpected just like the Holy Spirit himself. Baptism in the Holy Spirit likely serves as God's "secret" weapon to use as He sees fit and can only be understood when viewed in action across Christian history. I think Spirit baptism has ebbed and flowed over the years with different aspects of it more or less pronounced given God's purposes and the needs of the times. To understand the big picture, Christians must read both the Bible and history to see God's use of Spirit baptism in real time. I fully expect Spirit baptism to continue surprising the Church in the future.

  6. Does the increased incidence of Spirit baptism in the last 100+ years indicate that Jesus' return is near? What is baptism in the Holy Spirit's connection, if any, to the end of history and the coming of God's Kingdom? These questions come to my mind in light of Peter's reference to Joel 2 in his preaching on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:14-21. Do evangelical Christians today believe that they or their spiritual descendents are all going to wake up one morning and start prophesizing, seeing visions, and dreaming dreams right out of the blue? I think it likely that these gifts and experiences are coming upon the Church gradually readying it for the end. If God multiples the number of Christians receiving Spirit baptism, then the Church is going to look increasingly like the prophecy in Acts 2. If Christians ask God for Spirit baptism in order to empower their ministries, will this hasten the coming of Jesus (2 Peter 3:12)?

  7. Given the modern Western Church's inadequate understanding of the Holy Spirit and His work, I believe all Christians who are interested in this topic need to ask God to make His truth clearer. We all need to pray that God will lead us and the Church at large into His truth whatever that truth turns out to be. What are God's plan and purposes regarding baptism in the Holy Spirit today? Why has Spirit baptism re-emerged so strongly since the late 19th century after centuries of being largely sporatic and localized? What should we make of the strong correlation between tongues and Spirit baptism in this move of God today?