When Do I Receive The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit?

Many Christians claim to have experienced a baptism of the Holy Spirit after their conversion. Features of this phenomenon are an increased desire for prayer, meaningful bible study, delight in the act of worship, and for some the speaking of tongues. According to Pentecostal theology, Jesus' disciples were Christians before the events of Pentecost. Therefore, the disciples received the baptism of the Holy Spirit after their salvation. Pentecostal theologians argue that this is the established pattern for Christians to receive the Holy Spirit. This view may seem convincing on the surface level, but scripture argues otherwise.

Scriptural Development of Baptism in the Holy Spirit

Beginning in Deuteronomy 30:1–6, Moses foretells the destruction of the old covenant and the dispersal of Israel among the nations. Allison and Kostenberger, authors of The Holy Spirit, explain that "this exile [was] not due to the failure of the old covenant itself but would be traced to the failure of the old covenant people to obey their obligations as covenant partners."[1] Jeremiah further expands upon Mose's words when he proclaims, "Behold, the days are coming declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah . . . I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts (31:31–34)." The prophet Ezekiel further highlights the upcoming role of the Holy Spirit whereby the inner man is changed. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness . . . and I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove your heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:25–27)."

John the Baptist provides an eyewitness account of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him (Matthew 3:16)." The baptism of Jesus modeled to believers how they would receive the same Spirit in the future.

In Jesus's final hours before his death on the cross, he reassured his disciples of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper . . . You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16–17)." However, it wasn't until Acts 2:1–4 that the disciples finally received the Holy Spirit that the prophecies were fulfilled.

Scriptural Experience of Baptism with the Holy Spirit

The apostle Paul provides a theology on the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:12–13: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and all were made to drink of one Spirit." Paul's words to the Corinthian church carry a fundamental message: Christians experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit as part of their inauguration into the church.

In Acts 10:44–48, Peter shares the gospel message to Cornelius and company, in which the Holy Spirit falls on the listening crowd. This event surprises Peter, being that his hosts are Gentiles. However, Peter understands this as proof of Jesus' words because the Gentiles are "rehearsing the mighty acts of God in unusual utterances, as the Jewish disciples had done on the day of Pentecost when they were baptized with the Spirit."[2] Peter sees the parallelism between the Holy Spirit falling on the disciples and the Holy Spirit falling on the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit was received by both Jews and Greeks when they believed. Based on Peter's story, baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs when a person believes in Jesus Christ rather than after.

Unusual Passages of Acts 8:14–17 and 19:1–7

Proponents of the Pentecostal view base their doctrine on the unusual passages of Acts 8:14–17 and 19:1–7. They argue that the delay of the Holy Spirit in these passages proves that baptism occurs at the end of conversion rather than at the beginning. However, upon closer inspection, Act 8:14–17 exemplifies God's providence. Jesus wanted the apostles to pray for the Samaritan believers to receive the Holy Spirit to demonstrate that Samaritans were full members of the body of Christ. The reasoning behind this was because the Jews saw the Samaritans as half-breeds and a people who were exiled from common wealth of Israel. Likewise, Jesus reminded his disciples in Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The Samaritan event was part of Jesus' plan to send the gospel to all nations and show that all believers would receive the Holy Spirit regardless of ancestry.

Acts 19:1–7 is another strange situation in which a group of believers had not yet received the Holy Spirit. However, in this case, it is pretty simple to decipher. The people of this group were disciples of John the Baptist, who were baptized into John's baptism. These people in Ephesus were awaiting the promised Messiah would redeem them and baptize them with the Holy Spirit. Their understanding of the gospel was incomplete, resulting in the unique situation that they were in. Once Paul taught them the whole message of the gospel, it was only then that John's disciples could receive the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

Contrary to popular belief, baptism of the Holy Spirit does not necessarily entail the promise of an emotional high of life-changing portions. To measure one's receiving of the Holy Spirit based solely on emotional experience is unbiblical. For believers who claimed to have received an outpouring of the Holy Spirit after conversion, I would answer that they experienced a filling of the Holy Spirit after conversion. In Ephesians 5:18, Paul encourages believers not to get drunk with wine but to be filled with the Spirit. This passage encourages believers to be filled with the Spirit, whereas baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at conversion. The phrases "filling of the Holy Spirit" and "baptism of the Holy Spirit" are separate events and should not be understood in the same context. Therefore, the New Testament texts do not support believers to seek out a second baptism of the Holy Spirit because they have already been baptized with the Holy Spirit upon believing in Christ.

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Footnotes:

[1] Gregg R. Allison and Andreas J. Kostenberger, The Holy Spirit: Theology for the People of God (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2020), 384-385.

[2] Allison and Kostenberger, The Holy Spirit, 390.

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Bibliography:

Allison, Gregg R. and Andreas J. Kostenberger. The Holy Spirit: Theology for the People of God. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2020.

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Bao Vang is a wife and mom of two amazing daughters. When Bao's not serving her local church, she likes to write and spend time with her family. Bao received her MA in Theological Studies from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and she is currently working on a PhD in Bible Exposition at John W. Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University. Bao is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature.