Archive for December, 2007

This is another kind of heresy bashing post again, it happened to come up a few weeks ago, and I guess will do again, so I thought it wise to collect some thoughts…

I hadn’t heard of the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ in those terms before I came to Uni, then I found there were some different beliefs to what I held… I just assumed Christians have the Holy Spirit…

So anyway, this issue came up, I turned to Grudem… disappointed that Bible Doctrine contains nothing on this issue, I assume the bigger one does. The Big Moon man preached a sermon on the work of the Spirit, which was great and then lent me a book called ‘Baptism and Fullness’ by John Stott.

Stott goes through the Bible passages in question, examines the arguments and comes I guess to the same conclusions I had all along, just now I have these with a grasp of what the Bible actually says…
Who has the Spirit?

The basic argument of Pentecostal and some Charismatics is that scripture prescribes a subsequent experience of the giving of the Spirit after conversion. They say that speaking in tongues is the sign of having received the Spirit.

Various scriptures are used to justify this view, but all of them are really just talking about people becoming Christians, and many of the accounts referred to in Acts are hardly normative. For example the Ephesian disciples in Acts 19 are used as an example of a second blessing of the Spirit, but the reality is they hadn’t received the blessing of knowing Jesus, they weren’t Christians! It’s not good to take theology from Acts, when so much of what’s going on is not normative, partly in terms of how God is working, but also in terms of the social, geographic and religious situations that can never be repeated, such as the conversion of some Samaritans in Acts 8, another passage pointed to as proof of a required second blessing.

Tongues?

One church in Brighton states this in their beliefs…

We believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit as an enduement of the believer with power for service the biblical evidence of which is the speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance

Six passages from Acts are quoted as a justification of this statement. That’s the problem when you take your theology from Acts, turning narrative passages into doctrine. 1 Cor 12:30 – Paul asks “Do all speak with tongues?” in the context of that passage the answer is NO, the same Spirit gives a variety of gifts.

So what is the sign of having received the Spirit? Outwardly, lots of different gifts, ultimately regeneration, increasing Christlikeness. But the question is not really about signs, inwardly, when do you receive the Spirit? Ephesians 1:13 when you “Believed in Him”

Be filled?

Ephesians 5:18 says “…be filled with the Spirit”, Stott says 4 things about this:

1. It’s a command
2. The verb is plural – it has application beyond the time of writing
3. The verb is passive – let the Holy Spirit fill you
4. The verb is present – it is a continuous action, continually be filled

The Moon talked about this and quoted D.L. Moody… when asked why he preaches that we must be ‘continually filled’ he replied… “I Leak”

Spirit Baptism?

Yes, I believe in Spirit Baptism. It’s just a synonym for ‘being saved’, ‘becoming a Christian’ etc. Passages that Pentecostals refer to are usually simply talking about becoming a Christian or are somehow unusual, not normative for Christians today. Paul is clear that the gift of tongues is not for everyone, and that you receive the Spirit when you believe. Being filled with the Spirit is not a one time event, but a continuous part of the Christian Life, asking the Spirit to fill and renew us.