Walmer Baptist Church |

The Message of Pentecost

By Revd Sean Michael Carter

Posted on June 2nd 2006

History records that after the exile of Napoleon, the Bonapartist party in France often lamented “if only the emperor were with us now.” This is the common plea of bereaved followers in the absence of a great leader, “we want them back.” It is interesting that in the New Testament there is not one word of complaint mentioned by the early Christians that Jesus Christ was no longer with the infant Church.

It would have been natural if they had expressed the wish that “If only the Lord were with us now,” especially during times of intense persecution or the theological questions that were soon raised as how best to live as a Christian. After the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ the Apostles never complained that the Lord was no longer with them, because He still was. That is why they testified that “He is still here among us.” This testimony was not that He was still among them in physical form, but that He was among them in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity. The teaching of the Holy trinity is a revealed mystery in Scripture, that God is one, yet three. One God with three manifestations of His Divine Being. Those we call;

God the Father

God the Son

God the Holy Spirit

We see perfect community between the Trinity. The very first mention of God in the Bible in the Hebrew is plural. [Genesis 1:1 ] The touchstone of authentic historical Christianity is that it is Trinitarian. It is important to mention that the Holy Spirit is a Divine person, a personality, who is present within the Christian Church not merely an impersonal force or power.

The Holy Spirit has been Promised by God the Father as a gift to the Church

Jesus taught that God the Father would send the Holy Spirit in His name. [John 14:26]

The Holy Spirit has been Promised by God the Son as a gift to the Church

Jesus taught that He would send the Holy Spirit from the Father [John 15:26]

The Holy Spirit is the Gift to Every Believer, Not Just Some.

The gifts, power and fruit of the Holy Spirit have been seen in the Church since the day of Pentecost, but, the teaching that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate and distinct second experience and happening from conversion has only been around since the 18th century. It was formulated by a man called Edward Irving whose life is a sad tale as he died very sick and alienated from the Church. The historical teaching of the Christian Church has been that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at conversion, not as a second experience. It is a latter day doctrine that has brought much strife and division to the Church that teaches it is a second experience and created a lot of pride and arrogance,rather than humility, in those who believe they have a superior knowledge of Christ and are more 'spiritual' Christians as a result. They forget or choose to ignore people like Augustine, Francis of Assisi, John and Charles Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa and so on who never claimed a second more elevated experience of the Holy Spirit.

Having said that, it is true that some Christians may not consciously experience the presence of the Holy Spirit until a later stage in their Christian journey, but that is not the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church that ‘we were all baptised by one Spirit (Notice the past tense and the inclusive language, ALL!) Into one body...and we were all given one Spirit to drink.[1 Corinthians 12:13] When a person becomes a Christian certain things happen

1. The Holy Spirit immerses us into the death of Jesus

A believer receives a position with Christ

2. The Holy Spirit immerses us into the Resurrection of Jesus

We have a new life of freedom in Christ and a new identity as a believer

3. The Holy Spirit seals us as belonging to Christ

I will say more about this in a future article on Eternal Security of the Christian believer.

4. We are joined to the Body of Christ, because we are baptised into Christ.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism into Christ

Water Baptism is a physical Re-enactment and public testimony of what has already taken place when we became a Christian. Some Christians do not become consciously aware of what has happened until a later stage but this is the filling of the Holy Spirit, not the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. (See chart at the end of this article.)

Water Baptism is symbolic of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

1. Into the water - the death and burial of the old self

2. Out of water into a resurrected new life

3. An act of obedience showing we believe we are now God’s possession

4. An act of public testimony that we are now a Christian

The Holy Spirit and the Believer

The Holy Spirit of God always comes incarnationally, that is, to fulfill the purpose of God IN our humanity, and THROUGH it, not independently of it.

IN OUR HUMANITY

Jesus tells us that we are ‘born-again’ and a new creation. Although we are baptised spiritually into Christ and the Holy Spirit, the reality of this transformation does not all happen at the point of conversion. To begin to possess the wholeness we have in Christ often involves a long and hard journey. Christ does not merely want to teach us how to cope with our problems but He wants to heal us, restore us to the fullness to the image of the God in whom we are created. So, He is sanctifying us and restoring us. This is the life-long journey of Discipleship

In the life of a Christian believer, the Holy Spirit never plays the role of a dictator. When Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, He spoke of Him in terms such as Helper, Comforter, Guide or Teacher.

The Holy Spirit, although a powerful person of the Godhead, keeps within these self-imposed limitations.

He never usurps the will or personality of a Christian believer.

He never compels the believer to do anything against his or her own will or choice

The relationship between a Christian believer and the Holy Spirit is always a voluntary one.

Some believer make this mistake when thinking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They imagine that the Holy Spirit will move upon them so forcefully that they will literally be compelled to speak with other tongues or manifest some spiritual gift without an act of their own will. The scripture reads; 'All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.'

[Acts 2:4] The disciples began to speak first, and then the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.

The relationship between the Holy Spirit and the believer can be summed up as follows. The believer cannot do it without the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit will not do it without the believer. The Holy Spirit frees us to be what God wants us to be so that we can do that which God calls us to do.

THROUGH OUR HUMANITY

The message of Pentecost is only an emphasis on the Holy Spirit in that the Church is given the power to be witnesses for Christ. This is why in scripture witnessing for Christ is often accompanied by statements about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 'You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. [Acts 1:8] Jesus taught that 'the Holy Spirit testifies and the believer must testify.' [John 15:26] We testify by water baptism and by seeking to live a life that authenticates the verbal testimony we have about Christ.

To sum it up, the Holy Spirit of God always comes incarnationally, that is, to fulfill the purpose of God IN our humanity, and THROUGH it, not independently of it. He comes to restore and heal us and to enable the Church, which is the collective of many individual Christian believers, to be the message and to speak it.