The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit

by T. M. Hyland | Category: The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit | Oct 1944

We have sought to establish from Scripture the time-incidence of reception of the H01y Spirit as Indweller. Before considering its significance and the results flowing from it we will examine the phrase "Baptism in the Holy Spirit." But let us first plead that the wondrous fact of the indwelling be recognised and realised by each one of us. In the spiritual development of the believer so much, so very much, depends on his response to "the Spirit which He made to dwell in us." And yet is it not painfully manifest that His presence is frequently forgotten and, dare we say it, sometimes even ignored? So, grieved and quenched, His working in the believer is impeded, with consequent failure and dishonour to the Lord.

Let us turn once more to those precious words of the Lord on the night of the betrayal and recall His sure promise of "the Comforter whom," said He, " I will send unto you from the Father." Let us examine afresh the clear evidence of the Spirit's Personality and Deity disclosed in that wondrous discourse, and then survey the blessed Paraclete's sacred functions. His strengthening, teaching, witnessing, guiding, glorifying work. And having done so then let us take these words of the Lord, spoken in an hour of great tenderness, "He shall be IN you," and, with a faith firm and unwavering, recognise and realise the fact of the indwelling" in our case." For we have been the subjects of the Spirit's work; we have been "born of the Spirit," and, like the Galatians, when we believed we received the Spirit "into our hearts." There in the innermost place in our spiritual being He dwells, "nearer to us than breathing, nearer than hands and feet." And He is with us "for ever."1 Our capacity to enjoy God in those eternal ages when "His servants shall do Him service, and shall see His face," will emanate from the same blessed Spirit who came into our hearts here on earth the moment we believed on the Lord Jesus. Happy indeed is the man who enters here and now into the enjoyment of his present spiritual heritage, the possession of the Holy Spirit. It is perhaps not to be wondered at that some believers, who have entered some time after conversion into practical realisation of this truth of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, should regard it as a second conversion." But it is not so. He entered their hearts at the beginning of their spiritual life, but now His presence is recognised and realised.

We will consider the phrase

BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.

It occurs seven times only in the New Testament; once in each of the four Gospels, twice in the Acts and once in the Epistles. The references in the Gospels are to the prophecy of John the Baptist.

"I baptize you with (in R.V. marg.) water: but He shall baptize you with (in, R.V. marg.) the Holy Spirit."2

1 John 14. 16. 2 Mark 1, 8; see also Matthew 3. 11; Luke 3.16; John 1. 33.

In the text of both Authorised and Revised Versions the words "with the Holy Spirit" are used, but the Revised Margin and the American Revisers have "in the Holy Spirit." Other authorities, in each of these cases, also translate the Greek preposition en as "in." There is no doubt that the best translation is "in the Holy Spirit."

The term" the baptism of the Holy Spirit "is not a Scriptural one. Its use has misled many and caused much confusion of teaching. Insistence on Scriptural terms is n6t a mere fetish for correct nomenclature, as some have suggested. Surely we cannot be too careful to observe the very words by which the Holy Spirit has conveyed to us the mind of God. Departure from "the words of the faith" has often proved to be the first step into the mire of false teaching.

John the Baptist's words reveal that baptism in the Holy Spirit is effected by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Holy Spirit is, shall we say, the element in which the believer is baptised-in contrast to water in which John baptised.

The words of the Lord to His apostles, shortly before His ascension, "Ye shall be baptized with (in, R.V. marg.) the Holy Spirit not many days hence,"1 identify the Pentecostal out-pouring to be a fulfilment of John's prophecy. And the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Gentile converts in the Cornelius household was recognised by the apostle Peter to be an event in connection with the Gentiles comparable with that of Pentecost for Jewish believers.

Recounting what took place on that historical occasion the apostle Peter said

"And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even as on us at the beginning, And I remembered the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with (in, R.V. marg.) the Holy Spirit."2

We now turn to the reference to this matter in the Epistles, and it is an illuminating one. Writing to the Corinthian church the apostle Paul says,

"all the members of the Body, being many, are one Body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one Body."3

Here is revealed, firstly; what "baptism in the Holy Spirit" is. It is the means by which the believer is united to the Church which is Christ's Body. Secondly; it was a past event in the experience of those to whom the apostle wrote, "were we all ("aorist, referring to a fact gone by," Alford). And, thirdly; all had been so baptised; there was no distinction between believers in this matter, "whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free." It was true of all the Corinthian believers, even though some had lapsed into a carnal state.

These facts which emerge from 1 Corinthians 12.18 are fatal to the

teaching, prevalent in some circles of Christians, that baptism in the Holy Spirit is not the experience of all believers, but is something to

1 Acts 1.5. 2 Acts 1 . 15, 16.3 1 Corinthians 12.12, 13

be sought for by the believer subsequent to conversion. - Recognising this, some have tried to differentiate between the "baptism " of 1 Corinthians 12.18 and that referred to in Acts 1.5 and Acts 11. 16; but surely this is a grave error of exegesis. The Authorised Version of 1 Corinthians 12.18, "By one Spirit ... " has perhaps been misleading; but, as in each of the six references to this, matter in the Gospels and the Acts, so here, it is the Greek preposition en (in) that is used. Lightfoot says that to translate en as" by "in 1 Corinthians 12.18, is " indefensible."

It is significant that, though the Lord promised shortly before Pentecost, " Ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit," when the promise was fulfilled no reference is made to the "baptism," but it is stated,

they were all filled with the Holy Spirit."1 Are we to conclude from this that "baptism" is synonymous with "filling"? Clearly not. The words themselves express different ideas. In "baptism" the person is put into the element, whereas in "filling," the element is put into the person. The result of "baptism in the Holy Spirit" on the day of Pentecost, as 1 Corinthians 12.13 tells us, was that they were "all baptized into one Body." The result of" filling" was that they "began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance." Because "baptism " and "filling " were simultaneous at Pentecost they are not therefore synonymous terms. Clearly those carnal saints at Corinth who are embraced in the statement" in one Spirit were we all baptized," could not be described as being filled with the Spirit."

We conclude, therefore, that the teaching of the New Testament is that the believer is" baptized in one Spirit into one body "the moment he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ-the same moment in which he receives the Holy Spirit as Indweller. These two great fundamental truths, the Baptism and the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, are the basis of those experimental blessings of the Spirit which may be realised by believers in this dispensation.

On the night of the Betrayal, when the Lord gave to His apostles the wondrous revelation concerning the other Comforter, He interposed in His discourse those precious passages concerning fruitbearing which are found in the early verses of John 15. He thus disclosed to them a great present purpose of God in the believer:

"I chose you, ... that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide."2

On that occasion the Lord laid emphasis on the fact that such fruitbearing

was only possible because of the vital union existing between Himself and the branches. He did not then directly disclose what part the Holy Spirit plays in the production of this "fruit unto God."3 But the fact that He spake of it in the midst of His great discourse on the Spirit is deeply significant, as we remember that "baptism in the Holy Spirit" is the means by which the believer is brought into

1 Acts 2.4.2 John 15:16.3 Romans 7.4.

this vital union with Christ-thereby becoming a member of His body. We then that are now united to Christ, with all that this involves of eternal blessing, should also by abiding in Christ, the True Vine, bear the precious fruit, described by the apostle Paul in the Galatian Epistle as the fruit of the Spirit.

T. M. Hyland | Oct 1944
The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit