Like Spring Rain
Towards a New Pentecostal Doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
by
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Author’s Preface. Chapter 1. The Lay of the Land. Section 1. Knowing the Gifts of God. Chapter 2. Christ the Source of all Blessing. Chapter 3. Legal or Experiential? Chapter 4. The Gifts of God and THE Gift of God. Chapter 5. What is the problem exactly? Section 2. The New Covenant Chapter 6. The Promise of the Father. Chapter 7. The New Covenant Chapter 8. “You must be born again.” Chapter 9. “He shall be in you.” Chapter 10. “Be Filled with the Holy Spirit.” Chapter 11. What is Baptism? Chapter 12. The Baptism in the Spirit (part 1). Chapter 13. Sealing. Chapter 14. The Difference between Baptism and Filling. Section 3. Discussion of Other Questions Raised by the Pentecostal Experience. Chapter 15. The Relationship of Doctrine to Experience. Chapter 16. Using Acts as a Yardstick. Chapter 17. Baptism in the Spirit (part 2): Initiation and Incorporation into the Spirit. Chapter 18. Baptism in the Spirit (part 3): Immersion in and Identification with the Spirit. Chapter 19. The Pentecostal Experience. Chapter 20. On the Permanence of the Gifts of the Spirit. Chapter 21. What is “Speaking in Tongues”? Chapter 22. The Benefits of Speaking in Tongues. Section 4. Beyond Pentecost. Chapter 23. The Toronto Experience and Similar Phenomena. Chapter 24. Pressing on in the Holy Spirit. Chapter 25. The Sum of the Matter. Appendices: “How to…” Appendix 1. How to be Born Again. Appendix 2. How to Experience the Pentecostal Experience. Appendix 3. How to be Continuously Filled with the Spirit. Chapter 12. The Baptism in the Spirit (part 1). It seems appropriate at this point to ask the question, “What is the baptism in the Spirit?” The obvious thing to do is to look at the places it is mentioned in the Bible and see what they say. There are only seven direct references to the baptism in the Spirit. Six of these refer to the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The first three references are the words of John the Baptist prior to Jesus’ baptism: "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matt 3:11, 12)." The parallel passages in Mark 1:8 and Luke 3:16, 17 add nothing to this. The fourth is John’s words testifying after Jesus’ baptism: “Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, `The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God (John 1:32-34)." The fifth is the words of Jesus just prior to his ascension: “On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with 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 1:4, 5, 8).’" The last are the words of Peter testifying to how the Spirit had fallen on the Gentiles in the House of Cornelius: "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: `John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God (Acts 11:15-17)?” To this could be added an indirect reference: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49)." This is presumably the same discussion as recorded in Acts 1 so is not a separate witness, but it does add a few details. To this short list could also be added the actual fulfilment of this promise in Acts 2. The words “baptism in the Spirit” do not occur in Acts 2, but it is clearly the fulfillment of the promise, so is an indirect reference to it. Similarly the extension of gift of the Spirit to the Samaritans (Acts 8), The Gentiles (Acts 10) and the Ephesians (Acts 19) could be seen as indirect references to the baptism in the Spirit. These four episodes fulfill the words of Jesus: “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).” This verse seems to give an outline or structure of the book of Acts and the extension of the gospel, and hence the gift of the Spirit follows this pattern. The episodes where the Spirit is given that specifically fit this outline are purposefully recorded in some detail by Luke to show how the prophecy of Jesus was fulfilled. Other instances where people received the Spirit are passed over more quickly. So we are justified in seeing these episodes as being prophetically significant, in that they show the extension of the gift of the Spirit beyond Jerusalem. What do these teach us about the baptism in the Spirit? The first thing is clearly that the baptism in the Spirit is the thing that incorporates the Church. Before Pentecost there was no Church, in the sense of a community of the Spirit: after Pentecost there is a vibrant community of the Spirit. The gift of the Spirit brings others into this community and preserves the essential unity of the Spirit in the community. People who had been excluded from the old nationalistic Israel, Samaritans and Gentiles, were included in the New People of God, the Church, simply because they had the Spirit. The old racial and religious lines were completely abolished. Secondly it is clear that Luke is seeing this git of the Spirit as an empowering for service, like the Old Testament “coming on” of the Spirit. Jesus’ words, “…you shall receive power when the Spirit comes on you and you shall be my witnesses…” make this clear. The reading at the end of Mark’s gospel, though it is disputed, reflects that same belief. These two things are the essence of the baptism in the Spirit: incorporation into Christ and power for service. The second is stated plainly in Luke-Acts, the first is only implied, but it is there. When we come to Paul’s epistles the first becomes the main emphasis and it is clearly stated; the “power” idea becomes what is implied. From Luke-Acts we can see that the baptism in the Spirit has several ways of being talked about: The promise of the Father. It is called this because the gift of the Spirit was promised in the Old Testament. The baptism in the Spirit. This is the name John the Baptist seems to have coined and Jesus uses it also. The Spirit coming “on” us. A “clothing.” Luke also teaches us, firstly, that the disciples were to wait in Jerusalem until they received the Spirit. Bruner makes it clear that the emphasis of the Greek is on “wait in Jerusalem” not on “wait.” It is the location that is stressed. Thus this is not to be made into a condition for us in order to receive the Spirit. The other thing that is stressed is the timing: “until.” The coming of the Spirit was covered by the prophetic timing of the feast of Pentecost. Jesus point is this: “The Spirit is coming. I have a task for you to do but you can’t do it without the Spirit. So wait until the Spirit comes. Until then do nothing, “sit.” Secondly, the implication is that they would know when they had received the Spirit. It would not be a matter of doubt for them. They would experience it in a way that left them in no doubt what was happening. Interestingly enough, Jesus does not go into details of “How would they know?” He assumes they would know.
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About the Book
Looking at key concepts such as sealing, regeneration, indwelling, filling, baptism, spiritual gifts and speaking in tongues, this book seeks to set the Pentecostal and Toronto experiences on a biblical, doctrinal basis which is both evangelical and conservative.
About the Author
John grew up in a conservative evangelical church. When the charismatic renewal burst on the scene in the late 1960s, the church took a fierce stand in opposition to it. While attending university, John encountered many charismatics; they didn’t seem to be as evil as the church had portrayed. A subsequent experience of the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues created a quandary. Theologically John could see holes in the Pentecostal doctrine, but the experience was real. This book is the result of forty years of reflection on the quandary, starting from the premise that if the experience really was God, then it should be able to be explained scripturally without the obvious contradictions in popular theology.
John has a B. Theology degree from Auckland University. He is a trained primary school teacher and has served as a pastor and Bible teacher. He is married with three adult children. John lives only a few minutes’ walk from a beautiful beach in Whangaparaoa, New Zealand, a setting conducive to reflection on the things of God. John attends his local Assembly of God church.