What Is the Purpose of Baptism with the Holy Spirit? (Acts 2:1-13)

Today we’re studying Acts 2:1-13, the passage that essentially describes the birth of the Christian church. It begins to answer an important question: What is the purpose of baptism with the Holy Spirit?

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Today’s lesson is exciting, because there’s something for everyone:

• Those who are into this topic
• Pentecostals, charismatics
• Those who are freaked out by this topic
• Christians from more chill religious backgrounds
• Non-denoms, mainline
• Those who are new to Christianity
• Not sure what we’re even talking about
• Start with this: “baptism with the HS” from a pentecostal perspective
• The concept gained particular prominence during the early 20th-century Pentecostal revival, beginning with the Azusa Street Revival in 1906. It emphasized a powerful, personal experience of God's presence and the manifestation of spiritual gifts.
• The Assemblies of God is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world, founded in 1914 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
• Foursquare Church - Founded in 1923 by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson in Los Angeles, California.
• In the mid-20th century, this emphasis spread beyond Pentecostal denominations to the broader Charismatic movement which embraced similar experiences of the Holy Spirit.
• The Jesus Movement in the 60’s and 70’s, along with Calvary Chapel. 
• The Vineyard Movement began in the late 1970s and was founded by John Wimber. The first Vineyard church was officially established in 1982 in Anaheim, California.
• Catholic charismatic movement
• Hillsong, Bethel Church, etc.
• In these environments you’ll hear about “baptism with the HS”
• There’s one main evidence: speaking in tongues
• So it becomes a huge focus in these churches
• Often becomes the main thing
• It’ll freak you out if you’ve never seen it before
• But what does the Bible say about it? 

That’s what we’ll answer today: What is the purpose of baptism with the Holy Spirit?

• We don’t believe things based on how weird or normal they seem
• We look to God and his Word in all we do (and believe) 

First of all, “baptism with the HS” is in the Bible, not just made up by the pentecostals and charismatics

• The term was coined by Jesus! 
• Acts 1:5 (NLT) “John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
• This is why the disciples went back to Jerusalem
• Practiced disciplines of connection, prayer, Bible study
• Waited on God with great expectation
• But not exactly sure what it would look like
• Baptism with the HS was a biblical concept way before it was a pentecostal thing
• The real question is what is the purpose? 
• That’s what our text will answer today
• Because the Pentecostal movement traces its roots back to Acts ch 2. 
• But I think they get something wrong with how they apply it. So let’s dig in…

Acts 2:1-2

Summary: All the believers were together for Pentecost - a Jewish holy day that celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses. The sound of a mighty wind filled the house, which to the Jewish mind was a symbol of the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 2:1-2 (NLT) 1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

• Pentecost
• one of the three great pilgrim festivals of Judaism, along with Passover and Tabernacles
• celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover 
• Leviticus 23:15-16 (NLT) 15 “From the day after the Sabbath—the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted up as a special offering—count off seven full weeks. 16 Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the LORD.”
• Expositor’s Bible Commentary (EBC): It was originally the Festival of the Firstfruits of the grain harvest (Ex 23:16; Lev 23:17-22; Nu 28:26-31); it was called the Feast of Weeks because it came after a period of seven weeks of harvesting that began with the offering of the first barley sheaf during the Passover celebration. 
• EBC: By the time of the first century A.D., however, it was considered the anniversary of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai and was a time for the annual renewal of the Mosaic covenant… 
• This is important! We’ll come back to this in a bit
• Sound
• Tornado witness accounts
• This was a public thing, not private!
• Windstorm
• Sounded like a wind; but was it actually wind?
• Wind = ruah (Hebrew) = pneuma (Gk) = spirit
• John 3:8 (NLT) The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
• Ezekiel 37:9 (NLT) 9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’”
• Ezekiel 37:10-14 (NLT) 10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. 11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12 Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

Let’s read on…

Acts 2:3-4

Summary: Something like flames appeared on each believer, yet another symbol of God’s presence. Previously the disciples had been influenced by the Holy Spirit, but now everyone was indwelt by the Spirit – something Jesus promised would happen.

Acts 2:3-4 (NLT) 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

• Fire
• EBC: Fire as a symbol of the divine presence was well known among first-century Jews (cf. the burning bush [Ex 3:2-5], the pillar of fire that guided Israel by night through the desert [Ex 13:21], the consuming fire on Mount Sinai [Ex 24:17], and the fire that hovered over the wilderness tabernacle [Ex 40:38]). John the Baptist explicitly linked the coming of the Spirit with fire (cf. Mt 3:11; Lk 3:16).
• each of them
• This represented a shift in how God would relate to his people: now it would be personal, not just corporate. 
• EBC: under the old covenant the divine presence rested on Israel as a corporate entity and upon many of its leaders for special purposes, under the new covenant, as established by Jesus and inaugurated at Pentecost, the Spirit now rests upon each believer individually. In other words, though the corporate and individual aspects of redemption cannot actually be separated, the emphasis in the proclamation of redemption from Pentecost onward is on the personal relationship of God to the believer through the Spirit, with all corporate relationships resulting from this.
• filled with the Holy Spirit
• Note: the disciples were already influenced by the HS
• Being “filled” is something different, more
• John 14:16-17 (NLT) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
• “indwelling” vs influence
• John 7:38-39 (NLT) Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
• Ephesians 1:13-14 (NLT) 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
• This passage is worth noting: John 20:21-23 (NLT) 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
• This is way before Pentecost. So did he give the HS twice? No!
• (Expositor's Bible Commentary) For this ministry Jesus provided the Holy Spirit and the commission to proclaim the forgiveness of sins. These are linked together for a new ministry. This was the initial announcement of which Pentecost was the historic fulfillment.
• On v23: (Bible Knowledge Commentary (2 Vols.)) Jesus was giving the apostles (and by extension, the church) the privilege of announcing heaven’s terms on how a person can receive forgiveness. If one believes in Jesus, then a Christian has the right to announce his forgiveness. If a person rejects Jesus’ sacrifice, then a Christian can announce that that person is not forgiven.
• (Expositor's Bible Commentary) God does not forgive people's sins because we decide to do so, nor does he withhold forgiveness because we will not grant it. We announce it; we do not create it. This is the essence of salvation. And all who proclaim the Gospel are in effect forgiving or not forgiving sins, depending on whether the hearer accepts or rejects the Lord Jesus as the Sin-Bearer.
• EBC: whereas Pentecost was for Judaism the day of the giving of the law, for Christians it is the day of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
• Law for OT was constitution, guide for the people
• Spirit for NT plays this role, but better!
• (EBC) the Spirit's coming signals the essential difference between the Jewish faith and commitment to Jesus, for whereas the former is Torah-centered and Torah-directed, the latter is Christ-centered and Spirit-directed.
• Jeremiah 31:33-34 (NLT) “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD.

Acts 2:5-13

Summary: Many devout Jews were drawn to the scene and heard the believers miraculously speaking in their various languages. This was God’s purpose all along: to share Jesus’ message with every nation. 

Acts 2:5-13 (NLT) At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! 9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, 10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.

13 But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!”

• Disciples had asked, “When will you restore our kingdom?”
• Isaiah 11:11-12 (NLT) 11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to bring back the remnant of his people— those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt; in southern Egypt, Ethiopia, and Elam; in Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. 12 He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.

Back to our question: What is the purpose of baptism with the Holy Spirit?

Close

Summary: The purpose of baptism with the Holy Spirit is not to speak in unknown languages, but to share the gospel! Every believer receives this spiritual baptism at conversion, which should result in boldness to witness.

• The strange languages were not about tongues for the sake of the believers
• It was for the non believers!
• Sharing the Good News with them in their languages
• I’m not saying the spiritual gift of tongues is not for today
• We’ll address that when we cover 1 Corinthians 14
• I’ll do that soon right here on the podcast
• I am saying that in Acts 2, the purpose was clear…
• Jesus had already told them:
• Acts 1:8 (NLT) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
• The purpose of baptism with the Holy Spirit is not to speak in unknown languages, but to share the gospel! 
• (Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary) This is the first appearance of the phrase “filled with the Holy Spirit” (2:4) in Acts. Elsewhere in Acts, this phrase points to the power to proclaim the gospel message, not to one’s superior status in the eyes of God or one’s private spiritual development (see 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9).
• Every believer receives this spiritual baptism at conversion, which should result in boldness to witness.
• Have you been born again? If so, you have the HS

Is there evidence of it in your life?