Chapter 8: The Promise of the Father: The Coming of the Holy Spirit 

At His first appearance Jesus did not come into the world to remain forever. He was to live a sinless life, demonstrate His divine origin for three and a half years, prepare a band of disciples to continue His work, pay the ultimate price for the sins of mankind, validate His mission by a glorious resurrection, and then return to the Father. The heavenly side of redemption was finished on Calvary and authenticated by His resurrection and ascension. But the human side of redemption had just begun. He charged the Church, in the persons of His chosen Apostles, to carry His message of redemption to the world. 

Matt. 28:18-20: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in [or into] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” 

Jesus was henceforth at the ‘right hand of the Father,’ and not on earth. Yet He said ‘I am with you always...’  Jesus did not at that time tell them HOW He would be with them. But He had previously told them clearly (John, chapters 14-16) that He would send Another in His place, who would represent Him. But as we saw in the first lesson, the Holy Spirit does more than just represent Christ; He is more like an extension of Christ and the Father. Both Jesus and the Father live in the Church through the Holy Spirit. 

John 14:15-18, 23: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever —17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you...23 If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Jesus called this the “Promise of the Father.” 

Both the Father and the Son live in the Church collectively and in each individual believer in the person of the Holy Spirit. 

Collectively the Church, the Body of Christ, is spoken of as the Temple of God: 

I Cor. 3:16: “Don’t you know that you yourselves [collectively] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” Here Paul is warning against harming the Temple (Church) by the way one handles his ministry.  

The body of each individual believer is also called God’s temple: 

I Cor. 6:19-20: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” Here Paul is warning against defiling the physical body by engaging in immoral sex. So both the Church and the individual Christian are Temples of God because the Spirit of God lives in us.  

Rom. 8:9-11: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you [plural]. And if anyone [singular] does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”  

The Promise of the Father 

When Jesus spoke of the Promise of the Father, He referred to the coming Holy Spirit, who would take His place in the Church. This promise He gave in great detail in John, chapters 14, 15, and 16.  The following passage, which I previously quoted, gives us the core of that promise. 

John 14:16-18: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever —17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you...23: If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”  

Jesus made this promise in His own name, but He afterwards referred to it as “the promise of the Father.”  And clearly this was a promise, not just to His immediate disciples, but to the entire Church: the Spirit would remain “forever” (v. 16); and the promise is to “anyone who loves me” (v. 23).

Failure to see this has led to two damaging errors.  

1)     The Catholic Church and other sacramental churches teach the doctrine of Apostolic Succession. This teaching says that these promises of the Holy Spirit only apply to the successors of the Apostles—that is, to those duly-ordained priests, bishops, and popes who are in the historic line of succession from the first Apostles.

2)     Many Protestants say that because the promises were made only to the Apostles they do not apply to us today. Therefore the gifts, miracles, guidance into all truth, and the rest, passed out of the Church with the first century. 

But the Promise of the Father was made to the entire Church for the entire Church Age, until Christ returns. Peter made this quite clear on the Day of Pentecost, when he related the events of that day to the promise of the father:  

Acts 2:33: “Exalted to the right hand of God, he [Jesus] has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Peter indicated that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of the ‘Promise of the Father.’ Then he went on to say in verse 39: “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call”—For the entire Church until the return of Christ. 

What exactly was the Promise of the Father, then?  It was the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church as an abiding, indwelling, sanctifying, empowering Gift.

In Luke’s record of Jesus’s last words, we read that Jesus told them to wait for the Promise the Father had made: the Promise of the Father, which is also accompanied by “power from on high.”  

Luke 24:46-49: “He told them, ‘This is what is written: “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 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.’” 

On another occasion, as recorded by Luke in Acts chapter 1, Jesus reminded the disciples again of the Promise of the Father, again linking it with power. In addition Jesus recalls John the Baptist’s words that Jesus would “baptize” them in the Holy Spirit. Thus, as we will see, the promise of the father and the promise of being baptized in the Holy Spirit seem to be the same event—the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church. 

Acts 1:4-5; 6-9: “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. 5 For John baptized with [or in] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’... 6 So when they met together, they asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7 He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But 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.’ 9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” 

They were to wait for the promised Helper. They were to expect the promise to be attended by power and the expectation of being “baptized with or in the Holy Spirit.” This was a reference to a saying of John the Baptist just before the first appearance of Jesus at the place where John was baptizing. 

Matt. 3:5-6, 11-13: “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River... 11 I baptize you with [or in] 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. 12 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.’ 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.” 

I believe that this promise that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit is also the Promise of the Father to send the Holy Spirit as ‘Another Comforter’ (John chapters 14-16). Clearly the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was what Jesus promised when He told them: “in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). 

The ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit’ 

I have enclosed the phrase ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit’ in quotes because I do not believe it is a Scriptural expression, at least as it is usually applied. There can and should be many infillings subsequent to salvation; several are described in the New Testament. But they are nowhere called the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Entire denominations speak of “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit” as a second work of grace above and beyond the indwelling, which begins at Regeneration.  

Many Pentecostals and Charismatics believe you can receive the “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” by asking for it and beginning to speak in an unknown “tongue.” I think this may be getting the cart before the horse. 

Before the Pentecostal Movement, which began around 1907, Wesleyan Holiness groups believed that they were sanctified, that is, their sinful nature was removed by what they called the Baptism in (or with, or of) the Holy Spirit, which they sought and received subsequent to salvation. I don’t wish to pass judgment on the experiences they claimed, which (for all I know) were and are valid. But I DO wish to challenge their use of the term Baptism in the Holy Spirit for these experiences. To my mind these experiences, insofar as they were real, were INFILLINGS of the Holy Spirit. 

The experience Jesus promised was the coming of the Holy Spirit to the Church, first at Pentecost, to the Jews; and second at the household of Cornelius, to the Gentiles. It made the indwelling Holy Spirit available to every born-again believer from that time on. In the following passages we see the Gentiles  baptized in the Holy Spirit, as the Apostles and others had been at Pentecost. 

Acts 10:44-48: “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues [Or other languages] and praising God. Then Peter said, 47 ‘Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.’ 48 So he ordered that they be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.” 

Defending his action before the Jerusalem church, Peter recounted the event, relating it to the promise to be baptized in the Holy Spirit: 

Acts 11:15-18:  “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. 16 Then I remembered what the Lord had said: `John baptized with [or in] water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 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?’ 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.’” 

The fact that the coming of the Spirit first to the Jews and then to Gentiles was attended on both occasions by speaking in unknown languages, has led Pentecostals to affirm that the regular sign of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is ‘speaking in tongues.’ I believe this is a misunderstanding of these Scriptures. The promise that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit seems to refer to the dispensation of the Holy Spirit to the Church for the indwelling of all believers, not to additional infillings. 

In fact, Paul uses the exact language of John the Baptist and Jesus to describe the New Birth:  

I Cor. 12:13: “For we were all baptized by [or with; or in] one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”  

This cannot refer to what is generally called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second experience, for it refers to every Christian (“we were all baptized”); also it refers to the moment of redemption at which time we are joined to the Lord as “one spirit” (I Cor. 6:17).  There can be many experiences of further infilling after regeneration; but they are never referred to in Scripture as a baptism of the Holy Spirit. And Paul says that all were baptized in the Holy Spirit when they were united to Christ in one Body. Most of us would say that this occurs at Regeneration.

Do I believe that the experiences people call “baptism of the Spirit” are real and from God? Yes, in many cases it can’t be denied that these experiences are from God. Do I believe people speak in tongues today?  Yes, I believe we can and should seek the gift of tongues along with other gifts. I myself speak in tongues in my private devotions. And I believe we should pray and expect to be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18; also Luke 11:13). I won’t even quarrel with people who speak of various infillings as ‘baptisms in the Spirit,’ though the expression is unscriptural and misleading.  But I do not believe, as Pentecostals teach, that there is one infilling of the Holy Spirit and that it is invariably attended by speaking in tongues.  Many powerful servants of God--Moody, Finney, Hudson Taylor, the Wesley and George Whitefield (I could name dozens)--have shown by their lives and ministries that they were "filled with the Holy Spirit." Yet they never spoke in tongues. As I said, I myself pray in an unknown language or languages. It is a wonderful, helpful gift, which allows me to speak mysteries to God in the Spirit, to receive the Spirits help when I don't know how to pray or what to pray for. But Scripture does not support the view that "tongues" are an invariable sign of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And that teaching has led to division, confusion, and presumption. I'm convinced that very much that passes for speaking in tongues is not really the Holy Spirit.

There are two quite opposite views of any further infilling of the Spirit after regeneration: 

The first is that there is no further infilling of the Spirit subsequent to the new birth. Every believer receives the Holy Spirit when he receives Christ as Savior.  Since he has the Holy Spirit there can be no need to receive Him again a second time. The promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred at Pentecost and was repeated at the house of Cornelius (Acts 9:17; 11:15). There is no Scripture promising a “baptism of the Holy Spirit” to take place after regeneration. (See Acts 2:38 and I Cor. 12:13). 

The opposing view, which I have just mentioned, says that born-again believers must seek and receive the promised Spirit as a ‘baptism’ even though they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They refer to Christ’s disciples, the Samaritans under Philip’s preaching (Acts 8), and the twelve disciples in Ephesus (Acts 19). They were all regenerated believers, but they still needed to seek and receive the Holy Spirit in a second work of grace properly called the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. 

One Baptism, Many Fillings

It seems to me that the true New Testament teaching blends the two views as follows.

1) All believers have the indwelling Holy Spirit; therefore they do not need to seek the Holy Spirit. God does not give the Holy Spirit ‘by measure’ (John 3:34). He simply gives to each disciple ‘the Spirit of Truth,’ who abides forever with him and in him (John 14:17). Paul calls this "the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).

 2) Yet there is a need for further filling of the Holy Spirit. Some Christians are ‘full of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 6:3-5); others obviously are not. On occasions the Holy Spirit fills entire groups of people (Acts 4:31). All believers are commanded to ‘be being filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Literal translation of Ephesians 5:18). This filling is not so much an outpouring from outside the believer as it is a releasing of the Spirit already in the believer. Such ‘fillings’ are never spoken of as the ‘Baptism in the Holy Spirit.’

So there is an OUTPOURING of the Spirit, which occurred at the beginning of the Jewish Church on Pentecost and at the entrance of Gentiles into the Church in Caesarea (11:15,16); there is a BAPTISM in the Holy Spirit, which occurs at regeneration—the promise of the Father (Acts 2:38-39). At the moment of regeneration “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...” (I Cor. 12:13). "We are saved...by the washing of regeneration, and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

So with respect to each believer there was only one ‘outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” which occurred at the beginning of the Church (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-18, 33). There is one baptism in (or with) the Holy Spirit, which occurs when he is born again (John 3:3-7; I Cor. 12:13).  And there can and should be many fillings throughout the life of the believer. The right formula, then, if we need one is this: ONE BAPTISM, MANY FILLINGS.

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