When Did Baptism of the Holy Spirit Change?

by Terry Wane Benton

At the beginning, when Jesus performed the baptism that no man could perform, baptism with the Holy Spirit, people knew it because of the powerful miracles from heaven that attended it and demonstrated it. They knew Jesus did this from heaven because there was a display of miraculous power from on high. When did the baptism of the Holy Spirit change to a mere conviction? I hear people claim that baptism of the Holy Spirit is the moment of salvation and that those who are thus so baptized should then be baptized in water (two baptisms) to “show that they have already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” When Paul said, “there is one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4), when did it get changed back to two baptisms? There is something seriously wrong with modern thinking! Let us try to unravel the mess made of this topic.

John the Baptist acknowledged that Jesus was greater and could baptize with the Holy Spirit, while men could only baptize with water (Matthew 3:11f). When Jesus did this (Pentecost of Acts 2:1-6), it would begin a separation of wheat from chaff and a gathering into His barn (His church). The baptism of the Holy Spirit came directly from heaven only upon the 12 apostles. Their words brought conviction to the hearts of about 3000 souls who gladly received the word and were baptized (Acts 2:36-41), and these were “added to the church daily” (Acts 2:47) or “gathered into His barn.” Holy Spirit baptism empowered the apostles, and salvation was offered through the verified gospel (Romans 1:16), but not all 3000 were also baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was displayed through the miraculous signs from heaven. Only the 12 apostles were promised this, and only the 12 apostles received this power from on high.

1. They were told to wait in Jerusalem for it (Acts 1:4-8; Luke 24:49), and the proof of receiving it would be that in staying in Jerusalem, they would be “endued with power from on high." You did not wait in Jerusalem, and you were not directly “endued with power from on high.” Therefore, you did not get what they got.
2. The proof that the 12 received this baptism of the Holy Spirit was in the rushing mighty wind, the tongues of fire sitting on each of them, and the miraculous languages spilling from their mouths that the people could understand (Acts 2:1-8). The miraculous display was among the 12 speakers, all “Galileans” (Acts 2:7). The 120 were not all “Galileans,” but the 12 apostles were. The apostles were the “witnesses” of Jesus (Acts 1:8,32). They were the ones performing miracles (Acts 2:43). Thus, proof of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was not mere conviction of sin, but rather the “power from on high” that was displayed in the “wonders and signs” through the apostles. If you were not instructed to wait in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high, then you were not instructed on how to receive the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” which only Jesus could perform.
3. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was never the moment of salvation for anyone. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit upon these 12 apostles did not save them. It was not a saving act. It was an “empowering” act. They were already clean because of the word in them (John 15:3). The word is the power to save (Acts 11:14; Romans 1:16; 10:17; Hebrews 4:12). The baptism of the Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to speak and confirm with power those saving words. So, if you are expecting salvation by some imaginary feeling, and you want to equate that feeling with being “baptized with the Holy Spirit,” you have been misled. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was not a saving act upon the 12 apostles, but instead was an empowering act to reveal and confirm the words that can save each of us. The 3000 were saved through the revealed and confirmed words (Acts 2:41) of the Holy Spirit, spoken through the apostles. We take those same words to heart and are saved the same way that they were. They were not baptized with the Holy Spirit (thus saved) and then instructed to be baptized in the name of Jesus, a second baptism. They benefited from the baptism of the Holy Spirit that came upon the 12 witnesses of Jesus because that baptism upon the 12 became the winnowing fan. This power separated them from the unbelievers and gathered them into Jesus’ barn (church). We benefit from that baptism of the Holy Spirit in the same way. We listen to the apostles’ doctrine, and that Spirit-revealed-and-confirmed teaching is still “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). We are brought to salvation in the same way. Baptism of the Holy Spirit was not the moment of salvation for each one, nor even for the 12 apostles, but it provided a divine demonstration that you can trust these witnesses and the truth of their words to save you.
4. Another case of this direct-from-heaven baptism by Jesus was found in Acts 10-11. It fell upon Cornelius and his household, not to save them in that act, but to demonstrate to the Jews that came with Peter that they could not forbid their baptism in water in the name of the Lord (Acts 10:44-48). If this miraculous display had not occurred, the Jews would indeed have forbidden Gentile baptism in the name of the Lord. When this miraculous display from on high (direct from Jesus in heaven) occurred, Peter asked, “Can any man forbid water?” If this miracle had not occurred, the Jews would indeed have forbidden it. Peter could not think of this display as the proof of salvation, but rather proof that salvation must not be denied to these Gentiles. Thinking back on this event, Peter could not think of it happening in every case of conversion. Instead, He thought back to the beginning (Pentecost of Acts 2) as the only other case where this had happened directly from heaven (Acts 11:15). If it had been a regular occurrence with every case of conversion, he would easily have realized that this kind of thing had happened in every case of conversion he had witnessed. He had to think back to Pentecost as the only other case he could recall. Why? Because baptism of the Holy Spirit is not conversion itself, but miraculous power displayed directly from Jesus in heaven. It did not come through the laying on of the apostles’ hands as in other cases since Pentecost, but it is something done directly by Jesus from heaven.

So, we ask, “When did baptism of the Holy Spirit change?” When did it become mere conviction? When did mere conviction become baptism of the Holy Spirit? When did the gospel cease being the power of God unto salvation? When did two baptisms come back into play and both become essential to salvation? Baptism in the name of the Lord has always been essential to salvation (Mark 16:16) or “remission of sins” (Acts 2:38; 22:16), but when did baptism of the Holy Spirit cease being miraculous power displayed from on high and become essential to each person’s salvation? While it was instrumental in bringing us to the saving gospel through the apostolic witnesses, it was not something that happened in each case of conversion.

There were two cases of it, the first led to Jews being baptized in the name of Jesus for remission of sins, and the second leading to Gentiles being baptized in the name of Jesus for remission of sins, but once that was fully confirmed, we read that now there is “one baptism” (Ephesians 4:4). That one baptism is the one that is done “in the name of the Lord” in water. When one submits to this, he is listening to the Holy Spirit revealed and confirmed word that holds the same power to save today as it ever had. There are not two baptisms happening today. There is one. The baptism of the Holy Spirit empowered the witnesses to testify. We hear the powerful testimony and submit in the name of Jesus to that power to save. That is the Holy Spirit’s revealed and confirmed testimony, and it has not lost a drop of its power to save. It works in good and honest hearts today, like it always has.

Have you listened honestly to what the Spirit says you must do? Will you gladly receive His word and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins? Don’t expect to be endowed with power from on high (that baptism served its purpose and finished its work). The power to save is in the testimony already fully revealed and confirmed. If you are convicted by it, you need to have one baptism, done in water, in the name of Jesus Christ. Do it in Jesus’ name, and He will give you the salvation that includes “remission of sins”. Have you honestly received the Spirit’s testimony in this matter?