{"id":13667,"date":"2008-01-24T09:37:58","date_gmt":"2008-01-24T15:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=13667"},"modified":"2019-10-21T09:42:01","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T14:42:01","slug":"paul-was-filled-with-the-spirit-before-he-was-baptized-so-wasnt-he-saved-before-baptism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/paul-was-filled-with-the-spirit-before-he-was-baptized-so-wasnt-he-saved-before-baptism\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul was filled with the Spirit before he was baptized, so wasn’t he saved before baptism?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I figured I would just point out two significant points in the Bible. Acts 10:43-48 clearly illustrates that one can have the Holy Spirit before baptism.\u00a0\u00a0The passage also says “whoever believes in shall have remission of sins.”\u00a0\u00a0Once you have the Holy Spirit in your life you are saved.\u00a0\u00a0Also, you mentioned when Paul was saved. Well, Acts 9:17-18 shows that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was baptized.\u00a0 That account of Paul’s salvation comes before Acts 22.\u00a0\u00a0I don’t think you can get around this fact.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

It has been pointed out before that people have received miraculous gifts of the Spirit without being saved. See “Is the Spirit only given to the obedient?<\/a>” for details.<\/p>\n

“And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized<\/em>” (Acts 9:17-18).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The order of events was 1) Saul received his sight, 2) Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit, and 3) Saul was baptized. You claim that at point 2 Saul was saved, but you offered no proof. This passage does not state precisely when Saul was saved from his sins. In retelling the events Paul recalled Ananias stating, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 22:16). If Paul was saved when he was filled with the Holy Spirit, then he would have had no sins to wash away in baptism. Since he still had sins prior to his baptism, we must conclude that being filled with the Holy Spirit, in and of itself, is not the means to be saved from sin.<\/p>\n

The case of the Holy Spirit coming upon Cornelius was dealt with in detail in “Cornelius Received the Holy Spirit<\/a>.” The fact that belief is required for the remission of sins (Acts 10:43) doesn’t imply that it is belief exclusively. In fact, Peter had earlier stated, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (Acts 2:38). Here both repentance and baptism are also listed as requirements for the remission of sins. The truth is in the sum, not the parts. These two verses tell us it takes all three: belief, repentance, and baptism to be saved. Yet this isn’t an exclusive list either. Other verses tell us that other things are necessary as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: I figured I would just point out two significant points in the Bible. Acts 10:43-48 clearly illustrates that one can have the Holy Spirit before baptism.\u00a0\u00a0The passage also says “whoever believes in shall have remission of sins.”\u00a0\u00a0Once you have the Holy Spirit in your life you are saved.\u00a0\u00a0Also, you mentioned when Paul was saved.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,428,47],"class_list":["post-13667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-paul-really-receive-the-holy-spirit-before-his-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":13667,"position":0},"title":"Did Paul really receive the Holy Spirit before his baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I was just reading your answer to\u00a01\/24\/2008's question\u00a0about Paul receiving the spirit before he was baptized. I could be mistaken, but I have never gotten from that passage that Paul received the Spirit before baptism.\u00a0 Ananias told Paul that he would receive his sight and then be filled with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-receive-the-holy-spirit-without-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":13667,"position":1},"title":"Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism? Answer: The clear answer to this is \"yes.\" Baptism is a command found in the New Testament, yet people had received the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In addition: \"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25657,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-paul-asked-the-ephesians-if-they-had-received-the-holy-spirit-what-was-he-referring-to\/","url_meta":{"origin":13667,"position":2},"title":"When Paul asked the Ephesians if they had received the Holy Spirit, what was he referring to?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When Paul asked the Ephesians, \"Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?\" in Acts 19:2, was he referring to the gift of Acts 2:38? And is that the same as the\u00a0Spirit given in Acts 5:32. Thanks. Answer: \"And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92363,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-baptism-only-for-the-jews-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":13667,"position":3},"title":"Was baptism only for the Jews? (3)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. Does I Corinthians 12:13 refer to Holy Spirit baptism? Was water baptism only for the Jews? Did it stop when Paul got his assignment to the Gentiles? Thanks. Answer: I Corinthians 12:13 tells us who was behind the means by which we can be saved. The Holy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32707,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-cornelius-saved-before-water-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":13667,"position":4},"title":"Was Cornelius Saved Before Water Baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Fred B. Walker in The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 11, September 1952. One of the strongest arguments that can be made on the theory that one is saved before and without water baptism is based upon the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10 in the light of what Jesus\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14658,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/objections-to-the-essentiality-of-baptism-for-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":13667,"position":5},"title":"Objections to the Essentiality of Baptism for Salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Abraham Smith The Bible is very clear in its teaching on baptism's role in our salvation. It is an act of obedience that is required of us by God \"for the remission of sins\" (Acts 2:38). The Bible does not teach that baptism is \"an outward sign of inward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}