"I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
What does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? The image here of baptism is one of full immersion. The Greek word baptizo means to submerge, dip, or immerse in water or the act of bathing or washing something by the same action. So then what does it mean to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? If we assume the visual to be the same, it means to be completely submerged and overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit.
The implications of this are huge. We are not talking about some ethereal power filling us up or some sort of mystical inner force. The Holy Spirit is a person, not some mysterious energy. More than that, He is God. Jesus Christ has come to not only be God with us, but to so completely immerse us in God that we are saturated and fully penetrated by him into every fiber of our being. As a sponge soaks up water, so our bodies will fill with the Holy Spirit.
And it changes us. God's eternal presence itself is what changes us. We are no longer dry and lifeless, but saturated with life. It is God who cleanses us by his very being. Jesus has come to baptize us with the Holy Spirit so that we too might experience the life of God forever and ever! Amen!
Showing posts with label baptism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baptism. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Acts 19:2
"[Paul] asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
How is it that someone can be a believer and while having never received or even heard of the Holy Spirit? Doesn't the Holy Spirit indwell all believers? The text makes clear that these were disciples, but does not make clear whose disciples they are. They were baptized once with the baptism of repentance, but the text then goes on to say that they were re-baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
It seems that their first baptism was inadequate and whoever discipled them left the job undone. These were nominal Christians. John's baptism was good, but it was insufficient for salvation. Some others had come before Paul to Ephesus and preached only a small part of the good news of Christ and went on their way, unknowingly leaving behind a remnant of shallow half-Christians who only think they are saved.
How much of a burden then lies on us, as members of Christ's body, to preach the whole gospel in order to make whole Christians? We have a charge to make disciples of all nations, not just to baptize but to teach them to obey all things Christ has commanded. Paul taught in the area two years, making sure all have heard the message and were rightly taught before he moved on. We ought follow him as he follows Christ.
They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
How is it that someone can be a believer and while having never received or even heard of the Holy Spirit? Doesn't the Holy Spirit indwell all believers? The text makes clear that these were disciples, but does not make clear whose disciples they are. They were baptized once with the baptism of repentance, but the text then goes on to say that they were re-baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
It seems that their first baptism was inadequate and whoever discipled them left the job undone. These were nominal Christians. John's baptism was good, but it was insufficient for salvation. Some others had come before Paul to Ephesus and preached only a small part of the good news of Christ and went on their way, unknowingly leaving behind a remnant of shallow half-Christians who only think they are saved.
How much of a burden then lies on us, as members of Christ's body, to preach the whole gospel in order to make whole Christians? We have a charge to make disciples of all nations, not just to baptize but to teach them to obey all things Christ has commanded. Paul taught in the area two years, making sure all have heard the message and were rightly taught before he moved on. We ought follow him as he follows Christ.
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