PART 6 THE SPIRITUALITY PUZZLE

PART 6 THE SPIRITUALITY PUZZLE 

Salvation by Repentance and Faith: What Is the Baptism of the Spirit, and What Are the Bundle of Benefits Received at Salvation?

The churches that proclaim this salvation message would also, with extreme joy, tell those who’ve become converted that their salvation has brought many benefits into their lives. What are these?

John 7:38-39 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

1 John 3:24b …And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

The first benefit is the receiving of another member of the Trinity called the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Holy Spirit, which some would describe as being Baptized with the Spirit. Many churches don’t teach on this at all and yet emphasize another baptism--that being of water instead. Some of those who do teach on the Baptism of the Spirit tie it together with an endowment of the Spirit called the gift of tongues or prayer tongues which they proclaim provides evidence as to whether the unbeliever was truly saved.

I’m not going to talk about the gift of tongues or prayer tongues here; however, if you want to find out more about their relationship to the Baptism of the Spirit, I’ve done a thorough study on this subject in one of my books entitled, Do We Know Why We Believe What We Believe? �" Volume 1, which you can find on Amazon. 

Let’s begin by asking the following question.

What is the scriptural basis for claiming that the receiving of the Holy Spirit is the same as being Baptized with the Holy Spirit?

 

THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Suggested Reading: Matthew 3:11; Acts 1:2, 4-5; Acts 10:43-44; Acts 11:15-17

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Acts 1:2, 4-5 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

The Baptism of the Spirit refers to the receiving of the indwelling Spirit, which was foretold by John the Baptist and of which Jesus reminded His apostles to wait for this promise at Jerusalem in the upper room. The Baptism of such would and did occur very soon after on the day of Pentecost. 

For further confirmation, please go to the book of Acts.

 

Acts 10:43-44

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

This receiving of the indwelling Spirit was also mentioned when the Apostle Peter entered the house of a Gentile named Cornelius, who was accompanied by his kinsman. As Peter was preaching the salvation message of Christ, the Spirit fell upon those who heard the word. The words fell on means to take possession of.

Let’s stay in the book of Acts.

 

Acts 11:15-17

And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

This idea that the Spirit had fallen on those who heard the word in Cornelius’ house was reiterated in these verses and conveyed to the Jewish Christians by the Apostle Peter when he returned to Jerusalem from Caesarea. Scriptures tell us that the Spirit fell on them, as the apostles at the beginning, i.e., at Pentecost⁵² and that they were baptized with the Holy Ghost.

    

Did you know that there are other benefits that take place in a believer’s life at the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Let’s find out what these are.

 

THE OTHER BENEFITS (SPIRITUAL REALITIES) OF THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT

Did you know that after the Holy Spirit comes to indwell new believers, there are over twenty things that take place in each of their lives, which I’ll call spiritual realities and by the way, are permanent? I’ll mention quite a few of them to make it clear what this baptism provides.

     The Baptism (indwelling) of the Spirit:

 

• Provides the unity of the Spirit

Ephesians 4:3-5 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

The Holy Spirit provides unity among the members of the body of Christ wherein each member should be endeavoring (to try their best; to intensely labor) to keep. This unity has its root in the peace of God, which is one of the spiritual qualities of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit is kept when each Christian learns how to operate in the fruit of the Spirit.

 

• Baptizes us into one body

1 Corinthians 12:7, 11-13 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

At salvation, the Holy Spirit gives each believer at least one gift (spiritual endowment) severally (individually) as He chooses (as he sees to be right and best⁵³). Each gift shall manifest the work and nature of the Spirit’s operation on the mind, which gives each person some proof of the Spirit’s presence in order to promote harmony in the church.⁵⁴ And by the agency of the one (same) Spirit we’re all baptized (joined; united) into one body (the body of Christ, the church), whereby all have been suited, each to his appropriate place.⁵⁵

 

• Provides equal privilege and opportunity

Galatians 3:26-28 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

There are no national, class, or gender distinctions in Christ. All are equally accepted through the Lord Jesus Christ. Another way to say this is that we’re all on the same [level] and entitled to the same privileges in your Christian profession.⁵⁶

 

• Provides placement into Christ

Galatians 3:26-27 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

When whosoever will, repents and believes in Christ, they receive the indwelling Spirit, who baptizes them into spiritual union and communion with⁵⁷ Christ.

 

• Baptizes us into Jesus Christ

Romans 6:1-4 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

The Apostle Paul was instructing the Christians at Rome concerning sin and grace. He asked them if they should continue to sin habitually, so that grace (the divine influence upon the [heart] and its reflection in the life⁵⁸) shall abound (increase). In other words, should believers sin all the more so that they could experience more grace?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Paul’s answer was no. He told them that they were all dead to sin; the spiritual reality of such took place at a point in time, at salvation, when they were separated from sin’s power.

3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

They were baptized (an actual identification) into Jesus Christ (into close union with a person, coming to belong to Him, so as to be in a sense identified with him⁵⁹) by the Holy Spirit, and along with this they were baptized into His death (in them was understood a death to sin, corresponding to His actual death,⁶⁰ having become separated from its power) and likewise as He was raised up from the dead by the glory (power) of the Father (in them was understood that they too, were raised from the dead by the quickening of the Spirit) so that they would be able to habitually walk (live) in newness of life (in an entirely new way). Some would call this retroactive positional truth which links the time when we’re saved to the time when Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead. We take a point of time and superimpose it on another point in time.

Wow! So, what do you think about the results of the inward spiritual realities that have been provided for us at salvation by means of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit? As such, this gospel is in effect stating that these spiritual realities aren’t provided for us by any other means, i.e., such as water baptism.

With what has been said, we’re ready to try and answer this question. What is the purpose of water baptism? But before we do, I’d like to leave you with some more of the spiritual realities that have taken place in our lives at salvation through the indwelling Holy Spirit. I don’t think most believers are aware of what these are. Are you? All I can say is, enjoy reading about the rest of them.

 

• Quickened by the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

This means that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we’ve been spiritually resurrected, or another way of saying this is that we’ve been made spiritually alive with Christ. 

 

• Received a human spirit

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.     

The human spirit is a spiritual apparatus that is given to the new believer for them to store spiritual knowledge. From there, spiritual knowledge goes to the heart, thereby building rooms in our souls.

 

• Are given eternal life

John 10:9-10 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

This can be otherwise called the zoe life and can be referred to as an abundance of ever-flowing streams or spiritual refreshment for oneself by means of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

 

• Crucified with Christ

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

The old man refers to the sinful and corrupt nature that has been crucified with Christ on the cross through our identification with Him. The body, which has belonged to or has been ruled by the power of sin, may now cease to be an instrument of it and is no longer subject to its control.

 

• Been made heirs of God through Christ

Galatians 4:6-7 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

We’re no longer to be treated as servants, being bound by the oppression of the Law, but as sons - members of God’s family. And because we’re sons, we’re also heirs as those who: possess God himself, partake of His nature, and possess every blessing to which we’re entitled.

 

• Seated together with Christ in heavenly places

Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus

God the Father has raised us up from spiritual death to spiritual life �" from death to sin to a life of righteousness, being made alive and raised spiritually with Christ. He has caused our spiritual position to be in heavenly places in Christ who is seated at the right hand of the Father as our Head and Representative. We’re admitted to exalted honors in virtue of our connection with Him. Even [now,] our life and thoughts are raised to the heavenlies where He reigns.⁶¹

 

• Are God’s handiwork

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them

We’re God the Father’s workmanship (denotes a work of art or masterpiece; spiritual handiwork), being made a new spiritual creature in which there’s a moral and spiritual renewal for good works, which God hath before ordained (prepared beforehand). This is a path of good deeds that He’ll perform in and through us as we choose to walk by faith.

 

• Are redeemed and forgiven

Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins

In Christ, through our belief in Him, we’re in a permanent and continuous state of redemption (setting us free; to no longer be prisoners; on release on the payment of a ransom), and along with this we’ve received the forgiveness (the taking away of sins; these have been lost from God’s mind) of sins.

Consider what an amazing thing this is telling us. The words we have in Greek are classified as being in the present active indicative. Active means that the subject, we, those saved, are the agents of the action, i.e., of repentance and belief. Indicative is the mood or the way in which the action of the verb is conceived with reference to reality, which in this case is a statement of fact. Because of Christ, we have redemption. Finally, the word present refers to the tense or what kind of action is being expressed by the verb. This refers to continuous action in the present, meaning that we, believers, will be continually released from the payment of a ransom for our sins. Nothing can inhibit this. Not what we think, do, or say. Hallelujah!

 

• Are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God

Whether Jew or Gentile, we’re members of the same family of God and are entitled to the same privileges and regarded by Him as His children.

 

• Are complete in Him

Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power

This completeness includes the furnishing of men with all that is required for their present (i.e., to be richly furnished with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit) salvation.⁶²

 

• Are known by the Lord

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.     

We’re marked by God so as to be recognized by Him as His, and this mark also serves as a perpetual reminder to them that they’re not their own.⁶³ The mark or impression serves to identify what is sealed, together with its owner, and to specify its purpose or function.

 

• Are reconciled to God the Father

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,                                                               

This reconciliation refers to a changed relationship between God and a lost world. The means of reconciliation is Jesus Christ. He was given as a propitiation for our sins, which removed the rebellious and sinful man’s enmity toward God, thus satisfying His justice.

2 Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation

Jesus has made it consistent for God to pardon. He has made atonement so that God can be just while He justifies the sinner, who repents and believes in His Son. And on the part of man, He (Jesus), by the agency of His Spirit, overcomes the unwillingness of the sinner to be reconciled, humbles his pride, shows him his sin, changes his heart, subdues his enmity against God, and secures, in fact, a harmony of feeling and purpose between God and man, so that they shall be reconciled forever.⁶⁴

 

• Are translated into the kingdom of His Son

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son

God, the Father, has rescued us from the dominion (the spiritual power by which mankind is held) of darkness and placed us in the kingdom of his dear Son.   

 

• Are sanctified

Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The will of God, which was for the sanctification of men, was accomplished through Jesus’ atonement for sins on the cross. When we repent and believe in Him, we’re placed in a sanctified state, meaning that we’re in a permanent and continuous state of salvation⁶⁵ into which we’re brought and in which we live.

I can’t say enough how beautiful and unique it is what this verse is conveying to us. The words we are in Greek are in what is classified as a perfect passive participle. Passive is a tense that means that we, believers, at the time we repented and believed received sanctification or the status of being saved. Perfect is a tense referring to an action completed in the past with present results. In the past, we were sanctified, and currently, in the present, we continue in this state of sanctification. And the participle denotes the purpose as to why someone is doing something or why something is being done. Why is sanctification the state we’re in? It’s because of Christ being an atonement for sin once and for all.

With that said, remember, being saved is final and not based on what we do or don’t do. WOWZA!

 

• Have become an adopted son

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

God, in His foreknowledge, knew beforehand who would freely believe in his Son for salvation, and it’s on this basis that they’re selected (chosen). God implements a plan in time called predestination for whosoever will receive Him, with mankind (the elect) choosing to respond in their free will to His initiation for salvation.  

God responds to a believing sinner, regenerates him, and by means of this makes him His child [the Greek word transliterated (change the letters from the Greek spelling into similar characters of the alphabet of English), His teknon, a born one]. Then He takes this child and places him in a legal position as an adult (adopted) son (Greek word, huios).⁶⁶

The apostle here uses, as an illustration, the Roman practice of legally adopting a child, and thus not only bequeathing [him] the material possessions of the one [adopting] but also giving him his civil status.⁶⁷

 

• Are ambassadors for Christ

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

We’ve been brought into a permanent and continual state of ambassadorship (persons who represented someone else and who carried a message from the person whom they represented⁶⁸), and in which we live.

Before we read this too fast and don’t really reflect on it; the words we are in Greek are classified as a present active indicative. To put it simply, way because we responded to the gospel, it’s a statement of fact that we’re positionally ambassadors for Christ. Positionally means this is how God sees us no matter whether our experience reveals otherwise. WOW!

    

• Are made righteous

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

God the Father has made Christ be a sin offering (the sin of the world, past, present, and future was placed on Him meaning that He bore the punishment due to them in his body) for all mankind (in place of us), the purpose of which was so that those who believed in Him would be made the righteousness of God in Him. Another way of saying this is, as Christ who was perfectly innocent, by a voluntary substitution, is treated As IF He were guilty, so we who believed in Him being guilty and who deserve to be punished, are treated, through his vicarious sufferings, as if they were perfectly innocent.⁶⁹

And this righteousness shouldn’t to be taken as a quality or habit received by us but in the sense of that which is approved by or acceptable to God. On the grounds of Christ’s righteousness (acceptability) to God the Father, so have we become righteous (acceptable) by faith to God the Father.

 

• Are declared righteous

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God and are no longer threatened by His wrath through Jesus Christ.

 

• Are sealed

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,             

When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, He is the seal (the stamp of ownership) indicating to God who is His. He is God’s seal (mark of ownership), indicating that the transaction whereby the Son of God paid the penalty of human sin at the Cross is a finished transaction and that God owns us as His property by right of purchase⁷⁰ until the day of redemption. This seal can also refer to a down payment in the sense of having tasted the Spirit, [we’ve] begun to taste the life of the future world that God had promised⁷¹ us. And as for the day of redemption, some say that it refers to the rapture of the church when we’ll meet the Lord in the clouds of the air, at which time, we’ll receive not only a glorified body but also eternal rewards regarding our works.

 

• Are given access to God the Father

Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.                                                                                

We (both Christian Jews and Gentiles) have access by the ministry of the Holy Spirit into God the Father’s presence by means of prayer and worship, confident that [He’ll] receive and answer us⁷² because we’re properly qualified.

Amazing! As one of my Christian friends would say, “Wowza!” I thoroughly enjoyed that. As I was reading about each of these spiritual realities, what came to my mind was how much more there is to understand concerning this salvation message than just repentance and belief. And yet there’s a lot more to learn if you want to know all that Scripture will reveal to us that makes up this perspective. Just think, we’re learning about doctrines that perhaps we’ve never taken a thorough look at before.

The next aspect of this salvation message that we’ll look at is in respect to answering the following question. What causes a believer to have fellowship, i.e., be a partaker of God’s nature? Please turn the page, and we’ll find out what this is.