Rodman Williams: The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Dimensions
21. Though the Greek word en can be translated “by,” it is more often “with” or “in” (see earlier footnote). “By” would clearly be a mistake here, since the Holy Spirit is not the agent in Spirit baptism.
22. en.
23. John R. W. Stott writes: “If 1 Corinthians 12:13 were different [from the Gospels and Acts passages] and in this verse the Holy Spirit were himself the baptizer, what would be the ‘element’ with which he baptizes? That there is no answer to this question is enough to overthrow this interpretation, since the baptism metaphor absolutely required an element, or the baptism is no baptism. Therefore, the ‘element’ is the baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13 must be the Holy Spirit, and (consistently with the other verses) we must supply Jesus Christ as the baptizer.” The Baptism and Fullness of the Holy Spirit (Downer’s Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1964), p. 27.
24. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1899) article on potizo suggests “imbued” as translation for epotisthemen in this verse.
25. Practices of water baptism of course vary. Our concern here, however, is to note the literal meaning of the word “baptize,” the Greek baptizo, which signifies to “dip” or “immerse”—also “plunge, sink, drench, overwhelm” (see Arndt and Gingrich, A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature [University of Chicago Press, 1957]).
26. “Talk about a baptism, it was just like I was being plunged down into a great sea of water, only the water was God, the water was the Holy Spirit.” Testimony of one of the first Roman Catholics in the renewal of his “baptism in the Holy Spirit” (Catholic Pentecostals, p. 16).
27. See hereafter (Chapter 6: Means) for discussion of water baptism in relation to Spirit baptism.
28. It might be mentioned that Charles G. Finney, nineteenth-century evangelist, and later founder of Oberlin College, did use this expression about his early experience. A few hours after what Finney described as a face to face encounter with Christ, he says: “I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost …without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul …Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love …It seemed like the very breath of God …it seemed to fan me, like immense wings …I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I cried out, ‘I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me’ …yet I had no fear of death.” See Charles G. Finney: An Autobiography (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1876), pp. 20-21. Finney’s experience of “a mighty baptism” of the Spirit is recurring variously around the world today.
29. Or, more literally, “filled of the Holy Spirit”—eplesthesan pneumatos hagiou. Similarly in other passages we shall note.
30. Thus being “filled with the Holy Spirit” is one of the expressions—along with “outpouring,” “falling,” “coming upon” and “baptized in”—used in Acts to describe what occurs when the Holy Spirit is given.
31. The Old Testament parallel to the fillings of the house at Pentecost is that of the filling of the Tabernacle and Temple with the divine glory—”the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle [or temple]” (see Exodus 40:34-35 and 2 Chronicles 7:1-2). Of course, the far greater thing at Pentecost was that people—not just a tabernacle, temple or house—were filled with the Holy Spirit.
32. The Greek word for “filled” here is esperanto, the imperfect tense, and may be translated as “were continually filled” (NAS) or “continued to be full” (Phillips). However, the imperfect can also mean that they were being filled one after another—thus an initial experience. (I am inclined to agree with Howard M. Ervin, These Are Not Drunken As Ye Suppose, [Plainfield, NJ: Logos, 1968], p. 72, on this point.) A similar imperfect is found in Acts 8:17: “And they received [elambanon] the Holy Spirit”—which might be more accurately translated: “they were receiving,” that is, one by one.
33. Mention should also be made that prior to Pentecost there are a few references to “filled with the [Holy] Spirit.” In the Old Testament, Bezalel, craftsman for the tabernacle, was “filled …with the Spirit of God …to devise artistic designs … (Exodus 31:3)” and Micah the prophet declares, “I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord …to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin” (Micah 3:8). In the New Testament, Elizabeth was “filled with the Holy Spirit and …exclaimed with a loud cry [to Mary], ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb'” (Luke 1:41-42); and Zechariah was “filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied … (Luke 1:67). In all these cases the filling with the Spirit was for a limited function (tabernacle designing, prophesying, word of supernatural knowledge), and therefore a temporary manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Such instances prepare the way for the filling at Pentecost that is identical with the outpouring of, or baptism in, the Holy Spirit. One other pre-Pentecost instance of Spirit filling is that of John the Baptist, of whom the angel said, “He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15). Here, it would seem, is the one instance of a lifetime of spiritual fullness, thereby marking John as the greatest of the prophets, the forerunner of Jesus’ spiritual baptism, and preview of Pentecost.
Category: Spirit, Summer 2002
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