01.01C. The Differences Between “Baptism with the Spirit” and “Filled with the Spirit.”

C. The Differences Between “Baptism with the Spirit” and “Filled with the Spirit.”

Because baptism with the Spirit and filled with the Spirit are different works having dissimilar results, we must not say that they are the same thing. Immediately before He ascended to the Father, Jesus gave two promises concerning the activity of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers. In Acts 1:5 He said to the disciples, “John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” In this statement, “baptized with the Holy Spirit” is parallel to “John baptized with water,” which clearly means that the purpose of “baptism with the Holy Spirit” and John’s baptism are similar-both are procedures for entering into the new organization composed of God’s people: the former (Spirit baptism) being individually private and spiritual, the latter (water baptism) being public testimony of God’s prior regenerating work. In Acts 1:8 Jesus gave His second promise, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” Immediately following this promise is the clear explanation that the purpose for being filled with the Spirit is “you shall be my witnesses,” both nearby and unto the remotest parts of the earth. In Acts 1:5 our Lord emphasized the procedure (Spirit-baptism) for becoming a member of His body, the church, and in Acts 1:8 the power (Spirit-filling) for serving the Lord in His church. From Pentecost until Paul counseled the twelve disciples at Ephesus, both baptism and filling occurred at the same time. After the occasion at Ephesus, baptism with the Holy Spirit occurred immediately following the believer’s exercising salvation faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, while the filling with the Holy Spirit usually came some time later.

Spirit-baptism occurs only once for each individual (1 Corinthians 12:13), whereas being filled with the Spirit should be repeated again and again in the believer’s life (see Ephesians 5:18, where the Greek present tense means to do again and again or to do often). This explains why the believers in the church at Ephesus, after having received the Lord Jesus and having been both baptized with the Spirit and filled with the Spirit, were later commanded to “be filled [often] with the Spirit” (Acts 19:5-7; Ephesians 5:18).

There is no absolute necessity for a difference in time between being “baptized with the Spirit” at one’s new birth and being “filled with the Holy Spirit” for the first time (as occurred in Acts 2:1-4; Acts 8:16-17; Acts 10:44-47; Acts 19:5-6). None the less, there was a short interval between Paul’s becoming a member of the body of Christ and his being filled with the Spirit (Acts 9:1-17). The fact remains, however, that although all believers have been baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ, many Christians, if not most, have yet to experience being filled with the Holy Spirit. In a message preached at the New York Hippodrome, the great evangelist D. L. Moody spoke about the relatively small number of Spirit-filled Christians and the need for all His disciples to seek the Spirit’s power for service:

Now I want this clearly understood. We firmly believe that [if] any man…has been cleansed by the blood, redeemed by the blood, and been sealed by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost dwells in him. And a thought I want to call your attention to is this, that God has got a good many children who have just barely got life, but no power for service. You might say safely, I think, without exaggeration, that nineteen out of every twenty of professed Christians are of no earthly account as far as building up Christ’s kingdom; but on the contrary they are standing right in the way, and the reason is because they have just got life and have settled down, and have not sought for power. The Holy Ghost coming upon them with power is distinct and separate from conversion. If the Scripture doesn’t teach it I am ready to correct [what I just said].

Let us look and see what God says, and if you will look in Luke 3:1-38 you will see that all these thirty years that Christ had been in Nazareth He had been a son, but now the Holy Ghost comes upon Him for service, and He goes back to Nazareth and finds a place where it is written: “the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, to recover sight to the blind, and set at liberty them that are bruised.” And for three years we find Him preaching the kingdom of God, casting out devils, and raising the dead, while for thirty years He was at Nazareth, we hear nothing of Him. He was a son all the while, but now He is anointed for service; and if the Son has got to be anointed, do not His disciples need it, and shall we not seek it, and shall we barely rest with conversion?

1 Perhaps the following chart comparing the purpose and result of Spirit-baptism and Spirit-filling will be helpful.

Although the list is not exhaustive, I believe these items might be sufficient to serve as road signs for our pilgrimage here on earth, so that we will be prepared for successful service to our Lord. Moreover, I desire that every believer understand that after he has received the Lord and has been placed into His body, he should not try to repeat what the Lord did once forever, that is, baptized him into His church by His Spirit. Rather, may each believer constantly pray to “be filled with the Holy Spirit,” as the Lord emphasized, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13). The church already has too many who hold “to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power” (2 Timothy 3:5). Let us, therefore, who profess great love for the Lord ask Him to open the eyes of our hearts so that we can know “the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Ephesians 1:19). If we have a clean and believing heart, we can be sure that “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Praise the Lord!

We have recounted from the Scriptures multiple instances in which God filled His people with the Holy Spirit: Paul, all of the believers at Pentecost, the believers in Samaria, all of those gathered in Cornelius’s house, and the twelve disciples at Ephesus.

All were filled with the Holy Spirit to give them power, life, and liberty to minister in God’s service, in both sacred and secular tasks. God did not show favoritism to the New Testament believers. Today He will still fill for His service those He has baptized with the Spirit, as many Christians, both well-known believers as well as less well-known ones, can testify. Let us now look in more detail at Spirit-filling.