This is a question on which the preachers on SermonIndex differ. Many describe the baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience of Christ taking over, of love and of supernatural power, received by faith and surrender. Others hold that it is what places every believer into the body of Christ at conversion.
John the Baptist announced it: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me ... shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11). The risen Christ repeated the promise, "ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:5), and tied it to power for witness (1:8). The verb means to immerse.1 At Pentecost "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (2:4), and Peter declared the promise to be for all whom God calls (2:38-39).
The disagreement is about how this applies to believers since. Acts records several outpourings: at Jerusalem, among the Samaritans, who received the Spirit some time after believing (8:14-17), in Cornelius's house, where the Spirit fell as Peter spoke (10:44-47), and at Ephesus (19:1-6). Paul, for his part, writes, "by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body ... and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13), and "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9).
One view takes Paul's statement as decisive. The baptism of the Spirit is what happens to every Christian at conversion, uniting them to Christ and his body; what believers need afterwards is to be filled again and again (Ephesians 5:18). Those who argue this case read the delays in Acts as unique moments in the gospel's spread from Jew to Samaritan to Gentile.
A second view takes the pattern in Acts as normal. The baptism of the Spirit is a distinct experience after conversion that gives power for service. R. A. Torrey taught this before the Pentecostal movement began: "The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is a work of the Holy Spirit separate and distinct from His regenerating work."2 Classical Pentecostal churches add that speaking in tongues is its initial evidence. Holiness teachers in the Wesleyan tradition identified it with a cleansing of the heart.
There is wide agreement on several points. No one is a Christian without the Holy Spirit. Christ is the one who baptizes. The New Testament commands believers to go on being filled, and promises that the Father will "give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him" (Luke 11:13). And the church always needs what Jesus called being "endued with power from on high" (24:49).
Whatever name is used, the test the New Testament applies is the result: boldness in witness (Acts 4:31), love poured into the heart (Romans 5:5), and the fruit of the Spirit in the life (Galatians 5:22-23).
- Strong's Greek 907, baptízō: "to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed (i.e. fully wet); used only (in the New Testament) of ceremonial...".
- R.A. Torrey, Baptism with the Holy Spirit, "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit: What it is and what it does".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a controversial topic.
Shane Idleman
in The Sound of the Spirit
Listen at 5:58
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is Christ Himself, not an experience, not a gift, but it's Christ taking over.
Hans R. Waldvogel
in The Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Not Merely According to Acts 2:4, but According to John 7:38)
Read in context
The baptism of the Holy Ghost is a baptism of love.
David Wilkerson
in Baptism of Love
Listen at 5:28
The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is not an influence, nor yet a good feeling, nor sweet sensations, though it may include all of these.
John G. Lake
in The Baptism of the Holy Ghost - Part 2
Read in context
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism, as I understand it, into the supernatural.
Derek Prince
in Vocal Gifts, Use and Abuse of Tongues
Listen at 30:22
The baptism with the Holy Ghost is received by the confession of inbred sin, death to everything contrary to God's will, and faith in the promises which offer it.
Martin Knapp
in The Pentecostal Baptism
Read in context
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is ours positionally but what is ours positionally is not always our actual condition.
Brad Allen
in How to Be Filled With the Spirit
Listen at 9:59
Where they differ
Other preachers hold that the baptism of the Spirit is not a later experience but what makes every believer a member of Christ's body.
The baptism of the Spirit is that ministry of the Holy Spirit which places believers in the body of Christ.
William MacDonald
in Holy Spirit Ministries
Listen at 14:06
The baptism of the Holy Spirit means I belong to his body.
Warren Wiersbe
in Concerning Spiritual Gifts: One Baptism - One Body
Listen at 20:50
What Scripture says
- Matthew 3:11 he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire
- Acts 1:5 you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
- Acts 1:8 you shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you
- 1 Corinthians 12:13 by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body
- Luke 11:13 the Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him
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