Chapter 21

One of the most deeply significant phrases used in connection with the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” John the Baptist was the first to use this phrase. In speaking of himself and the coming One he said, “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_” (Matt. iii. 11). The second “with” in this passage is in italics. It is not found in the Greek. There are not two different baptisms spoken of, the one with the Holy Ghost and one with fire, but one baptism with the Holy Wind and Fire. Jesus afterwards used the same expression. In Acts i. 5, He says, “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be _baptized with the Holy Ghost_ not many days hence.” When this promise of John the Baptist and of our Lord was fulfilled in Acts ii. 3, 4, R. V., we read, “And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Here we have another expression “_filled with the Holy Spirit_” used synonymously with “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

We read again in Acts x. 44-46, “While Peter yet spake these words, _the Holy Ghost fell on_ all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was _poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost_. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God.” Peter himself afterwards describing this experience in Jerusalem tells the story in this way, “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?” (Acts xi. 15-17). Here Peter distinctly calls the experience which came to Cornelius and his household, being _baptized with the Holy Ghost_, so we see that the expression “the Holy Ghost fell” and “the gift of the Holy Ghost” are practically synonymous expressions with “baptized with the Holy Ghost.” Still other expressions are used to describe this blessing, such as “receive the Holy Ghost” (Acts ii. 38; xix. 2-6); “the Holy Ghost came on them” (Acts xix. 2-6); “gift of the Holy Ghost” (Heb. ii. 4; 1 Cor. xii. 4, 11, 13); “I send the promise of My Father upon you;” and “endued with power from on high” (Luke xxiv. 49).

_What is the baptism with the Holy Spirit?_

In the first place _the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience of which one may and ought to know __ whether he has received it or not_. This is evident from our Lord’s command to His disciples in Luke xxiv. 49 and in Acts i. 4, that they should not depart from Jerusalem to undertake the work which He had commissioned them to do until they had received this promise of the Father. It is also evident from the eighth chapter of Acts, fifteenth and sixteenth verses, where we are distinctly told, “_the Holy Spirit had not as yet fallen upon any of them_.” It is evident also from the nineteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the second verse, R. V., where Paul put to the little group of disciples at Ephesus the definite question, “Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?” It is evident that the receiving of the Holy Ghost was an experience so definite that one could answer yes or no to the question whether they had received the Holy Spirit. In this case the disciples definitely answered, “No,” that they did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost was given. They did not say what our Authorized Version makes them say, that they did not so much as hear whether there was any Holy Ghost. They knew that there was a Holy Ghost; they knew furthermore that there was a definite promise of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, but they had not heard that that promise had been as yet fulfilled. Paul told them that it had and took steps whereby they were definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit before that meeting closed. It is equally evident from Gal.