Thursday, Sept. 18

Thursday

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.  - Acts 2:1-4

What does it mean that these disciples were “filled with the Holy Spirit”?  Before we can answer that question, we first have to understand just what (or who) exactly the Holy Spirit is?

The Holy Spirit is not just a force. He is the third person of the Trinity, He is God in every way. We know that He is a personal being in that He can be grieved (Eph. 4:30); you cannot grieve an impersonal force. Jesus calls Him the Paraclete, or Comforter. The word means, “one called alongside to help.”  We know that He is God in that He performs deeds, such as creation, which only God can do. In Acts 5:3, Peter accuses Ananias of lying to the Holy Spirit and then adds, “You have not lied to men but to God” (Acts 5:5).

Before the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit regenerated men and empowered them for serving God. But He did not permanently indwell all believers. In the Upper Room, Jesus had told the disciples that He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them forever. He added, “You know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). Thus on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), in fulfillment of Jesus’ promise. In Acts 8, the Spirit was poured out on the Samaritans through the apostles, so that both they and the apostles would realize that they were now members of the same body of Christ. The same thing happened with the Gentiles in Acts 10.

We need to be careful to distinguish several terms that are often confused. In Acts 1:5, Jesus said that the apostles would be baptized by the Holy Spirit, which occurred on the Day of Pentecost. Baptism refers to being totally identified with the Spirit and to the initial reception of the Spirit. Paul tells the Corinthians, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13). The New Testament nowhere commands believers to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, since it is not an experience we are to seek, but God’s action performed on the believer at the moment of salvation.

We are, however, frequently told to be filled with the Spirit, which means to be controlled by the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). The disciples on the Day of Pentecost were not only baptized with the Spirit. Also they all were filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).  We must yield ourselves fully to the Lord and depend on Him step by step (“walking in the Spirit,” Gal. 5:16). 

The results of a consistent daily walk in the Spirit will be the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) in our hearts, or minds, our relationships, and our relationships.

Jeff Frazier