Baptism, the filling of the Spirit and its fruits

How do people receive the Spirit? First, the Spirit regenerates us, gives us a new birth. In the new birth, the Spirit is like the wind, which goes wherever it wishes (John 3:8). So, in the first instance, it is not we who receive the Spirit, but the Spirit who receives us.

In Scripture, this initial regeneration is sometimes called “the baptism in the Holy Spirit.” Paul describes it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

And we were all given one Spirit to drink” (cf. Matt. 3:11; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16). Note that the baptism of the Spirit includes all believers. In fact, the baptism of the Spirit is what makes us one body.

Without this baptism, we are not part of the body of Christ. Therefore, everyone in the body has been baptized in the Spirit. Some people think that the baptism of the Spirit is an experience that occurs after conversion. However, 1 Corinthians 12:13 and other passages show that this is not true.

All who are converted, all who are Christians, are baptized in the Spirit

There are not two groups in the church, one baptized in the Spirit and the other not. If this were true, it would be a basis for disunity and not, as Paul says, a basis for unity.

Nor is it a repeated experience. It occurs in regeneration, in the new birth. And, as we will see, the new birth happens only once.

In the baptism of the Spirit, the Spirit comes upon us with power to serve Jesus as his covenant people. He unites us with all other people in his body, so that together with them we can carry out God's work in the world.

The filling of the Holy Spirit

However, while the baptism of the Spirit happens only once, there are other experiences of the Spirit that occur multiple times. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.”

Paul addresses this command to Christians and, therefore, to people who have not yet been baptized in the Spirit. The filling is something more.

We also see it in passages like Acts 4:31, when the apostles were filled with the Spirit “and spoke the word of God with boldness.” The fullness of the Spirit provides additional power for ministry.

Here too, the Spirit is sovereign. Interestingly, Ephesians 5:18 is a command to us, "Be filled with the Spirit." There is both divine sovereignty and human responsibility here. It's hard to imagine what we can do to be filled with the Spirit.

It would be easy to think that since the Spirit is sovereign, we should just wait for him to decide whether to fill us. However, according to this verse, our decision has something to do with his filling.

Clearly, our behavior has some influence on the degree and frequency with which we are filled with the Spirit. In the context of Ephesians 5:18, if you are a drunkard, you will not be filled with the Spirit.

You have filled yourself with drink, abusing God's good creation, and in doing so, you have declared that you do not want the Spirit to fill you. On the contrary, I believe, those who fill their hearts with Scripture and prayer open themselves to a greater fullness of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit

I should also mention the fruit of the Spirit, described in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

The image of the "filling" of the Spirit is of a discrete event, repeated on numerous occasions. The image of the "fruit" of the Spirit is of a process that is always ongoing.

The Spirit not only takes possession of us at various times, but also works within us moment by moment, transforming us to be conformed to the image of Christ. This is the doctrine of sanctification.

To delve deeper and continue your studies, read our next article. For a more accurate understanding of the subject, I recommend John Frame's book "Systematic Theology," which inspired this article. God bless you, until the next post.