John Piper, an internationally acclaimed Reformed Baptist pastor and author, summed it up well when he stated, “I think the essence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is when a person, who is already a believer, receives extraordinary spiritual power for Christ-exalting ministry.” An example of this is found in 1 Samuel 16:13, when Samuel anointed young David for kingship: “And from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power.” The purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is power to better serve God and promote His Kingdom, as stated in Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…” The Holy Spirit comes to give us power that is perfect, in contrast to our own …show more content…
God is speaking of the Holy Spirit being put into us in addition to and after the new heart and new spirit of sonship, with the purpose of enabling us to better serve God. In contrast to salvation, which can be understood as being baptized by the Spirit into Christ, baptism of the Holy Spirit is being baptized by Christ, into the Holy Spirit. The Bishop Cyprian of Carthage wrote in one of his epistles around 250 A.D., When they come to us and to the Church which is one, they ought to be baptized. The reason is that laying hands on them that they may receive the Holy Spirit is of little importance, unless they also receive the baptism of the Church. For then can they finally be fully sanctified and be the sons of God… Cyprian is essentially explaining the sequence of events for a new Christian. Salvation, which he connects with being baptized with water into the Church, comes before receiving the Holy Spirit. He continues in a later writing, “He who has been sanctified, his sins being put away in baptism, and has been spiritually reformed into a new man, has become fitted for receiving the Holy Spirit…” This is the same concept found Ezekiel …show more content…
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Word of God, they sent Peter and John to the region. When they arrived, they prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Verse 12 tells us that the Samaritans believed the gospel of Christ and were baptized. If the fullness of the Holy Spirit comes at salvation, why was there something yet to receive? Peter and John were sent precisely because they knew how important receiving the Holy Spirit would be for the new believers. Cornelius the Roman centurion and his whole family were already devout believers who feared God (Acts 10:2). Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit came upon them in a new way while Peter preached. Some have argued that this was a one-time “Gentile Pentecost” that was to show that Gentiles were able to be part of the body and of the same spirit as the Jewish believers, but this ignores the fact that Cornelius was already a Christian, and thus already part of