What Is The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit

God’s Spirit is Poured Out . We have shown that this is a synonymous expression for “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” It is used specifically for either the Pentecost baptism or the Cornelius baptism.

The heart of the promised “pouring out upon” of the Spirit is divine revelation of destruction and salvation. When Peter quotes the OT Joel 2:28, he selects the prophecy "pouring out of to all flesh" that will reveal salvation by the Lord from a horrific judgment.

There are at least four results of “pouring out upon by the Spirit” in the OT prophecies and one in the NT: God will pour out (1) fruitfulness, (2) blessing, including righteousness that produces salvation, (3) the spirit of grace and of supplications, (4) God’s thoughts, and (5) God’s love.

The promise: “Until The Spirit be poured uponⁱ us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest” (Isaiah 32:15). The Spirit pours forth the production of fruit.

The Promise: “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pourⁱⁱ my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring” (Isaiah 44:3). And in the next chapter there is "righteousness."

Within this context, God promises to pour down righteousness and salvation. “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour downⁱⁱⁱ righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it” (Isaiah 45:8).

The Promise. “And I will pour upon^iv the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications^v: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10). This prophecy has God pouring out the His spirit of grace and supplications upon inhabitants of Jerusalem which incidentally accompanies the crucifixion of God (“look upon me”). The baptism of the Holy Spirit does occur just a few days after the cross (50 days). The prophet Isaiah predicts that at this time the new Law and God’s Word would go forth from Jerusalem: “He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3b).

God’s Pattern For Revelation. The KJV translates Proverbs 1:23 as, “ Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out^vi my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you ” (KJV). The NIV, an interpretive version has “ Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings ” (Proverbs 1:23, NIV^vii, cf. NET^viii ). The KJV is a word - for - word translation. The NIV is a commentary version of the Bible. The Bishops Bible has “ my mynde* ” [*Old English for mind]; Brenton has “ utterance of my breath ”; the ERV has “ all my knowledge ”; ERRB has “ gush my spirit unto you .”

Vehicle For God’s Thoughts. How do we receive God’s thoughts? Is it not obvious to us as it was to the translators that the instrument for God’s thoughts is His Spirit? Just as the Spirit is the medium for making known God’s righteousness and how to bear its fruit, so it is apparent that God consistently made known His thoughts by His Spirit. And how does He use His Spirit do this? Is it not through His teachings? Does not experience also prove this to us? For example, unless a person has been taught about Jesus, how would he know about Jesus? And so says the Scriptures in Romans 10:14b in the context about purpose of the baptism of the Holy Spirit: "And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?"

Pouring Out To Us His Love. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5, ESV). “Hope” is currently possessed. God’s love has been poured out. ^ix God’s love was poured out (perfect passive indicative which means it happened once in the past with continuing results) to our hearts.^x H. C. Moule: “The tense indicates the lasting result of that past act by which the Holy Spirit first revealed the Divine Love to the soul.” ^xi The revelation of God’s love flows from the facts of God’s love into our hearts and currently gives us the mentioned “hope.”

God’s Instrument is the Holy Spirit. God’s love has been poured out to our hearts. How? Romans 5:5 tells us it is through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

How We Learn About God’s Love. How did the Pentecost audience learn about the love of God? Was it directly into their hearts from the Heaven? Not according to the Bible. How did the recipients learn of God’s Grace and Supplications? Directly? No. How did the people learn of God’s thoughts, His blessing that includes His righteousness and salvation? Directly? No. How did they learn to bear fruit for God? Directly? No.

The answer to all of these questions is, “They heard” (Acts 4:4). By what means? Not by a voice directly from Heaven, but by the Holy Spirit “teaching” through the apostles! How did the Holy Spirit communicate God’s love to those on Pentecost? Did they not receive the Holy Spirit’s thoughts and the message of God’s love from the mouth of the apostles (Acts 5:32; 2:41)? “And they continued in the apostles’ teaching.” How did God “pour out” His thoughts to people now? Does not God reveal His thoughts through His teachings. Can we extend our reasoning to how we can hear the Holy Spirit to us today? Can we not apply our hearing to the writings of these holy men of God just as the early churches eventually did?

i BDB: H6168, “to be bare, be nude, uncover, leave destitute, discover, empty, raze, pour out”

ii BDB: H3332, “to pour, flow, cast, pour out’; AHLB #1410-L “molten metal poured into a mold to form”

iii BDB: H5140, “to flow, distil, flow forth or down, trickle, drop”; AHLB#2387 “to flow like water”

iv BDB: H8210, “to pour, pour out, spill”; exact same Hebrew word as in Joel 2:28.

v“Supplications.” Strong’s (in LXX)- “pity, mercy.”

vi BDB: H5042, “to flow, pour out, pour, gush forth, spring, bubble up, ferment “; AHLB#2370(V) “belch; utter, pour, send, flow.”

vii The New International Version is a “meaning-to-meaning” versuib and not word-for-word and claims to compile different manuscripts.. https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/whats-the-difference-between-various-bible- versions.

viii The Hiphil cohortative of נָבַע (nava’, “to pour out”) describes the speaker’s resolution to pour out wisdom on those who respond.

ix Not our love for God.; it is passive voice; it is God’s love for us; also, clarified in verse 8.

x The “pouring out” verb is perfect passive: it occurred in the past but we are benefiting in our present. http://www.ntgreek.net/lesson23.htm. Vincent’s Word Studies;

“the perfect tense which conveys the picture that the "pouring out" began at some point of time in the past (at conversion) and the effects, results and benefits of that outpouring continue - they have not been withdrawn “http://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_54-5.

xi The Cambridge Bible For Schools and Colleges. The Epistle to the Romans. By Moule, H. C. G. (Handley Carr Glyn), 1841-1920.

AHLB= “Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible”

BDB= “Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Definitions”