“Did you receive the Holy Spirit after you believed?”(Acts 19:2)
The apostle Paul asked this question to a group of disciples he met at Ephesus. There is no doubt that these men were believers in the Lord Jesus. They were disciples but only knew about the promise of the Holy Spirit but had never encountered His power. They did not know that on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit had been made available to all who believe in the Lord Jesus. (Acts 2:33, 39)
Paul recognised that something was missing in their spiritual experience. They answered him; “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” However, it can also be rendered “We have not heard whether the Holy Spirit was given.” In other words these men knew of no such experience as receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:2) Now they were disciples of John the Baptist and would have known about the promise of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit because John taught this. (Acts 19:3) (Luke 3:15-18)
Now a believer called Apollos had been at Ephesus preaching powerfully in the Synagogue. Undoubtedly he was a gifted man who had a thorough knowledge of the scriptures and was a fervent an articulate speaker. He taught accurately about the Lord Jesus However, he only knew the baptism of John. (Acts 18:24-26) At Ephesus Apollos was befriended by a godly husband and wife ministry team Priscilla and Aquila who would have known about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul had stayed with them at Corinth for some time and he would have ministered to them.
Priscilla and Aquila later came to Ephesus. At Ephesus this godly couple encountered Apollos preaching and took him to their home where they explained to him the way of God more accurately. (Acts 19:26) After his encounter with Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos continued to preach and his ministry had a new and powerful effect. It is obvious something had happened in his spiritual experience that had transformed his ministry. (Acts 18:27-28)
It is one thing to be born again by the Spirit and something further to receive the Gift of the Spirit as they did at Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost the 120 in the upper room were already born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You cannot be saved without being born again. (John 3:3) If a person does not have the Spirit of Christ (the Messiah) dwelling in their human spirit, deep down on the inside of them, then they do not belong to Him.” (Romans 8:9) After He had risen from the dead the Lord Jesus Himself had come to His disciples and personally breathed on them saying; “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22) It is clear that these men were born again. There is a difference between the Holy Spirit indwelling and the Holy Spirit outpoured.
The New birth runs all the way through the Bible in both Testaments. In the Old Testament the faith people had was the faith imparted into their spirit by the Holy Spirit. In fact, we are told that those who are born again have the same faith in them that dwelt in Abraham the father of faith and of all who believe. It is the same faith. (Ephesians 2:8-10) (Romans 4:5, 11-12-16, 22-25)
We are also told concerning Isaac and Ishmael that Ishmael was the one born of the flesh who persecuted Isaac, the one born of the Spirit. (Galatians 4:29) Ishmael was naturally conceived whereas Isaac was supernaturally conceived. Even though Ishmael was born first and Isaac born second it was the one who experienced the second birth who inherited the promises of God. It is the Second spiritual rebirth that counts. When we see Isaac supernaturally conceived this tells us that he was the one who would be born again by the same Spirit that had empowered his mother Sarah to conceive supernaturally.
In the Book of Hebrews Chapter 11 we have the Hall of Fame of those who had faith. This faith is the same faith we see people had in the Lord Jesus when He walked this earth. The same faith that saved the Old Testament saints was the same faith that saved those who believed in the Lord Jesus during His ministry. When the Lord Jesus spoke to the adulterous woman at the well about her need to be saved, He offered her the living water of the Holy Spirit. (John 4:10) This is the Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus said the Father would give to all who ask for Him. (Luke 11:13)
If the Holy Spirit was saving and indwelling people before Pentecost then why was Pentecost necessary from the spiritual perspective? The clearest example of the fact that the new birth was available before Pentecost is seen in the encounter that the religious leader Nicodemus had with the Lord Jesus. Nicodemus wanted a debate but the Lord Jesus cut to the chase. The Lord Jesus clearly told him that without the new birth no one could enter or even perceive the things of the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) Added to this the Lord Jesus said to him “Are you a teacher of Israel and you do not know this?” In other words, as a Jewish religious leader Nicodemus should have experienced the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit. (Romans 2:28-29) He knew no such experience. (John 3:9-10)
When we read about people being born again before Pentecost we need to ask this question; “In what sense was the Spirit given before Pentecost different than the Spirit given at Pentecost? If the 120 believers in the upper room had received the Holy Spirit as an indwelling presence then why did they need to receive Him again? Surely they had everything they would need spiritually when they were born again?
Well, it is obvious they needed to receive Him again, not as an indwelling presence, but His power poured out upon them giving them the ability to witness and to work for the Lord Jesus. This was what the Lord Jesus had promised them. (Luke 24:48-49) (John 7:38) This was the Baptism with the Spirit which would empower them for their ministry. (Acts 1:8)
In the Book of Acts we see a situation where Philip had been preaching the gospel in Samaria and people were being born again by the Spirit, healed and delivered from demons and that there was great joy in that city. (Acts 7:4-8) No doubt these men and women had been born again. This kind of joy is a fruit of the Spirit indwelling a believer, a supernatural joy that imparts spiritual strength.. (Nehemiah 8:10) (Isaiah 12:3) (Galatians 5:22) We are also told that the apostles heard that the Samaritans “had received the Word of God.” This was a common term used in the New Testament for those who had been born again “not of perishable seed but of imperishable seed through the living and abiding Word of God.” (1 Peter 1:23)
The apostles sent Peter and John down to Samaria and when they arrived they prayed for the new born again believers to be baptised or filled with the Holy Spirit. It was after the Samaritan believers had been baptised with water that the apostles laid hands on them and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17) For these Samaritan believers it was an impartation of spiritual power. (Acts 1:8) It was a definite spiritual experience they received. There was nothing indefinite or vague about it.
In the case of the Household of Cornelius, he, along with all those in his house, all received the spiritual ‘package deal” in that they were born again and baptised with the Holy Spirit simultaneously. This became the normal pattern for all believers in the future because the Spirit had already been poured out at Pentecost and made available to all believers in every age. (Acts 2:39) For Cornelius and those gathered in his house, it was a definite and tangible spiritual experience that they received. When Peter and John reported back to the apostles at Jerusalem they said that the Gentiles had received the Holy Spirit as the apostles themselves had received at Pentecost. Peter clearly identified the Baptism with the Holy Spirit with receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 11:15-18)
The normal spiritual experience in this matter of receiving the Holy Spirit is clearly seen in Acts 2:38-39. Repentance is first, followed by water baptism upon faith in the Lord Jesus, being the results of the new birth given by the Spirit, and then receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, being His power for Christian service and ministry. It is clear today multitudes of ministers, missionaries, full-time workers and faithful Bible believers, who love the Lord Jesus, who know they are born again and are faithfully labouring in the harvest field, find a lack of spiritual power or anointing on their ministry. They are doing what they were called to do but have never been baptised with, or received the Holy Spirit to empower them for their witness and service for the Lord Jesus.
Consider the apostles. They had been in the best Bible School ever. They had been taught by the master of all theological teachers. They had received practical, hands on training and sent on special missions by the Lord Jesus with His authority to preach, to heal the sick and to drive out demons. It was a special foretaste of what they were going to do after the Lord Jesus ascended to His Father and poured out the Spirit upon His followers. (Acts 2:33) (Acts 2:39) They had been enlisted into the Lord’s army. They had been trained for spiritual combat against principalities and the powers of darkness in the unseen spiritual realm. They felt the urgency to fulfil the Great Commission but needed spiritual weapons and armour to fight the battle which the mighty baptism with the Holy Spirit would provide.
There are born again believers today graduating from Bible College with their degrees in theological training but have no real spiritual power accompanying their ministry. How many churches today have ministers in their pulpits that know the Word of God and preach it but have no spiritual power to move the hearts of their congregations?
One thing to notice is that in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was poured out He was poured out upon groups, not primarily upon individuals. This was what it means to be baptised by One Spirit into one body and all made to drink of the one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13) It is not primarily in relation to being born again and made a member of the wider Body of the Messiah, it is that, but more so being made one Body of believers united in the Holy Spirit and being endowed with the gifts of the Spirit given according to His will. (1 Corinthians 12:11)
While the Baptism with the Spirit is necessary and possible for every believer the gifts of the Spirit will vary according to the avenue of service and ministry to which an individual believer is called to within the local assembly of believers. (1 Corinthians 12: 4-11) So then, the new birth enlists us into the Lord’s army and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit furnishes us with the spiritual weapons and armour we need to fight the spiritual battle, to pull down the enemies’ spiritual strongholds in our lives and in the lives of others both within and without the Body of the Messiah, the faithful Assembly (Church). For multitudes of believers, who know that there is a lack of spiritual power in their ministry and service for the Lord Jesus, Paul’s question comes to them afresh; “Did you receive the Holy Spirit after you believed?”
Link: https://blowthetrumpet.com.au/the-baptism-with-the-holy-spirit/
