navygoat1998
09-11-2013, 03:16 PM
Very good article written by Dr. George O Wood, the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God. He has Pentecostal roots that run deep.
http://georgeowood.com/the-experience-of-the-spirit/
The Experience of the Spirit
Three primary views within the church describe the baptism in the Holy Spirit. One is the view that the baptism in the Holy Spirit and any terminology connected with it in Scripture are meant to be taken as synonymous with conversion—that when we give our life to the Lord we are automatically baptized in the Spirit.
In this view, the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 represents the moment the members of the Early Church became Christians. The baptism in the Holy Spirit, therefore, is not meant to be repeated in believers’ lives today in the manner described in Acts 2, 8, 9, 10 and 19, but is to be seen as God’s way of giving the Church a giant cosmic shove into its centuries of existence.
On the opposite extreme are those who treat the baptism in the Holy Spirit as the highest goal of Christian experience—a goal that once reached need not be sought after again. Unfortunately, this is the view I had of the baptism in the Spirit while I was a child and teenager. In a particular church of which I was a part, you couldn't hold office in the youth group unless Spirit baptism was the highest goal of your life. Consequently, when I received it, I promptly relaxed.
Only years later did I come to fully realize the function of the baptism in the Spirit. This, I believe, is the third view. Spirit baptism is a distinct part of our entrance into the full Christian life, along with salvation and water baptism. These can each occur at different times, but I believe it is God’s purpose to make this a cluster of initiation events into the Christian life.
Jesus’ earthly experience with the Spirit is a model for our own. Jesus was conceived by the Spirit. Yet, at His baptism, the Spirit came upon Him like a dove. That He was conceived of the Spirit meant that all through His existence the Spirit resided in Him. Yet, as He began His earthly ministry, the Spirit came upon Him. This does not mean that until that time the Spirit was absent from Him. It meant Jesus’ public ministry had begun and He needed the Spirit’s empowerment. That’s why after the temptation in the wilderness He could say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” The Spirit had always been in Him, but at His baptism there was a necessary experience of the Spirit coming upon Him.
The Church models that same experience of the Spirit. We are conceived by the Spirit. The life of Jesus is born into us; we are born of the Spirit. Everyone who has Jesus has the Spirit living in him or her. But there is a subsequent work we find in Acts 2, when believers assumed their spiritual responsibilities. For this, we need the Spirit to come upon us. We need to be placed into the Spirit even as the Spirit has placed us into Christ.
http://georgeowood.com/the-experience-of-the-spirit/
The Experience of the Spirit
Three primary views within the church describe the baptism in the Holy Spirit. One is the view that the baptism in the Holy Spirit and any terminology connected with it in Scripture are meant to be taken as synonymous with conversion—that when we give our life to the Lord we are automatically baptized in the Spirit.
In this view, the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 represents the moment the members of the Early Church became Christians. The baptism in the Holy Spirit, therefore, is not meant to be repeated in believers’ lives today in the manner described in Acts 2, 8, 9, 10 and 19, but is to be seen as God’s way of giving the Church a giant cosmic shove into its centuries of existence.
On the opposite extreme are those who treat the baptism in the Holy Spirit as the highest goal of Christian experience—a goal that once reached need not be sought after again. Unfortunately, this is the view I had of the baptism in the Spirit while I was a child and teenager. In a particular church of which I was a part, you couldn't hold office in the youth group unless Spirit baptism was the highest goal of your life. Consequently, when I received it, I promptly relaxed.
Only years later did I come to fully realize the function of the baptism in the Spirit. This, I believe, is the third view. Spirit baptism is a distinct part of our entrance into the full Christian life, along with salvation and water baptism. These can each occur at different times, but I believe it is God’s purpose to make this a cluster of initiation events into the Christian life.
Jesus’ earthly experience with the Spirit is a model for our own. Jesus was conceived by the Spirit. Yet, at His baptism, the Spirit came upon Him like a dove. That He was conceived of the Spirit meant that all through His existence the Spirit resided in Him. Yet, as He began His earthly ministry, the Spirit came upon Him. This does not mean that until that time the Spirit was absent from Him. It meant Jesus’ public ministry had begun and He needed the Spirit’s empowerment. That’s why after the temptation in the wilderness He could say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” The Spirit had always been in Him, but at His baptism there was a necessary experience of the Spirit coming upon Him.
The Church models that same experience of the Spirit. We are conceived by the Spirit. The life of Jesus is born into us; we are born of the Spirit. Everyone who has Jesus has the Spirit living in him or her. But there is a subsequent work we find in Acts 2, when believers assumed their spiritual responsibilities. For this, we need the Spirit to come upon us. We need to be placed into the Spirit even as the Spirit has placed us into Christ.