Quote:
Originally Posted by Joelel
Jesus told them here in the first chapter 5:ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence,so they obeyed and was filled as we see in the second chapter,4: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.We see very clear baptized in the Holy Ghost and filled with the Holy Ghost is the same thing.
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To be filled with the Spirit is to be fully controlled by the Spirit
(Ephesians 5:18). Nowhere in the NT is the phrase "filled with the Holy Ghost" used to reference a saving work of God.
The phrase is used of John the baptist in
Luke 1:15, his mother Elisabeth in
Luke 1:41, his father Zacharias in
Luke 1:67, and of a group of men in
Acts 4:31 who were being "filled with the Holy Ghost" a second time, for these were the same "filled with the Holy Ghost" in
Acts 2:4. I doubt you will say they were made regenerate again, so why should we say the author, who did not intend the phrase to refer to regeneration in any other passage, uses it to mean regeneration in
Acts 2:4?
Luke uses the term "filled with the Holy Ghost" in reference to special empowerment in
Luke 1:15, 41, 67 and in
Acts 4:31. I think the evidence is clear it should be understood in the same fashion in
Acts 2:4.
It is certainly possible that a man baptized
(or indwelt) with the Spirit can be immediately fully controlled
(i.e., "filled") by that same Spirit to the point of manifestation, though this should certainly not be considered a normative by any means.