Being Filled With The Holy Spirit, Ot Style (Exodus 31:1-8) Series

One of the things I've spent a lot of time thinking about, and studying, over the past few years is the filling of the Holy Spirit. I can't imagine this is a surprise to you-- it's steadily come out more and more in my teaching.

The main reason I studied this, at first, centered around Acts 1:1-8. Let's turn there, and read (NRSV updated no reason):

1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering[a] he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying[b] with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with[c] the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

The Ascension of Jesus

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Now, before I say anything else, let's turn to Acts 2:1-4 (NRSV updated no reason):

2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

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In his books, Robert Menzies (a Pentecostal) argues that all the different ways the Spirit is described in Luke-Acts as coming on people basically mean the same thing. The baptism/dunking, and filling, and anointing, and "coming upon" people, are all describing one reality. After reading him, I adopted that as my working hypothesis, and it's interesting just this morning, again seeing the strength of his argument. Acts 1:5, 8; 2:4 are all describing one reality, one occurrence, using three different expressions. In Luke-Acts, to be baptized in the Spirit, is to have the Spirit come upon you, is to be filled. I've been tempted to say that the baptism of the Spirit is describing the first time you are filled with the Spirit, and then after that you can be repeatedly refilled (Acts 4:29-31). But I don't think that's how Acts describes it. Acts 1:5, 1:8, and 2:4 describe the same experience. Plus, Saul's first experience of this is called a "filling" (Acts 9:17). [And complicating it, the actual language of "baptism of the Holy Spirit" is only found in Acts 1:5 and 11:16, as far as I can tell.]

Perhaps if we would translate the "baptism of the Holy Spirit" differently, as the "dunking of the Spirit," that would free us from the baggage attached to the word. We make too much of one word, perhaps. We are dunked in the Spirit, and filled with the Spirit. Two different images.

I think the reason the Spirit is described as coming on people in four (?) different ways, is that each way gives us a true, but partial, picture of what the Spirit does for people. They are images, or metaphors. It's like how we as the church are God's temple, and Christ's body, and the bride of Christ. We are all of those things. All of those things help us understand who we are corporately, in different ways. The dunking, filling, anointing, and being clothed by the Spirit are all one reality, but each points to different things the Spirit does to/for us.

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Maybe four years ago, I met a believer who laid hands on me for my allergies. He rebuked my allergies in Jesus' name, and commanded them in Jesus' name to go. And they left. Now, my healing wasn't instant. It was one of those that's gradual, and progressive. The kind that requires faith, and builds faith. But I knew I was healed, and God, in kindness, let me feel the healing.

That's the kind of experience that changes everything-- how you read the Bible, how you understand God, and faith, and what's possible.