fusionatl

Hey everybody, I forgot to mention this a few weeks ago when we were talking about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit & the question came in on a Wednesday night through the "text in your questions", but here it is & hopefully this will help somebody...

The question was, "If I'm not water baptized, can I be baptized in the Holy Spirit?"

Okay, what are your thoughts? And please, don't just throw something out there...make sure you've got some scriptures!

OK. I'll go first.

This kind of thinking erodes at the very grace of God and gives us a twisted mindset of both who God is and how He sees us. To truly understand the grace and privilege we have with the Living God of Eternity we have to understand that the anointing of the Holy Spirit comes “no strings attached.”

To this… I have three points…

First:
Throughout scripture men have tried to add a price to what was given to us as gift. I'm not sure why. Maybe because we still haven't been able to accept that God would give us something for nothing. We think; "He his God. Why would He ever give us something for free. He is perfect, I am not. He's holy, I am not. I have nothing to offer him so why would He do anything for me. As a matter of fact... If I do want to get anything from Him I'm going to have to earn it. If I want His blessing... I'm going to have to do penitence. If I want his favor... I'm going to have to pray for at least two hours, etc ,etc.” This is true for many of us and was surely true for the Jewish culture that thousands of years earlier had received the Law of Moses and followed it as their path to God.

One of major emphasis in the Law was Old Testaments baptism. (Yes, the Old Testament is full of baptism references. Thinking baptism started with John the Baptist is like watching the last 30 minutes of a movie and claiming to understand it.) So baptism was part of the Old Testament Law that would cleansed one from sins (temporarily) and / or prepare them for ministry.

Leviticus 16:4, God commanded Aaron to wash himself before and after he ministered in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.

Numbers 19, gives explicit instructions for purification after defilement by a dead body. After bathing and washing his clothes, the "unclean" person had to be sprinkled with fresh water.

Leviticus 8:6, records the washing of Aaron and his sons when they were ordained as priests to minister in the holy tabernacle.

Leviticus 16:4, God commanded Aaron to wash himself before and after he ministered in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.

The Law of Moses spoke about being “unclean” in some form or fashion over 130 times. So you see, being baptized would have been a major issue among people in the Old and New Testament.

Enters Jesus…

Suddenly, the Messiah is here and everything has changed. John the Baptist, the forerunner for Christ, is now preaching repent for the kingdom of God is near. He is openly baptizing men and women to prepare them for the coming King. Through his sovereign grace the Lord gave John foreknowledge of the Holy Spirit and his ministry. Here is Johns chance. He has been given a glimpse of the Holy Spirit, what He does and how He is to come. He can, with absolute authority, lay a firm foundation to any prerequisites given to him by God to receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If there were anything people needed to do or know in order to receive the Holy Spirit, John would have told them, right… right there… with the same authority He spoke about everything else. Yet we find the same story in all four gospels. Matthews version simply says:

Matthew 3:11
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Notice he does not add “as long as you are first baptized in water.”

First Point:
John never taught that one had to be baptized in water before they could be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Second:
Jesus taught His disciples about the Holy Spirit and His coming on several occasions. If John had missed a prerequisite to the baptism of the of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Himself, who be sure to correct this mistake before He ascended into Heaven. John 14 through John 16 contains some of Jesus’ most we know teaching on the Holy Spirit and never does he associate water baptism as a requirement for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

Second Point:
Jesus Himself never taught that one had to be baptized in water before they could be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Third:
After both John the Baptist and Jesus were gone the Disciples, empowered with the Holy Spirit spread the Gospel throughout the known world. Throughout the Word of God we can see the movements of the Holy Spirit on both Jews and Gentiles. From here, the church has built its foundation and beliefs. If there baptism by water is a requirement to receive the Holy Spirit it would be evident in who received Him and who did not.

Acts 8:14-17
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Samaria was the land of the Gentiles; the unchurched of their day. Not only did they not believe in God but worshiped several gods. The gospel’s effect on the Samaritans, even amongst the Disciples, was debated. Some thought they would never receive the salvation of the Lord and other thought they shouldn’t. (remember Jonah…) Needless to say; when they did… everything changed. When word got back to “church headquarters” they sent Peter and John to investigate. When they got there the Word says they immediately prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t say they stopped, baptized them in water or grabbed their Holy Spirit check list. No. They prayed and they were filled.

Acts 10:44-48
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, 47 "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.
Peter, who begin to preach to the Gentiles, was speaking and the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard. First of all; since they were all Gentiles the probability of “all of them” being baptized in water is highly unlikely. After the Holy Spirit fell the “circumcised believers” (the ones most likely to be baptized in water) were astonished. Even they could hardly believe that God would pour out His spirit on those who had never fulfilled his Law but simply believed on the name of Jesus. Then Peter said something that closes this argument for once and for all… “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." The nail in the coffin. Peter was not only astonished that the Holy Spirit can be poured out on the Gentiles but Gentiles who have not been baptized in water. So he ordered that they be baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” which means they were baptized in water. So there you have it…

Third Point:
Scripture never teaches that one has to be baptized in water before they could be baptized with the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, it teaches that the opposite can, will and does happen.