In Him you also trusted,
after you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,
having believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
Ephesians 1:13
The
Bible never speaks of two baptisms of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, to say that
there is another baptism of the Holy Spirit is to speak what the Bible does not
state. It has in previous blogs, shown that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is
permanent indwelling of the believer for all converted Christians. As a
believer, one who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ and this after hearing the
word of truth, the gospel, you were “sealed” with the Holy Spirit. This sealing
by the Holy Spirit is an assurance, confirmation, and a bond, once given; at
salvation, and not repeated for you “were” sealed. This sealing gives to the
sealed person by the Holy Spirit all that the Holy Spirit gives to God’s
children; therefore, why is there a need for a second baptism of the Holy
Spirit. Especially so since the Bible never refers to a second baptism of the
Holy Spirit. You have all that you need from Him: “…that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:17–18). The
riches of God, His glory to the saints is the inheritance given to believers: “…buried
with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in
the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). We
have been buried in the death of Jesus Christ, baptized in His death, and
raised with Him to glory with all the power that the Father gives by rising,
from the dead His Son, and by saving us and given to us His power to live
eternally. We have the power to live as we go from day to day, in all the
circumstances of life, to be what we say we are: Christians. This is the New
Covenant: “Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This is the
new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you’” (Luke 22:20). This is the
dispensation arranged by God for all He enables and calls to salvation by the
means of the death, resurrection and ascension of His Son Jesus Christ.
The
doctrine according to the Pentecostals and Charismatics lacks understanding of
the dispensational truth: Christians are not people of the Old Testament, the
old covenant given to the Hebrews, rather they are in a different and new
dispensation by which God deals with men. Jesus Christ appeared on the scene
according to God’s timetable and in this period, the period of the Gospels, the
early Church was in transition from the old covenant to the new covenant. This
new covenant was put in force by God, the movant, by the crucifixion of His Son
Jesus Christ, a time when the Jews rejected the Messiah, the One for whom the
longed to appear. Furthermore, the rejected the Gospel and then the Gospels
given to the Gentiles with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they becoming the
Bride of Christ. The Jews did not need a New Testament to instruct them as to
the Messiah; they had it all previously given to them by their prophets, and
their writings, accumulated into one book, and read in their synagogues. What
the Jews desired and looked for was signs to authenticate God’s presence and
work: “For Jews request a sign, and seeks after wisdom” (1Corinthians 1:22).
God gave the Jews signs and wonders, graciously God gave what they desired,
and looked for fulfilling the Old Testament accompanied with preaching,
concerning the coming of the Messiah, the Jews still rejected Jesus. Because of
this rejection by the Jews God offered now to the Gentiles the baptism of the
Holy Spirit: a fulfillment of the covenant God gave to Abraham whereby all
nations be blessed. The Jews now were off the scene, the Gospel having been
preached to them, signs and wonders given to them, there was no longer any need
of sign gifts any more. Why? The Gentiles sought after wisdom, not signs as the
verse given from 1Corinthians 1:22; they desired to study the Bible, the Word
of God. So, why did God give to the early Church sign gifts? Because most of
the Churches were populated with Jews, not Gentiles, even in cities of Greece
as many Jews fled to those cities. Cornelius, in Acts 11 became the opening of
the door to the Gentiles and a Church established in Antioch, and this Church
was both filled with Jews and Gentiles. This occurred until the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and up until then the sign gifts were valid to
authenticate that the apostles were speaking for God and had His Spirit within
them. With the ministry of Paul who went to the Gentiles spreading the Gospels
after 70 A.D. the new dispensation established as the nation of the Jews was
now destroyed; it no longer existed. With the cessation of the sign gifts they
were and are not needed. God, by His Providence, gives that which needed to
fulfill His purpose. This by the Holy Spirit, but there is no unction for
believers to seek the gifts, or to use some gift as though a gift was given to
them by the Holy Spirit misusing a proposed gift as though this was some
authentication of salvation or the presence of the Holy Spirit. There is no
need for a second baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul write to this fact to the
Corinthian Church as they were misusing the gifts and the sacrament of the
Lord’s Supper, and says: “But when that which is perfect has come, then that
which is in part will be done away” (1Corinthians 13:10). Some cavil at
this verse when it is applied to the Bible and only will accept that this is
when Jesus Christ comes again; but this is not what the context supplies to us
for the early Christians new in part, and until the Bible was complete needed
certain gifts, but this all ended with the Bible’s completion. (Read
1Corinthians 13:8–11).
We need
more information regarding the Holy Spirit and what Jesus Christ said about
salvation and the receiving of the Holy Spirit and this is the thrust for the
next blog.
And though I have the gift of prophecy,
And understand
all mysteries
And all knowledge, and thought I have
All faith,
so that I could remove
Mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
1Corinthians 13:2
Present Yourself A Workman For God
Richard L. Crumb
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