Filling with the Holy Spirit and The Baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Jeff Unsworth. Luke 1:15 is a unique passage in the scriptures. It is the only passage that states a baby would be filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb. That baby was John the Baptist.

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. (NASB) Luke 1:15

While we do not know about others, it is possible that Jesus also was filled with the Holy Spirit while He was in Mary’s womb because He was born by the Holy Spirit and Jesus did not need to be born again, He did not need to repent of any sin for the scripture tells us He was holy.

Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:18-20 (NASB)

After reading this passage it would seem reasonable to conclude that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit throughout Mary’s pregnancy but the scriptures never actually tell us that happened. Therefore, we cannot conclude that was true. Therefore, we do not know about any other than John the Baptist.

When we interpret the scriptures, it is important to discover exactly what the scriptures say (Exegesis) and not add what we want then to say (Eisegesis).

To say that the sky and the sea are blue, does not mean that the sky and sea are the same.

It is easy to make assumptions when reading scripture. 

Eg. When scripture says “filled with the Spirit,” can we assume that it means that everyone that is filled with the Spirit is born again or baptised with the Spirit?

 If the disciples of the Lord had the same misperception of words they would certainly have had prematurely claimed to receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost when the Lord breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22, compare with John 7:39). 

Or that Elizabeth and Zachariah and John the Baptist were all baptised with the Holy Spirit.

When we read the words “filled with the Holy Ghost” in Acts 2:4. 

Can we safely equate them with the same words found elsewhere in Scripture. For example in Luke 1:41 “Elisabeth, Zachariah and John were all filled with the Holy Ghost” and in Acts 4:31, after Pentecost, the disciples, Peter and John and other believers, after a prayer of asking God for boldness “were all filled with the Holy Ghost”. What are we to make of these words? 

Well, first  we should be aware that spiritual things are spiritually discerned – “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor.2:14).

It should not be difficult to see that the infilling of the Holy Ghost that Elisabeth and Zachariah experienced was not the same as the one which occurred on the Day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2. 

It is very clear in John 7:39, and other places in Scripture, that the Baptism with the Holy Ghost could only come after the Lord was glorified. Likewise, Peter and John had already received the Baptism when they got “filled with the Holy Ghost” in Acts 2:4. 

Later, when their lives were in danger they prayed and the place where they were shook and they “were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Act. 4:31). Certainly, that doesn’t mean they received the Baptism twice, and because the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is what constitutes the New Birth it also doesn’t mean they were ‘Born Again’ twice.

Let us give close attention to the record of John:  “He that believeth on me , as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living  water. (But this He spake of the Spirit , which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified)” (John 7:38-39). 

This means that whatever one may read regarding a person being filled with the Holy Spirit prior to the glorification of the Lord Jesus, does not refer to the New Birth experience, which occurs by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

John 7:38-39 refers to the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, an experience which could only occur after the glorification of the Lord Jesus. The experience is for the conversion of the heart and it is what had been prophesied by Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. 31:33, Eze. 36:26-27, compare with Luke 22:31-32). 

The experience of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost is more than an infilling to give someone boldness to proclaim the Word and it is more than an infilling to sanctify or cause a fetus to kick in the womb of Elisabeth to give her a testimony of the working of God (Luke 1:41). 

The baptism with the Holy Spirit causes the New Birth. With that comes the conversion of a heart, to cause a man to walk in the ways of God – “Repent, and be baptized…and ye shall receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit” (Act.2:38). 

A person has to decide to give up their own will and surrender it to God, in order to be led by the Spirit. The act of repenting to surrender one’s own will to God is simply impractical for a fetus as in John the Baptist case. 

Even Jesus Himself had to grow in “stature and wisdom” before the Spirit took a hold of Him (Luke 2:52).

The question is, did John the Baptist have to be saved since he was filled with the Holy Spirit?

Is there evidence in scripture that John the Baptist needed salvation like everyone else though he was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb?

It is Luke who tells us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit ‘even from birth’ (Luke 1:15), which could cause someone to wonder if John was exempt from the need to believe the gospel for the forgiveness of sins. There are several evidences from scripture that in spite of being filled with the Holy Spirit, that John still needed to be saved.

First, the scripture says that John was filled with the Holy Spirit it does not say that John was sealed with the Holy Spirit. 

Paul teaches us in Ephesians 1:13 that those who believe the truth of the gospel are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  The Greek word behind the English ‘sealed’ is quite literally ‘to set a seal upon, to mark with a seal’. 

The next verse goes on to teach us that this action of God in marking the believer as His own is the equivalent of God making a down payment on the believer so as to show his intent of completing the redemption of those who belong to Him. So John was ‘filled’ with the Holy Spirit, but nothing in the text indicates that he was ‘sealed’ with the Holy Spirit.

John is not exempt from the “all” of Romans 3:23—‘for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ When Paul writes ‘there is none righteous no not one’ (Rom 3:10), John is included in that statement. In fact, we seem to see John’s own understanding of his need for the forgiveness of sin when Jesus approaches John for baptism in Matthew 3 and John is hesitant to proceed. John responds, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

While John was filled with the Holy Spirit, the wrath of God still abided on him until he believed in Christ (John 3:36).  

Certainly one could suppose that being filled with the Holy Spirit would lead to John believing the truth, but nonetheless, John still had to believe. No one is exempt from the requirement to believe in order to be saved. Those who do not obey the gospel imperative to ‘believe’ will experience the wrath of God (2 Thess 1:8).

Another reason that shows that John still needed to be saved comes from John 3 and Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. Jesus told Nicodemus very plainly that everyone (including John the Baptist) had to be born again (or born from above) in order to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Again, being filled with Spirit in order to be the forerunner of Jesus is not the same as being born again.

John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, Luke 16:1, and the Holy Spirit’s activity among them was temporary in nature and usually designed to empower the recipient for a specific task. 

There are others in scripture where we see this. Bezalel is anointed with the Spirit to build the Tabernacle.

 (Ex 31:2-3) "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.

3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

Judges such as Gideon and Samson are given power (Judges 6:34; 14:6); and of course, both Saul and David are filled with the Holy Spirit as kings of Israel (1 Sam 10:10; 16:13). 

The Holy Spirit rather dramatically departed from Saul (1 Sam 16:14), and David pleads with the Lord not to take His Spirit from him (Ps 51:11), indicating the tenuous and temporal aspect of the Old Testament ‘filling’ of the Spirit.

We know this from what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit never leaving a believer.

And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever (John 14:16 RSV).

Finally, nothing in the scripture indicates how long this state of being filled with the Spirit lasted and to what degree it impacted John’s actions, but we see the fallen nature of John when he is in prison. In Matthew 11, we see John asking a question that did not come from the Holy Spirit’s leadership.  Matthew writes, “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11:2-3).  

Evidently being filled with the Holy Spirit does not keep one from doubting. John’s doubts unequivocally show us his vulnerable humanity.

In spite of being filled with the Holy Spirit from birth, John was born a member of Adam’s fallen race, and all who are in Adam die (1 Cor. 15:22). 

John still needed to be born again, marked as God’s own by being sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise and placed in the body of Christ, by the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, in order to be saved from sin and the wrath of God. Ultimately, John had to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world (even his own), which he seems to do in John 1:29 when he prophecies of the atoning death of the Son of God.

Another question to be answered is what is meant by "The Spirit had not yet been given" 

Obviously Jesus was referring to Pentecost. 

Jesus was speaking of the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He was saying that this could not happen until He was glorified. 

Those who lived in the Old Testament age were not promised a permanent indwelling of the Spirit. At best, the Spirit of God only temporarily resided in them or came upon them.

Could it be referring to a second experience like a second blessing?

Is it possible that one can receive the Holy Spirit but still need a second experience to receive power?

The problem with this view is that the New Testament never distinguishes between receiving the Holy Spirit and receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is received, it is with all of His power. Indeed, there is nothing lacking in the lives of believers.

The only way to understand this is that the Holy Spirit could not be given until Christ had ascended into heaven.

We must understand that the Holy Spirit could not descend upon believers in a unique way until Jesus Christ was glorified, or had ascended into heaven. 

The mission of the Holy Spirit could not begin until the mission of God the Son ended. The Holy Spirit continued the mission of Jesus. While Jesus was still on the earth, the Spirit could not come and testify of Jesus because Jesus’ work was not complete.

However, once Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit could do His work. 

Consequently, the Holy Spirit could only reveal Christ when He completed His ministry. It was impossible for Him to reveal Christ when Christ was still upon the earth.

Jesus had to ascend into heaven!

Jesus made the statement that the Spirit was not yet, or not yet given, before the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit worked differently after Pentecost – He glorified Jesus Christ as the risen Savior. Before this could happen, Jesus had to first ascend to heaven. When He was here on the earth, Jesus spoke of going back to His previous position.

John 6:62 What then if you see the son of man ascending to where He was before.

Jesus was informing His disciples that He was going to return to heaven instead of setting up His kingdom at that time.

In addition, Jesus made it clear that it was necessary that He had to go away. We read about this in the Gospel of John where Jesus says the following.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7).

The Advocate, the Spirit of God, could not come unless Jesus ascended into heaven.

After His resurrection from the dead, we find Jesus saying the following.

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God” John 20:17.

There could not be this unique presence of the Holy Spirit until the presence of Jesus in the flesh was withdrawn and until Jesus Christ was exalted. This did not occur until His ascension.

The Holy Spirit then took over the ministry that Jesus had while He was here on the earth. Until the work of Christ was finished on the earth, this unique work of the Holy Spirit could not begin. This seems to be the best way of understanding Jesus’ statement that the Spirit had not yet been given.

Conclusion.

The filling with the Holy Spirit before the ascension  of Jesus was not a permanent thing, but for a specific ministry.

This infilling was not the same as the Baptism with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

From Pentecost onward, when one is born again, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the believer and the believer is sealed as a child of God.

There is then a continual need to be being filled which gives power to live the Christian life. Eph 5:18.