Thoughts From Acts 2:1-13

Baptized and Filled

In Acts 2, we are introduced to the promised Holy Spirit. This promise is found in Acts 1:5 when Jesus tells the disciples, “for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Jesus promised that His followers would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit would settle in each believer and bind the believer to Christ forever. There are several passages of Scripture that talk about the role baptism with the Holy Spirit plays in the life of a believer. One of those roles is baptism with the Holy Spirit. Baptism places every believer into the body of Christ. Every person who believes is baptized with the Holy Spirit. It marks us as Christ followers and it is by the Holy Spirit that each of us is sealed into the family of God forever. It does not involve an action on our part. It’s automatic once we believe in Christ.

However, the Holy Spirit also plays another role in believers and it is something believers should seek after. Being filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2:1-3 the sealing of the Holy Spirit is described, i.e. the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But in Acts 2:4 it says the followers of Christ were filled with the Holy Spirit (“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance”) That’s a separate role for the Holy Spirit and it has a specific purpose: power to proclaim Christ throughout the world (Acts 1:8). The filling by the Holy Spirit allows us – no propels us – to be of service for Christ.

I liked the way McGee, a theologian, explained the difference between the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit:

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a command given to us. It is not an experience. It is an act of God whereby the believer in Jesus Christ is indwelt by the Spirit of God, sealed unto the day of redemption, and placed into the church, the body of Christ, by the baptism of the Spirit. The filling of the Spirit of God is the enablement for service. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit.

So, what does this mean for me? It means I should be seeking and working towards the filling by the Holy Spirit in my life. As I thought about what the filling of the Spirit of God would look like in my life, I realized that it means I would be involved in meaningful service that would proclaim Christ in the world. That I would receive power and I would be His witness in my area of the world and in the world as a whole. That’s based on Acts 1:8. I haven’t been doing much of that lately. I need to pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit and be open to the service opportunities God places in front of me.

It’s not enough to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. I need His power through the Holy Spirit’s filling to be of meaningful service to Christ.