1. The baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs only one time when a person is placed into the body of Christ (The Church). If one has not been baptized with the Holy Spirit then that person is not a Christian.
Those in Acts 2:4 were already saved but it was this event that placed them into the body of Christ.
The following terms synonymously describe what the Holy Spirit does only once to a person upon entering the body of Christ/Church.
a. Fell (Acts 8:16; 10:44; 11:15)
b. Poured (Acts 10:45; Titus 3:6)
c. Received (Acts 2:38; 8:17; 10:47)
d. Baptized (Acts 1:5; 11:16; Romans 6:3, etc.)
*e. Filled (11:17; 15:8 cf. Acts 2:4)
f. Given (Acts 8:18; 11:17; 15:8)
g. Came (Acts 1:8; 19:6)
h. Clothed (Luke 24:49; Galatians 3:27)
i. Sealed (Ephesians 1:13)
*The filling of the Holy Spirit can occur again after one enters the body of Christ/Church (Acts 9:17; Acts 13:9).
Mounce: Even after people are permanently filled with the Spirit at conversion, the Spirit can again fill them in a sense that he possesses and empowers them in a special way for a temporary, specific task, such as when Peter spoke to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8) and the church prayed for boldness (4:31). Paul is filled with the Spirit (9:17) and almost immediately begins to testify (9:20). He is later filled with the Spirit again and denounces Elymas the magician (13:9) (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Fill, page 250).
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2. Paul
Romans 6:3
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (NASB)
This saving baptism results in the Christian no longer being "slaves to sin" (Romans 6:6). This "spirit of slavery" is cancelled because the Christian has received the "Spirit of adoption" (Romans 8:15).
a. Danker: of those who believe in Christ and are accepted by God as God's children with full rights that we might receive the adoption as sons ("that" to "sons" written in Greek) Gal 4:5; cp. Eph 1:5. The Spirit, whom the converts receive, works as pneuma huiothesias Ro 8:15 (opp. pn. douleias = such a spirit as is possessed by a slave, not by the son of a house). The believers enter into full enjoyment of their huiothesia only when the time of fulfillment releases them fr. the earthly body vs. 23 (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, huiothesia, page 1024).
b. EDNT: The Spirit received by the believers is pneuma huiothesias (and not douleias) and allows them to experience the new father-son relationship (Rom 8:15) (3:381, F. Hahn).
c. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Romans (2:29; 5:5; 7:6; 8:2, 9, 23; 12:1-2).
1 Corinthians 6:11
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (NASB)
1. TDNT: Similarly, when pneuma is the power of sanctification (R. 15:16; 1 C. 6:11; also 2 Th. 2:13), one cannot say whether Paul's emphasis is that the Spirit sets us in God's saving action and justifies us, or that He enables us to live thereby in concrete obedience. The two are one in the same (6:431, pnueuma, Schweizer).
2. NIDNTT: The Spirit as the fundamental mark of belonging to Christ.
As with the first Christians so with Paul, the gift of the Spirit is what makes the individual a member of Christ (Rom. 8:9; cf. 1 Cor. 2:12; 2 Cor. 11:4; 1 Thess. 4:8), united with him through the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), a sharer in his sonship (Rom. 8:14-6; Gal. 4:6). The Spirit, as it were, is the exalted Lord's steward taking possession of his property on his behalf (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19 f.). It is the reception of the Spirit through faith which marks the beginning of the Christian life (Gal. 3:2 f.), a gift which fulfills the promise to Abraham and which therefore is another name for justification (Gal. 3:14; 1 Cor. 6:11) - that is, the gift of righteousness understood as having "the character of power" (cf. E. Kasemann, "'The Righteousness of God' in Paul", New Testament Questions of Today, 1969, 168-182). Alternatively expressed, it is by being baptized in the one Spirit, drenched with the one Spirit, that individuals become members of the one body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). For Paul it was precisely the gift of the Spirit which distinguished the Christian from the Jew, the new age from the old (Rom. 2:29; 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:6-8; Gal. 4:29; Phil. 3:3) (3:700-7011, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (NASB)
a. NIDNTT: For several reasons it seems probable that en heni pneumati in 1 Cor. 12:13 means not (“by one Spirit" but "in (or with) one Spirit". (a) Elsewhere hypo expresses personal agency with baptizw. (b) There is no certain instance of an instrumental en with baptizw: in other examples of en pneumati, the parallel with en hydati dictates that en should mean "in" or "with" and not "by (means of)", denoting personal agency, see Matt. 9:34; 12:24, 28; Acts 17:31 [cf. 4:12]; Phil. 4:13). (c) In the logia of John the Baptist regarding "Spirit-baptism", it is always Jesus who is the baptizer, never the Spirit. Accordingly in 1 Cor. 12:13, the agent should be taken as implied (viz. Jesus Christ). (d) In the one place Paul uses en with baptizw (1 Cor. 10:2), the prep. is local in sense ("in the cloud and in the sea"). (e) The following phrase "we were all given one Spirit to drink" (1 Cor. 12:13b) suggests an inward participation in the Spirit to which a preceding outward "immersion in the Spirit" would correspond. The Spirit is both around (v. 13a) and within (v. 13b; cf. Eph. 5:18). (f) The parallel en heni pneumati in Eph. 2:18 cannot be an instrumental use of en, since di' autou (= Christ) precedes (but cf. Eph. 3:5; 4:30). However en tw heni pneumati in 1 Cor. 12:9 is undoubtedly instrumental in sense, in light of the preceding dia tou pneumatos (1 Cor. 12:8; cf. vv. 7, 8b, 11). To deny that en is instrumental in 1 Cor. 12:13 is not, of course, to deny the personality of the Spirit, but simply to recognize that baptizw need not always mean "to baptize in water" but may be used metaphorically of immersion, inundation or deluging (3:1210, Appendix, en, Murray Harris).
b. NIDNTT: it is by being baptized in the one Spirit, drenched with the one Spirit, that individuals become members of the one body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) (3:701, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
c. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Paul's letters to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 3:16; 6:11, 17-19; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 3:3, 6, 16-18; 5:5; 11:4)
Galatians 3:27
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (NASB)
a. Clothing oneself with Christ is the same thing as being baptized with Christ without any reference to water baptism (Luke 24:49 cf. Acts 1:5).
And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49, NASB)
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. (Acts 1:5, NASB)
b. Comparing to Galatians 3:14 with Galatians 3:29 being a descendant of Abraham is the result of receiving the promise of the Spirit.
in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:14, NASB)
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:29, NASB)
c. Mounce: Several places in the NT identify what God has promised as the end-time gift of the Holy Spirit. In Lk. 24:49 Jesus tells the disciples that he is sending "the promise of the Father" to them, and then in Acts 1:4 this thought is resumed when the disciples are instructed to remain in Jerusalem and await "the promise of the Father." In Acts 2:33 it becomes explicit that in this case "the promise of the Father" is the Holy Spirit as Luke records Peter saying in his Pentecost sermon: "having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out this that you see and hear." Paul connects the promise of the Holy Spirit to the blessing of Abraham in Gal. 3:14. (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Promise, page 542).
d. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Galatians (3:2-5; 5:16-26).
Ephesians 5:26
so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. (NASB).
1. The washing of the water refers to the cleansing administered by the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the word of God.
Whedon: Referring, no doubt, to baptism, in which the water is the symbolical element of the sanctifying Spirit, which is the real element.
By the gospel word, which is preached, by which baptism is effected, and which is concentrated into the final baptism formula.
http://www.studylight.org/commentari...cgi?bk=48&ch=5
Colossians 2:11-12
and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (NASB)
1. TDNT: For him the only true Jew is the one who is a Jew in secret, and the only true circumcision is that of the heart (peritome kardias), R. 2:28 f. This circumcision of the heart is, of course, the work of the Spirit, not of man, v. 29. This means that the circumcision of the heart is for Paul identical with redemption by Christ, and in Col. 2:11 f. he can even call baptism the peritome Xristou (6:83, peritemnw, Meyer).
2. Thomas Constable: Our spiritual circumcision (v. 11) took place when God regenerated us (cf. Gal. 5:24). It involved Christ cutting off the dominion of our sinful nature (flesh), which slavery characterizes the unregenerate person (cf. Rom. 7:24-25). "Baptism" (v.12) is Spirit baptism (Notes on Colossians, Thomas L. Constable, 2013 Edition, page 35).
3. Before the Gentiles were water baptized they were worshiping in the Spirit of God (Acts 10:46) so thus they were already part of the "true circumcision" (Philippians 3:3) before they were water baptized (cf. Colossians 2:11). Since they were "praying in the Holy Spirit" they were building themselves up on their "most holy faith" (Jude 1:20).
a. NIDNTT: When later in Caesarea the first pagans received the Holy Spirit and became members of the church, they also shared in the grace of worshipping and praising God "in other tongues", as again later the disciples of John the Baptist who became believers in Ephesus (Acts 10:46; 19:6) (3:1080, Word, H. Haarbeck).
b. Vine: It is used metaphorically and spiritually of believers with reference to the act, Col. 2:11 and Rom. 2:29; to the condition, Phil. 3:3 (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Circumcision, page 184).
c. NIDNTT: For Paul it was precisely the gift of the Spirit which distinguished the Christian from the Jew, the new age from the old (Rom. 2:29; 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:6-8; Gal. 4:29; Phil. 3:3)...Similarly worship and prayer were not a matter of liturgical rote or outward form, but worship was characterized precisely as worship in or by the Spirit of God (Rom. 2:28f; Phil 3:3; cf. Eph. 2:18, 22) (3:701 -702, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
d. NIDNTT: Jude 19-20 is very Pauline in character: believers are those who by definition have the Spirit, whereas those who boast of their spirituality thereby give evidence of their unspirituality (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12-3:4); he alone outside the Pauline letters exhorts his readers to pray in the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 6:18) (3:705, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
Titus 3:5-6
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (NASB)
a. Philip H. Towner: But here, as in Eph 5:26, the term falls into the metaphorical sphere, with the image of washing referring to a spiritual cleansing. Some have seen in this image a reference to the rite of water baptism, but there is reason to see it rather as a reference to the work of the Spirit in terms of a "washing" that, then, the outward rite of water baptism might serve to symbolize...
While there are numerous variations, two main arrangements of the two nouns in relation to "washing" and the preceding preposition have been suggested.
1. through the washing of rebirth and (through) renewal by the Holy Spirit
In this case, the decision has been made to isolate two operations, the first "the washing of rebirth," and the second (by assuming the repetition of the preposition) "renewal by the Holy Spirit."
2. through the washing of (i.e., that effects) rebirth and renewal, (which washing is done) by the Holy Spirit
Here, however, the single preposition dia is thought to indicate a single "washing" that produces the complex result, "rebirth and renewal," with the final genitive, "of the Holy Spirit," understood as the agent of the "washing."
Solving this difficulty is not a simple matter. But two factors give the stronger support to the second arrangement. First, the conceptual similarity of the metaphors "rebirth" and "renewal" suggests unity. Second, this implication is strengthened by the fact that they are governed in this instance by the single preposition dia. The most likely intention of the phrase is, then, to view a single event from two slightly different, yet interrelated, perspectives. This rules out the possibility the text conceives of two separate events (either, according to the liturgical traditions, baptism and confirmation, or according to the Pentecostal tradition, conversion and baptism in the Spirit).
If one complex event is mind, then the final genitive phrase, "of (or by) the Holy Spirit," despite its location at the end of the phrase, is best understood at attributing this "washing" by which people are saved to the agency of the Holy Spirit. What Paul has done with this material thus far (and will develop further) is to emphasize the present reality of the salvation event by describing it in terms of the gift of the Holy Spirit (The Letters to Timothy and Titus, Philip H. Towner, p. 781, 783).
b. See also Michael Porter
http://vintage.aomin.org/NotByWorks.html
Ephesians 4:5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism (NASB)
1. As demonstrated above baptism with the Holy Spirit for Paul constitutes the one baptism that places a person into the body of Christ.
2. Some may insist that when it reads "one baptism" it must mean "only" water baptism remains otherwise if Spirit baptism still takes place that would mean there are two baptisms when this passage reads "one baptism". Furthermore, in Acts 11:15-17 Peter had to go all the way back to what took place in Acts 2:4 (cf. Acts 1:5) to give the only other example when the baptism with the Holy Spirit took place. If it was a regular occurrence he would not have had to have done this.
In response to this I will point out again that there is only baptism that places a person into the body of Christ and this refers to the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, Mark 10:39 teaches that John would still undergo a "baptism" (his death) even after Ephesians 4:5 was written.
By referring back to the baptism with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4 (cf. Acts 11:17) Peter is not saying this was only the second time this event took place. It was because the Jews had such extreme misgivings about the Gentiles that Peter needed to emphasize that since the Gentiles were baptized with the Holy Spirit they were just as much part of the Church as when he and the others with him were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Having the Holy Spirit "poured" upon you (Acts 10:45) and being baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:16) is the same thing. This pouring = baptism applies to all who are Christians (Titus 3:6).
In fact, Christ's death is described as both a "pouring" and a "baptism".
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12, NASB).
But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" (Mark 10:38, NASB)
3. Mounce: The OT stress laid in Isaiah's promise of a Messiah who would have a special endowment of the Spirit (Isa. 61:1-3) and on Joel's prophecy about the pouring out of the Spirit on the godly in the last days (Joel 2:28-29)...Just as John baptized with water, the one coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mt. 3:11, 16). Such imagery describes the type of "Spirit baptism" the believer receives - a baptism of the Spirit prophesied in the OT and fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Spirit, page 676).
4. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Ephesians (1:13-14; 2:18; 3:6, 16; 4:30).
Continued...
Those in Acts 2:4 were already saved but it was this event that placed them into the body of Christ.
The following terms synonymously describe what the Holy Spirit does only once to a person upon entering the body of Christ/Church.
a. Fell (Acts 8:16; 10:44; 11:15)
b. Poured (Acts 10:45; Titus 3:6)
c. Received (Acts 2:38; 8:17; 10:47)
d. Baptized (Acts 1:5; 11:16; Romans 6:3, etc.)
*e. Filled (11:17; 15:8 cf. Acts 2:4)
f. Given (Acts 8:18; 11:17; 15:8)
g. Came (Acts 1:8; 19:6)
h. Clothed (Luke 24:49; Galatians 3:27)
i. Sealed (Ephesians 1:13)
*The filling of the Holy Spirit can occur again after one enters the body of Christ/Church (Acts 9:17; Acts 13:9).
Mounce: Even after people are permanently filled with the Spirit at conversion, the Spirit can again fill them in a sense that he possesses and empowers them in a special way for a temporary, specific task, such as when Peter spoke to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8) and the church prayed for boldness (4:31). Paul is filled with the Spirit (9:17) and almost immediately begins to testify (9:20). He is later filled with the Spirit again and denounces Elymas the magician (13:9) (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Fill, page 250).
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2. Paul
Romans 6:3
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (NASB)
This saving baptism results in the Christian no longer being "slaves to sin" (Romans 6:6). This "spirit of slavery" is cancelled because the Christian has received the "Spirit of adoption" (Romans 8:15).
a. Danker: of those who believe in Christ and are accepted by God as God's children with full rights that we might receive the adoption as sons ("that" to "sons" written in Greek) Gal 4:5; cp. Eph 1:5. The Spirit, whom the converts receive, works as pneuma huiothesias Ro 8:15 (opp. pn. douleias = such a spirit as is possessed by a slave, not by the son of a house). The believers enter into full enjoyment of their huiothesia only when the time of fulfillment releases them fr. the earthly body vs. 23 (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, huiothesia, page 1024).
b. EDNT: The Spirit received by the believers is pneuma huiothesias (and not douleias) and allows them to experience the new father-son relationship (Rom 8:15) (3:381, F. Hahn).
c. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Romans (2:29; 5:5; 7:6; 8:2, 9, 23; 12:1-2).
1 Corinthians 6:11
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (NASB)
1. TDNT: Similarly, when pneuma is the power of sanctification (R. 15:16; 1 C. 6:11; also 2 Th. 2:13), one cannot say whether Paul's emphasis is that the Spirit sets us in God's saving action and justifies us, or that He enables us to live thereby in concrete obedience. The two are one in the same (6:431, pnueuma, Schweizer).
2. NIDNTT: The Spirit as the fundamental mark of belonging to Christ.
As with the first Christians so with Paul, the gift of the Spirit is what makes the individual a member of Christ (Rom. 8:9; cf. 1 Cor. 2:12; 2 Cor. 11:4; 1 Thess. 4:8), united with him through the Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), a sharer in his sonship (Rom. 8:14-6; Gal. 4:6). The Spirit, as it were, is the exalted Lord's steward taking possession of his property on his behalf (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19 f.). It is the reception of the Spirit through faith which marks the beginning of the Christian life (Gal. 3:2 f.), a gift which fulfills the promise to Abraham and which therefore is another name for justification (Gal. 3:14; 1 Cor. 6:11) - that is, the gift of righteousness understood as having "the character of power" (cf. E. Kasemann, "'The Righteousness of God' in Paul", New Testament Questions of Today, 1969, 168-182). Alternatively expressed, it is by being baptized in the one Spirit, drenched with the one Spirit, that individuals become members of the one body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). For Paul it was precisely the gift of the Spirit which distinguished the Christian from the Jew, the new age from the old (Rom. 2:29; 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:6-8; Gal. 4:29; Phil. 3:3) (3:700-7011, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (NASB)
a. NIDNTT: For several reasons it seems probable that en heni pneumati in 1 Cor. 12:13 means not (“by one Spirit" but "in (or with) one Spirit". (a) Elsewhere hypo expresses personal agency with baptizw. (b) There is no certain instance of an instrumental en with baptizw: in other examples of en pneumati, the parallel with en hydati dictates that en should mean "in" or "with" and not "by (means of)", denoting personal agency, see Matt. 9:34; 12:24, 28; Acts 17:31 [cf. 4:12]; Phil. 4:13). (c) In the logia of John the Baptist regarding "Spirit-baptism", it is always Jesus who is the baptizer, never the Spirit. Accordingly in 1 Cor. 12:13, the agent should be taken as implied (viz. Jesus Christ). (d) In the one place Paul uses en with baptizw (1 Cor. 10:2), the prep. is local in sense ("in the cloud and in the sea"). (e) The following phrase "we were all given one Spirit to drink" (1 Cor. 12:13b) suggests an inward participation in the Spirit to which a preceding outward "immersion in the Spirit" would correspond. The Spirit is both around (v. 13a) and within (v. 13b; cf. Eph. 5:18). (f) The parallel en heni pneumati in Eph. 2:18 cannot be an instrumental use of en, since di' autou (= Christ) precedes (but cf. Eph. 3:5; 4:30). However en tw heni pneumati in 1 Cor. 12:9 is undoubtedly instrumental in sense, in light of the preceding dia tou pneumatos (1 Cor. 12:8; cf. vv. 7, 8b, 11). To deny that en is instrumental in 1 Cor. 12:13 is not, of course, to deny the personality of the Spirit, but simply to recognize that baptizw need not always mean "to baptize in water" but may be used metaphorically of immersion, inundation or deluging (3:1210, Appendix, en, Murray Harris).
b. NIDNTT: it is by being baptized in the one Spirit, drenched with the one Spirit, that individuals become members of the one body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) (3:701, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
c. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Paul's letters to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:12-16; 3:16; 6:11, 17-19; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 3:3, 6, 16-18; 5:5; 11:4)
Galatians 3:27
For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (NASB)
a. Clothing oneself with Christ is the same thing as being baptized with Christ without any reference to water baptism (Luke 24:49 cf. Acts 1:5).
And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. (Luke 24:49, NASB)
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. (Acts 1:5, NASB)
b. Comparing to Galatians 3:14 with Galatians 3:29 being a descendant of Abraham is the result of receiving the promise of the Spirit.
in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:14, NASB)
And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:29, NASB)
c. Mounce: Several places in the NT identify what God has promised as the end-time gift of the Holy Spirit. In Lk. 24:49 Jesus tells the disciples that he is sending "the promise of the Father" to them, and then in Acts 1:4 this thought is resumed when the disciples are instructed to remain in Jerusalem and await "the promise of the Father." In Acts 2:33 it becomes explicit that in this case "the promise of the Father" is the Holy Spirit as Luke records Peter saying in his Pentecost sermon: "having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out this that you see and hear." Paul connects the promise of the Holy Spirit to the blessing of Abraham in Gal. 3:14. (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Promise, page 542).
d. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Galatians (3:2-5; 5:16-26).
Ephesians 5:26
so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. (NASB).
1. The washing of the water refers to the cleansing administered by the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the word of God.
Whedon: Referring, no doubt, to baptism, in which the water is the symbolical element of the sanctifying Spirit, which is the real element.
By the gospel word, which is preached, by which baptism is effected, and which is concentrated into the final baptism formula.
http://www.studylight.org/commentari...cgi?bk=48&ch=5
Colossians 2:11-12
and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (NASB)
1. TDNT: For him the only true Jew is the one who is a Jew in secret, and the only true circumcision is that of the heart (peritome kardias), R. 2:28 f. This circumcision of the heart is, of course, the work of the Spirit, not of man, v. 29. This means that the circumcision of the heart is for Paul identical with redemption by Christ, and in Col. 2:11 f. he can even call baptism the peritome Xristou (6:83, peritemnw, Meyer).
2. Thomas Constable: Our spiritual circumcision (v. 11) took place when God regenerated us (cf. Gal. 5:24). It involved Christ cutting off the dominion of our sinful nature (flesh), which slavery characterizes the unregenerate person (cf. Rom. 7:24-25). "Baptism" (v.12) is Spirit baptism (Notes on Colossians, Thomas L. Constable, 2013 Edition, page 35).
3. Before the Gentiles were water baptized they were worshiping in the Spirit of God (Acts 10:46) so thus they were already part of the "true circumcision" (Philippians 3:3) before they were water baptized (cf. Colossians 2:11). Since they were "praying in the Holy Spirit" they were building themselves up on their "most holy faith" (Jude 1:20).
a. NIDNTT: When later in Caesarea the first pagans received the Holy Spirit and became members of the church, they also shared in the grace of worshipping and praising God "in other tongues", as again later the disciples of John the Baptist who became believers in Ephesus (Acts 10:46; 19:6) (3:1080, Word, H. Haarbeck).
b. Vine: It is used metaphorically and spiritually of believers with reference to the act, Col. 2:11 and Rom. 2:29; to the condition, Phil. 3:3 (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Circumcision, page 184).
c. NIDNTT: For Paul it was precisely the gift of the Spirit which distinguished the Christian from the Jew, the new age from the old (Rom. 2:29; 7:6; 2 Cor. 3:6-8; Gal. 4:29; Phil. 3:3)...Similarly worship and prayer were not a matter of liturgical rote or outward form, but worship was characterized precisely as worship in or by the Spirit of God (Rom. 2:28f; Phil 3:3; cf. Eph. 2:18, 22) (3:701 -702, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
d. NIDNTT: Jude 19-20 is very Pauline in character: believers are those who by definition have the Spirit, whereas those who boast of their spirituality thereby give evidence of their unspirituality (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12-3:4); he alone outside the Pauline letters exhorts his readers to pray in the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 14:15; Eph. 6:18) (3:705, Spirit, J.D.G. Dunn).
Titus 3:5-6
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (NASB)
a. Philip H. Towner: But here, as in Eph 5:26, the term falls into the metaphorical sphere, with the image of washing referring to a spiritual cleansing. Some have seen in this image a reference to the rite of water baptism, but there is reason to see it rather as a reference to the work of the Spirit in terms of a "washing" that, then, the outward rite of water baptism might serve to symbolize...
While there are numerous variations, two main arrangements of the two nouns in relation to "washing" and the preceding preposition have been suggested.
1. through the washing of rebirth and (through) renewal by the Holy Spirit
In this case, the decision has been made to isolate two operations, the first "the washing of rebirth," and the second (by assuming the repetition of the preposition) "renewal by the Holy Spirit."
2. through the washing of (i.e., that effects) rebirth and renewal, (which washing is done) by the Holy Spirit
Here, however, the single preposition dia is thought to indicate a single "washing" that produces the complex result, "rebirth and renewal," with the final genitive, "of the Holy Spirit," understood as the agent of the "washing."
Solving this difficulty is not a simple matter. But two factors give the stronger support to the second arrangement. First, the conceptual similarity of the metaphors "rebirth" and "renewal" suggests unity. Second, this implication is strengthened by the fact that they are governed in this instance by the single preposition dia. The most likely intention of the phrase is, then, to view a single event from two slightly different, yet interrelated, perspectives. This rules out the possibility the text conceives of two separate events (either, according to the liturgical traditions, baptism and confirmation, or according to the Pentecostal tradition, conversion and baptism in the Spirit).
If one complex event is mind, then the final genitive phrase, "of (or by) the Holy Spirit," despite its location at the end of the phrase, is best understood at attributing this "washing" by which people are saved to the agency of the Holy Spirit. What Paul has done with this material thus far (and will develop further) is to emphasize the present reality of the salvation event by describing it in terms of the gift of the Holy Spirit (The Letters to Timothy and Titus, Philip H. Towner, p. 781, 783).
b. See also Michael Porter
http://vintage.aomin.org/NotByWorks.html
Ephesians 4:5
one Lord, one faith, one baptism (NASB)
1. As demonstrated above baptism with the Holy Spirit for Paul constitutes the one baptism that places a person into the body of Christ.
2. Some may insist that when it reads "one baptism" it must mean "only" water baptism remains otherwise if Spirit baptism still takes place that would mean there are two baptisms when this passage reads "one baptism". Furthermore, in Acts 11:15-17 Peter had to go all the way back to what took place in Acts 2:4 (cf. Acts 1:5) to give the only other example when the baptism with the Holy Spirit took place. If it was a regular occurrence he would not have had to have done this.
In response to this I will point out again that there is only baptism that places a person into the body of Christ and this refers to the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, Mark 10:39 teaches that John would still undergo a "baptism" (his death) even after Ephesians 4:5 was written.
By referring back to the baptism with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:4 (cf. Acts 11:17) Peter is not saying this was only the second time this event took place. It was because the Jews had such extreme misgivings about the Gentiles that Peter needed to emphasize that since the Gentiles were baptized with the Holy Spirit they were just as much part of the Church as when he and the others with him were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Having the Holy Spirit "poured" upon you (Acts 10:45) and being baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:16) is the same thing. This pouring = baptism applies to all who are Christians (Titus 3:6).
In fact, Christ's death is described as both a "pouring" and a "baptism".
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:12, NASB).
But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" (Mark 10:38, NASB)
3. Mounce: The OT stress laid in Isaiah's promise of a Messiah who would have a special endowment of the Spirit (Isa. 61:1-3) and on Joel's prophecy about the pouring out of the Spirit on the godly in the last days (Joel 2:28-29)...Just as John baptized with water, the one coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mt. 3:11, 16). Such imagery describes the type of "Spirit baptism" the believer receives - a baptism of the Spirit prophesied in the OT and fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus (Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Spirit, page 676).
4. This work of the Holy Spirit is also referenced elsewhere in Ephesians (1:13-14; 2:18; 3:6, 16; 4:30).
Continued...
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