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Three Questions on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

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Can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit and not be filled with the Holy Spirit?

According to the Book of Acts, Jesus said to His disciples, "You shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (1:5). When the Day of Pentecost arrived, the text reads, "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (2:4). Evidently, baptism and filling refer to the same experience. The two terms express different aspects of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. However, the word filling is used for the initial experience but also for later occasions ( ; 4:31; 13:9; -- "Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit" literally). In other words: one baptism but many fillings.

Should every believer pray in tongues?

It is not a question of whether every believer should pray in tongues but that every believer may. On the Day of Pentecost, the one hundred and twenty believers gathered together "were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" ( ). Note the word all. The Apostle Paul later said to the Corinthians, "I want you all to speak in tongues" ( ). It is a high privilege of Spirit-filled people so to speak. Is it a necessity? No. A privilege? Yes.

Is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit an essential of being born again?

The answer is no. However, the reverse is true: You must be born again to receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

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About The Author

Rodman
Williams

J. Rodman Williams (1918–2008), was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina (A.B. degree), of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (B.D. and Th. M. degrees), and Columbia University in New York (Ph.D. degree in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics). He served as a chaplain in the U.S. Marine Corps, taught philosophy and religion at Beloit College in Wisconsin, pastored the First Presbyterian Church of Rockford, Illinois, taught theology and philosophy of religion at Austin Presbyterian Seminary in Texas, and served as president and professor of theology at Melodyland