Search
Scripture Reading: Matt. 3:11; Acts 1:5, 8; 2:1-4; 8:14-18; 9:17-18; 10:44-47; 11:15-17; 19:1-6; Mark 16:16-18
In the Bible we see clearly that God had an eternal purpose in eternity past to work Himself into a group of human beings, that He might be their life, nature, and everything, and that they might be His corporate expression. This is God’s eternal purpose. The Bible calls this corporate expression the Body of Christ, the church, the house of God. Ultimately, this corporate entity will consummate in the New Jerusalem, the eternal expression of God in a corporate way.
God’s purpose is a kind of governing principle. If we would understand what is revealed in the Bible, we first of all must see the governing principle. If we do not have such a governing principle, our understanding of the Bible will be loose, wild, and full of error. It is similar to white lines marking the lanes on the highway. They are there to regulate us, and we must drive our car within them. Likewise, whenever we come to the Bible, we must take heed to the governing lines and principles. The regulating lines of the Bible are God’s eternal purpose of working Himself into us so that He may be our content, and we may be His expression.
How can God accomplish this? It is by His anointed One, the Christ. Christ came to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. He did not come simply to save us from hell so that we might go to heaven. That is altogether too low. Neither did He come to make us spiritual and heavenly like the angels. These are all religious concepts. This is why we need the governing principle of the Bible. God wants to work Himself into us as our content, making us His expression.
For Christ to accomplish His purpose, He had to pass through several steps. The first was incarnation, the second was crucifixion, the third was resurrection, and the fourth was the ascension. Then the fifth step was the baptism of His Body into Himself. Now we are waiting for the sixth step, which will be His coming back.
We have seen that incarnation means the mingling of divinity with humanity, the mingling of God with man. This was a real wonder. God and man were mingled together. God was brought into man, and man was made one with God. This man’s name was Jesus. Jesus was and still is the mingling of God with man. God’s eternal purpose was to work Himself into man. Now Jesus became such an example. He became God mingled with man. This is the real meaning of the incarnation.
What is the meaning of crucifixion? We should not simply say that it is redemption. Crucifixion did accomplish a full, complete, and finished redemption for us. But redemption is not the only significance of crucifixion. Crucifixion is also the termination of all the negative things. Everything that is old, negative, dead, dark, and subtle has been terminated. Even before we were born, we were terminated.
We should not attempt to understand this with our logical mind. All spiritual things cannot be fully comprehended by our logical mind. Two thousand years ago we were all terminated. This is what the Bible says! “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him” (Rom. 6:6). As young children many of us sang the song, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Now we can say, “I was terminated this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” It is not what we think or feel. We must forget about our thinking and feeling. We only need to accept the pure word of the Bible.
How were we created by God? It is clear that we were born of our parents. Yet the Bible says that God created us. We were created by God when Adam was created six thousand years ago. We all were created in Adam, and we all became fallen in Adam. Adam’s fall was our fall, because we were all within him. Before we were born, we were fallen in Adam. In the same principle, before we were born, we were both redeemed and terminated in Christ.
Now we can see how we were terminated at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. We all were terminated there. Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” We were terminated two thousand years ago on the cross with Christ.
Crucifixion means termination, and resurrection means germination. All the old creation was terminated, and the new creation was germinated. After this, we have seen that the ascension means inauguration. Surely this is a heavenly language to say that incarnation is mingling, crucifixion is termination, resurrection is germination, and ascension is inauguration.
Now we come again to the matter of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We all must realize that all the major steps taken by the Lord are once for all. Incarnation was once for all! Crucifixion was once for all! Resurrection was once for all! Ascension was once for all! The Lord’s coming will be once for all! Then, what about the baptism? Many Christians think that the baptism in the Spirit occurs many times. But this is not true. Christ does not need to be incarnated again whenever someone is saved. He did this once for all. Neither does He need to be crucified again when we confess our sins. His crucifixion is once for all. We believe it, take it, and enjoy it. In the same way, the resurrection and ascension are once for all. Now we must also see that the baptism is once for all.
The real meaning of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is the putting of us into Christ. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Formerly, we did not have Christ. Then Jesus put us all into Himself so that we have put on Christ. The baptism is to put us all into the Spirit, who is Christ (2 Cor. 3:17), for the formation of the Body. We all have been baptized in one Spirit into one Body. This is not a personal matter; it involves the whole Body. God’s intention from eternity past is to have a Body for Christ. When He ascended to heaven in His inauguration, Christ received the life, the Spirit, and all the gifts. Then after ten days He came to put all of us into Himself. On the day of Pentecost, He put the Jewish part of His Body into Himself, and then later in the house of Cornelius He put the Gentile part of His Body into Himself. He finished it. We all were baptized. He put us into Himself in a corporate way once for all for the formation of the Body. Nothing could be clearer from the pure Word.
Incarnation means the mingling of divinity with humanity. Crucifixion means the termination of all old things, resurrection means the germination of all the new things, ascension means the inauguration of Christ, and the baptism means the putting of us into Christ for the formation of the Body. The coming advent of Christ is the completion of the corporate mingling of divinity with humanity for eternity. This is the governing principle of the Bible.
We all must realize that the baptism in the Spirit was accomplished once for all. It has been completed in two parts: with the Jews at Pentecost, and with the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius. In these two parts the entire baptism in the Spirit was fully accomplished. In Matthew 16 the Lord Jesus told Peter that He would build His church and give him the keys of the kingdom. There was not just one key but two. On the day of Pentecost Peter used one key, and in the house of Cornelius he used the other. At the same time, the ascended Head baptized these two parts of His Body into Himself. Only these two cases are called in the Scriptures the baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is no third case.
In Acts 2, at the time of Pentecost, the disciples and many new converts received the baptism in the Spirit. Then two or three days later, five thousand were saved. It does not say anything about the baptism in the Spirit there. Many times in the book of Acts people were saved, but the baptism in the Spirit is not mentioned.
Besides the two cases at Pentecost and the house of Cornelius, the book of Acts gives us another three cases. One is the case of the Samaritans in Acts 8. The second is the case of Saul of Tarsus in chapter 9. The third is that of the Ephesians in chapter 19. Why are these three cases mentioned, and others are not? It is because all these three cases are peculiar. The Samaritan case is peculiar because the Jews would not recognize the Samaritans. The case of Saul of Tarsus was peculiar because he was saved directly through the Lord Jesus. Then the Lord told Ananias that Saul was saved, and he must go there to confirm it so that Saul might become a useful vessel to the Lord. So Ananias went to lay hands upon Saul of Tarsus, as Peter and John went to lay their hands on the Samaritans to confirm what the Lord did to them.
The third case with the Ephesians was also peculiar. They had heard the gospel but only the partial gospel with the baptism of John from Apollos (18:24-25). They did believe in Christ but in an inadequate way. So Paul preached the full gospel to them, laid hands on them, and they received the Spirit.
Only these three peculiar cases needed the recognition by the laying on of hands. Nothing is mentioned about all the regular cases. There was no laying on of hands at Pentecost or in the house of Cornelius because these were cases when Christ as the Head of the Body directly put His Body into Himself. There was no intermediate instrument. All the other three peculiar cases had the laying on of hands by some representative of the Body, because at that time the Body had been baptized into Christ already. There was no need for the Head to baptize individual believers anymore. But the Body had to confirm the new members by its representatives. Then whatever had been accomplished on the Body would flow into the new members through the channel of the laying on of hands.
Whenever someone refers to the case of the Samaritans or of the Ephesians for the baptism in the Spirit, we must also refer them to the case of the three thousand or of the five thousand (2:41; 4:4) where nothing concerning the baptism in the Spirit is mentioned. The same is true of the multitude at Corinth (18:8). Many times the book of Acts tells us that many people believed in the Lord Jesus without mentioning the baptism in the Spirit. Therefore, we all must be clear that the baptism in the Spirit was fully accomplished once and for all by the Head. He was the Baptizer, and He was also the Spirit into whom He baptized His Body. He baptized His Body into Himself once for all. From henceforth He never did it again. The most that was needed was for the Body to send some representatives to the peculiar cases to lay hands upon them so that they might receive what had already been accomplished on the Body. For the ordinary cases there was no such need. Normally, when we are baptized into water, that is an indication that we have been baptized into Christ already in the once-for-all baptism in the Spirit.
Some so-called Pentecostals and charismatics say that on the day of Pentecost all spoke in tongues, but let us look carefully at the verses. “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, even as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth” (Acts 2:4). It does not say, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and all began to speak in different tongues.” There is no “all” concerning speaking in different tongues. If I were to say that last night we all came to the meeting and began to pray, does that mean that everybody prayed? This is exactly the same structure grammatically. We all came to the meeting, but not all prayed. In the same way, they all were filled with the Spirit, but not all spoke in tongues. This is quite clear.
Then let us read Acts 19:6: “When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.” Do you believe that all twelve both spoke in tongues and prophesied? I cannot believe it. I do believe that some spoke in tongues and some prophesied, but I do not believe that all of them did both.
There are some who would say that unless you speak in tongues, you have never received the Holy Spirit. They refer to Mark 16:17-18: “These signs will accompany those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it shall by no means harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will be well.” If anyone uses these verses to ask if you speak in tongues, you had better ask them if they pick up serpents and drink anything deadly. To try to prove it in this way is ridiculous! What the Lord means here is that among all His believers throughout all the generations, some will cast out demons, some will speak in tongues, some will pick up serpents, and some will drink a deadly thing, and it will not hurt them. Do not try to do these things to prove that you are saved! If you do, you may not be lost, but there is a chance you will be dead!
The matter of healing is also mentioned in these verses. But we should not think that everyone who believes in the Lord will be able to heal. Among all believers through all generations, some did speak in tongues, but not all. Some did heal others, but not all. Some did pick up serpents without being hurt, but not all. Speaking in tongues is only one of many items.
Most of the tongue-speaking Christians say that tongue-speaking is the unique manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Generally, there are two schools among them. One says that if you do not speak in tongues, you are not even regenerated. But most of them do not believe this. Most believe that you could be regenerated, but you could not have the baptism in the Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues. Therefore, this second school insists that speaking in tongues is the proof that you have the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But it is hard to find a verse in the Bible to prove this.
I have already mentioned that Brother Watchman Nee never spoke in tongues. He was not against it, but, according to the Bible, he was strongly against the claim that speaking in tongues is the unique manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
As I mentioned, for a time I was influenced to speak in tongues. But even then I doubted that all the sounds uttered by the so-called tongue-speaking people were genuine tongues. According to Acts 2, all the tongues are a kind of language or dialect. The word for tongues in Acts 2:4 is glossa. Then in verse 6 the word is dialektos, which means “dialect” or “language.” Verse 8 also uses the word dialektos. Then verse 11 uses the word glossa. It is so clear that in this part of the Word, dialektos and glossa are used interchangeably. This means that a tongue must be a dialect. But today so many so-called tongue-speaking people only utter the same few sounds repeatedly, which can hardly form a dialect. This is why I believe that much of the tongue-speaking today is not the genuine tongue. I know many stories to prove this point.
However, we must see that the matter of the baptism in the Holy Spirit is once for all. “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body” (1 Cor. 12:13). We do not need to seek for another baptism; what we need is to experience the unique baptism that has been accomplished on the Body of Christ already. We only need to be on the right standing of the Body. Then whatever has been accomplished on the Body is ours for the building up of the Body of Christ, the church. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is for the formation and building up of the Body. It is an accomplished fact. We only need to take it by faith as we did the incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension.
