The Origin Of The Church - The Coming Of The Spirit

I.                 Principles of Spiritual Regeneration

A.                The �breath of God� rejuvenates the wilderness and gives life.Gen. 1:2; Job 33:4; 34:14-15; Eze. 37:9,14; John 3:3-8; John 6:63

II.             Promise of the Father

A.                Promised by John the Baptist. Mat. 3:7-12[1]; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16-17; John 1:33

B.                 Promised by Jesus

1.                Something different from the work of the Spirit in the OT. John 7:38-39

2.                The intimate promises to the disciples. John 14:16-18,26; 15:26; John 16:7-14

3.                Prior to Jesus� ascension. Luke 1:4-5; Acts 1:4-5[2]

4.                The details of the job to do. Acts 1:8

III.         The Coming of the Spirit

A.                The importance of context!

1.                It is extremely important to understand the giving of the Spirit in light of Acts 1:8

2.                Two mistakes to avoid: (1) everything described in Acts is strictly historic; (2) everything described in Acts is for the church today.

3.                Remember! The Spirit had �not yet been given� and an extremely important historical transition was being brought about.

B.                 To Jerusalem (the Jews) Acts 2:1-12,33
Tongues were real human languages which served to spread the gospel and confirm the arrival of the Spirit.

C.                 To Judea and Samaria. Acts 8:14-17
Tongues served as a sign that God intended the despised Samaritans to have a part in His work. Laying on of hands indicated to the Samaritans that salvation was �of the Jews� and not of their rival religious system. John 4:20-24

D.                 To the �ends of the earth� (Gentiles). Acts 10:45-46
Tongues served as a sign that even the Gentiles(!) were a part of this new work. Lack of laying on of hands placed them on an equal plane with the Jews.

1.                The surprise of the Jews that the Gentiles were given the Baptism of the Spirit. Acts 11:16

IV.            The Church as a Mystery (Eph. 1:24-27; Col. 1:24-27)

A.                Not known in ages past. Eph. 3:5,9; Col. 1:26

B.                 A demonstration by the church to the angelic realm! Eph. 3:10

C.                 The formation of the Body of Christ. Something new. Eph. 2:14-16; 3:6; Col. 1:24

D.                 The indwelling of the Spirit. Col. 1:27

V.                Sealed with the Spirit

A.                Jesus. John 6:27; 6:27

B.                 Believers. John 1:22; 2Cor. 1:22; Eph. 4:30; 4:30

C.                 Compare with OT believers. Ps. 51:11

VI.            Is Holy Spirit Baptism a Second Work after salvation?

A.                Baptism �by� or �in�?
"[Someone will] argue for two baptisms. Acts 1:5, he says, is a baptism 'with' the Spirit for miraculous power, and 'this baptism with the Holy Spirit was not, of course, the baptism of Jews and Gentiles into one body.' The baptism of 1 Corinthians 12:13 is 'by' the Spirit, and this is the one that forms the Body church. Such a distinction is quite admissible as far as possible meanings of the Greek preposition en are concerned. The preposition does, at different times, mean 'with,' 'in,' and 'by.' That is not contested. What is contested is the artificiality of making it mean one thing in Acts and another in 1 Corinthians when it is used in exactly the same phrase with the word 'Spirit.'" [3]

B.                 The one-time event of Holy Spirit baptism which places believers into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) is to be distinguished from the ongoing and repetitive experience of being filled (controlled) by the Spirit commanded of believers in Eph. 5:18.

C.                 In all the epistles to the church, believers are never commanded to be baptized with the Spirit. Spirit baptism is what places believers into the Body of Christ.

D.                 The Holy Spirit is what animates the Body of Christsimilarly to how God�s breath animated the lifeless clay forming Adam. Gen. 2:7



[1] �� Given the context of this passage, what is baptism with fire (v. 11)?Did the Pharisees and Sadducees experience the �tongues as of fire� of Acts 2:3?

[2] �� This passage equates the coming of the Spirit with Holy Spirit baptism.

[3] �� Ryrie, Charles C., Dispensationalism. Chicago: Moody Press, 1995, p. 205.