The Baptism of the Holy Ghost is Still Necessary for Salvation

Trevor S Ferguson

July 5, 2014

Acts 19:1-6 (KJV)

¹And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

²He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

³And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.

⁴Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

⁵When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

INTRODUCTION

It is estimated that there are over 2 billion Christians worldwide, with Christians making up approximately one third of the world’s population. Within Christianity however, there is a wide diversity of Christian doctrine, to such an extent, that this has caused many to be confused as to which church is the right church, and what is the right way of salvation. Added to this, is that even within denominations there are many differences in standards and individual church policy, and even within individual assemblies, some policies seem to change with the times.

In light of this, it is reasonable that one may ask – Are all persons who profess Christianity saved? The bible would suggest that this is not so. Let’s look at what Matt 7:21-24 says: “²¹Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Note here, that this does not refer only to backsliders. Jesus said “I never knew you” i.e. you were never a part of the kingdom!

How then can we identify the true church and the true way of salvation? I suggest to you, that one can recognize the true church by its adherence to the original biblical doctrine of salvation and its adherence to the principles of holiness and righteous living as taught be the scriptures. Tonight we will look at the doctrine of salvation with particular reference to the importance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a part of New Testament salvation.  

                                                                                                                                             

EXPOSITION

The passage in Acts 19 relates an encounter between Paul and persons in Ephesus who were reported to be believers in Christ. Paul’s immediate desire was to embrace these new found believers, but before doing so he needed to know if their salvation experience was complete. He therefore asked one fundamental question: Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?  This question reveals a lot with regards to Paul’s perspectives on the Holy Ghost. Firstly, Paul clearly expected that all believers should receive the Holy Ghost. Secondly, Paul would not accept their salvation as complete, if they had not received the Holy Ghost. And thirdly, Paul expected that the Holy Ghost baptism was a clearly defined experience which could be answered with a definite yes or no. This is in contrast to the position of many today, who suggest that the Holy Ghost is given automatically when a person is converted and confesses faith in Jesus Christ, or to others that suggest the Holy Ghost is an optional post conversion experience for some Christians.

The answer the Ephesians gave was clearly not satisfactory to Paul – They responded – We have not heard whether there is any Holy Ghost? Paul’s next question was therefore: “Unto what then were ye baptized?”  Here again Paul is suggesting that it is expected that a person who has received Christian baptism should shortly thereafter receive that baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is clearly what was taught by Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:37-39. Note that in Acts 2:39 Peter emphasized that the promise of the Holy Ghost was given to all present at the day of Pentecost, to their children, to their children’s children and indeed as many as God should call. Let me hasten to say, that this promise is given to all who are reading this blog today!

The Ephesian disciples responded to Paul that they had only received John’s baptism. Apparently these disciples had heard the preaching of John the Baptist and were baptized by him. I presume that they returned to Ephesus without having heard the preaching of Jesus, or learnt about his death, burial and resurrection. Alternatively, they might have heard the preaching of Jesus, but had not heard about the day of Pentecost and that the baptism of the Holy Ghost was now available to all. Paul therefore explained to them that John preached the baptism of repentance pointing his disciples to believe on Jesus Christ. Now that Christ has come all believers were to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and were expected to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. These believers acted in obedience to the further explanation of the gospel provided by Paul and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Note that these believers were willing to accept further revelation of truth, and did not stubbornly hold on to their previous experiences as some do today. Their response was similar to the situation seen with Apollos as recorded in Acts 18. Apollos was described as an eloquent man who was mighty in the scriptures, but knew only the baptism of John. When Paul’s co-labourers, Aquila and Priscilla, heard about this they explained to him the way of salvation more perfectly. Apollos accepted their teaching and became a leader in the Corinthian Church.

   

Verse 6 of Acts 19, tells us that after the Ephesian disciples were baptized, Paul laid hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost, spoke with tongues and prophesied. This verse supports Paul’s expectation as expressed in verse 1 of Acts 19 that persons who receive believe on Jesus Christ should receive the Holy Ghost. 

Let me remind you that the promise of the Holy Ghost prophesied both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament gospels; therefore it was not a new teaching in Acts and the epistles. In Isaiah 28:11, Isaiah prophesied that with stammering lips and another tongue God would speak to his people. Joel prophesied (Joel 2:28-29) that in the last days God would poor out His Spirit on all flesh; Ezekiel also prophesied that God would give His people a new spirit (Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26). In the New Testament John prophesied that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire (Matt 3:11) and Jesus himself prophesied that those who believed on him would receive the Holy Ghost (John 7:38-39, Luke 11:13; Acts 1:4-5).

Putting all of this together we can therefor make the following statements:

- All believers in Jesus Christ should receive the Holy Ghost. If a person has confessed faith in Jesus and has not yet received the Holy Ghost he/she should ask God for this gift and actively seek for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. As Jesus said in Luke 11:13, He will give the Holy Ghost to those who ask Him.

- When persons receive the Holy Ghost they will speak with tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. There is no still birth! Several passages in the book of Acts expressly states that that the people spoke with tongues when they received the Holy Ghost. We see this in Acts 2:4; Acts 10:44-46 and Acts 19:6. Note also that Galatians 4:6 tells us that God send forth the Spirit of his Son in our hearts crying Abba Father. Just as in the natural when we expect to hear a baby cry at birth as a sign of new life, when someone receives the new birth we expect to hear a cry as a sign of this new birth.

-  Speaking tongues, or glossolalia as termed by some, involves speaking a language that the believer has never learnt. It is not gibberish or incoherent syllables. It is an actual language, which may be known or unknown, or as Paul describes it in 1^st Corinthians 13 this may be the tongues of men or of angels.

Note also that speaking in tongues is not just for special situations where people need to hear the gospel in their own language. There was no language barrier between the Paul and the men at Ephesus. In fact on the day of Pentecost all the Jews understood the Jewish language. Tongues therefore are a sign both to the believer and the non-believer as a supernatural act of God to verify the infilling with his Spirit.

CONCLUSION

Now, what does one need to do to receive the Holy Ghost? There are only two absolute requirements – repentance and faith: God will not come to dwell in a vessel marred by sin. We must repent. If we come to God we must believe – Hebrews 11:6. If we truly believe by faith and repent of our sins God will come in and fill us with the Holy Ghost – any day and any time. God wants you to be saved and today is the best day. If you have not yet received salvation, repent of your sins, ask for water baptism in the name of Jesus and God will fill you with the Holy Ghost!!