BAPTISM IN THE HOLY
SPIRIT
SEMINARIAN’S SEMINAR
PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS
• Stanley Horton—”the baptism in the Spirit is
immersion into a relationship with a divine Person,
not into a fluid or an influence. It is a relationship
that can continue to grow and enlarge. Thus, the
baptism is only a beginning, but it is like a baptism in
that it involves a distinct act of obedience and faith
on our part.”
PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS
• Craig Keener—”’baptize’ connoted conversion and
immersion to the Jewish hearers; ‘Holy Spirit’
connoted God’s way of purifying his people or
empowering them to prophesy.”
PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS
• Howard Ervin – “in the biblical context, the Christian
who has been filled with the Holy Spirit is
characterized by a supernatural enablement to
witness for Jesus Christ . . .the testimony of Spirit-filled
witnesses was confirmed by the accompanying
manifestations of the Spirit’s supernatural signs . . .
Overflowed with supernatural graces.”
PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS
• Thomas Holdcroft – “conveys the idea of a
saturation of the inner being of a human by the
heavenly divine Being. The believer yields himself to
the unhindered operation of the Spirit, so that he is
motivated and controlled by One beyond himself.
As a believer, he is already indwelt by the Spirit, now
in Spirit baptism he allows the Spirit to take
complete control.”
PRELIMINARY DEFINITIONS
• Rodman Williams – “a profoundly internal
experience of the Spirit of God moving throughout
like wind or fire until all barriers are breached and
the Holy Spirit pervades everything. This is a totality
of penetration with the Holy Spirit whereby, in a new
way, all areas of one’s being—body, soul, and
spirit—become sensitized to the divine presence
and activity.”
SUGGESTED DEFINITION
• “An experience in God in which the believer allows
the presence and person of the Holy Spirit more fully
and completely to dominate and control his/her
life. This experience occurs in sequence subsequent
to that of salvation, empowers the believer for
ministry, and is evidenced initially by speaking in
tongues.”
HERMENEUTICAL ISSUES
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Statement of the Issue
Narrative cannot teach doctrine
Narrative can teach normal doctrine
Narrative can teach normative doctrine
Hermeneutical approaches
STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES
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The Basic Hermeneutical Approach
The Acceptance of Literary Genre in Scripture
Can Doctrines be Drawn From Historical-Narratives?
The Vital Nature of This Concern
Three Major Approaches to This Concern
NARRATIVE MATERIALS CANNOT
TEACH DOCTRINE
• Scripture Must Judge All Spiritual Experience
• Didactic Portions of Scripture Have Precedence
over Historical
• The Book of Acts Does Not Establish Normative
Experience
SCRIPTURE JUDGES EXPERIENCE
• In Scripture God Has Revealed His Will
• Experience Cannot Determine Doctrine
• Scripture Judges Experience
PRECEDENCE OF DIDACTIC
• Acts Must Be Understood in Light of the Didactic
Portions of Scripture
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Historical narratives do have value
Didactic—Jesus’ teachings/sermons and apostolic writings
What happened may not be what should happen
E.g., Gal 5:22-23
PRECEDENCE OF DIDACTIC
• Should Move From 1 Corinthians to Acts
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1 Cor 12:13
1 Cor 12: 7, 11
1 Cor 12:8-10
1 Cor 12:30
1 Corinthians 14
ACTS DOES NOT TEACH
NORMATIVE DOCTRINE
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Spirit Baptism Happened Then
Church Was Established Then
Church Spread in Known World
Does Not Give Normative Pattern
NARRATIVE MATERICAL CAN
TEACH NORMAL DOCTRINE
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Crucial Question
Basic Assumptions
Principles
Conclusions for Acts
THE CRUCIAL QUESTION
• Can biblical narratives that describe what
happened in the early church also function as
norms intended to delineate what must happen in
the ongoing church?
NARRATIVE MATERICAL CAN
TEACH NORMAL DOCTRINE
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Crucial Question
Basic Assumptions
Principles
Conclusions for Acts
BASIS ASSUMPTIONS
• Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do
something, what is merely narrated or described
can never function in a normative way.
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
• Doctrinal statements fall into three categories and
into two levels
• Levels: Primary and Secondary
• Categories: Theology, Ethics, Practice
DOING THEOLOGY
Primary
Theology
Ethics
Practice
Secondary
Theology
Ethics
Practice
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS
• The intentionality of the biblical materials is the
determining factor
• Is something taught because it is recorded?
• Authorial intent is important
NARRATIVE MATERICAL CAN
TEACH NORMAL DOCTRINE
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Crucial Question
Basic Assumptions
Principles
Conclusions for Acts
PRINCIPLES
• The word of God in Acts that may be regarded as
normative is related primarily to what any given
narrative was intended to teach.
• Luke’s intent for Acts and the results
• What of the specific details of the narratives?
PRINCIPLES
• What is incidental to the primary intent of the
narrative may reflect the author’s understanding,
but it cannot have the same didactic value as what
the narrative was intended to teach.
• Incidental’s value is secondary
PRINCIPLES
• Historical precedent, to have normative value, must
be related to intent
• Purpose of the given narrative is important
• This mainly impacts the area of Christian practice which is
often based on historical precedent
• Can lead to normal, but not normative
PRINCIPLES
• Analogy, based on biblical precedent, should
never be used to give biblical authority for presentday actions
• Examples
PRINCIPLES
• Historical narrative may have illustrative, and
sometimes, pattern value
• But, it would still not be normative
PRINCIPLES
• Historical narratives with their biblical precedents
may sometimes be regarded as repeatable
patterns, even if they are not to be regarded as
normative
• Guidelines for determining
GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING
• Strongest case when only one pattern is found, and
that pattern is repeated
• Ambiguity, or single occurrence, of patterns must
have support elsewhere in Scripture
• Culturally conditioned patterns must either be
dismissed or translated
NARRATIVE MATERICAL CAN
TEACH NORMAL DOCTRINE
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Crucial Question
Basic Assumptions
Principles
Conclusions for Acts
CONCLUSIONS FOR ACTS
• Acts shows us what happened in the early church
• Acts emphasizes the role of the Spirit
• Acts shows us what should be normal, but not
normative, for the contemporary church
NARRATIVE MATERIALS CAN
TEACH NORMATIVE DOCTRINE
• A Pragmatic Hermeneutic
• A Holistic Hermeneutic
• A Revised Approach to Historical Narratives
PRAGMATIC HERMENEUTIC:
INTRODUCTION
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Not a scientific approach
A pragmatic approach
Founder of this approach
An illustration of this approach
PRAGMATIC HERMENEUTIC:
RESTORATIONIST
• Present experiences restore early church
• Record of early church set a pattern
• Anticipates the pattern of the early church as
normative for the church
PRAGMATIC HERMENEUTIC:
LITERAL UNDERSTANDING
• Texts are to be understood in their plain meaning
• Texts provide a pattern for believers
• What was normative for the early church is
normative for us
PRAGMATIC HERMENEUTIC: NONCRITICAL APPROACH
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Biblical texts all have teaching value
Recognizes literary genre differently
Historical narrative teach normatively
Approach is self-authenticating
PRAGMATIC HERMENEUTIC:
CONCLUSIONS FOR ACTS
• Spirit Baptism is other than salvation and for the
contemporary church
• Tongues accompany Spirit Baptism now as they did
then
• Spirit Baptism empowers the believer for service
NARRATIVE MATERIALS CAN
TEACH NORMATIVE DOCTRINE
• A Pragmatic Hermeneutic
• A Holistic Hermeneutic
• A Revised Approach to Historical Narratives
HOLISTIC HERMENEUTIC
• The Induction Level
• The Deductive Level
• The Verification Level
INDUCTIVE LEVEL
DEDUCTIVE LEVEL
VERIFICATION LEVEL
THE INDUCTIVE LEVEL
• EXPLANATION OF THIS LEVEL
• Listening to the Scripture
• Doing careful exegesis
• Three kinds of inductive listening
• Declarative
• Implicational
• Descriptive
DECLARATIVE INDUCTIVE
LISTENING
• Studies biblical passages that are unambiguous
• But, all Scripture is not in this declarative mode
IMPLICATIONAL INDUCTIVE
LISTENING
• Some truths are implied by Scripture
• Consider texts carefully to avoid imposing meanings
on them
• Search for multiple confirmation
• Be open to the tradition of the church
DESCRIPTIVE INDUCTIVE
LISTENING
Focuses on the narrative materials
Our concern -- Acts
Premise: Holy Spirit intended Luke to teach theology
Premise: Historical precedent can teach normative
doctrine
• Premise: Repeated precedents can establish
normativity
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INDUCTIVE LEVEL
DEDUCTIVE LEVEL
VERIFICATION LEVEL
THE DEDUCTIVE LEVEL
• At this level theological motifs are deduced from
the inductive study
• At this level the contributions of different authors are
observed
• At this level concern for context is important
• Note: biblical interpretation is both inductive and
deductive
THE DEDUCTIVE LEVEL:
INTERPRETATION OF ACTS
• The theme of Acts
• The mighty coming of the Spirit signaled the
establishment of the church
• Repentance and faith are antecedents to the
coming of the Spirit in power, so . . .
• Acts teaches about the Spirit coming upon the
people of God so that through them He might
direct the expansion of the Kingdom
INDUCTIVE LEVEL
DEDUCTIVE LEVEL
VERIFICATION LEVEL
THE VERIFICATION LEVEL
• The false charge . . .
• A more correct understanding . . .
• If a biblical truth is promulgated, then it ought to be
demonstrable in life
• Happened in the book of Acts
• Happens in the contemporary church
• Verification should lead to more induction . . .
NARRATIVE MATERIALS CAN
TEACH NORMATIVE DOCTRINE
• A Pragmatic Hermeneutic
• A Holistic Hermeneutic
• A Revised Approach to Historical Narratives
A REVISED APPROACH TO
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
• The homogeneity of Luke-Acts
• The historiography of Luke
• The independence of Luke as a theologian
THE HOMOGENEITY OF LUKE-ACTS
• LITERARY HOMOGENEITY
• Explanation – Luke-Acts is one genre – history
• Argument for
• Conclusion
ARGUMENT FOR LITERARY
HOMOGENEITY
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Dedication in the prologues
Recapitulation of Luke in Acts’ Prologue
Description of Luke as diegesis
Description of Acts as logos
THE HOMOGENEITY OF LUKE-ACTS
• THEOLOGICAL HOMOGENEITY
• Literary leads to theological
• Similar theological motifs used:
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Salvation
Forgiveness
Witness
The Holy Spirit
A REVISED APPROACH TO
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
• The homogeneity of Luke-Acts
• The historiography of Luke
• The independence of Luke as a theologian
THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF LUKE
• Modeled after Old Testament
• Old Testament historiography is episodic
• The episodes function:
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Exemplary
Typological
Programmatic
Paradigmatic
THE EXEMPLARY FUNCTION
• These would be episodes that illustrate, or are a
specific example of, the author’s theme.
• For example:
THE TYPOLOGICAL FUNCTION
• In a typological relationship there is historical
correspondence or pattern between two or more
historically independent episodes.
• For example:
THE PROGRAMMATIC FUNCTION
• Such a narrative contains a strategic
announcement or episode that is programmatic of
the whole.
• For example:
THE PARADIGMATIC FUNCTION
• A paradigmatic narrative is one that has normative
features for present or future ministries.
• For example:
CONCLUSIONS
• There are few “purely narrative” portions.
• Any narrative can have a combination of functions.
• What may appear to be insignificant episodes take
on greater meaning in light of their function.
• Luke employs these functions in the narratives
included in his work.
A REVISED APPROACH TO
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
• The homogeneity of Luke-Acts
• The historiography of Luke
• The independence of Luke as a theologian
LUKE AS AN INDEPENDENT
THEOLOGIAN
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Luke is influenced by the Old Testament
Shown in the inauguration narratives
Shown in the terminology used
Shown in the motifs used
• Transfer
• Sign
• Vocation
THE TRANSFER MOTIF
• Moses to the Seventy
• Moses to Joshua
• Elijah to Elisha
THE SIGN MOTIF
• To assure the recipient
• To witness to others
• Signaled often by prophecy
THE VOCATION MOTIF
• Leadership is service
• Empowerment provided
• Various empowerments
LUKE’S USE OF THESE MOTIFS
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Transfer from Jesus to the 120
Signaled by tongues
Accompanied by other signs
Empowered for service
Signs and the miraculous followed
HERMENEUTICAL APPROACH
• GENERAL ASSUMPTIONS
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Normative value of all Scripture
Didactic value of Historical-Narrative
Message of Acts
Functions of Episodes in Acts
Luke as an Independent Theologian
REDACTION CRITICISM
• Looks at how a New Testament author used sources
• Works best when the sources are evident
• Redaction criticism in regard to Acts
NARRATIVE THEOLOGY
• EXPLANATION
• Narrative theology asserts that the story-form itself
has significance for theology
• The aim is to help understand how people use
stories, and therefore what effect biblical stories
should have on us.
WAYS PEOPLE USE STORIES
• Cohesively
• To help the individual structure their world
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM
NARRATIVE THEOLOGY
• Take seriously the world the biblical story builds.
• Entering the biblical story world will include
experiencing the experience told there.
• The goal is to establish doctrine.
TWO BASIC AFFIRMATIONS
• The Holy Spirit transforms those upon whom He
comes.
• The Holy Spirit empowers those upon whom He
comes.
OLD TESTAMENT PRECEDENTS
• Empowering
• Transforming
EMPOWERING
• To prophesy
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Numbers 11:10-30
1 Samuel 10:6, 10
1 Samuel 19:18-24
2 Samuel 23:2
EMPOWERING
• To prophesy (cont’d.)
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1 Chronicles 12:18
2 Chronicles 20:14-17
2 Chronicles 24:20
Joel 2:28-29
EMPOWERING
• To perform miraculous feats
• Judges 14:6, 19
• Judges 15:14-17
• 1 Kings 18:12
EMPOWERING
• For spiritual power in leadership
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Judges 3:10
Judges 6:34
Judges 11:29
1 Samuel 16:13
EMPOWERING
• For service in God’s household
• Exodus 31:1-11; 35:30-35
TRANSFORMING
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1 Samuel 10:6, 9
Ezekiel 18:31
Ezekiel 36:24-32
Ezekiel 37:14
Psalms 51:11
NEW TESTAMENT
• Gospels
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Matthew 12:18, 28
Mark 16:15-18
John 3:5-8
John 3:34
John 7:37-39
NEW TESTAMENT
• Gospels (cont’d.)
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John 14:16-17, 26
John 15:26-27
John 16:5-15
John 20:22
NEW TESTAMENT
• John 20:22
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Johannine Pentecost
Power to Evangelize
Symbolic Action
Actual Impartation
Regeneration
Covenant Change
NEW TESTAMENT
• Luke-Acts
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Luke 1:15
Luke 1:41
Luke 1:67
Luke 1:35
Luke 2:25-27
Luke 3:16
NEW TESTAMENT
• Luke-Acts
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Luke 3:21-22
Luke 4:1
Luke 4:14-21
Luke 11:13
Luke 12:11-12
Luke 24:49
NEW TESTAMENT
• Acts 2
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The Persons Involved
Where Are These Persons?
When Does This Happen?
What Happened?
NEW TESTAMENT
• Acts 8:14-17
• The Setting of the Passage
• A Manifestation?
NEW TESTAMENT
• Acts 9:17-19
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The Setting of the Passage
Saul Converted?
The Commission of Ananias
The Response of Saul
Spirit Baptized?
NEW TESTAMENT
• Acts 10:44-48
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The Setting of the Passage
Conversion at Cornelius’ House?
Evidence of Spirit Baptism
Peter’s Report to the Brethren
NEW TESTAMENT
• Acts 19:1-7
• The Setting of the Passage
• Conversion in Ephesus?
• Spirit Baptism in Ephesus