Baptists and the Baptism of the Spirit on the New Testament Church Part 5 – by Dan Nelson

Dan Nelson 02/25/21 · 

Baptists and the Baptism of the Spirit on the New Testament Church Part 5 by Dan Nelson

Baptists have always believed the power of the Holy Spirit’s baptism resides in a gathered assembly of baptized believers joined together for the faith of the gospel who are duly constituted and authorized by the His presence. It has spiritual leaders and membership in that body that is the door to such manifestation of the Holy Spirit present and active through each member who yields themselves to His work in their lives.

Pilgram Marpeck, the Anabaptists theologian believed this power of the Holy Spirit resided in the gathered assembly of baptized believers not coerced but voluntarily brought together for worship and ministry. “With Christ, then, there is a restoration of right order both among people and within everyone. In Marpeck’s church, the physical gathering indwelt by the Spirit, and inner and outer had become one reality.”

1 Daniel Weaver, Becoming Anabaptist: The Origin and Significant of Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism. 2nd ed. : Herald Press: Scottdale, PA, 1987.The typical Protestant and Evangelical attitude toward the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is not Charismatic says it happens at salvation when the Holy Spirit comes to reside in the believer’s life. However, the New Testament never calls it that. It says we are baptized into a body(I Cor. 12:13) and Baptists have for the most part asserted that baptism is into that local body. There is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit had salvation Eph. 1: 13 but there is no experience of His baptism upon in authority and power until we unite with that New Testament Church which Baptists seem to only expouse.

Consider the fact that the baptisms in the book of Acts happened to groups of people joined to either hear the gospel and respond to it or on those awaiting His empowerment as on the day of Pentecost. Jesus had already authorized His church in His ministry through the Great Commission but He did tell them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit and they would be “baptized by Him not many days hence” (Acts 1: 5) They did and it happened just like He said. The early church was catapulted into the world not by their own power but by God’s power through what Jesus had promised to multiply His ministry after He ascended to the Father. Those who succeeded these followers of Christ had this same power and it was enjoined after they untied with a New Testament church through believer’s baptism and active participation in that body. So the Holy Spirit baptizes the body of believer’s assembled together not individuals not joined together with others. That’s still the way it is today.

Suddenly, this makes Church Membership extremely important. It is a dynamic promise to all New Testament churches that if they are faithful to do all Jesus commanded us then have the power to further His ministry through us. It means that the old Church Covenant’s we used to have displayed in our auditoriums are true and a mandate that if we are members of a New Testament Baptist Church that if we move to a new location we need to seek one out and unite with it. There is no effective long-ranger Christianity. The definition of the church as a local body of baptized believers begins to be realized and appreciated in this regard. Those who say they are part of the universal invisible church when they are saved are really sleeping at the front door of the real church not realizing how they are depriving themselves. Church membership ought to be the next local step. It is for the mutual benefit of the congregation but even more so for the benefit of the believer; first to be obedient to Christ by New Testament baptism and second to experience the real power and authority of the Holy Spirit through being under its disciplinary governance. We not only need it as believers but it is essential to being an obedient and growing Christian. Baptists have echoed the truths of the Baptism of the Spirit in the assembled body of baptized believers through the centuries.

B.H. Carroll saw the church as the fulfillment of the tabernacle and temple when the Lord’s glory came down and was manifested. The difference in the New Testament is that His glory was manifested on all believers gathered together and not just those who ministered in the Tabernacle and Temple. https://forums.swordsearcher.com/…/the-holy-spirit-b-h…/.

Just as the Old Testament structures had order so God has not left homeless believers behind when they trust Christ. The church ought to be their spiritual home. Without a church home you are a spiritually homeless person. God will get glory in His church so we need to be in the place when He will be glorified and use us for His glory Eph. 3:21