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- Written by Bryant Evans
Baptism and Pentecost
Pentecost was a Jewish religious festival that was celebrated 50 days after the Passover. In Acts 2, thousands of pilgrims have journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate this annual feast. It was on this occasion that Jesus determined to establish his church as announced in Matthew 16:18 with great power from on high (Acts 1:4-8). Indeed, the church was established on this great day and thousands were added to it (Acts 2:41,47). We will see that water baptism and Holy Spirit baptism are two different items. We will further see that the "gift of the Holy Spirit" is something else as well. We will also note Peter's demand for baptism as a requirement for salvation. When finished, we believe you will agree that baptism for remission of sins is essential for salvation.
Two separate and distinct baptisms are found in Acts 2. There is a baptism of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:4) and a baptism of water (Acts 2:38, 41). Some erroneously believe the two are the same. From the text and context of Acts 2 we will see that these are different baptisms for different purposes. The baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs only two times in Scripture, here and in Acts 10. This baptism was promised by Jesus to his apostles only on the Mount of Ascension in Acts 1. The text says "ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:5). Here, the antecedent of the pronoun "ye" is "apostles" found in verse 2. So the promise of this baptism was made to the apostles only.
Observe also that this baptism of the Holy Spirit would give them power (Acts 1:8). We also see that the fulfillment came upon only the apostles. Acts 1:15 has Peter standing up among the disciples, a number of about 120. There, he guides the selection of Matthias to replace Judas as an apostle. In Acts 1:26 the Bible says Matthias "was numbered with the eleven apostles." Then, in the very next verse, Acts 2:1, we read that "they were all with one accord in one place" when the Holy Ghost came upon them (Acts 2:4). As before, and in accordance with proper grammatical construction, the antecedent of "they" in 2:1 is "apostles" in 1:26. It would be improper to skip over the noun in verse 26 and reach back to the 120 in 1:15. So now we understand that this baptism of the Holy Spirit came upon the 12 apostles, not the 120.
As prophesied in Acts 1:8, these did posses great power including the ability to speak in tongues unknown to them. The second and final occurrence of Holy Spirit baptism occurs in Acts 10 when Peter is preaching to the household of Cornelius. It should be readily apparent that this case is the exception and not a rule. Cornelius was not a Jew, he was Gentile (Acts 10:45; 11:1). Previously, salvation had been given only to the Jews and Gentiles were excluded. Peter would have been unwilling to even enter into Cornelius' house. Some will try to equate the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the "gift of the Holy Ghost" promised to baptized believers in Acts 2:38. But it is impossible that these are identical. First, the gift of the Holy Spirit was a global or universal promise that was made to all people, anywhere and anytime, who submit to the Lord in baptism. But as we have shown, the promise and fulfillment of Holy Spirit baptism (as opposed to water baptism) was a restricted promise, made to a small group (12) at a specific time and place. It was to occur within a few days of the promise (Acts 1:5) and would occur in Jerusalem (Luke 24:39; Acts 1:4). We see the evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism in the apostles as they spoke in languages unknown to them. But there is no such power seen in the 3,000 who received the gift of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. In fact, there is no evidence of any miracle done by anyone other than an apostles until Acts 6 when Stephen is said to do "great wonders and miracles among the people" (Acts 6:8). We conclude that the gift of the Holy Ghost, given at baptism to every penitent believer is the gift of salvation and all that is included therein.