Truth 01 · 4 of 4
Raised with him
The baptism of the Holy Spirit
Read these first
Romans 8:9-11 · NRSVue
9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Acts 2:1-4 · NRSVue
1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Titus 3:5-7 · NRSVue
5he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
A few words on what they mean
Here is the other half. Just as in water you died and were buried with Christ, when you received the Holy Spirit you were raised with him. Paul says the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead now dwells in you, and that same Spirit "will give life to your mortal bodies also". You who were dead in your sins, "God made you alive together with him" (Colossians 2:13). That is regeneration. The word means a new birth, a second beginning. Paul calls it "the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit".
Who is the Holy Spirit? Not a force, and not somebody else. It is the Spirit of Christ, the same Jesus you read about in the gospels, no longer limited to one body in Galilee, coming to live in his people. "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." So receiving the Holy Spirit is not a bonus for keen Christians. It is how you become his.
How do you know it has happened? Acts answers the same way every time. At Pentecost they "began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability". At the house of Cornelius, Peter's companions knew the Gentiles had received the Spirit because "they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God" (Acts 10:46). At Ephesus, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues. Tongues is the initial sign that you have been filled: it is how the church knew, on the day, that the Spirit had come. It is not the proof that you are living in the Spirit. The enduring evidence is the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, worked out in a changed character and changed conduct. We come to that in chapter three.
What did it do to you? It made your dead spirit alive to God. It gave you a new heart that loves to do his will, where before you could not even want to. It gave you the mind of Christ. And it put a seal on you that says you belong to him, with the promise of a new body when he comes; we will come back to that seal in chapter five. You are not the same person. You are back from the dead. If you are still waiting on the Holy Spirit, do not be anxious and do not try to manufacture it. Ask, worship, yield, and get with believers who will pray with you.
Sit with this
What is different about you since you received the Holy Spirit? If you are still seeking, what will you do this week to seek him?
Verse to memorise · NRSVue
But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
Romans 8:9
Say it until you can say it without looking.