Sunday, March 29, 2009

Spirit Burns - Introduction

I’ve been baptized with fire! This phrase has been used repeatedly to describe an experience where the Holy Spirit comes upon a believer and endues him with power for some special work. Another name for it is the baptism of the Spirit. The subject is incredibly divisive, yet it is essential that you establish a position on the topic. With this in mind, I have set out to determine what the Bible truly teaches about Spirit baptism.

For centuries, Spirit baptism received insignificant attention from theologians. If you were to look at the systematic theology books of that era, you would be hard pressed to find a section that deals with this doctrine.

Everything changed at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Azusa Street Revival brought this doctrine to the forefront and since then it has been a major issue.

There are a few preliminaries that need to be covered:

  • I understand for some their devotional and spiritual life rests on how they understand this topic. Because of this, I will try to be objective and respectful of other positions. I hope that the reader will be same.  
  • Also, how we title our subject is important. Many terms are often carelessly used to refer to Spirit baptism: baptism in the Spirit, baptism with the Spirit, baptism of the Spirit, and baptism by the Spirit. Each term carries with it a particular nuance. Therefore, we will be using “Spirit baptism” in this study.
  • Lastly, this study is based upon a research paper I wrote for one of my graduate classes. I have cut it down and hopefully made it more digestible.

With that said, let us begin by looking at the various views of Spirit baptism.

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