God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

1 0 2 /

G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

(2) Acts 1.4-5 - And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; [5] for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

3. The churches that teach that there is a distinct experience with the Holy Spirit following the one that occurs at conversion include: Roman Catholic*, Holiness, and Pentecostal churches. In the following section, we will be examining both the Holiness and the Pentecostal positions.

a. Baptism in the Holy Spirit: the Holiness View

It is critical to remember that Wesleyans do not come to their biblical understanding of sanctification by a system of logical deductions from certain proof texts or propositions. Their convictions on the possibilities of perfection in love in this life and a faith experience of heart cleansing subsequent to justification grow out of their attempt to see Scripture holistically. ~ Melvin Dieter, former provost of Asbury Theological Seminary. Five Views on Sanctification . Grand Rapids: Zondervan- HarperCollins. 1987.

(1) Examples of Holiness churches include: the Church of God (Anderson, IN), Church of the Nazarene, the Free Methodist Church, etc. (2) Key exegetical assumption: think globally about the whole witness of Scripture rather than starting with a few key texts about the topic and trying to reason exclusively from them. (3) “Entire sanctification” (sometimes called Christian perfection) is possible in this life and God expects us to seek hard after it but it is not attainable by mere human effort (it is a gift of grace) and therefore, it must be received from the Holy Spirit and his

3

* Briefly stated, the Roman Catholic view of Spirit baptism is as follows: The Holy Spirit is received at water baptism to join the believer to the Church. This is viewed as the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” promised by Jesus ( Catechism of the Catholic Church , pp. 190, 312, 321-22). There is no essential distinction between “water baptism” and “spirit baptism.” However, in Roman Catholic theology “the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit” ( CCC , p. 325-26). This experience is understood as increasing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the believer ( CCC p. 330). This “fullness of the Spirit” ( CCC p. 326) is received by the laying of hands, anointing with oil, and an invocation by the bishop ( CCC p. 329). Therefore, as in Holiness and Pentecostal theologies there is a second-stage experience at which the fulness of the Holy Spirit is received.