The Baptism of the Holy Spirit

I already talked about the Pentecostal (IE: Assembly of God) teaching about the Holy Spirit baptism, but I have not really given you my own version as I have experienced dozens of churches and studied as many, searched the scriptures and examined my own experience with God.

It is difficult to put the Holy Spirit in a box, as many on several sides do.
1. There are those who say the Filling of the Holy Spirit or Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the same as being born again, and there are no further fillings.

2. There are those who say that the experience the Apostles had with gifts, tongues and filling of the H.S. was only for their day.

3. There are those who say the Baptism of the H.S. is after conversion and always evidenced by tongues.

4. There are those who say the Baptism of the H.S. is after conversion but may not be evidenced by tongues.

From the Bible I learn that:
1. Paul associates the filling of the H.S. with repentance and baptism (the 3 are never separated in Paul's writings).
2. Even though theologically they are one and the same, experimentally in the early church, the book of Acts separates the experiences of repentance, baptism and the Baptism of the H.S. in different ways. One church receives the H.S. then is baptized, one is baptized and then receives the H.S., Paul asks certain people if they received the H.S. since they believed. The Samaritan church became believers long before Peter came and prayed with them to receive the H.S. To top off the list, John the Baptist was filled with the H.S. from his mother's womb.

Because we like to put God's work in theological boxes, all these are explained in different ways to fit whatever box a group likes. Good Bible scholars are in each camp and are ignored or refuted by other good Bible scholars.

My Conclusion:
God does what he wants - get over it. There are fillings we should seek, not just one experience, but regularly. Spiritual Christians are in all kinds of churches as are some really bad Christians. Not everybody gets the same experiences in the same ways.