Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Baptism in the Holy Spirit

A phrase used two ways: for the Spirit-reception that makes a person a Christian (most traditions), or for a distinct empowering experience after conversion (classical Pentecostalism).

From 'he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit' (Mark 1:8 and parallels; Acts 1:5; 11:16).

Mark 1:8; Acts 1:5; 2:4; 8:14–17; 10:44–47; 11:16; 19:1–7; 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Paul's 'in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body' (1 Cor 12:13) is initiatory and universal among believers. Classical Pentecostalism (from 1901/1906), drawing on the pattern in Acts, teaches a subsequent baptism in the Spirit that empowers for witness, with speaking in tongues as its 'initial physical evidence'. Charismatics often use the term for a fresh appropriation of grace already given, without the two-stage doctrine.

The mainstream (Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox) holds that every Christian has already been baptized in the Spirit in the sense that constitutes them a believer (Rom 8:9), and reads the Acts cases as unrepeatable redemptive-historical thresholds.

Whether it is conversion-initiation or a distinct second experience; whether tongues are its necessary evidence (1 Cor 12:30 tells against 'all speak in tongues').

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.