Week after week she believes she is a failure.  She believes her faith must not be strong enough.  She berates herself for each continued failed attempt to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and it is not working.

Ernest walks up the aisle for the first time, stating that he's ready for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  He feels nothing, so he decides to let his balance go, and fall backwards.  He still feels nothing, so he decides to take what he thinks is a leap of faith, and to loosen his jaw, and just start making non-word syllabic sounds.  He settles on something that sounds like it could be some unknown language. It is then declared that he was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and has received his heavenly tongue language.

What was the difference between Marissa and Ernest?  Ernest did it on a “leap of faith,” and didn't know for sure if what happened to him was of the Holy Spirit or not, and Marissa refused to do anything in her flesh that could alter her perception of the Holy Spirit.

Many Christians all over the US and elsewhere berate themselves because they think they haven't been baptized in the Holy Spirit, because they don't speak in tongues.

Perhaps both Marissa and Ernest need to seek this issue out deeply in the Scriptures.

Let us do so now.

Introduction

When it comes to the Holy Trinity, a lot of churches focus on God the Almighty and on God the Word\Wisdom, but not so much on God the Holy Spirit.  Churches that do put an emphasis on God the Holy Spirit sometimes teach a confusing doctrine stating that the Christian gets multiple infillings of the Holy Spirit.  

People that believe this doctrine will often state that one is sealed with the Holy Spirit upon salvation, as described in Ephesians 1:13:

Ephesians 1:13 NRSVue
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit 

They are correct.  Where they wander from being correct is when they state that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate event.  Under this doctrine, it is generally taught that a Christian has the Holy Spirit in them upon salvation (correct) but that they can at that moment, or later in life, receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which will be evidenced by speaking in tongues (incorrect).

There are no Scriptures that teach that form of Holy Spirit baptism doctrine.  The incorrect doctrine is often gathered from misconstruing events from the book of Acts in the Bible.  In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit comes upon the Jews, and is evidenced via speaking in tongues. The purpose of that was to tell the Gospel to the various peoples there in their different languages.  In Acts 8 the Holy Spirit comes to the Samaritans, who were part Jew, part Gentile.  There was no need of a sign, so they did not speak in tongues.  In Acts 10, the Holy Spirit finally comes upon the Gentiles.  The Gentiles speak in tongues, giving evidence to the Jews who had spoken in tongues in Acts 2 that the Holy Spirit comes to the Gentiles as it does to the Jews.

Note:  It's not a problem to refer to the Holy Spirit as "it."  It's more accurate than assigning a gender, such as "he."  In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is in the feminine in the Hebrew.  In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is usually in the neuter in the Greek, and often with female words in the Greek with it.  Only when the Holy Spirit is referred to as the paraklete - helper/advocate in the Gospel of John, is it referred to as male in the Greek.

The last time the Bible mentions people speaking in tongues upon receiving the Holy Spirit is in Acts 19, where it comes upon some previous disciples of John the Baptist. This was the completion of the transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant.  Acts is a transitionary book, not a doctrinal one.

There's a LOT more people who get saved in the book of Acts who don't speak in tongues than there are those that do.  The speaking in tongues upon receiving the Holy Spirit is the rare thing, not the common thing.

The Scriptures show that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the sealing by the Holy Spirit both take place during salvation.  I can show you some of the Scriptures that are clear that Holy Spirit Baptism takes place upon initial true salvation.

John the Baptist

Matthew 3:10-12 NRSVue
Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

There are three different baptisms mentioned in the above:

1) John's baptism of repentance 

2) Baptism of the Holy Spirit 

3) Baptism in fire

John the Baptist's baptism of repentance is what John was doing in the above Matthew 3.  People were repenting of their sins, then being dipped in the water, symbolizing their sins being washed away.  

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place upon salvation, as you'll see as I show you more Scriptures below.

The Baptism in fire is not referring to the "fire" at Pentecost in Acts 2.  The "fire" at Pentecost in Acts 2 is not a real fire.  Acts 2:3 says that something came on those disciples that was tongue shaped, and like fire. The Greek word there is ho-si, which means "like, as if, as though."  These things that were like tongues of fire were more likely like elongated orbs of light, rather than tongues of fire.

The fire that John the Baptist mentioned is real fire.  He's referring to hell-fire - the unquenchable fire of Gehenna, where all the unsaved go to after the Great White Throne Judgment.  This is why John the Baptist mentioned that the one that does "not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire," and the chaff (Christians are the wheat) will be burned "with unquenchable fire."

Everyone will be baptized.  It's just a matter of who is Baptized with the Holy Spirit (which happens upon salvation, as we'll see even more clearly soon) or Baptized with the Fires of Gehenna.

What Jesus Said

Acts 1:5 NRSVue
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now

Jesus said this to the disciples before He ascended back to heaven in His resurrection body. 

The disciples saw this as an event that under the New Covenant, anyone who gets truly saved gets the Baptism of the Holy Spirit right then and there.  They taught this...

What the Apostles and Disciples Taught About Holy Spirit Baptism

In Acts chapters 10 and 11 we read the detailed and lengthy account of Gentiles getting saved.  Peter is led of the Holy Spirit to go to the Gentile Cornelius' house, where Cornelius gathered a bunch of other Gentiles with him, where they all wanted to hear about Jesus.

Peter arrives, and gives them the complete Gospel message in Acts 10:34-43.  These Gentiles, who purposely gathered there because they wanted to know the truth about Christ, believed Peter's message, and then we see in the rest of chapter 10 that they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and then received a water baptism.

We then move on to chapter 11, where Peter explains to the Jewish Christians that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, and spoke in tongues as a sign that proved that Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit too - not just Jews.  And then Peter says this, going back to Jesus' words that we looked at in Acts 1:5.  Peter says:

Acts 11:16-18 NRSVue
And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

And here we have Peter quoting Jesus from Acts 1:5 and applying it to the salvation of these Gentiles, proclaiming that they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit upon the moment of belief.  This is emphasizing that anyone who truly believes, receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit right then and there.

And this brings us to 1 Corinthians 12.

1 Corinthians 12:13 NRSVue
For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Don't get tripped up with the word "in" above.  Recall that Jesus said:

Acts 1:5 NRSVue
for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now

"With" is the Greek word "en," which means "in," and is the same Greek word used for "in," in the above 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Sealed with the Holy Spirit

The person is baptized in the Holy Spirit upon the moment of salvation, which puts them into their part of the Body of Christ, and gifts them with the abilities they need to do their function.  For some, this could be speaking in tongues. For others, it could be prophecy, discernment, teaching, encouragement, etc.

At the same time that person is baptized in the Holy Spirit, they are also sealed, as we saw in Ephesians 1:13.  Ephesians 1:14 says we are 'sealed unto the day of redemption.'  The Bible describes the Day of Redemption as being when we Christians receive our glorified bodies that 1 Corinthians 15 tells us about.  

We have the seal, which the spirit world sees, but when we get our glorified bodies, our whole body shows we have the Holy Spirit.

Repeated Infillings of the Holy Spirit?

People who are taught that Baptism of the Holy Spirit is separate from the sealing of the Holy Spirit are also usually taught that there are multiple infillings of the Holy Spirit.  However, when we look more closely at the scriptures they use for this teaching, we find that that is not what the Scriptures are teaching.

Ephesians 5:18 NRSVue
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit

A quick look in the Greek and we see it's not "filled with the Spirit," but rather filled IN the Spirit.  The word is 'en,' which means in.  Also, "filled" is play-ro'-o which also translates as "complete." Thus:

Ephesians 5:18
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be complete in the Spirit

We see when this verse in viewed in the Greek, it is not talking about a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Some point to Acts 4:8, and state that Peter got a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit:

Acts 4:8 NRSVue
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders

"Filled" above is the Greek "pim'-play-mee," which is the present tense verb form of play-tho, which is "complete."  And the word "with" in the above verse is absent in the Greek here.  

Thus the above, from the Greek:

Acts 4:8
Then Peter, complete in the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders

Moving to the next verse...

Acts 4:31 NRSVue
When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

"They were all filled with" is just one word in the Greek - play-tho.  Play-tho means "complete."  "With" is not in the Greek in this verse. Thus:

Acts 4:31
When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and complete in the Holy Spirit, they spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 13:9 NRSVue
But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

"Filled with" is play-tho - which means "complete."  "With" is not in the Greek in this verse.  Thus:

Acts 13:9
But Saul, also known as Paul, complete in the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him

Do you see the pattern?  "Filled with the Holy Spirit" literally means "Complete in the Holy Spirit."

What about Christians who Have Experienced Repeated Fillings of the Holy Spirit?

They were not getting repeated fillings.  They were repeatedly going into the Spirit, not the Spirit repeatedly going into them.

We see this clearly with John the Apostle:

Revelation 1:10 NIV2011
On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

Notice that above doesn't say "on the Lord's Day the Holy Spirit came upon me with a fresh infilling, and I heard..." but rather it says "On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit and I heard..."

When a Christian says they felt the Spirit in church, or a Christian thinks they got a fresh infilling, what really happened was that they went into the Holy Spirit that's already within them.  

Romans 8:9 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.

Galatians 5:16 NIV2011
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 

Galatians 5:25 NIV2011
Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

John 4:24 NIV2011
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Conclusion and Final Note

- As we've seen from the Scriptures, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs upon the moment of salvation, and the only ones who speak in tongues are the ones who are gifted for that.  Others have different gifts, such as prophecy, teaching, encouragement, etc.

- There are no repeated infillings of the Holy Spirit.  Rather, we Christians are to immerse ourselves repeatedly in the Holy Spirit that is within us.

The Scriptures repeatedly call Christians to be in the Spirit, but the Scriptures never described the Spirit repeatedly infilling us.  Rather, the Scriptures teach that we get the Holy Spirit once, just as Christ died only once for our sins, and that if we lose the Holy Spirit, that means we willingly apostatized, and a true apostate can never get a new infilling of the Holy Spirit, which emphasizes we only get the Holy Spirit once.

How does one know the difference between an apostate, or just one who is backslidden?  The backslidden Christian still has the Holy Spirit, so they return to Christ.  Remember, the Scriptures tell us that it's the Holy Spirit that draws us to Christ.

The apostate drove the Holy Spirit from within themself, so they will never be drawn back to Christ, meaning they will never want to return to Christ.  Thus, if a person wants to return to Christ, they are not an apostate.

(From a Continuationist’s Perspective NOT a Cessationist)

Luke 11:13

Luke 11:13 NRSVue
If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This isn’t referring to a separate and second infilling of the Holy Spirit for a Christian sometime later after they get saved.  It’s referring to their initial salvation.  This verse is saying that God will not turn down anyone who truly comes to Him for salvation.  This is why shortly before this verse, we see in the Lord’s Prayer, “may your kingdom come.”  And then shortly after the above verse, it relates Jesus casting out a demon and then teaching that if we don’t replace that demon with the Holy Spirit (verse 13), then perhaps more demons come in, instead.

John 20:22

John 20:22 NRSVue
When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Pentecostals believe that the Disciples received the Holy Spirit and salvation at this point, and then they got baptized in the Holy Spirit and receive their heavenly prayer language of speaking in tongues at Pentecost in Acts 2. 

The disciples could not have received the Holy Spirit within them at that time in John 20:22, because the other two places in the New Testament that parallel this account, given in Luke 24 and Acts 1 tell clearly that Jesus was saying that that was a future event; they didn’t receive the Holy Spirit within them yet at that time.

The confusion with the above verse is a question of tenses.  The ancient Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Koine Greek of the New Testament didn’t portray tenses in simple past (she did), present (she is doing), and future (she will do) the same way we do in English, as I just demonstrated in the parenthesis.  Often a future prophetic event would be given in the Koine Greek in the past tense, even though it was a prophecy of the future.  Often this was done to emphasize the certainty of that prophecy coming to pass. 

If you read the YLT Bible, the original tenses of the ancient Hebrew and Koine Greek are maintained, rather than translated into English tenses.  Thus you’ll see prophecies portrayed in the YLT Bible as what we’d call past-tense terminology in English, yet the Hebrew and Greek used past tense to predict the future – prophecy. 

There are a few places in the Bible where the tenses get confused between how the originals used them, versus how we do so in the English.  For example, Revelation 11:7 is one such place.

Revelation 11:7 NRSVue
When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will wage war on them and conquer them and kill them

This language is confusing, and sounds like English present tense to many people, but the tense in the Koine Greek is future, as is verified by Revelation 20, where it gets into this in more detail:

Revelation 20:1-2 NRSVue
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.  He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years  and threw him into the pit and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while.

This tense discrepancy in Revelation 11:7 is recognized in many circles, so some Bible translations correct the tense here.  The Weymouth Translation is one such translation to fix the tense:

Revelation 11:7 Weymouth
And when they have fully delivered their testimony, the Wild Beast which is to rise out of the bottomless pit will make war upon them and overcome them and kill them.

Notice the Weymouth corrected the present tense that was given in the NRSVue and many other translations into a future tense.  Sometimes the Bible gives a future prophecy in the present tense, and that is what’s occurring in John 20:22, but it’s hard to see in translations that change the tenses.  Thus, let’s take a look in the YLT, which preserves the Koine Greek tenses and doesn’t change them to English understood tenses:

John 20:22 YLT
and this having said, he breathed on [them], and saith to them, `Receive the Holy Spirit;

There are two things we immediately see in the above that are different from many other translations which aren’t as literal as the Young’s Literal Translation:

1) We see the above word “them” is in brackets!  This means “them” is added, and is not in the Greek in this verse.  Jesus did indeed breathe out or blow, but the Scriptures don’t specifically say it was on or in anyone.  The blowing here is from the Greek word ἐμφυσάω (em-foo-sah'-o) which means to breathe, or to blow on.  This Greek word is etymologically related to our English word Emphysema.  “On” above is assumed, but not there for certain, and “them” isn’t in the Greek in this verse at all, so now we can more accurately translate this portion as “and this having said, he breathed, and saith to them…”  Seeing it translated more literally like this now recalls Jesus’ death to us:

Luke 23:46 NRSVue
Then Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.

2) The second thing we notice when we carefully look at this verse in the YLT is a tense change.  “ and having said,” “and saith to them.”

The text could not use past-tense terms to dictate a future event in this case, because past tense was just used to describe an action that had just occurred – Jesus breathed.  Thus the text had to move to present-tense to describe the future event to happen after Jesus’ ascension. 

It’s no secret that John 20:22 and verse 23 are very hard to translate into English.  Thus it’s best to understand these verses from their sister Scriptures in Luke 24 and Acts 1, which clearly show that receiving the Holy Spirit was a future event, not one that happened right then and there.

Acts 2, Acts 10, Acts 19

Acts 2:1-4 NRSVue
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

With John 20:22 demystified, we see that the above is not a second filling of the Holy Spirit.  The above is the fulfillment of the prophecy Jesus gave in John 20:22.

Recall that Jesus had to ascend before anyone could be baptized in the Holy Spirit:

John 16:5-7 NRSVue
But now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

The Holy Spirit could not come to stay within anyone (baptism of the Holy Spirit) until Jesus completely fulfilled His ministry.  He completed it on earth and ascended, but then He needed to complete it in heaven.  Jesus, our High Priest, had to enter the Holy of Holies in heaven to complete His perfect atonement for us. It was only then that the Holy Spirit Baptism was possible, and it began on Pentecost with the Jews, fulfilling what Jesus had said to them in Luke 24 and Acts 1 – to the Jew first, then to the Samaritans, and then to the whole world (the gentiles.)  This is the order that we see the Holy Spirit coming in the book of Acts, which is a transitionary book – transitioning out of the Old Covenant and into the New one.

Thus we see to the Jew first in Acts 2.  Next it goes to the Samaritans, who were part Jew and part gentile.  This occurs in Acts 8, and none of them spoke in tongues, as that sign was not needed.  It was needed by the Jews in Acts 2, because Pentecost brings Jews and proselytes from all over the known world to Jerusalem at that time. The disciples speaking in tongues (literally – languages) enabled them to tell the Gospel to everyone in their own language.

In Acts 8 there was no sign needed, so the new converts there (including the later Ethiopian eunuch) did not speak in tongues.

Then finally in Acts 10 the Holy Spirit comes to the Gentiles.  The Gentiles did speak in tongues, as it served as a sign to the Jewish Christians to show them that the Holy Spirit comes to the Gentiles equally as it does to the Jews. 

We then see just one more time in the Bible of a group getting saved and speaking in tongues.  This is in Acts 19, where we meet 12 people who were disciples of John.  They only knew the Old Covenant and John’s teachings. They knew little about Jesus and His atonement for sins.  Once they heard the full Gospel, they believed, got saved, and received the Holy Spirit.  The speaking in tongues here was an end punctuation mark on the transition from the Old Covenant – to John the Baptist – to the New Covenant.

There are no more instances of speaking in tongues after Acts 19, because at that point the New Covenant was fully ushered in, and this is important to notice, because a lot more people get saved in Acts after chapter 19 – and not one is recorded as speaking in tongues.

From that point on, under the full force of the New Covenant, only those who are gifted with the gift of languages (tongues) speak in tongues/languages.  Not everyone is a tongue in the Body of Christ.  Some are feet that carry the Gospel and evangelize.  Some are elbows that poke at false doctrine. Some are hands that heal the sick, etc.  Upon the moment of true (with true intentions that God sees) belief and salvation, one is baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is the Power that literally makes the person’s inner self born again.  This then puts them into the Body of Christ as a specific body part with a specific gifting from the Holy Spirit.  We all don’t have the same gifting, just as we are all not the same body part with the same function.

Some will argue that all those who received the Holy Spirit and then spoke in tongues afterward were already saved, thus this was a second infilling. This is not the case.  Look closely at the Scriptures:

John 16:7 NRSVue
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

While the disciples believed, they were still not baptized in the Holy Spirit and were not yet a part of the Body of Christ, as the Body of Christ wasn’t yet formed as the Church.  This couldn’t happen until the New Covenant was being brought into effect.  The Body started with Jesus as the Head/Source, and then there grew body parts of Jewish Christians, and then body parts of Samaritan Christians, and then body parts of Gentile Christians. This Body is still being added to today.  This couldn’t happen until after Jesus finished His full atonement in the Holy of Holies in heaven – thus why He had to ascend before the Holy Spirit could descend.

In Acts chapter 10 it is obvious that none of the Gentiles were yet Christians, as they were assembled to hear the full Gospel for the first time.  After they heard it, they got saved and spoke in tongues, demonstrating to the Jewish Christians a sign that they’d recognize – indicating that Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit too.

The group in Acts 19 were not yet saved, because they were previously disciples of John, and hadn’t heard the full Gospel yet.  You can’t believe something if you don’t know what to believe in.

Acts 19:1-4 NRSVue
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.  He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” Then he said, “Into what, then, were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”  Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

Who were these disciples?  They weren’t Jesus’ disciples, for Paul came upon them.  As we see, they were believers in what John the Baptist taught, and John the Baptist taught the baptism of repentance, and to believe on the one who is to come.  That is as much as these disciples of John the Baptist knew.

They were then given the full Gospel message, and got saved.  This was the last group to speak in tongues, as a sign indicating that at this point the Body of Christ was formed, the Church began, and the New Covenant is in effect; thus why we see many other salvations after Acts 19, but no more speaking in tongues.  Meanwhile, if you keep reading in chapter 19, these previous disciples of John then became disciples of Paul for 2 years. Now that’s a real seminary education.

Romans 8:26

Romans 8:26 NRSVue
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words.

Some think these “groaning too deep for words” must mean the person then switches to praying in tongues, but the above is saying the opposite to that.  First of all, groaning is three times in this section.  It’s also in verse 22 and in verse 23. Looking at those other verses defines that this “groaning” is an inward one that emits no audible sound.

“Too deep for words” is translated from just one Greek word which means “unutterable, unspeakable.”  How can it be any clearer than this?  This type of praying in the Spirit involves no sound – no tongues, no speaking. It’s the spirit of the person directly communing with the Holy Spirit within them.

1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 14 defines a type of praying in the Spirit as praying in tongues/languages. Paul teaches that those who have the gift of tongues/languages (see also 1 Corinthians 12) can use tongues to pray in the Spirit if they wish, but that they are not to do so out loud in church unless there is someone there to interpret it.  Else, Paul says – keep it to yourself.  Don’t be disruptive to the church services – that’s the gist of 1 Corinthians 14.

Ephesians 5:18

Ephesians 5:18 NRSVue
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit

This isn’t stating that we get multiple infillings of the Holy Spirit.  That makes no more sense than filling up a cup of water repeatedly, without emptying it.  The key word here is “with,” in “with the Spirit.”  This is from the Greek preposition en, which means “in” or “on.”

This verse isn’t telling us that rather than getting drunk on wine, we should get drunk via a new infilling of the Holy Spirit, in which some people thinks manifests via “holy laughter, falling over, acting drunk without alcohol, flopping around on the floor, running back and forth shouting and screaming, etc.”

The way this verse is translated in the above and many other translations makes this hard to see.  We see once again the YLT stays true to the Greek, and translated this verse as thus:

Ephesians 5:18 YLT
and be not drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in the Spirit

It’s telling us to be filled in the Spirit, not filled with the Spirit. Christians are already filled with the Spirit.  It’s telling us that rather than seeking fake, fleeting happiness in getting drunk, why not walk in the Spirit and have true joy and peace?  Ephesians 5:18 is a sister verse to the following:

Galatians 5:22-24 NRSVue
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.  And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Just because a person is a saved Christian with the Holy Spirit in them, that doesn’t mean they lose their free will.  They can still choose to grieve the Holy Spirit, and follow their flesh rather than walking in the Spirit.  This is what Ephesians 5:18 and the above are referring to.

When most people become Christians, they refer to it as "converting to Christianity," "being born again," or "being saved."  There are other terms for it, but these are the main ones I hear the most often, and these three are accurate.  Becoming a Christian is simply believing, receiving, and proclaiming.  It's laid out thus in places like Romans 10:

Romans 10:9-13 NRSVue
because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart, leading to righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, leading to salvation. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

1) Believe that Jesus is Lord - Lord literally means Master, and also believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead (after Jesus died to pay for our sins)

2) Confess this belief with your mouth - pray it to God and tell others about it

3) There is no shame in being a Christian - don't hide it, for "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."  Or as the YLT puts it - "Every one who is believing on him shall not be ashamed."

A lot of people are happy to stop right there. They don't need to know anymore about the mechanics of salvation, for they know it's of faith, and we can't always understand what is of faith.

However, the Bible also says "seek and you shall find."  This is an exhilarating promise for those of us who want to know why and how.  It's not a sin to want to know the why and how of salvation.  Yes, it's faith, but why is it faith, and how does this work?  If you are happy stopping at this base knowledge, then move on - this article isn't for you.  But if you are like me, in which learning more of the whys and hows increases your faith, and makes the Christian Walk so much more exciting and real, then come along for the ride.  Here we go.

What Do We Need to be Saved From?

We see the term "saved" in our above Romans 10 passage, but what are we being saved from?  The surface answer would be hell.  Right?  But why do we need saved from hell?  What's sending us there that we need saved from?  It's our sins.  Our sins send us to hell.  We need saved from our sins.  Where did sins come from?

Most people would say that sin comes from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they partook of the forbidden fruit, and that is partially right.  What sin was introduced into the cosmos when that rebellion against the command of God took place?  It was the sin of disobedience.  Are there any other sins than just disobeying?  Yes, and they entered the world in a different way.

Think about a verse that is mysterious to many, the one in Genesis chapter 6.

Genesis 6:4 NRSVue
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

Why should this even be confusing?  There are so many theories as to what it means, but to find out what it's about, we merely need to put ourselves into the mindset of the original recipient at that time.  What did this verse mean to them?  When we read the apocrypha and many of the pseudepigrapha, and other ancient Jewish writings, we see that the ancient Jews viewed this verse as teaching that a group of 200 fallen angels (200 is from 1 Enoch) decided to come to earth and mate with earth women, producing half human and half fallen angel offspring.  

When we pair 1 Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings (including some apocrypha) with Genesis 6, we also learn the names of the leading angels of this group, and the name of one of them was Azazel.  We see Azazel in Leviticus chapter 16.  Some Bibles don't translate the proper name "Azazel," but rather wrongly say "scapegoat."  When using Bible translations such as the NRSVue or the NLT, Azazel is clearly named multiple times in Leviticus 16.  When you read 1 Enoch, you learn more about the Day of Atonement and Azazel.

We also learn from 1 Enoch that Azazel basically led a School of Sin for the people of earth.  This is where more sin entered the world as taught by demons/fallen angels, such as vanity, sorcery, and war.  These sin lessons eventually led to what preceded the global flood, when God saw:

Genesis 6:5 NRSVue
The Lord saw that the wickedness of humans was great in the earth and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.

So we see the Garden of Eden incident introduced disobeying, and then the fallen angels of Genesis chapter 6 (especially Azazel) taught all sorts of sins to the people on the earth, including sorcery.  There was one more doorway that opened to bring in more sin, and that was at the Tower of Babel.

We are all probably familiar with the Tower of Babel incident.  If not, you can read it in Genesis chapter 11.  The sins brought to the world from the Tower of Babel is what we see culminated in Ephesians 6:12

Ephesians 6:12 NRSVue
for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

These "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" came to be at the Tower of Babel incident.  When you read about the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, notice that God is talking to others He brought with Him.  This is not the Trinity. He is not talking to Himself.  We learn who God is talking to in another spot in the Bible.  Recall that Genesis 11 is not the only place in the Scriptures that refers to the Tower of Babel and God dividing the people.

Deuteronomy 32:8 NRSVue
When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods;

These "gods" are called the Divine Council, and they are who God brought with Him, and who He was conversing with at the Tower of Babel incident:

Psalm 82:1-2 NRSVue
God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?

Psalm 58:1-2 NRSVue
Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge people fairly? No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.

Not all of God's Divine Council was put over parts of the earth, only some of them were.  Unfortunately, as you'll see if you study the Divine Council in the Scriptures, those who were put over the different boundaries decided to follow after Satan, and they turned away from God.  They became the "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" mentioned in Ephesians 6:12.  This brought idolatry into the world, which eventually also led to all the different religions we see all around us.

To summarize: The Garden of Eden incident brought disobedience, starting with Eve taking heed to a deceptive fallen angel that we now know as Satan; the fallen angels of Genesis 6 taught a school of sin, where humans were taught all sorts of sins, such as vanity, war, and sorcery;  and the fallen Divine Council members from the Tower of Babel division brought forth idolatry and false religions.

In the Scriptures we see that sin does damage.  Sin is neither relegated, defined in, nor confined in the 3 physical dimensions, neither in the 4th dimension of Time.  Sin is spiritual, and thus while it can and usually does affect the physical, it does not obey physics or even quantum physics.  It obeys the Spiritual Laws. 

A careful reading in the Bible (especially in the Hebrew) reveals the location of the human soul.  It is in the blood of the person.  This is why Abel's blood cried out.  This is why we read of the blood of the slain crying out for retribution in 1 Enoch.  This why at least twice the Bible tells us:

Leviticus 17:11 Darby
for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul.

Blood cries out, because our soul is in our blood.  Our soul records every thought we've thought, every word we've said, and every action we've done.  All of these, including the sinful ones, do not just dissipate away like the wake behind a boat.  They exist in the aetheric realm until they are dealt with, and since this is spiritual, it has to also be dealt with via  Spiritual Law, not any physical law.

This means doing good doesn't make the bad disappear - it just adds another signal in the cosmos, in the aetheric realm.

We see that sin affects the spiritual, but sin also affects the physical.  This includes our bodies.  After sin entered the world, notice that people's life spans started to rapidly decline, for example.  The physical effects of sin don't stop at the human body.  We see in the Bible that sin affects all of creation.  Animals started behaving differently; thorns and thistles started growing from the ground, etc.  

The physical effects of sin didn't and don't just remain on the earth. Remember, sin itself is not bound by physics, it is spiritual, thus operates under Spiritual Laws.  Therefore, while it affects the physical, the physical cannot stop it or reverse it.  Sin also affected the whole cosmos.  This is why we read in Revelation and the Old Testament Prophets that God will destroy both the earth and outer space (the heavens).

Somehow our faith in Christ saves us from this sin, and makes our inner person born again, making it so that we have a relationship with God, and will later go to heaven.  How does faith do this?  Faith operates in the spiritual realm, and thus is a spiritual law.  True faith is tested by our intentions.  If our faith in Christ is with the pure intention of loving Him and accepting His sacrifice for us, it is true faith.  If faith is placed with the intention of physical and/or financial gain or to hold power or influence over others, for example, the intention reveals that form of “faith” is incorrect, and thus that person is not actually saved.

The moment we place our faith in Christ, with true intentions, the blood of Christ places a cancellation signal over all of the sins our blood cries out to the cosmos.  Every sin gets cancelled out by Christ's sinless life on earth in human form and His dying and raising back to life to conquer sin and death.  Thus Christ’s incarnation, life on earth, death, and resurrection conquered the spiritual law of Sin and Death:

Romans 8:2 NRSVue
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

The Spiritual Law that saves us from sin has to redeem not only our inner person, but also our outer person - our bodies, and also the earth and outer space.

The first step was to save our inner person, and that spiritual law came with Jesus Christ and His first incarnate coming to the earth.

Being Born Again

The redemption of our inner person from sin begins first in the spiritual, since sin is in the spirit realm.  The Bible teaches that sin first entered the world through the first Adam, and that the last Adam will fix the sin problem that the first Adam originally introduced.

1 Corinthians 15:45 NRSVue
Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

As we saw in Romans 10, we are saved/born again via faith in Christ being the Master of our life, and belief in His dying to pay for our sins, and raising again from the dead, 3 days later.  We see this further in 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15:3-7 NRSVue
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

The New Testament over and over refers to Christians as "one."  It explains that this is so via our being part of The Body of Christ on the earth, with Christ being the Head.  It's important to note here that when the New Testament refers to "head" in the symbolic sense, it doesn't have the modern meaning of "authority."  Back then, it symbolized "beginning, source, where something came from."  This is clearly laid out in the LSJ Greek dictionary.   Thus while Jesus is our Lord, which means Master - authority, when it calls him our Head, it means He's the Source of the Church.

We Christians are the Body of Christ on the earth, but we are CHRISTians because of Christ, and He is the Power Source that enables each of us to do our part.  And I do mean Our Part.

The Bible repeatedly teaches that each Christian is a specific body part in the earthly Body of Christ.  Some are a foot, some are a mouth, some are a hand, etc.

When you truly become a real Christian, you become a part of that Body, and become a body part with one or more specific functions.  I’ll have more on this in a moment.  First, how do we become a part of this Body?

As we saw in Romans 10 and 1 Corinthians 15, it is via faith, but how does that put us in the Body?  At the moment of profession of that faith, we receive the Holy Spirit Baptism, which then regenerates our spirit into a New Creation in Christ, and that Holy Spirit Baptism is what puts us into the Body!

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NRSVue
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.

This chapter, along with Romans 12 and Ephesians 4 lists the different functions of the different parts of the Body of Christ.  Upon the moment of your salvation, you were Baptized in the Holy Spirit, which renewed your inner person - your spirit - from the effects of sin, and you became a part of the Body of Christ.  At that very moment, God, through His Holy Spirit, gifted or equipped you with the abilities you need in order to do your function as the part of the Body that you are.

Now to correct a wrong doctrine many churches teach...  Many churches teach that evidence of being Baptized in the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues.  They largely base this off of Acts 2, 10, and 19, where we see groups of people getting saved, and then they speak in tongues.  

This doesn't mean that all Christians speak in tongues right after they get saved!  We see in Acts chapter 8 a group of people get saved, and not one of them speaks in tongues.  We also see the first genetic gentile getting saved in chapter 8, and he also didn't speak in tongues.

"Tongues" literally means "languages."  In fact, the Greek is γλῶσσα (gloce-sah') which literally means "language."  It only means "tongue" when it's referring contextually to the physical tongue in our mouth, or to something shaped as such.  The archaic word for "language" was tongue.  We still see this in the inquiry of  "What's your mother tongue?"  

Speaking in Languages (more accurate than tongues) is just one of the gifts that God equips certain Christians with, if that's needed for the part of the body that they are.  Not every Christian speaks in tongues/languages, for not all Christians are that body part in the Body of Christ.  

1 Corinthians 12:19-20 NRSVue
If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body.

1 Corinthians 12:7-11 CEV
The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others.  Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit.  To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick  or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God's Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean.  But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

I used the CEV translation in the above, because they correctly translated the Greek γλῶσσα (gloce-sah') as “languages,” rather than the archaic term of “tongues.”

Some people think that there are two types of Tongues/Languages - the one that is a gifting as one's part of the Body - only to some people, but the other being a "heavenly prayer language."  They derive "heavenly prayer language" from 1 Corinthians 13:1, where it mentions the languages of angels that some, (such as Paul) may have been able or are able to speak.

Some people call this "heavenly prayer language" their way of "praying in the Spirit:"

1 Corinthians 14:2 CEV
If you speak languages that others don't know, God will understand what you are saying, though no one else will know what you mean. You will be talking about mysteries that only the Spirit understands.

1 Corinthians 14:14 NRSVue
For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive.

It's important to note that Paul is not saying that to pray in the Spirit means you have to have the ability to speak in tongues/languages.  He is saying, however, that some of those who have the gift of languages pray in possibly the tongues of angels to God, and that is how they pray in the Spirit.

Paul is clear that not all Christians pray or even speak in tongues/languages.

1 Corinthians 14:1 NRSVue
Pursue love and strive for the spiritual gifts and especially that you may prophesy.

Notice he's saying that if you are pursuing spiritual gifts, the golden one is prophecy, not speaking in languages.

He also refers to "those who speak in tongues" in this chapter, indicating not all do, just as he also mentions in this chapter "those who prophesy," indicating that not all Christians prophesy.  

Speaking in tongues is not the one sign of Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  For those who are gifted with it, this may be, but for those not gifted with that, their manifestation will be different - according to which body part they are baptized into, via their Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

For example, mine was the sudden drive to learn the Scriptures and to then teach them to others.  This is my part and function in the Body of Christ.  Before I was able to start any of that, the Lord had me overcome a learning disability I had struggled with as a child - I had no reading comprehension. Years of Special Ed in public school did not help. The Lord had me cured of that within weeks of diligently trying to read His Word. Since then, my reading comprehension has been stellar, all thanks to God. 

My part is to obsessively and deeply study minute details in the Bible, often including in the Hebrew and Greek, which allows me to accurately understand the Scriptures and to teach these details to others, including correcting false doctrines (making me possibly an elbow in the Body of Christ).  Because of this, my gifting also includes teaching and preaching. 

People ask "how do I know if I really got saved?"  My response is 1) Did your life change after you got saved? and 2) Do you know what your gifting is, in the Body of Christ? 

If your answer to question 1 is “yes,” but is “no” to question number 2, then I’d ask:  What are your talents, what are you driven to, and how do you think that can be used to further the Kingdom of God?

A true, saved, born again Christian produces fruits of the Spirit (one can see by their actions that they are actually a Christian) and they do their function as their part in the Body of Christ.  If you know you are saved, but you don’t know what your function is, consider that you may be already doing your function.  Pray about it, and really take a look at what you have been doing for your church and/or people around you.  Do you encourage?  Do you teach?  Do you serve? Do you evangelize? Etc.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a separate event from Salvation - it is what occurs during salvation.  It's the redemption of your inner person - your spirit being born again as a new creation in Christ.  It is what puts you into the Body of Christ on the earth.  It is what then gifts and equips you with what you need in order to do the function of the body part that you are.  

Some people get confused from the book of Acts and come away thinking that yes, you get the Holy Spirit upon salvation, but they think because of the people speaking in languages in Acts 2, 10, and 19 that there is a second filling of the Holy Spirit, and that that second filling gives people a heavenly prayer language in which they will then speak in tongues.

Right away we see two problems with that view:

1) As clearly established in 1 Corinthians 12, tongues/languages is one of the gifts of the Spirit, and is only given to Christians who are a tongue or mouth in the Body of Christ.  If you are a foot you don’t have a tongue to speak tongues with.  Tongues is a gift to some Christians, and definitely not to all, and likely not even to most.

2) We are indeed filled with the Holy Spirit upon salvation.  The Holy Spirit is already in us, so how can we get the Holy Spirit in us, when it’s already there?  That’s like filling a cup with water twice, but not emptying the cup in between.  It doesn’t work.

Part of the confusion here, is some people think that the disciples who spoke in languages on Pentecost in Acts 2 had Jesus breathe the Holy Spirit on them already, previously. We see this passage in question in John 20:

John 20:19-24 TPT
That evening, the disciples gathered together, and because they were afraid of reprisals from the Jewish leaders, they had locked the doors. But suddenly Jesus appeared among them and said, “Peace to you!” Then he showed them the wounds of his hands and his side—they were overjoyed to see the Lord with their own eyes! Jesus repeated his greeting, “Peace to you!” And he told them, “Just as the Father has sent me, I’m now sending you.” Then, taking a deep breath, he blew on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. I send you to preach the forgiveness of sins—and people’s sins will be forgiven. But if you don’t proclaim the forgiveness of their sins, they will remain guilty.” One of the twelve wasn’t present when Jesus appeared to them—it was Thomas, whose nickname was “the Twin.”

The interpretation that the disciples received the Holy Spirit in the above, and then receive the Holy Spirit again on Pentecost in Acts 2 makes no sense.  First of all, we again have the problem of a glass being filled with water twice, but not being emptied in between. Also, if the disciples received the Holy Spirit right at that time, then we see that Thomas didn’t get it, because he wasn’t there.

Now, to make this make sense…  Jesus blew on them to illustrate that the Holy Spirit will come upon them like a wind, which it does in Acts 2.  The word for “Spirit” in the Greek means – spirit, breath, wind.  Thus we see it being symbolized as breath in the above, and we get a wind in Acts 2 when the Spirit then does come upon the disciples.

We further can see that John 20:22 was a future fulfillment of them receiving the Holy Spirit, and not the actually receiving the Holy Spirit right then and there, because we have two parallel accounts of Jesus saying this to the disciples elsewhere in the New Testament.  We see one such parallel in Luke 24:

Luke 24:47-49 NLT
It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ You are witnesses of all these things. “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

We see the other parallel in Acts 1:

Acts 1:3-8 CEV
For 40 days after Jesus had suffered and died, he proved in many ways that he had been raised from death. He appeared to his apostles and spoke to them about God's kingdom.  While he was still with them, he said: Don't leave Jerusalem yet. Wait here for the Father to give you the Holy Spirit, just as I told you he has promised to do.  John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. While the apostles were still with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, are you now going to give Israel its own king again?”  Jesus said to them, “You don't need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls.   But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.”

Now we see we have more detail in the above.  The disciples/apostles didn’t receive the Holy Spirit in John 20, they were being told they were going to, and that after they did, they’d proclaim the Gospel.  We see the order of events in Luke 24 and Acts 1 that after they receive the Holy Spirit, they’d tell the Gospel first in Judea (to the Jews), then to Samaria (to those who are part Jew, part Gentile), and then to the Gentiles (“everywhere in the world”).  Remember, it’s to the Jew first, and then the Gentile:

Romans 1:16 NIV2011
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Using Scripture to interpret Scripture reveals to us that John 20:22 is the same event as the one in Luke 24 and Acts 1 - the disciples would receive the Holy Spirit one time, and the Spirit would stay with them, and after they receive the Holy Spirit, it's only then that they will be ready to spread the Gospel to Judea, the Samaritans, and then to the Gentiles.

Before we move on, let's get a bit deeper into Jesus breathing on them. The note from the NIV Study Bible gives some good insight on John 20:22.  It says:

Breathed on them - a clear echo of Gen. 2:7, where God breathed into Adam the breath of life, implying that Jesus is the Creator (see John 1:3). 

We know this breathing wasn't into their lungs - it wasn't a breathing into the disciples, but a breathing onto the disciples.  It was a wind from the mouth of the Creator.  This was an object lesson to the disciples about the movement of the Holy Spirit, which is what Jesus told Nicodemus about:

John 3:8 NLT
The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

And we see the fulfillment of that wind blowing from John 3:8 and the breath of Jesus from John 20:22 in Acts 2:

Acts 2:1-4 CEV
On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place.  Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting.  Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there.  The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.

John 20:22 isn't the only place Jesus used an object lesson to teach a spiritual truth. 

• The Breath of Jesus from John 20:22 was a sign to the disciples that the next time they felt the Spirit move, it would go into them, rather than passing by like the wind in the case of Jesus' blowing on them.
  
  
• Jesus' washing their feet in John 13 symbolized the coming eternal cleansing from sin that they'd receive upon their full salvation, which occurred when they received the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.
  
  
• In Mark 8, Jesus healed a blind man.  He did so by putting spit on the man's eyes.  This part was cultural.  The large cultural belief at that time was that saliva held healing properties.  By Jesus using his spit, the blind man could smell and feel that salvia was being used, and he knew from his cultural belief that Jesus was thus trying to heal him.  What's interesting here, though, is that Jesus had to touch this man's eyes twice to heal them.  After the first time, the man stated he sees, but people look like trees walking around.  Jesus touched his eyes again, and then he could see clearly.  This was an object lesson that the revelation of Jesus Christ would come in stages, and people would need spiritual eyes to see it.
  
  
• In John 21 the nets overflowed with fish.  This symbolized the supernatural conversion of nations.
  
  
• In Matthew 26 we have the Last Supper which is remembered via Communion.  Consuming the wine and the bread symbolizes Christ in the believer.

The four Gospels are the ushering in of the first coming of the Messiah, which would eventually bring about the New Covenant.  Have you ever stopped to ponder why Jesus went to John the Baptist to get baptized?  Remember, John the Baptist’s baptism was a Baptism of Repentance.  Jesus had absolutely no sins to repent of, so why have a baptism of repentance done to Him?

Because Jesus became sin for us:

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV2011
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus was repenting of our sins.  This baptism He underwent was the official beginning of His ministry to spread the message of the Kingdom of God, and to conquer sin and death. 

We then read of Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection in the Gospels.  The Messiah came and He did what He came to do.  Now it was time to transition from the Old Covenant into the New Covenant.  That’s what the Book of Acts is!  Acts is the transition from the Old Covenant into the New Covenant.

Under the Old Covenant, select people would temporarily receive God’s Holy Spirit for certain tasks or times, but the Holy Spirit didn’t stay.  The next time you read through the Old Testament, take note of the many times that God sent His Holy Spirit to be in someone, but it was only for a set task or a set time, and not all of the time.

Jesus, the Messiah, first had to fulfill the Plan of YHWH before the Holy Spirit could come onto the people of God, and dwell within them – to stay.  This is why Jesus said to His disciples:

John 16:7 CEV
But I tell you I am going to do what is best for you. This is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.

There is our timeline.  Thus the disciples didn’t receive the Holy Spirit in John 20:22. This was Jesus telling them that they will receive the Holy Spirit.  It was a future prophecy that He emphasized by blowing on them.  This is made clearer in its parallel passages in Luke 24 and Acts 1 that we looked at.  And now we see from the above John 16:7 that the Holy Spirit can’t come upon them until after Jesus leaves (after He ascends back to heaven).

When Jesus blew on the disciples, they felt the movement of the Holy Spirit, but it did not indwell them.  By them getting a sense of what the movement of the Holy Spirit felt like, it would help them better understand that the Holy Spirit was present and about to come upon them in Acts 2, where we read about the movement and sound of the Holy Spirit being like a wind, and this happens before they get infilled with God's Holy Spirit and then begin speaking in various languages.

The disciples, not just the 11, but all the followers of Christ who stayed together after Christ’s ascension – men and women – were to wait until they received the Holy Spirit.  That would seal their salvation and baptize them via the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, where each would then receive their part in the Body and their gifting, enabling them to do God’s will for them in furthering the growing of the Kingdom of God. 

The first gifting these particular disciples got upon receiving the Holy Spirit was speaking in languages, as at Pentecost is when Jerusalem would have been crowded with Jews and Proselytes from various other countries and regions, pilgrimaging to Jerusalem for the festivities.  Thus the disciples were gifted by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel in the various languages of the peoples present.  That’s precisely what the gift of languages literally is – the God given ability to speak in one or more language that you never learned.  Acts 2 shows us a great example of how the gift of languages works.

We then move on to Acts 8, where the Holy Spirit comes next to the Samaritans.  None of them spoke in tongues after they received the Holy Spirit.  Before receiving the Holy Spirit, they were not yet saved, as they only knew part of the Gospel message.  They were told the complete Gospel message, and that’s when they believed, got saved, and received the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 10 we see the Holy Spirit then comes to the Gentiles.  A group of Gentiles were gathered and wanted to hear the full Gospel message.  As soon as they did, they believed and got saved, and received the Holy Spirit.  They spoke in tongues.  Their speaking in tongues was a sign to the Jews that Gentiles can receive the Holy Spirit as well, sealing "to the Jew first, and then to the Gentile." 

Then we come to Acts 19, where 12 disciples of John the Baptist got to hear the full Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time.  They believed and received the Holy Spirit.  They spoke in tongues, and then became disciples of Paul the Apostle for at least 2 years.

Recall that not every group or person who got saved in the book of Acts spoke in tongues.  Only some did.

Not everyone in Christ is a tongue. Some are hands that serve.  Some are feet that carry the Gospel to faraway lands.  Some are elbows that poke at wrong doctrines.  Some are eyes that see the spirit realm.  Some are ears that hear the voice of God.

One more question on this subtopic then remains for some - what about praying in the Spirit?  Yes, Paul shows that those who have the God-given gift of speaking in languages can use that gift to pray in the Spirit via praying in languages.  This is opposed to the made up "tongues" that some Christians are guilty of - I refuse to judge which is which, because I don't know.  So how does one pray in the Spirit, if they don't have the gift of tongues/languages?

The Bible tells us, but first let's look at a few Scriptures for those who think praying in the Spirit has to involve praying/speaking in tongues/languages:

Ephesians 6:18a NRSVue
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.

If praying in the Spirit specifically means doing so in languages/tongues, we have a problem here, because the above says we are to pray in the Spirit in every prayer.  Thus this would mean when we pray aloud, it better be in tongues.  We know that can't be what the above means, because Paul specifically wrote against doing that:

1 Corinthians 14:9 NRSVue
So with yourselves: If in a tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.

1 Corinthians 14:16-19 NRSVue
Otherwise, if you say a blessing with the spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say the “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since the outsider does not know what you are saying?  For you may give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Thus when we see pray in the Spirit "in every prayer" in Ephesians 6:18, we know that doesn't specifically mean that every single time a person prays, it has to be in tongues.

Here's the other verse to ponder for those who think praying in the Spirit means one must pray in tongues in order to do so:

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NRSVue
pray without ceasing

Did you catch that?  Christians are told to pray all the time - to pray without ceasing.  How is that possible?  This means if you are a Christian reading this right now, you should be praying right now while reading this.  You should be praying when you are sleeping, you should be praying while you are driving, you should praying while you are working, praying while conversing, praying while watching a movie, etc.  You are to be praying "without ceasing."

Ask a Christian how this is done, and many will say "this means you are always praying in the Spirit."  I full-heartedly agree.  There is no other way possible to pray without ceasing, unless it is via praying in the Spirit.  But if praying in the Spirit involves having to speak in tongues, we have a problem - you'd never shut up - NEVER.  You'd never be able to have a conversation with someone, because you are too busy praying in tongues.  You'd never be able to sleep, because you'd be praying in tongues.

Thus there must be some way to pray in the Spirit that all Christians can do, regardless if they are gifted with speaking in tongues/languages or not.  And there is.

Romans 8:26 NRSVue
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words.

You may have done a double-take at the above verse, because this is a major verse that many people quote when defining praying in tongues.  However, the above is saying the opposite of that.  First let's look at the word "groanings."  This word (including in the Greek) is in Romans chapter 8 three times, and it's all in this section, about this very thing.  The first place is in verse 22.

Romans 8:22 NRSVue
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor

Is all creation speaking in tongues?  Is that what the groaning is?  No.  We know for a fact that squirrels aren't in our backyard tree speaking in tongues, nor is the tree and grass doing so.  These are groanings that we don't hear.

Next is in verse 23.

Romans 8:23 NRSVue
and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

We now have verification that this groaning is not an audible sound. It's an inward groaning, not one that can be heard. It does not involve the movement of our tongues at all.

And our third instance of this word is in our Romans 8:26.

Romans 8:26 NRSVue
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words.

The Spirit intercedes with groanings.  We now know via context that these groanings are not outwardly audible.  There is no hearing it, and there is no tongue movement involved.  Further, it goes on to say that these groanings are "too deep for words."  

"To deep for words" is translated from one Greek word. That word is ἀλάλητος (al-al'-ay-tos).  As very clearly laid out in the LSJ Greek dictionary, ἀλάλητος (al-al'-ay-tos)  literally means "unspeakable, unutterable." 

Thus praying in the Spirit doesn't involve any sound, unless one has the gift of languages, and they want to pray in the Spirit in those tongues/languages.  Else, praying in the Spirit is literally soundless, and can be done all the time, non-stop.  This is the type of praying in the Spirit that involves:

Ephesians 6:18a NRSVue
Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication.

and

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NRSVue
pray without ceasing

Returning to our main subject, we see that the term Born Again is literal.  Our Spirit is literally born again as a new creation in Christ at the moment we are baptized in the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, where we become a body part with specific functions that God equips us with giftings in order to accomplish.  

This is the spiritual redemption.  What about the rest of what's been messed up since sin entered our realm?  What about our bodies?  What about earth?  What about outer space?

The Redemption of our Bodies

The first thing redeemed is our spirits upon salvation.  This is what makes us new creations in Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:16-18 NRSVue
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;

We receive the Holy Spirit upon the moment of salvation.  Not only is this via the Baptism of the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, but we are also sealed with the Holy Spirit, which is a mark of a promise.

Ephesians 1:13-14 NRSVue
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

This mark - the seal of the Holy Spirit serves multiple purposes:

1) As we see in Revelation, it provides protection to the Christians during the first half of the Tribulation

2) It's a pledge, or promise that the redemption of our bodies will occur in the future.  This happens in the middle of the tribulation during the seventh trumpet, when our bodies are changed from these bodies affected by sin, into bodies born again (resurrected) as sinless bodies - no longer affected by sin.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NRSVue
Look, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

Revelation 10:7 NRSVue
but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”

Romans 8:23 NRSVue
and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

Thus, our spirits are redeemed when we are born again.  Our bodies will be redeemed at the Rapture, when our bodies are changed or resurrected into imperishable bodies no longer affected by sin.

What about the rest of creation?  What about the earth and outer space?  When will they be redeemed?

The Redemption of the Rest of Creation

2 Peter 3:7 NRSVue
But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless.

Revelation 21:1 NRSVue
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

This event occurs at the Great White Throne Judgement, where God will deal with every single evil person who ever existed.  Once this is done, outer space and earth are recreated anew, without the effects of sin upon them.

To Summarize

Salvation is all about being redeemed from sin and its effects.  This begins with the person being baptized in the Holy Spirit which puts them into the Body of Christ, of which the fruits of that salvation will be evident in how they live their lives, and in their doing their function as their specific part of the Body of Christ.  This is the redemption of the inner person, and occurs during this age.  

At the Rapture, those who have the redeemed spirits will then receive the redemption of their bodies. They will no longer be in sinful flesh, but in sinless flesh as we were meant to be.

After the Great White Throne Judgement the heavens and earth are recreated anew - this is the cosmic and terrestrial redemption of all of the rest of creation.  Then the beginning has concluded, and eternity takes hold.