How can I know I've been filled with the Holy Spirit?
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Introduction
Azuza Street
Since the Azusa Street Revival in 1904, people of Pentecostal or charismatic persuasion have firmly believed that there is a separate experience from conversion. They called this experience “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” For over 80 years, evangelicals resisted this concept, saying that we receive everything there is to have at conversion and should not expect a second experience. The evangelical world was shaken when the great theologian and Bible teacher, Martyn Lloyd Jones, said that he had come to believe they were indeed two separate experiences. This is now very widely accepted in Christian circles.
The question is – what form should this experience take, and is it necessarily separate from conversion?
Terminology
Firstly, let’s clarify terminology.
The first experience has many names such as: Conversion/ Becoming a Christian/Committing your life to Christ/Being born again/Receiving Christ/Accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour. Lloyd Jones prefers the word Regeneration. As a seven- year old, I understood it as "I invited Jesus into my heart." We do it once in time by repentance and faith.
The second experience was for many years called “Baptism in the Holy Spirit.” While I believe in the reality of this experience, I think that “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” is incorrect terminology. The word “baptism” in the Bible, whether water baptism or baptism by the Spirit, always refers to a starting experience. The phrase “baptised by the Spirit” in Cor 12:13 refers to conversion. The second experience should rather be called “the filling of the Spirit” or “receiving the Spirit,” as it is in the book of Acts.
From now on in this article I will refer to the first experience as “Conversion,” and the second experience as “Filling/receiving the Spirit.”
Antinomy
Antinomy is an apparent contradiction of teachings. These are common in the Bible. We cannot explain them away, we simply have to believe both truths.
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There is undoubtedly an antinomy involved in the idea of conversion and the filling of the Spirit as separate experiences.
On one side of the antinomy goes like this: We cannot be born again but by the Spirit of God. If we are born of the Spirit, how can we still need to receive the Spirit? Paul says, “We were all baptised by one Spirit into one body, and were all given one Spirit to drink.” (I Cor 12:13.) This is clearly referring to conversion, and is something that all Christians have experienced. If we have “all been given one Spirit to drink,” then surely we can’t also be “filled with the Spirit” as a separate experience. Also, at the moment of conversion, Christ comes to live in us. And if Christ, who is the fullness of God in bodily form, lives in us, then there can be nothing more to receive.
This is all good hermeneutics. Nevertheless, the Bible also clearly teaches two experiences. This is indeed an antinomy.
One explanation is that there are three persons to the Trinity, and is not impossible to imagine that we might experience the receiving of Christ and the receiving of the Spirit as separate experiences. But antimonies are seldom explained that simply.
The book of Acts.
A great deal of teaching about the Holy Spirit has been based on the book of Acts. Now we always have to be careful when drawing doctrine out of the narrative sections of the Bible. There are two rules of thumb which we must always apply.
First, the teaching sections must always interpret the narrative sections of the Bible. Similarly, Scripture must interpret our experiences, not the other way round. Don’t teach the experience, experience the teaching.
Secondly, we can only draw doctrine out of narrative when something occurs the same way virtually every time.
Baptism
Let us take baptism as an example. Baptism is one case where it seems safe to draw a conclusion from a narrative section of the Bible.
There are 10 recorded cases of conversion in the book of Acts. Look at the table below.
In nine out of the ten, the people are baptized on the same day that they repent and believe. The only exception is the apostle Paul, for whom it was impossible, because he was struck blind. Only three days later when Ananias came to him, and he received at his sight, was he baptized. I would argue that his conversion was only completed on the third day, in which case we can say that in all ten cases, people were baptized on the same day they were converted.
From this I safely deduce that the correct way to baptize people is on the day they are converted.
Interestingly, very few churches do it this way: some baptize people too early (even as babies); some baptize too late – almost as a sign that you are now really good Christian, which was never th intended use of baptism. Both are incorrect - Baptism is the sign of beginning and initiation, and should take place on the day of conversion.
Receiving the Holy Spirit.
When we come to the subject of the filling with the Holy Spirit, however, the situation in the book of Acts is very different.
In six out of the ten accounts of conversion, there is no reference at all to people receiving the Holy Spirit. I take this to mean that it is more common than not for people to receive the Spirit at the same moment as conversion - common, but not a rule. As you think back to your conversion, if it was accompanied by strong emotion - especially joy, love of God’s word, love of being with the people of God, or gratitude for being cleansed - I strongly suspect that you were filled with the Spirit at that time.
Now we’re going to look at the five cases where the filling with the Holy Spirit is specifically mentioned. They are these: The disciples on the day of Pentecost; the first Jewish converts on the day of Pentecost; the first Samaritans; the first Gentiles; and twelve men in Ephesus. Other than the men in Ephesus, each of these represents a new breakthrough for the church, and many believe that the filling with the Spirit in these cases was made clear, separate and evident precisely because they represented a new departure. The men at Ephesus do not fit into this pattern.
I have gone through all five of the stories very carefully and have listed things which took place as evidence that the people concerned were filled with the Holy Spirit.
Have a good look at the chart below. What do you notice?
There is no pattern at all.
If there is one characteristic for the receiving of the Spirit, it is that it will vary widely from person to person.
This is a characteristic of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 3: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” (The word for wind and Spirit in Greek are the same – ‘ruarch.’) You cannot put wind in a box; once you do, you have air, but not wind. A key characteristic of the Spirit is that he is free and won't be put in a box.
Jesus also made a habit of treating different people in different ways. We are given four accounts of Jesus healing blind men.
The striking thing is that he never repeated his method – everyone was different.
It would, of course, be absurd for each of them to start their own church – the church of the One Touch; the church of the Second Touch; the church of the Mud; the church of Siloam.
Conclusion: Four Affirmations
1. There are two separate events in the Christian life – conversion, and the filling with the Spirit. These may happen at the same time, or they may happen at separate times.
2. The filling with the Spirit is something greatly to be desired. If you are not sure if you have received the Spirit, you are fully entitled to ask for it. We are meant to know that we have been filled with the Spirit – that is what gives us confidence and victory in our Christian lives. It might be helpful to think back over your Christian life and see if there was any time when you were really “turned on” for God. If your conversion was accompanied by very strong emotions, you probably were filled with the Spirit then. We are entitled, in faith, to ask for this assurance. If nothing further happens after this, you should move forward in confidence that you had been filled with the Spirit.
3. There is no pattern for how these experiences must happen in our lives. If there is one “sign” above all others, I suspect it would be joy. The gift of tongues is not the evidence that you are filled with the Spirit, and if you have not spoken in tongues it does not mean that you are not filled with Spirit. Nevertheless, tongues did accompany filling with the Spirit on three out of the five occasions in the book of Acts, and it has been a gift given to millions over the last century at the time of the filling with the Spirit. It is not the “touchstone,” but don’t knock it - it has been a blessing and source of assurance to many.
4. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is not he is not like eggs, that can go rotten, so it is probably not helpful to pray “for afresh on me.” And he is not petrol – he doesn’t leak out. Once we have been filled with the Spirit, he remains in us, and it is our responsibility, joy and privilege to live that out on a daily basis.
Postscript.
You can read of my own experience in the Holy Spirit here.
I had four distinct experiences spread over 30 years – My conversion; my filling with the Spirit; my assurance that I was filled with the Spirit; and the gift of tongues.
The gift of tongues came years after my filling with the Spirit, and was very valuable to me for some years. By the way, I was one of those who scorned the idea of making sounds to kind of “prime the pump” for speaking in tongues. Eventually, I had to eat humble pie and do exactly that. I had always thought that speaking in tongues was (excuse me) like vomiting – something that happened to you involuntarily. This is not so – “They spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance” - they did the speaking. That came as a surprise to me.
I do not tell this story in order to suggest a pattern others should experience – quite the contrary. There is no pattern - everyone's experience is likely to be different. That's part of the delight.