◄ Baptized Into-Filled With ►

  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27).

The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Lord Jesus, and fills us with Him.

"The one spiritual baptism positions the believer in Christ' (Rom. 6:3, 4; Gal. 3:27; Col. 2:12), and into His Body (1 Cor. 12:13). Since this position in the Lord Jesus is unchangeable, and eternal, the baptizing work of the Spirit is not repeatable. One in Christ' positionally, can never again through all eternity be out of Christ' positionally, as that position depends wholly upon the efficacy of the finished redemptive work of the Son, and does not hinge upon human merit or faithfulness.

"The filling with the Spirit, on the other hand, is repeatable (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17), and is, in fact, a continuous process, as it conditions mutable experience, and has nothing whatever to do with immutable position. Christian position is effected by the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of the new birth. Christian experience is affected by the filling with the Holy Spirit. One effects our position, the other affects our condition." -M.U.

"The Holy Spirit gives a living knowledge; His light is the light of life; He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' We see the Father and the Son as seeing us. When we behold them by the ministry of the Spirit it is as beholding us with infinite love, and bestowing upon us the blessings of grace. We know because we are known. Thou Father, Thou Son, seest me' is the immediate consciousness of the soul, when there is spiritual perception of the Father. In other words, love, petition, listening to the Father's voice, receiving the love and peace of the Lord Jesus, fellowship, are invoked in this knowledge." -A.S.

"The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13:14).