No Other Name

Joel 2:28-29 (ESV) “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 

I am going to begin with this text in Joel because it is one of the scriptures that speaks in the Old Testament of what we believe was prophesied to take place and then actually took place in Acts 2 and forward. I can use this text this way simply because it was used this way by Peter, although he used more of the passage in Joel. Peter says, under the powerful anointing of the Lord Jesus Christ, that what was taking place in the upper room was a fulfillment of this prophecy in Joel. So what took place in Acts 2 was what was meant, prophetically, by this text in Joel.

Matthew 3:11 (ESV) “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Mk 1:8; Lk 3:16; Jn 1:33; Acts 1:4-5)

As you can see above, all four of the Gospels reference this promise/prophecy of the Lord Jesus concerning his Baptizing with the Holy Spirit as does the book of Acts. This also makes for something important to note, each of the writers, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saw fit to place this in the scriptures. Also note that Jesus is the one who does the baptizing with the Holy Spirit and not us; although we can be participants, it is His work and not ours. So important was it that this distinction be made that when it came to Baptizing in Water, Jesus did not do this, rather it was his Disciples (Jn 4:1-2) who did the baptizing of repentance in and with water. Therefore Jesus kept these Baptisms separate.

So we see that this Baptism with the Holy Spirit was prophesied by the Prophet Joel. We also see that it was prophesied by the Prophet John the Baptist, and that Jesus would be the one who did the Baptizing. We also see that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was to be even as the Baptism of John, something that we would totally be immersed into.

John 20:21-22 (ESV) Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Now this text I think is important. The simple reason for that is that this text is post Resurrection, pre-Ascension and pre-Pentecost. Jesus has risen and is now making himself known to the disciples in locked room on Easter evening. Verse twenty-one is their commissioning, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” It is at this point they truly are given their apostolic commission, to go forth as the Father had sent Jesus and as Jesus was sending them. Jesus, however, would later add that they would have to wait in the city before going forth until they were fully endowed with power from on high, the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is also then in verse 22 that we see Jesus breath on them, saying “Receive the Holy Spirit”.  The breathing on them here is reminiscent of Genesis 2:7 and Eze 37:9; which speaks of receiving the breath of life from the Lord God himself, an actual blowing upon them. In this case this blowing upon them would have to speak of the breath of new life that can only be found in and through Christ Jesus post resurrection and thus is the product of Salvation by grace through faith. This breathing is also an aorist imperative, meaning that it denotes a single act of reception, as opposed to a continuous or repeated action of filling (see for example Eph 5:18; Acts 4:31). Yes, they did receive the Spirit of the living God even as Jesus breathed on them, but this was not yet Pentecost nor was this breathing and receiving of the Spirit for that purpose.

 RCH Lenski in his Interpretation of ST. John’s Gospel, pg 1373, states concerning this passage that, “No difficulty exists between this present gift of the Spirit and that given fifty days later on Pentecost.” He also goes on to say, “So it is Easter evening when Jesus gives the Spirit to these disciples. They all received the Spirit for him to work in them personally, for him to implant in them the revelation Jesus here communicated to them and reported in Luke 24:44-48. This was still a preliminary stage, not yet the final one of Pentecost,”

It seems to me that this is what it is going on; the Apostles are receiving the Holy Spirit as one does when they are born again. It could not have taken place any time before this as the work of the cross must have first been completed and the resurrection of Christ Jesus made manifest. So, it is the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit within one as a result of God’s saving grace, through the faith of God in Christ Jesus, no more and no less. This is clearly not that which was promised in Joel or in the Gospels and which takes place in Acts 2. No, we simply see that there are two separate things taking place here. When one receives Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior they also receive the Holy Spirit into their lives as a fresh breath of life from the Lord Jesus. This is not however, the same as what took place on Pentecost. It is simply a precursor as in one must be truly born again to be Baptized with the Holy Spirit.

J Rodman Williams in his Systematic Theology, Vol 2 (Zondervan), page 173n, 61 states:

“Thus the coming of the Spirit is not to be confused with Jesus breathing on the disciples and saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). This insufflation of the Spirit occurred on the day of Jesus resurrection; Jesus had not yet gone “away”. Recall from our previous discussion (in chap 2, “Regeneration”) that the resurrected Lord breathed the Holy Spirit into the disciples for the restoration of life-regeneration. Thereby the Holy Spirit came to dwell within them. Thus on their behalf Jesus’ words were fulfilled: “He dwells with you and will be in you” (John 14:17). But the Holy Spirit had not yet come from the ascended Lord for ministering the gospel.”

For this, they would have to wait until Pentecost.