Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 12-13
Unity: The Gift of the Spirit – Continued
Please review 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 for background to this section.
Some students have categorized the various gifts as the speaking gifts, the sign gifts, and the serving gifts. However, we should not be so fascinated by the individual gifts that we forget the main reason why Paul listed them: to remind us that they unite us in our ministries to the one body. The Holy Spirit bestows these gifts “as He will,” not as we will. No Christian should complain about his or her gifts, nor should any believer boast about his or her gifts. We are many members in one body, ministering to each other.
We have experienced the same baptism (verses 12-13). It is unfortunate that the term “baptism of the Spirit” has been divorced from its original New Testament meaning. God has spoken to us in Spirit-given words which we must not confuse (1 Corinthians 2:12-13). The baptism of the Spirit occurs at conversion when the Spirit enters the believing sinner, gives him new life, and makes his body the temple of God. All true believers have experienced this once-for-all baptism (1 Corinthians 12:13). It is the seal of the Spirit that we now belong to Christ. Nowhere does the Scripture command us to seek this baptism, because we have already experienced it and it doesn’t need to be repeated. In Ezekiel 36:26, God promised this “baptism” to all who turn to Him, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (love).”
The “filling of the Spirit” however, (Ephesians 5:18-21) has to do with the Spirit’s control of our lives. (In Scripture, to be filled by something means “to be controlled by.”) We are commanded to be filled, and we can be if we yield all to Christ and ask Him for the Spirit’s filling. This is a repeated experience, for we constantly need to be filled with spiritual power if we are to glorify Christ and allow our lives to exalt Him. To be baptized by the Spirit means that we belong to Christ’s body. To be filled with the Spirit means that our bodies belong to Christ.
The evidence of the Spirit’s baptism at conversion is the witness of the Spirit within and the actions of a changed heart to one of love for others (Romans 8:14-16; 2 Corinthians 5:17). I’m sorry that this might offend some of my brothers and sisters, but the evidence is not “speaking in tongues.” The evidence is our witness and our love. All of the believers in the Corinthian assembly had been baptized by the Spirit, but not all of them spoke in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:30). The evidences of the Spirit’s filling are: love for others (1 John 4:7-11), power for witnessing (Acts 1:8), joyfulness and submission (Ephesians 5:19-21), Christlikeness (Galatians 5:22-26), and a growing understanding of the Word (John 16:12-15).
Because of the gift of the Spirit, which is received at conversion, we are all members of the body of Christ, which is witnessed by “the Spirit Himself” (Romans 8:16). Race, social status, wealth, or even sex (Galatians 3:28) are neither advantages nor handicaps as we fellowship and serve the Lord.
To Be Continued
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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