Water and Spirit (AI generated image)
This is Part 3 in a series about the timing and precedent of receiving the Holy Spirit.
In Part 1, we saw that Jesus was first baptized, and then he received the Holy Spirit. In Part 2, we saw that the prescribed order of “first baptism, and then the Holy Spirit” for new covenant believers finds its precedent in Jesus’ baptism and subsequent reception of the Holy Spirit.
Now, in Part 3, I will examine the Holy Spirit’s role in the salvation process with the following questions in mind:
Popular doctrinal positions teach that a convert receives the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit at or during the moment of salvation. Depending on the particular position, one must receive the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit can perform his function in bringing one to salvation.What about the doctrinal position that a convert receives the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation in order for the Spirit to work salvation? Doesn’t Romans 8:9 say you can’t be a Christian if you have not received the indwelling Spirit?
And that moment differs depending on the doctrinal tradition, which may happen:
- in order to produce saving faith for the convert;
- in water baptism for the forgiveness of sins;
- during a sinner’s prayer;
- at the initial moment of coming to faith in Jesus;
- immediately after water baptism, so that the moment of salvation includes and culminates with an after-baptism Spirit reception.
Regardless of when and how these positions teach that one becomes saved, and they vary, the commonality is that they all require receiving the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit in order for God to work salvation, as a necessity in the process of salvation. And therefore, if one does not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, then he cannot possibly be saved (with Romans 8:9 being a key proof text). Many influential theologians teach that the moment the Spirit works salvation for the convert (which hinges on receiving the forgiveness of sins) is the time when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the convert (sometimes also called the baptism of the Holy Spirit).
What I hope to show here is that these doctrinal positions incorrectly conflate the Holy Spirit’s role and function in the process of salvation with what it means to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The two are not the same thing. They are not the same work or function, although the same Spirit works them.
God prepares the house before he comes to live in it. God cleanses the temple of impurity before he dwells there. But more so than these crude metaphors, God’s presence in the Holy Spirit is a gift he gives to the repentant believer upon obedience to his conditions for receiving the gift of his presence (Acts 2:38). He does not normatively give the gift of his presence before or in mid-process (I say normative, of course, in light of the exceptions of Acts 8 and Acts 10, which I will discuss in Parts 4 and 5). This is why one must not conflate the Spirit’s work in the salvation process with what it means to receive him once he has done that work. The consequent does not come before the antecedent; neither are the antecedent and consequent a simultaneous event.
what is the Holy Spirit’s role in the salvation process?
First, the Spirit is the one who gives life (John 6:63, 2 Corinthians 3:6). That God works salvation for an individual ultimately means that he brings him to life from his position of death from sin, which includes justification (forgiveness) and regeneration.
Since it is the Spirit who gives life, this is why we must be born of him (John 3:5-6). This means that it is the Spirit who is doing the life-giving work. God, through the agency and personhood of his Spirit, rebirths us into newness of life. This is closely tied to the concept of justification (forgiveness) that God works for the one who is dead from sin.
It should not, then, come as a surprise that God by his Spirit also specifically washes, sanctifies, and justifies us (1 Corinthians 6:11). In fact, the Spirit saves us by his washing of regeneration and renewal (Titus 3:5). We are saved through the sanctification by the Spirit (2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2).
Please note that no New Testament writer speaks about the Spirit’s work in salvation as either being the result of or definition of having received his indwelling presence in the gift of the Holy Spirit, nor is it conflated with the language of receiving the indwelling gift of the Spirit. Instead, the Spirit’s work of salvation is that which is necessary in order to bring an individual to forgiveness and new life so that he may then receive him as the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The Spirit does not indwell the sinner so that he may save him or while he is saving him; he saves the sinner so that he may then indwell him. For Jesus gives the gift of the Spirit upon obedience to the conditions of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins, which by default includes the completion of the Spirit’s working the forgiveness of sins (justification) and raising to new life (regeneration) within the stated condition.
Scripture normatively views receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit as a benefit for the one who has been saved. It is God’s promise of his indwelling presence that he gives as a gift to the one who obeys the gospel conditions.
when does the Spirit do his work of salvation?
We know the Spirit saves us by justifying us by his washing of regeneration and renewal:
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7 NIV)
The reason why Paul here equates the Spirit’s saving work of “rebirth and renewal” with “having been justified” is because forgiveness births new life. It is the forgiveness of sins that clears the slate and results in a rebirth. The Spirit brings what was dead, but is now forgiven, back to life, to new life, regenerated and renewed. This is the specific timing of the crossover from death to life (Ephesians 2:5-6). It is hard to imagine justification not resulting in new life, for justification is life. This is why the Spirit’s “washing” is the time and occasion for the forgiveness of sins. In his “washing,” he is doing his work of salvation based on the convert’s faith and repentance. And the occasion of this washing, this change from death to life, is the prerequisite condition for receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Understanding that the Spirit specifically washes, sanctifies, and justifies us (1 Corinthians 6:11), does any scripture show us the occasion when the Spirit does this washing, this salvation work?
“The washing of rebirth and renewal” is a specific reference to the water baptism for the forgiveness of sins that Peter prescribed in Acts 2:38. We know this because of what Paul similarly describes as happening in the occasion of water baptism. In Colossians 2:11-14, we have the concepts of justification and regeneration happening in the moment and occasion of Peter’s prescribed water baptism:
11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. (Colossians 2:11-14)
Paul pictures in the occasion and process of water baptism God working the removal of “the body of flesh,” also justification (forgiveness), and also spiritual regeneration and renewal. Of course, it is not the water that is effectual, but God who works forgiveness in the occasion of water baptism for the repentant believer. We know the Spirit is the agent of God who specifically works justification, regeneration and renewal. In the moment of baptism, God removes the body of the flesh (the “circumcision” by the Spirit (Romans 2:29)), justifies (forgives) the convert, and regenerates and renews him, raising him with and in Christ. This is why Paul pictures as happening in baptism a death, burial, and resurrection for the one being baptized.
Let it no be lost on the reader that Paul, who wrote Titus 3:4-7, says virtually the same things here concerning the salvation work of the Spirit—that justification (the forgiveness sins) results in regeneration: “you who were dead in your trespasses…God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses” (Colossians 2:13). The difference, however, is that in Colossians, he is locating this saving, washing work of the Spirit in the water of baptism.
Romans 6:2-11 further provides clear support, at least for baptism being the occasion when the old, sinful self is crucified with Jesus, and the individual is united with Jesus in his death. Paul’s purpose in Romans 6 is to remind the Romans of exactly how they died to sin. So, death to sin is the controlling concept here. He says this death to sin happened in the water of baptism. In baptism, the old self is crucified with Christ. In light of what Paul says in Colossians 2:11-14 and Titus 3:4-7, we know that this putting to death of the old, sinful self is a part of the process of justification which also results in being united with Jesus in his resurrection, as that which the Spirit buries into the death of Jesus, he also resurrects, or in other words, regenerates and brings to new life. Paul here only hints at the regeneration in baptism that he more thoroughly explains in Colossians 2:11-14, because his focus is reminding the Romans of how they died to sin so that he may encourage them to live in such a way. The only way to die to sin is to submit to the Spirit’s working in the occasion of water baptism.
All these passages clearly show why baptism is for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), why it saves you (1 Peter 3:21), why Paul was told to be baptized and wash away his sins (Acts 22:16), why the washing of water with the word cleanses us (Ephesians 5:26), what it means to be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5), and so forth. Water baptism is a physical symbol of what God by his Spirit is working spiritually in its occasion.
And so, all these passages show that justification comes before receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. And therefore, justification cannot be a result of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit as indweller, as he is received subsequent to repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. The Spirit is the promise the convert receives after he has obeyed the conditions of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins, which means by default that the salvation work the Spirit does in baptism is complete before he comes to indwell the convert. Repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins are prerequisite conditions, because justification comes before Spirit indwelling. The Holy Spirit first justifies and regenerates a convert in the water of baptism, which is part of the conditional requirement to then be able to receive the gift of his indwelling presence.
I cannot emphasize enough that no scripture exists that teaches, says, conflates, or shows that the saving work of the Spirit within the conditions of repentance and baptism is what it means to receive him as the indwelling gift of the Spirit. The scriptural evidence aligns perfectly with the precedent we saw in Parts 1 and 2 of “first baptism, then the Holy Spirit.”
But what about Romans 8:9?
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)
In the context of this passage, Paul is not explaining the process of salvation, the occasion of the Spirit’s salvation work, or anything related to when or how someone becomes saved or when he receives the gift of the Spirit. Paul is talking about the proof of salvation, not its means. In other words, the proof that someone is a Christian is that he has received the Spirit’s indwelling presence, because the gift of the Holy Spirit is the promise given to those who obey the conditions to become saved (Acts 2:38).
This proof of the Spirit is seen in the life lived according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him because God only gives the Spirit to those who obey his conditions for receiving salvation. He gives the indwelling spirit to the saved for the purposes of aid in living accordingly. Paul is definitely not saying here that receiving the indwelling Spirit is the means of how, or occasion of when, someone becomes saved. We must reject any attempt to use this passage as proof to say that one receives the gift of the indwelling Spirit as a means of salvation.
In summary, we have seen that the salvation work the Spirit does happens in the prerequisite condition of repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. And when a convert submits to it and obeys it, God by his Spirit works salvation in it, specifically in the water of baptism, thus making the convert now eligible to receive the promised Holy Spirit as an indwelling presence, which is the consequent of the condition. And therefore, the Spirit’s work in salvation is of a different scope and timing than what it means to receive the gift of his indwelling presence; and thus it follows the precedent of “first baptism, and then the Holy Spirit.”
In Part 4, I will examine the infamous account of Acts 8 (the Samaritans) that has left many scratching their heads in trying to find a satisfactory resolution (and of which none exists when incorrectly conflating the Holy Spirit’s role and function in the process of salvation with what it means to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit).
