Immersion With the Holy Spirit - Specific and Temporary

When the church began (at the cross), there were two immersions for the kingdom, water immersion and immersion IN the Holy Spirit.  However, by the time Paul writes Eph. 4:5, the church was down to one immersion.  Either the water immersion or the immersion IN the Holy Spirit had been done away with.  Below I will demonstrate that the Holy Spirit immersion was temporary and done away with and only water immersion remains.  If the Holy Spirit immersion remains, then there is no reason to be immersed in water any more.  I will deal with water immersion in a separate comment.
== HOLY SPIRIT IMMERSION ==
=== Matt. 3:11-16; Mark 1:4-9; Luke 3:3-22; John 1:15-34 ===
John speaks of water immersion and immersion in the Holy Spirit.  He does not negate water immersion by speaking of immersion in the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus is immersed, He is immersed in water.  The Holy Spirit descends and lights upon Jesus in the form like a dove, but Jesus is not actually said to be immersed in the Holy Spirit here.
So it would be Jesus who does the immersing with the Holy Spirit and we must see where the Bible says it happened to understand what is meant by this immersion.
=== John 14-17 ===
Jesus has His last meal with the men who would become Apostles (save Paul who was born out of due season and Matthias who was selected later).  He gives them final instructions about what would be given to them to help with the establishment of the church/kingdom.  A big part of this is the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, who already dwelled with them (John 14:17) and would be in them.  This Comforter would teach them all things and bring all things that Jesus had spoken unto them to their memory.
It is important to note, that this CANNOT apply to anyone today because Jesus has not spoken in this way to any of us.  This was a declaration to and about the Apostles only for the purpose of the establishment of the church.  No one can logically justify applying this to men today without eisegesis.
=== Acts 1:2-5 ===
The last thing Jesus tells His Apostles is to go to Jerusalem and wait and there they, the Apostles, would be immersed WITH the Holy Spirit.  This command is specific and pertains only to them, not to anyone else.
=== Acts 1:26-2:4 ===
The context here is the Apostles (including Matthias).  I'm going to break this down grammatically because some want to say it was the 120, which is incorrect.
26 And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. 1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Matthais was numbered with the apostles and on the day of Pentecost THEY were in one place.  THEY refers back to the apostles in 1:26, not to the 120 disciples all the way back in 1:15.  So the context is the 12, not the 120.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Again, where THEY were sitting refers to the Apostles.  This is a house, not a theater, so 120 people makes no sense.  So it is the Apostles who were immersed with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter as Jesus had said.
From this point, no one else is said to be immersed with or in the Holy Spirit until Acts 10-11.  Everyone else who received the Holy Spirit received Him by the laying on of the Apostles hands, nor could anyone else pass on the Holy Spirit this way save the Apostles.
=== Acts 10-11 - Cornelius ===
10:44-45 "44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.  45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost."
As Peter is speaking to them, the Holy Ghost comes on them which were hearing the gospel being preached.  We'll see in chapter 11 this happens as Peter begins to speak, so they receive the Holy Ghost before hearing the whole message which is the good news that saves them.  The gift here is the gospel message, the Holy Ghost's gift, the rivers of living water being poured out.
That's not our purpose here, though, but the actual interaction with the Holy Spirit is.  So what does Peter say in Acts 11 when recounting this?  Peter recounts in Acts 11:15-16 - "And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. 16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost."
Peter has to reach back all the way to the "beginning" (Pentecost) to find a comparable event.  He associates this with the immersion with the Holy Ghost.  If immersion with the Holy Ghost was a common occurrance, then Peter's words make no sense and he wouldn't have highlighted his memory of the Lord.  If this was a common occurance instead of a special instance, Peter would have said something like, "And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on Jephunneh and his household the other day in Joppa."
You see, this was a special event that the Gentiles were being added to the church (vs. 18) to show that God chose them, not Peter or any other Apostle by the laying on of hands.  The immersion with the Holy Spirit was to the Jews represented by the Apostles (not to all individuals) and to the Gentiles (represented by Cornelius and his household, not all individual Gentiles).
== Conclusion ==
In conclusion, to argue that men today are immersed with the Holy Spirit as with these two recorded events (and the implied one with the Apostle Paul), is to make a claim from these verses without any reference to their context whatsoever.
The book of Ephesians is written after Cornelius and them had received the immersion with the Holy Spirit, and with no more reasons for immersion with the Holy Spirit, we must conclude that the one immersion of Eph. 4:5 is not immersion with the Holy Spirit.
In Truth and Love.
Category:Denominationalism