By Angus Harley

Not all, only some

The is the full quote of Assemblies of God on the baptism of the Spirit:

“All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4, 8; 1 Cor.12:1-31).[1]

The wording here is very measured: it does not say, ‘All believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit’, merely that, “All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek…the baptism of the Holy Spirit”. So, here it is in black and white: not all believers when they believe are baptized in the Spirit; only those who seek it are baptized in the Spirit.

One also needs that “physical sign”

In terms of physical life, what hard evidence shows that one is baptized in the Spirit, according to the AoG?

“The baptism of believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance.”

The baptism of the Spirit gives rise to an initial blessing of God, speaking with other tongues. This is not a blessing that is given in the middle, or at the end. It is at the beginning, when the baptism of the Spirit is given. The implication is plain: if one is baptized in the Spirit, it will be shown immediately by speaking with other tongues. Or to put matters as forcefully as the AoG’s wording demands: one cannot be baptized in the Spirit without the clear and immediate manifestation of speaking in tongues.

Two-tier elitist theology and experience of God

I know that not every continuationist signs off on the AoG’s teaching, but here is the hard fact of its position concerning baptism of the Spirit: it creates a two-tier elitist theology and experience of God. For, without the baptism of the Spirit, it is implied there is not, “the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of gifts and their use in the work of the ministry”. There is no implied gradation here, nothing suggesting a smaller ‘unction’ of the Spirit for a lesser form of service. It’s all or nothing! So, the Assembly of God has created the following type of Christian:

  • he is not baptized in the Spirit,
  • so he is not endued with power,
  • so that he cannot expect to, in the power of God, negotiate life,
  • or serve God,
  • or receive any gifts- never mind use them-
  • or take up the work of the ministry.

We are way, way beyond the idea of the Cessationists ‘missing out’ on tongue speaking and certain other gifts or blessings, for the AoG’s theology is two-tier elitism.

And since we are in the age of everyone telling their ‘story’, I can say that I have only ever been called a ‘heretic’ by one type: Charismatic Christians, two of which were ‘pastors’. I was told overtly to my face that I was, indeed, an inferior Christian by a Charismatic female believer. I did not have the Spirit as she did. One pastor said I could never experience the Spirit as ‘they’ did when singing choruses; only those of the Spirit could do so. No, I’m not making any of this up, or exaggerating! Why was I called a heretic? Because I ‘denied’ the baptism of the Spirit and speaking in tongues. Nor was this an environment on their part for an open discussion, or a debate from Scripture: it was their way and nothing else!

I have heard and read over the years that some continuationists reject this arrogance, seeing it as foolishness. Good for them! Yet, I personally have never seen or read any account where such continuationists openly engage and critique those who hold this two-tier elitism. I have read continuationists tell me they reject it, but I’ve never seen any of them ever engage an elitist to expose their folly. If you, reader, know of an actual instance, please drop a link. Thanks.

Simple truths about the baptism in the Spirit

Sadly, due to its tongue-speaking, elitist, agenda, the AoG ignores various factors about the baptism in the Spirit. Here’s a few of the simpler concepts.

The Spirit of Christ was poured out on the entire assembly of Christ, not just some. John the Baptist said, “ “I baptized you in water; But he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit”” (Mark 1:8, ASV). Apparently, if the AoG are correct, what John meant was that Jesus will baptize only some true believers with the Holy Spirit, for some will not seek it out! Also, Paul obviously did really mean it when he said, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor.12:13). I don’t need to get into the weeds here of “by” vs “in”. The simple point Paul is making is that one cannot be baptized into Christ’s body without the accompanying drinking of the Spirit and participating in one Spirit- one, mind you, not two, or a Spirit that accommodates two types of people. For just as there is one body, so there is one Christ, and one Spirit of Christ for his body. Oneness, not division, not tiers, is the order of the day. Thus, the body imagery. Just as important in 1 Corinthians 12 is that the nature of this body is that each member (believer) in it has a different Spiritual gift. Some do not speak in tongues. In fact, Paul puts this teaching in that very same negative manner:

“27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. 29 All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? 30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts.” (1 Cor.12:27-30)

Paul got this all wrong, of course, for to be baptized in the Spirit is to receive the gift of tongues, according to the prophets in the AoG!

Has it ever occurred to you continuationists that the presence of the outpouring of the Spirit in the New Covenant age was deliberately shaped to accommodate the transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant? That the old kingdom of the Jews, with its one language and its limited prophets, and its sporadic, even temporal and superficial, work of the Spirit (think of Saul) was now being surpassed by the languages of the kingdoms of the world, of the body being a prophetic body (in the sense laid down in Acts 2), of the Spirit’s presence being deep, rich, abiding, and permanent?

As NCTers, we are in poll position to develop this theology. Those of you afraid of it going down a Cessationist path should instead see it as an opportunity to work out the NCT hermeneutic.

[1] N.A., “Statement of Fundamental Truths,” Assemblies of God, accessed 8/18/26, https://ag.org/beliefs/statement-of-fundamental-truths.