Is every Christian meant to have the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

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The New Testament apostles thought so. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2) seemed to be a kind of watchword with the early church. And Peter’s plea in Acts 2:38 for both the acceptance of Christ as Lord and the receiving of the Holy Spirit is followed by a universal promise: “For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him” (Acts 2:39).

When Philip’s preaching in Samaria, as recorded in Acts 8, resulted in the conversion of multitudes to Christ, the apostles in Jerusalem quickly sent down Peter and John to minister to the new converts that they might be filled with the Holy Spirit, “for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 8:16).

It is important to note that while the apostles did not doubt the validity of the conversion of the Samaritans, they were still not content to leave them without this further vital experience of the power of God. Today, the majority of Christians seem to fit the description of those Samaritans. They have salvation but not the power to minister and witness which comes with Jesus’ baptism in the Holy Spirit.

If you are a Christian, you can and should have the baptism in the Holy Spirit.



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