Dr Paul Allen

Essentially, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a doorway leading from a natural realm into a supernatural realm of life and experience. The average Christian, although truly professing Christ, operates largely on his own power, making his own decisions, living by his own strength, and controlling his own life.  But through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Christian steps out of this natural realm into a realm where he can begin to experience the supernatural gifts and powers of God’s Holy Spirit. The initial evidence of entering this supernatural realm is the ability to speak in other tongues. (See Part II for a discussion of tongues.) But that is just the beginning. If all that happened to the 120 people at Pentecost had been that they began to speak in tongues, their experience would soon have been forgotten.  The same is true today. If all that happens to one receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit is that he speaks in tongues, then he is not forging ahead in faith into...

Through many writers and in a variety of ways, God has used the Spirit-inspired Scriptures “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17, NRSV). Scripture is one aspect of the Spirit’s mission of creating and sustaining spiritual life. He both authors and speaks through the Bible, which is ultimately the Spirit’s book. By means of Scripture, he bears witness to Jesus Christ, guides the lives of believers, and exercises authority in the church. But while the Spirit speaks first and foremost in Scripture, the New Testament writers believed that his guidance of believers would go “beyond the sacred page.” When, for example, Paul prays that God will “give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better,” he’s asking for much more than for copies of the New Testament (an anachronistic thought) to be distributed (Eph. 1:...