CAN ONE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AND NOT REALIZE IT?

This is true of other things in life. A man might be rich without realizing it. He might have family that he does not know about. He may well have powers and abilities within him that he does not realize he has. And it is often the case in a negative way: one may have debts that he doesn’t know about, and many are there who have or have had cancer without realizing that dreaded disease had long been with them. There does not seem to be a necessary connection between a reality in one’s life and an awareness of that reality. God may be working in our lives in unnumbered ways that we do not know about. If only those blessings were ours that we are aware of in a definite way, we would surely have fewer blessings. It could be argued that it is better for us to be aware of the things God is doing in our lives, especially in reference to the mission of the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean that we always are.

It is to the point that the apostle should ask the Corinthians “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Cor. 13:5) This is to say that Jesus might well be within one without that person having an adequate grasp of the reality. And this is how Jesus dwells within, through his Holy Spirit. Paul is even more direct in 1 Cor. 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?” This suggests that they did not know, or at least that their grasp was very shallow. The Corinthians seemed to have had the Spirit without realizing it.

The language in Gal. 3 is similar: “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” They had obviously become confused, even to the point of foolish behavior. But this did not change the reality of what God had given them. They began in the Spirit whether they realized it or not, and they had received the Spirit, however vague this was to them at Paul’s writing.

If a woman can be pregnant with child without realizing it, she may be filled with the Holy Spirit without realizing it. We all know love, joy and peace when we see them, but we may not realize, and the person who manifests such graces, may not realize that they are the fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit may be with and within the believer, ministering to him and through him in all sorts of ways, without his being aware of the source of the power. The Spirit may be praying for us to the Father when we are completely unaware of it, as per the promise of Rom. 8:26.

On the other hand, the Spirit may be hindered in his ministry in us through our failure to realize and appreciate his presence. It is noteworthy that Paul would say “Be filled with the Spirit” to people who had already received the Spirit when they accepted Christ (Eph. 1:13,5:18). To tell people to be filled with a reality that they already have may be something like telling a man to appropriate the fortune he has inherited, which he does not seem to realize he has. The apostle complains to the Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16), which shows that their problems may have stemmed from their failure to realize who and what they were. But they were Christ’s Body and they did have the Spirit dwelling within them, whether they realized it or not.

I recently heard a brother tell a congregation of his experience of being “baptized with the Holy Spirit,” as he put it. At the time he was so “baptized” he had been a Christian for many years. He kept referring to that dramatic moment as the time he received the Spirit, and he testified to the peace and joy that this had brought into his life. He is now kinder and more loving, he said, a better husband and a better person, and he now has the conviction that Christ lives in him. All this is impressive, and we all rejoice when a brother like that finds a closer walk with the Lord. There is no way to argue against a changed life.

As we drove home, I told Ouida that I see no reason for calling his experience the “baptism of the Holy Spirit.” After all, that is not a scriptural term and it may be a misleading concept. Why not just say that this brother came to realize what had been his all the time? That is glorious enough, without elevating it and isolating it to the place where it becomes something special, something for only a few of God’s children. The apostles nowhere enjoin the believers to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Nowhere is it implied in scripture that one becomes a Christian, and then some years later he is to have a “baptism” experience and receive the Spirit. To the contrary, the apostles recognize that believers already have the Spirit. Acts 2:38 makes it clear that they receive the Spirit as a gift at the time they believe and obey Christ. But now and again the apostles urge the believers to realize what God has given them and to use it for their strength and His glory.

To talk about being “baptized in the Spirit” and the joy and peace that this brings can be both confusing and discouraging to others. It sounds like something special, something that came to this person but to few if any others. The rest of the congregation is left to wonder why God singled him out of all the rest. He got “baptized” through special prayers or by the laying on of hands, but even so it may or may not come, and so the joy and peace that he speaks of comes only through a special act on the part of God. I simply do not believe this, and I am certain that it is contrary to the scriptures.

Joy and peace are the fruit of the indwelling Spirit, which is for all believers, not the result of a “baptism” which is for a special few. Paul told the Galatians that God had given them the Spirit “because you are sons” (4:6). In 5:5 he tells them that the Spirit gives them hope. In 5:16 he urges them to walk by that Spirit, and goes on to list love, joy and peace as fruit of the Spirit. He says not one word about their being baptized in the Spirit. They received the Spirit when they became believers (“Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? see 3:2-3) They all had the Spirit because they were all in Christ; they were all to bear the fruit of love, joy and peace. If joy was to come some other way, through some special “baptism,” that would have been a good place for Paul to have said so.

So, here is what I think our brother was really saying: “All these years I have had a heavenly Guest living within me and didn’t realize it. Like a man living atop a gold mine, I have lived in poverty while being rich. Recently the Lord caused me to realize what he has done for me. So now I do not live by my own strength or by law-keeping, but by his love and grace through his indwelling Spirit. The Lord gave me all this when I turned to him in faith and obedience many years ago. But legalism and self-sufficiency quenched the Spirit. Now I realize what he has done for me and how much more he can do for me. Now I have a joy that I never realized to be possible. I am a better man and a better husband and father because of it. I am walking by that Spirit and rejoicing in the harvest he has in my life.”

That fits the scriptures, and that would be encouraging to a congregation, for all could relate to it, recognizing that they too might have resources of strength that they have not known about. But to talk of this in terms of a special “baptism” only causes saints to wonder why they have been left out. That is the glory of it. None of us has been left out. With faith and baptism comes not only the remission of sins but God’s Spirit as a gift. And that Spirit is within us to minister to us and through us, to “help” us, as Paul puts it. He is in all of us, whether we realize it or not. It is obviously better that we realize it and appropriate the blessings. Once this realization comes, a brother may be misled to call it “the baptism of the Holy Spirit,” and I am not going to fall out with him over the terminology, even though I disagree. Once the truth of the indwelling Spirit transforms his life, let him say in the language of Eph. 5:18, “I have been filled with the Spirit,” which is to say that, like the Ephesians, he has become inebriated with what has been his all along without realizing it. That will make it clear that we can all have the same awakening and the same blessings, without going to Grace Temple or somewhere so that some “Spirit-filled” preacher can lay hands on us. Like the Ephesians, we can all be “Spirit-filled” by “hearing the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believing In him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” —Ed.