Holy Spirit Baptism

The position paper on Spirit Baptism is very insightful and down to the point; in addition, Gordon L. Anderson’s article does an excellent job unpacking the missteps some Pentecostals have made in debating baptism in the Holy Spirit with those who disagree in the theological and scriptural teaching. Specifically, Anderson says, “These different positions have challenged Pentecostals, largely because they are based on biblical and experiential evidence that seems to be more coherent than that offered by some Pentecostals” (Anderson 3). His point is Pentecostals have gotten away from the position paper and decided to focus on mere sections or phrases rather than the whole of baptism in the Holy Spirit. For myself, growing up in a non-Pentecostal church, this position paper paired with Anderson’s article helped answer some of my own personal hesitations. For example, Anderson takes on one of the most valid objections to Pentecostal …show more content…
He writes, “The authors do not claim that all fullness, all reverence, all consecration, and all love come from the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but that something more is added to what God has already done” (Anderson 7, italics mine). This helped me greatly and gave me assurance that Pentecostals do not believe that they are the only ones who can do ministry effectively. However, Anderson doubles down on what was originally believed and should be believed today. He says,
Pentecostals do not believe all power and gifting for ministry occur only after the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Non-Pentecostals are certainly spiritually enabled for ministry. But the baptism in the Holy Spirit confers dramatically more power for ministry, especially in the supernatural realm of miracles, signs, and wonders; ministries that promote the apostolic or missionary call to plant the church and minister in the supernatural (Anderson