Empowered by the Spirit 1: Obeying Jesus’ command

The command of Jesus

 Jesus commanded his disciples to wait for the empowering of the Holy Spirit (Luke
24:49; Acts 1:4-5; 8).
 They obeyed this command and prayed, in unity, for many days for the Holy Spirit to
come (Acts 1:14; 2:1).
How do we obey this command today, and how do we pray in this way?

Wimber’s both/and
The wider church has often suffered from the paralysis of disagreement between Pentecostals
and conservative evangelicals over the biblical language about this, or what Wimber called the
problem of labels.
 Evangelicals believe regeneration is the same as being baptised in the Holy Spirit (1
Corinthians 12:13). Following Paul, and reading Paul into the narrative of Acts, they
teach that receiving the Spirit is simultaneous with conversion.
 Pentecostals, using the narrative of Luke-Acts, believe the baptism in the Spirit is an
empowering experience “subsequent” to regeneration.
Wimber argued that Paul and Luke use language differently, and do not mean the same thing
by this term. This was his conclusion:
It is a simple fact: God has a work of conversion; God has a work of empowerment. It
can occur simultaneously, it can occur sequentially, it can occur with a long
intermission in between the two, or it can occur in a short period of time, but the
bottom line is that it needs to occur. It is the infilling empowering of the church and
we need it in order to accommodate the work of God. Conversion is truly a baptism in
the Holy Spirit. There is no reason that we cannot use baptism to refer to subsequent
fillings of the Spirit as well, and I do.
This is a both/and statement.
Since Wimber wrote, many reputable biblical scholars have underlined what he said.
It is a fundamental principle of biblical interpretation that words have meaning in context,
that biblical writers each have their own language game, and one cannot force the language
use of one writer onto another.
Craig Keener says that in Luke, baptism in the Spirit refers to “his own special emphasis in his
narrative” which “usually lies on the more particular dimension of empowering for service”.
“Luke allows that, in some cases, people experienced this prophetic-empowerment dimension
shortly after, or (from a different perspective) as a later stage in their conversion process.”
Luke also uses the term “gift of the Spirit” differently.
Surveying the context of the references in Paul and (for the most part) John suggests
that the expression refers to conversion, which initiates a person into the continuing

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 life by the Spirit; by contrast, the context of the passages in Acts suggests especially
prophetic empowerment.

Two views of the Spirit

Therefore, to obey the authority of scripture, we need to embrace both Paul’s and Luke’s
teaching. They do not contradict one another, but they do show that there is more than one
work of the Holy Spirit.
For Paul,
1. To be converted and incorporated into Christ is to be baptised in the Holy Spirit (1
Corinthians 12:13).
2. To be a Christian is to have the Spirit living in you. If you do not have the Spirit, you
cannot be a Christian (Romans 8:9-11).
3. This receiving of the Spirit happens when we are regenerated, or born again (Titus
3:4-7).
For Luke, a cluster of terms describe what is essentially a prophetic, empowering work of the
Spirit:
1. The promise of the Father (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; 2:33),
2. Being clothed with power (Luke 24:49),
3. Being baptised with or in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5),
4. Receiving power when the Holy Spirit comes on you (Acts 1:8),
5. Being filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) and
6. Receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:17; 10:47).
Generally, this does not describe the work of the Spirit in conversion and regeneration.
So how should we resolve the Pentecostal/evangelical disagreement, and how should we
think about a simultaneous versus a subsequent receiving of the Spirit?

Kingdom of God lenses

There is no reason to have a problem with more than one work of the Spirit. The coming of
the Spirit is the same as the coming of the kingdom. The kingdom of God came, or broke
through, at multiple points.
1. In Luke 1-2 the dawning of the new age is announced. The story if filled with prophetic
and revelatory phenomena (Luke 1:11, 15, 26, 35, 41, 64, 67; 2:9-14; 25-32; 36-38).
We can truly affirm that the kingdom began to arrive from the births of John the
Baptist and Jesus (Luke 1:78-79).
2. The baptism of Jesus marks the moment when the messianic anointing came on him
(Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; 4:1,14).
3. Another key turning point of the kingdom was the transition between John the Baptist
and Jesus (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 11:11-15; Luke 16:16).
4. The whole ministry of Jesus, in words and works, represents the arrival of the
kingdom of God. His ministry of exorcism and healing demonstrates that the kingdom
is present (Luke 11:20; Luke 4:18-20).
5. The cross is explained as the Day of Judgement occurring in advance of the final Day of
Judgment (John 12:30-33).
6. The resurrection is supremely the revelation of the reality of the future age, because
Jesus’ risen body is the seed and prototype of the resurrection of all the dead in the
coming age (1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 42-56; Philippians 3:20-21).

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 7. The day of Pentecost is described by Peter as a phenomenon of the “last days” and the
Day of the Lord (Acts 2:17-21).
If we ask, is there “subsequence” here, the answer is yes, there are a whole series of moments,
each subsequent to the other.

Diverse works of the Holy Spirit

Similarly, there are diverse works of the Holy Spirit.
1. We, and all creatures, relate to the Holy Spirit by virtue of creation (Genesis 1:2; Psalm
33:6; Psalm 104:29, 30).
2. We, and all humans, relate to the Holy Spirit by virtue of human life, making us divine
image bearers (Genesis 2:7; Job 34:14 15; Ecclesiastes 12:7).
3. The Holy Spirit relates to unregenerate humanity through conviction of sin (John 16:8
11).
4. The Holy Spirit relates to Christians in terms of regeneration (John 3:3, 6).
5. The Holy Spirit relates to Christians in terms of transformation (2 Corinthians 3:18).
6. The Holy Spirit relates to the regenerate person in terms of power for service (Acts
1:8).
7. The Holy Spirit will relate to regenerate humanity in terms of glorification (Ephesians
1:14; 1 Corinthians 15:51 54).
Again, everything could be viewed as “subsequent.” However, it would be better to describe
each of these as distinct aspects of the many-faceted work of the Holy Spirit. We do not want
to have a special doctrine of “subsequence” (one particular subsequence).

For discussion and interaction

1. What has been your understanding on the empowering of the Spirit? What have you
been taught? What view do you think is held by your church leaders?
2. What has been your experience?
3. What does it mean today, to obey the command of Jesus?
4. Do you want to spend time as a group praying like the early disciples did in Acts, to
prepare yourselves for a fresh empowering of the Spirit?