Clothed With Power

By Ken Chant

This book is a presentation of the Pentecostal position on Holy Spirit baptism. Not all those who are connected with the movement will agree with all that is in these pages; but the position taken does generally represent both the Pentecostal and Charismatic viewpoint. It probably hovers somewhere in the middle of the more extreme views taken by some on either side. The Pentecostal position on the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and on the gifts of the Spirit, depends on establishing four things

that there is available to every Christian an experience known (among other titles) as “Holy Spirit baptism”
that new birth (or regeneration) and the baptism in the Spirit are discrete; that is, they are separate and distinct happenings, though they may sometimes occur simultaneously
that “glossolalia” (speaking in tongues) is the usual initial evidence that a person has been baptised in the Spirit
that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (the charismata) which existed in the early church are still available and should be occurring in the worship of the modern church.

The remainder of this book will try to establish those propositions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vision Colleges
• Release date: Aug 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311220349

Ken Chant

Dr. Ken Chant (M.R.E. Th.D), is the President of Vision Christian College (Australia) and is on the International Board of Directors for Vision International University (USA). Dr Ken Chant is an Australian pentecostal pastor who was ordained in Melbourne in 1954. He has been actively involved in Christian ministry for over 50 years (ten of which he and his family spent in the USA). A brief summary of his ministry would include the following - He has pioneered eight churches and Pastored several others, including serving for five years as the associate pastor of what was then Australia's largest Pentecostal church (the Adelaide Crusade Centre). For several years he was the editor of two of Australia's most successful charismatic/Pentecostal journals. He has been the principal of four Bible colleges (in Australia and the USA), has taught at Christ for the Nations (Dallas), Oral Roberts University (Tulsa), Youth With a Mission (Hawaii), and spoken at crusades, conferences, and seminars in Australia, the UK, the USA, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, and New Zealand. Dr. Chant is the author of many of Vision's textbooks on Christian life, Doctrine and Theology.

Book preview

CLOTHED WITH POWER

Studies in Holy Spirit baptism

KEN CHANT

Ebook Edition

Published by Vision Colleges at Smashwords

ISBN 9781311220349

Copyright © 2012 Vision Christian College.

All rights reserved worldwide.

Vision Colleges

PO Box 84, Macquarie Fields,

NSW, 2564, Australia

Ph: 02 9603 2077

Fx: 02 9603 3277

Email: [e-mail]

Web site: www.visioncolleges.net

Contents

Corybants And Others

Chapter One - The Promise Of The Father

Addendum - On Creating Theology

Chapter Two - Born And Baptised

Chapter Three - Discrete And Different

Chapter Four - More Strong Evidence

Chapter Five - Sealed For Ever

Chapter Six - Initial Evidence - Part One

Chapter Seven - Initial Evidence - Part Two

Addendum A Variable Paradigm

Chapter Eight - Empowered For God

Addendum Tongues And Christ

Chapter Nine - Like The Angel Of The Lord

Chapter Ten - Seizing The Promise

Addendum Tongues Of Angels

Bibliography

Endnotes

Abbreviations

Books by Vision

Vision Colleges

A NOTE ON GENDER

It is unfortunate that the English language does not contain an adequate generic pronoun (especially in the singular number) that includes without bias both male and female. So he, him, his, man, mankind, with their plurals, must do the work for both sexes. Accordingly, wherever it is appropriate to do so in the following pages, please include the feminine gender in the masculine, and vice versa.

FOOTNOTES

A work once fully referenced will thereafter be noted either by ibid or op. cit.

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations commonly used for the books of the Bible can be found at the end of the book

Note: scripture translations are my own, unless otherwise noted.

CORYBANTS AND OTHERS

(Return to Top)

Legend says that the ancient Asiatic goddess Cybele was attended by a company of wild, half-demonic beings called Corybants. They followed her over the dark mountains by torchlight, eager to serve their divine Queen, and to entertain her with weird music. Their performance included frantic dancing, and other frenzied rites; they were a merry crowd! The Mountain Mother (as she was also called) was mightily famous in her time, and her followers numbered many thousands. But now she is chiefly remembered because her crazed retinue gave rise to a medical term, corybantism - a state of mental derangement in which the sick person suffers from fantastic visions.

However, some unkind critics have now begun snorting corybantic! at those Christians who delight in the real power of the Holy Spirit. They pronounce demented anyone who claims to do what the apostles did in Acts 2:1-4, that is "speak in other tongues". Since I happen to be one of those "glossolalists",¹ I feel constrained to raise an eyebrow at the suggestion that I must be sick, or that I have fallen into a frenzy, and am subject to crazy visions! My wife also is a "glossolalist, and we have lived together in idyllic bliss for forty years. Never (I am sure) have I observed her in a corybantic state. We have both been occasionally ill, yes; but never once in a frenzy, nor once out of our minds. (Except that when Alison first wafted past me like a heavenly vision, and I sighed, Fantastic!" I may have been in something of a corybantic state. Perhaps also when I stood at the altar with her, and hypnotically mumbled the appropriate words. But that is not quite what the critics mean!)

During those same four decades I have watched hundreds of quite normal people, from almost every walk of life, enter into the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit, accompanied by glossolalia. They would be greatly astonished to be told that they had fallen into a deranged frenzy and were tangled up with fantastic visions!

So I have written this book to show that charismatics² are generally reasonable people, who approach their experience thoughtfully, and who believe that it reflects the pattern described in scripture. They are convinced that the early church was richly "charismatic, and they can see no reason why the modern church should not enjoy the same gifts. And I have also written in this hope: if you have not already discovered Holy Spirit baptism and the charismata", may you soon do so.

BUTTER ON THE BREAD

Writers are often condemned for failing to reach a goal they had no intention of hitting. But that is like criticising an archer for missing a target he was not aiming for.

This book is like that archer. It is written within a limited framework to achieve a limited purpose. Do not blame me for achieving things I never set out to achieve! The next few pages explain the purpose of this book, along with the general rules I have followed in trying to fulfil that purpose. I hope you will read them, and not pass them over as unimportant. They will put a little butter on the bread, and make its eating smoother.

THE PENTECOSTAL POSITION

This book is a presentation of the Pentecostal position on Holy Spirit baptism. Not all those who are connected with the movement will agree with all that is in these pages; but the position taken does generally represent both the Pentecostal and Charismatic viewpoint. It probably hovers somewhere in the middle of the more extreme views taken by some on either side. The Pentecostal position on the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and on the gifts of the Spirit, depends on establishing four things -

that there is available to every Christian an experience known (among other titles) as "Holy Spirit baptism".

that new birth (or regeneration) and the baptism in the Spirit are discrete;³ that is, they are separate and distinct happenings, though they may sometimes occur simultaneously.

that glossolalia (speaking in tongues) is the usual initial evidence that a person has been baptised in the Spirit.

that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit (the charismata) which existed in the early church are still available and should be occurring in the worship of the modern church.

The remainder of this book will try to establish those propositions.

A SUPERNATURAL VIEW

You will soon realise that I endorse the world-view of the early church, which recognised supernatural experiences, accepted the reality of miracles, and believed in God’s personal involvement in human experience. I accept also that the scriptures give us an accurate presentation of the teachings and practices of the early church, and that what they did establishes the normative pattern for Christianity. As a corollary, I reject that essentially secular theology in which there is no place for miracles. When one has seen a miracle it is hard to say that they don’t happen!

I am of course aware of the arguments against seeking an absolute paradigm in the early church. There are necessarily many places where the modern church, in its practice and emphasis, must part company with the first Christians. However, I am satisfied that the same general practices and beliefs, or at least those that are revealed in scripture, and which led those first Christians to such resounding success, are equally relevant to our time. The success story of the current world-wide charismatic movement certainly supports this view. (There are today at least 50 million members in the various Pentecostal denominations, after less than 100 years of witness. To those must be added the many millions more who belong to the neo-Pentecostal or charismatic movement, which is located in the older denominations.)⁴

A ROSE BY MANY NAMES

This study adopts the position that the following and other similar terms are all more or less synonymous:

baptism in the Spirit

gift (singular) of the Spirit

infilling of the Spirit

fullness of the Spirit

promise of the Father

the Holy Spirit falling on or upon someone.

They all refer basically to the same experience: that "clothing with power from on high", which every Christian should receive subsequent to his or her conversion to Christ.

In recent years the custom has become widespread of omitting the definite article, and of speaking about "Holy Spirit baptism, or even baptism in Holy Spirit. Others prefer the older phrase, the baptism in (or of) the Holy Spirit. Since the original Greek text of the scriptures sometimes includes and sometimes omits the article, this varied terminology must be allowed. Possibly there is no more reason to speak of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, than to say the baptism in the water. You will probably find all the variations scattered through these pages. I feel no more need to be rigidly consistent than did the apostles. However, Holy Spirit baptism at least has the advantage of agreeing with the usage, water baptism".

A PROPOSITION ON PREPOSITIONS

Concerning the alternative prepositions, "baptism with the Spirit . . . of the Spirit . . . in the Spirit", one commentator has written -

The Greek preposition ‘en’ may be translated by any one of these terms. The expression is likely to depend on whether one considers that water-baptism should be administered by immersion or effusion. Those who practice immersion speak of ‘the baptism in the Spirit’, presumably because they think of the Spirit as the element into which the person is plunged.

As it happens, not all immersionists do use the term in, for I know many who prefer with or of. Once again, and for the same reason given above, you will probably find a variety of usage in these pages.

ONLY HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM

Perhaps I should also say that this study is not a comprehensive discussion of the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer or in the church. It is not even a comprehensive discussion of the baptism in the Spirit. Many important aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit have been omitted. This study is mainly intended to be a presentation of what might be called the distinctly charismatic aspects of the activity of the Holy Spirit in the believer.

NO DOGMATICS HERE

One lesson that the history of church dogmatics should have taught us is not to be overly dogmatic! There seems little doubt that the early church did not trouble itself with the task of trying to create a universal and truly systematic theology. John (for example) did not have exactly the same understanding of the gospels as Paul had; James and Peter saw things from a different perspective; Peter wrote that in Paul’s letter there were "some things hard to understand! Further, the early church itself experimented with various methods of structuring Christian life and witness: they once drew lots; they temporarily forbade eating certain meats and blood; they possibly attempted to institutionalise foot-washing; they experimented with baptising for the dead"; they even dabbled with a primitive form of communism. Clearly, they did not find in the teachings of Christ nor of the apostles a fixed ecclesiology.

Given that background, my purpose in writing this book has not been to establish a definitive theology on Holy Spirit baptism, as though this were the only aspect of the Spirit’s work revealed in the New Testament, or as though this is the only way to put together the relevant New Testament data. My purpose is more practical. I simply maintain that a charismatic emphasis and experience was widespread in the early church, and that this charismatic element still has a valid place in the church. This study is an attempt to understand the working rules and the nature of the charismata as they appear in the New Testament.

I am deeply grateful to others who have preached and written in favour of the charismatic experience, and to those who have preached and written against it; for by friend and foe alike my mind has been stimulated. To use the saying a little out of context, I freely admit that I have nothing which I have not received - from allies, or antagonists; from those who have ministered to me, or to whom I have ministered; but most of all, from the Spirit himself. I hope I am not being presumptuous in believing that it was he, the Holy Spirit, who "bade me go" and tell what I have learned, that it might help others.

CHAPTER ONE

the promise of the father

(Return to Top)

The Bible speaks about a distinct spiritual experience that it calls "baptism in the Holy Spirit". John the Baptist shouted to the crowds -

I baptise you with water as a sign of repentance. But someone is coming after me who is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Mt 3:11; and see also Mk 1:8; Lu 3:16; Jn 1:26; Ac 1:5; 11:16)

What that experience is, how it relates to the new birth, how to receive it, what effect it has - those are the themes of this book.

The story begins where it should, at the beginning; for since the dawn of time the servants of God have been familiar with the power of the Holy Spirit, and they have depended upon that power to equip them for the work God has given them to do. The words of Micah are typical -

I am filled with power by the Spirit of the Lord. (Mi 3:8)

But the prophets themselves predicted that one day there would be a new and more wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, linked with the appearing of the Messiah in Israel. The prophecy of Joel is the best known -

This is what will happen in the last days: I will pour out my Spirit upon every nation, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy . . . When that time comes, even upon servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit . . . and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will find deliverance. (2:28-32)

Christ finally came. The fulfilment of the predicted outpouring was identified with him (Jn 1:33-34; 14:15-17) and enacted on "the day of Pentecost" (Ac 2:1-4, 14-18,32-33).

(A) TWO REMARKABLE CONTRASTS

The distinguishing mark of the people of God in the days of the old covenant was possession of the "law and of the oracles of God" (Ro 3:2). But the distinguishing mark of the people of God in the new dispensation was to be possession of the Spirit (Ac 2:17-18).⁵ This altered mark of identity is the primary difference between the old and new eras (2 Co 3:6-11, 17-18).⁶ John the Baptist himself highlighted the giving of the Spirit as one of the most outstanding aspects of Christ’s ministry. Notice also, that these references all require that possession of the Holy Spirit must be as knowable as possession of the law. That is, Holy Spirit baptism cannot be a mere invisible and inseparable adjunct to salvation, or to some other Christian experience. It must be able to stand alone, and to