The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Part 1
Acts 2:1-4
Take your Bibles and turn please with me to the 2nd Chapter of Acts. In our continuing study of Acts we come now to Chapter 2 which records for us the birth of the church. The beginning of Chapter 2 records also the occasion of the baptism of the spirit and the filling of the spirit that occurred at the birth of the church. Now let me say to begin with that all kinds of groups with all kinds of views have approached Acts Chapter 2 to prove all kinds of points. As is so often the case in a crucial passage in scripture it has been exposed to some truth and some error in terms of its interpretation. And what I share with you this morning is what I believe in my heart to be that which comes from this passage and I have to believe in my heart, though I am well aware of my own imperfections. And in case you're not sure from my viewpoint, ask my wife.
I have to believe what comes from this has been entrusted to my care by the Holy Spirit, because if God answers prayer that would be the prayer that I had repeatedly prayed for three or so weeks in leading up to sharing this with you this morning. It is not my attempt at this point to minimize other Christians who feel that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something quite different than what I will tell I believe it is this morning. It is not attempt to divide the body of Christ. It is only my attempt as I see it in my own study to clearly distinguish to you what this passage says. Now we will not be able to complete the passage and therefore some of the argument that I would like to advance and some of the points that I would like to make will not be made until next Lord's day.
But what I am giving you this morning is from my heart to yours as I believe the Spirit of God has opened this passage to me. And I trust that you will take it in the sense and in the sense of love in which it is given and yet in the sense of lovingly giving you what I believe with conviction. And I don't apologize for that.
Coming then to Acts Chapter 2, we come to the birth of the church. In the 1st Chapter of Acts, as we began our study we saw the preparation for the birth of the church and in Chapter 2 we see it born. In Chapter 1, the disciples were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Chapter 2, He comes. In Chapter 1, they were anticipating the church being born. In Chapter 2, it is born. In Chapter 1, the disciples were equipped. In Chapter 2, they are empowered. In Chapter 1, the believers are held back. In Chapter 2, they are sent forth. So Chapter 2 then is a very important passage. In Chapter 2, Acts 1-8 is fulfilled. "But ye shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me." This promise of Jesus comes to pass in the beginning of Chapter 2. The church is born and moves out in testimony in Chapter 2.
Now this is a tremendous transitional passage. This is the greatest change that has occurred in all of the scriptures. "For is the end of the old age and the birth of the new age." The great crux of God's redemptive history is right here. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ issues itself in the sending of the Spirit and the birth of the new age, the age of the Spirit. In the old age, the Spirit was with you. In the new age He is where? In you. In the old age, men served God out of fear of consequences under law. In the new age, men served God out of love for Jesus Christ energized by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It's a new economy altogether.
This is the birth of the new age and the character of the new age is the church. That body of believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit all in an invisible union with Jesus Christ and with each other. And that is the mystery that unfolds beginning in Acts 2. Now Acts 2 then is the birth of the church is the next step in God's redemptive history. Now God has endeavored to reveal Himself to men in a redemptive fashion. In the Old Testament He revealed Himself in terms of the law and the sacrifices, etc. Then came Jesus Christ who died, who was buried, who rose again bodily and physically. Then the next act, Jesus ascended to heaven. The next act sent the Holy Spirit in response to that this great redemptive history is continued in the birth of the church, here in Acts Chapter 2 crisis chapter. We could not say enough about it. We only beggar the occasion by words at all.
We cannot bespeak the truth of what really happened in this great transition. Words just don't allow. Only God, Himself, can define the fantastic change that took place. Now the definition of such change just for your point of reference is in John 7:37. Don't look it up. Listen as I read it. "In the last days, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." Verse 38, "He that believeth on me as the scripture has said out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water." 39, "But this spoke he of the Spirit whom they that believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified."
In God's redemptive history, the spirit age couldn't happen until Jesus ascended and was glorified in heaven. So in the great flow of history, Jesus must return to the Father before the Spirit can be sent. And that's exactly where we find ourselves in Chapter 2. The closing of Chapter 1 is the ascension of Jesus Christ, the beginning of Chapter 2 is the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus accomplished His work and went to the Father and the Father in response to the perfect work of Christ sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within the believers.
This is a new dispensation. A whole new age, a new thing is born and you and I are apart of it by faith in Jesus Christ. This is called the church, church from Ecclesia, called out ones. This is something never seen in the Old Testament. It's a mystery Paul calls it. Something hidden throughout the Old Testament, they never saw the church. This is a bride of Christ, the New Testament says. These are branches for the vine Jesus Christ, says John. This is a flock for Jesus, the good shepherd. This is a mystery kingdom ruled by the Son of God. This is a household, a family of sons by adoption. This is a building says Paul, a spiritual temple with Jesus Christ as the foundation. But most uniquely this is a body.
And the most unique metaphor in defining the church is the church is a body. Body too, as a human body is fitly joined together so that everything functions in harmony, so the church is brought together in union with Jesus Christ and with each other by the Holy Spirit so that we're all part of each other. We are a body. We are body two. Body one, Jesus Christ incarnate on earth. Body two, Jesus Christ incarnate in His church. Not one body, but a multiplicity of bodies in whom Jesus lives.
And so we are the body of Christ blended together a spiritual incarnation of Christ in men. We are a fellowship knit together with Christ as the head, totally dependent on each other, one new man. This is the identity of the church. All barriers are abolished. There is no longer Jew nor Greeks, says Paul. There's no longer male nor female, Galatians 3. No longer bond nor free, for we are all one in Christ.
And everyone of us in the church is indwelt by Jesus Christ. Now when we're talking about the church, we're talking about the real church, those who know Christ. We're not talking about the building. We're not talking about those who say they're in the church. We're talking about the true church, those who know Christ by personal faith. We all possess the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. That's the character of the age you see. And the people who would tell us today that there are some Christians who don't have the Holy Spirit do not understand the dispensation of the church at all. They don't understand what the character of the church is. It is a body of believers all indwelt by the Spirit. That's what the church is. It can't be anything less that that.
That's why Romans 8:9 Paul said, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ in him he is none of His." Because that's what the church is, you see. So every believer possesses the Spirit for instruction, for power, for comfort, for security, for guarantee of our inheritance. The Spirit is in every believer. Now, our Lord promised that this would happen and it happens here in Acts 2. The church is born and from then on every believer at the point of faith in Christ receives the Holy Spirit. And I'll show you why we believe that to be true.
Now the Bible calls this the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, Himself, gave it that title, Acts 1:5. "For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." And we know what He was talking about when He qualified it by saying not many days from now. He was talking about what would happen at Pentecost, which was 10 days later. Jesus said, "You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Now He used a very clear word, a very definitive word, baptizo. And we'll talk about what that exactly means. But keep in mind that Jesus titled this what it is. And it's what happens here in Chapter 2.
They were baptized with the Holy Spirit. So Jesus had promised that the character of the church would be such that those who were in the church would be indwelt by the Spirit. He shall be in you and that they would be...this was called baptized in the Spirit. And we'll take this apart in a moment. Now, as we look at the text, we see three things and we'll barely get halfway through or so the first one, because it's the key. We see the evidence of the Spirit's coming. We see the effect of the Spirit's coming, and we see the explanation of the Spirit's coming in verses 1-13.
Now the evidence of the Spirit's coming is in verses 1-4. Now keep in mind this is the introduction of a new age. This is the birth of the church, the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus that you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Also the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus that the Spirit will be in you. Both occurring simultaneously at salvation from here on, but obviously couldn't occur at salvation here because these people were already believers and it was the birth of the church in a unique historical sense.
To say that you get the Holy Spirit later, after salvation because the apostles did is to misunderstand the redemptive history of God. The Spirit came here because this was the time for the Spirit to come. And there had to be a beginning. It is not to say that this is the example of every Christian who then gets the Spirit X number of years after his salvation. Not at all.
All right, let's look first of all at the evidence of the Spirit's coming and we'll take this all down so that you'll understand it, we trust. This morning though, when after the message I went out making clear distinctions, someone met me immediately and said you forgot to say this. I said wait that's the whole point of my message. So I felt bad, but I hope I get the point across better this time.
Verse 1, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." Ten days later and they're still with one accord, beautiful. The historical designation is extremely important here, and it's important for many reasons. Note that it does not say when the disciples had prayed or when the disciples had tarried or when the disciples had fulfilled some spiritual requirements or when the disciples had the paid the price of Pentecost then this occasion occurred. It doesn't say that at all. It says it happened when the day of Pentecost was fully come.
Luke points then only, watch it, to the history and the divine timing of God. That's the only thing Luke points to. This happens when God wants it to happen, not in response to anybody's spiritual activity no matter how spiritual it may be. Now, I want you to look at the concept of Pentecost because this is a basis for which all the interpretation hinges. The word Pentecost, a Greek word, signifies fiftieth or fiftieth in order or fiftieth part of a thing.
This is an important feast. It's called Chag Ha Kazir in Exodus, which is the feast of harvest. It's called Chag Shavuot, which may be the most famous name which means the feast of weeks or it's called Yam Haba Kurim, which means the day of the first fruits. But all three titles using Exodus and Numbers mean the same thing. And it refers to this Pentecost feast. Now the feast of Pentecost celebrates or commemorates the first fruits of the wheat harvest.
It also commemorates the giving of the mosaic law because they also believe that after the Exodus it was about 50 days til the coming of the law. And the Passover, you remember was celebrated at the time of the exodus because that's when the angel passed over right before the exodus. And so they measured some 50 days to the giving of the law and they used Pentecost then to celebrate not only the first fruits of wheat, but they used Pentecost to celebrate also, and they still do even to this day, in fact, today is exactly 50 days after the 14th of Nissan this is exactly Pentecost Sunday.
But nevertheless, it's divine timing perhaps, right to the day, this is it, 50 days after Passover or after Easter I should say. But after the exile, it became traditional to celebrate the law giving as well as the feast of first fruits of the wheat harvest. So it came to be very significant and the Jews still celebrate this even today. Now, keep this in mind, the Spirit's coming on the day of Pentecost then is a matter of divine chronology. Now I want you to keep in mind something that I've taught you before and I now remind you because you learn line upon line, line upon line, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, right?
All right, now what I want to remind you of is there are two types of prophecy. One is verbally predictive, one is typically predictive. There are verbal prophecies, word prophecies. There are picture prophecies. A word prophecy is a virgin shall conceive and bring for a son. That's a word prophecy. A typical prophecy is the Passover Lamb, which typically predicts a final Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, in a picture sense. Do you see? Another typical prophecy would be, for example, the blood on the door posts in the middle. A picture of the blood of Christ which satisfies the requirements of God and stays the hand of the angel of death.
So there are both verbal direct prophecies and picture prophecies that we call types in the Bible. And may I hasten to add my friends, those prophecies which are typical, which are types, and picture prophesies are no less strategic than the verbal ones and they better come true with just the same accuracy or the Bible really has problems. When God predicts something whether He predicts in verbal statement or by perfect picture, it better come true. And so when we come to the day of Pentecost, this is a fantastic fulfillment of a predictive type. And it must happen on the day of Pentecost or it blows the whole thing in terms of what God prophesied through pictures.
So we say then this, and I'll explain it in a minute, the Spirit's coming was not in response to prayer. The Spirit's coming was not in response to tarrying. The Spirit's coming was not in response to meeting any conditions, it was God's sovereign timetable at work. It was the right day in the plan of redemptive history. And that day is revealed to us clearly in Leviticus Chapter 23 so that we know exactly when it was going to happen. Now without turning to that, but make a note of it, write it down and you can study it on your own. The key features of the feast revealed in Leviticus 23 are clearly laid out for us there. But we add to that that they are all in a sense predictive in their pictures.
Now three major feasts there are direct pictures of the work of Jesus Christ. The first feast of Leviticus 23 was God telling them to keep the Passover. Now you remember the Passover? They were in Egypt in bondage, the Lord was going to at the end of the plagues, kill all the first born and so He said if you want to escape the killing of the first born, you kill the Passover Lamb, take the blood, put it on the door posts in the middle, side and the middle, and the angel will Passover. And so the Israelites knew that God had passed by them and saved them because of the blood. And that was a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, whose blood shed for us and God sees us in view of the blood of Christ who passes by.
And so the Passover feast pictured the death of Jesus Christ. On what day did Jesus die? On what feast day? Passover, right on the day. You see, that prophecy not only was a picture of Jesus Christ, it was an accurate indication of what it was that was going to happen on one Passover that He would actually die on a Passover as a Passover Lamb. On the 14th of Nissan, which is in the spring which is equivalent to some time in our April or late March, comes Passover. And it was on such a Passover that Jesus died as the perfect Passover Lamb. You see God's timetable was right on.
And then there was another feast and the other feast is called the feast of the first fruits. And this was interesting, catch this one. This feast was on the next day after the Sabbath, after the Passover. Now the next...the Sabbath is on what day? Saturday. What would the next day be? Sunday. So that the feast of first fruits then would be on the Sunday right after Passover. Now the first fruits was interesting, because the first fruits was a barley first fruits. And I'll tell you what I mean.
I'll give you a second handed farmer's eye view of first fruits, because I don't know anything about it. But anyway, the farmer looks at his field, all right. He wants to determine if he's got a good crop. Now, he wants to know so he does what is commonly done by farmers, he examines the first fruits. He goes to sections, not the whole field, but a section there and there, he gets a section from every area of the field and pulls some of it out and he brings it all together and looks at it and if it all looks good, he says the whole crop is guaranteed to be good by the first fruits.
And so this feast was for them to go gather the pieces of barley, which evidently matured soon and get the barley and examine it and therefore praise God for what God was going to do when he brought the full harvest. It was a good lesson for trust. But they were gathered the first fruits of barley and that would be the guarantee of a good crop. Now my friends, that is a very, very accurate picture of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus even said Himself, "except a corn of wheat fallen to the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it goes into the ground and dies, it comes forth and it really not only gives life to itself, but to others." It produces seed, produces fruit.
Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the first fruits. In fact, listen to this, 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul said, "Christ the first fruits of them that slept." You say what does that picture symbolize? It symbolizes that because Christ's resurrection was valid and good so shall ours. Did you get that? Jesus said, "Because I live," what, "ye shall live also." And the first fruits was a picture of the resurrection of Christ that guarantees that our resurrection will occur. You see it? And do you know, Jesus not only was crucified on the Passover, He rose on the first fruits, perfectly fulfilling the prophecy.
Then friends, 50 days later, Leviticus 23:15 and 16, 50 days later exactly, there was another feast called the feast of harvest. This is the Pentecost and it's celebrated the wheat harvest. And it was again a first fruits. The wheat crop was not yet fully done and what was done was this, they would go and they would gather the first fruits of wheat. They'd bring it together. Only this time, they did something unique with it. They didn't just bring it as a sheaf. You know what a sheaf is? Loose grain just tied together. They took it and they baked it in to two loaves. Very specifically, they were baked into loaves.
You say well, what does this predict? Well, it's very interesting, but I believe it predicts just exactly what happened on Pentecost. It has to, because that's what it...when it occurred. Jesus Christ died on the Passover, He rose on the first fruits, and Pentecost completed the pattern by making possible the enjoyment of these events. Now let me show you what I mean. Pentecost is another first fruits of the wheat harvest. Now some day our Lord is going to harvest believers, right, in the great coming of Christ. And He's going to separate the wheat from the tares, right? Now what your guarantee that you're going to be in that harvest? All right, His resurrection is one of the guarantees. Let me give you another one. 1 Corinthians...2 Corinthians Chapter 5 and Ephesians Chapter 1 says this, "You have the earnest of the," what, "spirit." You know what the word earnest is? Arabon, engagement ring, pledge, guarantee or first fruits.
The Spirit of God within you is the guarantee of your full final inheritance, right? God has given you His Spirit now. Would He withhold anything from you in the future? No. The Spirit then is the earnest of our inheritance. We have the first fruits of our resurrection. In Christ's resurrection we have the first fruits of our inheritance in the Spirit dwelling in us. What happened on the day of Pentecost? The Spirit came and dwelled in them, right? Perfectly fulfilling the type of the first fruits feast.
So you see, this was exactly in God's timetable. Then mark this one. They not only gathered the sheaf, but they made it into a loaf. What do you think that symbolizes? The church is not a loosely, gathered together group bound together by string. The church has been blended into one common body, right? A loaf. You see the feast of harvest is a perfect picture of the coming of the Spirit as a guarantee of our full inheritance and the loaf is the picture of us being blended together. It's another wonderful picture because the first fruits of barley, the other feast that I mentioned that signified the resurrection. That was one that could have no leaven because it pictures Christ and leaven means sin and Christ had no sin.
But the church pictured in the feast of harvest has leaven, because in the church there is sin. Would you buy that? Perfect picture. Never misses one thing. Exactly accurate. So beloved when the Bible says when the day of Pentecost was fully come it happened, that's exactly why it happened. It didn't happen because they did something. It happened because it was God's divine sovereign timetable had run it's course and this was the moment that it happened.
So in God's perfect design since the early ages, the church was designed to be born at Pentecost to fulfill typical prediction. The Spirit was to come as the first fruits as the guarantee of our full inheritance as Christ was the first fruits and guarantee of our resurrection. So the day was set by God. It was His sovereign timetable. And so when our Pentecostal brothers and sisters in Christ say in their creed which states this recorded every month in the Pentecostal Evangel and I quote. "We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit according to Acts 2 is given to believers who ask for it." They have totally missed the point.
They have violated the prophetic word of God when they assume that or at least they have eliminated one of the most glorious fulfillments of prophecy that you'll ever find in scripture. Jesus died at the right moment. He rose at the right moment. The Spirit came at the right moment. All on God's timetable, not in response to any activity of men. And thus, the church was born as a first fruits fulfillment. Just as Jesus had risen as a first fruits fulfillment and died as a Passover fulfillment.
All right, so we know then why it happened on the day of Pentecost. It was no accident and it was in no way related to what they did. It was the promise of the Father purely apart from them. Now it says also in verse 1, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." Now we could talk about where this one place was. The best we can do is look at verse 2 which says it was a house. Some commentators have felt that it was the house of the Lord, the temple. I don't feel that's correct, because Luke when he wants to talk about the temple uses the word temple in 2:46, he says, "they were with one accord in the temple." If he said one accord in the temple there, he could easily have said, one accord in the temple here.
But he says house. I believe that they were likely in this house, maybe this same one where they had the Passover the night before Jesus died. Maybe in the same one where He appeared at His resurrection. The same one they went to when they returned from the ascension, but they were in the house I believe. And I believe contrary to what some say that all 120 at least were there, not just the 12. Some have said that only the 12 at this point received the baptism of the Spirit. I think that would have left 108 people seriously wondering what was going on and it would have not been complete in accord with the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the sense of the birth of the church as it would have left some out.
All right, notice they were all in one place. They were together. And then it happens, verse 2. "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind." Notice it wasn't a wind, it was just a sound like a wind. But notice the word suddenly isn't that good? Suddenly the church was born. Suddenly the church was born with no forewarning really and I'm sure they didn't really expect what happened to happen even when it happened. They were just kind of in limbo waiting and suddenly it happened. It's a wonderful thing about the church. It suddenly happened and my Bible says Jesus said, "Behold I come," what, "quickly." Just as suddenly it's going to unhappen.
The church is in and out suddenly. Began with an instantaneous, unexpected, miraculous moment. It's going to end with an instantaneous, unexpected, miraculous moment, all on God's sovereign timetable. And God has as much right to determine the beginning of the church as He does to determine the end of it. And to say that either comes in the response of anybody's prayers really isn't understanding the sovereignty of God. Now, you'll notice that this whole thing happens in a fantastic way, but there's a very interesting note. It says "And suddenly there came a sound from heaven." If anything is fantastic or supernatural we want to know the source, don't we? This is from heaven.
That takes it out of the hands of man or Satan. This is God acting. Now notice that it was a sound from heaven, that it was like a rushing mighty wind. Now the wind in scripture is often an emblem of the Holy Spirit is it not? John 3:8, "The wind blows where it lists, you don't know where it goes, you can hear the sound of it, so is the Spirit, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit." The Spirit of God moves about as a wind in scripture. And it's the same word, Spirit is pneuma and that's the same word for breath or wind. But here there's a different word. "There came a sound from heaven like the rushing mighty wind." And the word translated wind is not the ordinary pneuma, but it's an interesting word used only one other place in the New Testament. I think it's Act 17:25, and it's the word pnoes, p-n-o-e-s if you're writing it down. And it means a blast of breath. It's not just a gentle breathing. It's a blowing just as if somebody was blasting breath.
Now remember this is not a real wind. There's no physical wind any more than there's physical fires we'll see in verse 3. But it's just the sound of it. This must have been fantastic phenomena. Can you imagine? No motion in the air and yet the sound is if a hurricane is raging out of heaven, and no movement at all. Just the noise of a hurricane without the wind. It suddenly happens. A great sound out of heaven as if the very blast of God's breath had reached the earth. And my friends, that's exactly what happened. Who is the breath of God? The Holy Spirit. And God just blew His breath on the earth. The blast of breath came from God and at that point the Spirit of God came to the earth.
Notice verse 2, "and it filled," where, "all the house where they were sitting." I believe everybody heard it. I think that's what gathered the crowd. We'll get to that next week in verse 6, but I believe it only filled the house where they were sitting. This beloved, mark it down, was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Did you get that? It's very important. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The sound was heard all over and it began to gather the crowd. The crowd, but the presence of the breath of God filled only the house where they were sitting.
They were completely enveloped, immersed, and baptized by the breath of God who is none other than the Holy Spirit. Since that was the coming of the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, they were then truly at that moment baptized by the Holy Spirit. And I believe right there in verse 2, you have the fulfillment of Chapter 1, verse 5, the baptism of the Spirit takes place in verse 2. What you have in verse 4 is subsequent and it is different. It is called the filling of the Spirit. Now let me add something and I want to talk about this for a moment because it's important. This baptism that occurs in verse 2 is not experiential. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is often defined today as an experience. You get baptized and then certain things happen. In the Bible the baptism of the Holy Spirit is non-experiential. That is it occurs on a divine level without an reaction. It's a sovereign act.
For example, you were justified when you received Christ. Did you all of a sudden feel oh there goes justification? No, that's non-experiential. You were adopted into the family of God as a son. Did you feel oh, there I went. I now am a son. No, that's non-experiential. You were so baptized into the body of Christ which you neither experienced. It happened in a non-experiential sense. Now what experience comes, comes in the filling of the Spirit, which we'll see later. But it is a non-experiential thing. It came from heaven. They were just sitting there and it happened and so far there's no response.
The Spirit of God moved in among them and what did He say, what is the baptism of the Spirit? And now we must turn to the apostle Paul who was God's man to define this term. Jesus said it will happen at Pentecost. It did. You say, well, I thought it was the same as filling. It can't be. Jesus knows what He's saying. Jesus says in Acts 1:5, "You will be baptized with the Spirit." And that must come first. Paul defines the baptism as one thing and the filling is something else, so we must be distinct about them.
So what occurs first in verse 2 is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let me show you what it is from Paul's own words written by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, and here is the definition of what happens at the baptism of the Spirit. "For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so is Christ." All right, now that's just giving us a little view of the body of Christ. Well, watch this. Here's the definition of the baptism of the Spirit. "For by one Spirit," that's the same Holy Spirit, "were we all baptized into one body." Now that's what the baptism of the Spirit does. It takes a person at salvation and places him in the body, whether Jew, Greek, bond, or free. We've all been made a drink into one Spirit.
Unleashing God's Truth One Verse at a Time