What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Dr. Wayne Grudem was one of my professors when I studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity Seminary. Dr. Grudem received his PhD from Cambridge, his MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary and his BA from Harvard University. Dr. Grudem is a New Testament scholar and he wrote “Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine.” Chapter 39 of his Systematic Theology book is entitled, “Baptism in and Filling with the Holy Spirit.” HERE is the link to this chapter. I believe Dr. Grudem does an excellent job of explaining what the Bible teaches when it comes to the topic of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There are incredibly important questions that this chapter will answer:

What is baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit received by all believers the moment they are saved or is it a later work?

Are there two types of Christians? Those who are baptized in the Spirit and ordinary Christians?

What is the difference between being baptized in the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit?

What role does speaking in tongues have to do with all of this?

How do we understand the “second experiences” of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts?

One of the things I appreciate about this chapter by Grudem is that he is looking at all of Scripture and not just a few isolated passages. So pour yourself a cup of coffee and get ready to do some heavy duty reading and thinking!