Thursday, April 14, 2022

Anthony A. Hoekema on 1 Corinthians 12:13

While rejecting baptismal regeneration, Anthony A. Hoekema (Reformed) would agree that 1 Cor 12:13 is talking about the moment of regeneration; there is no room for the post-conversion “spirit baptism” /"second blessing" interpretation of some Pentecostal groups. Hoekema noted that 1 Cor 12:13

 

admits that the expression “in one Spirit were all baptized into one body” does not refer to a post-conversion “second-blessing” kind of experience, but refers to the uniting of all believers to Christ in regeneration-conversion. It should then be noted that, even on the Neo-Pentecostals’ own admission, Paul’s understanding of Spirit-baptism is different from the common Neo-Pentecostal understanding of that experience. For, whereas Neo-Pentecostals says that Spirit-baptism is an experience distinct from conversion, Paul identifies Spirit-baptism with conversion (or with regeneration with issues into conversion). . . . 1 Corinthians 12 is divinely inspired teaching about that baptism-teaching which is normative or the church in all ages. The fact that Paul here teaches that all Christians have been baptized in the Spirit at the time of regeneration must therefore be decisive for our understanding of Spirit-baptism. . . . In 1 Corinthians 12:13 the expression describes the sovereign act of God whereby all Christians are incorporated into the body of Christ at the time of regeneration. Never in the New Testament is the expression “to be baptized in the Spirit” used to describe a post-conversion reception of the totality or fulness of the Spirit. (Anthony A. Hoekema, Holy Spirit Baptism [Exeter: The Paternoster Press, 1972], 23, 24, 25)