I have come accross the word regeneration and baptism of the holy spirit rebirth renewal and other like wise words there is a thing that I have heard happens to believers after being saved and recieving the holy spirit that is kind of like a second portion of his spirit filling them to the brim with his spirit I just cannot remember the word for it.
But these words caught my attention because I don't think they mean the same thing those two words specifically regeneration and baptism of the holy spirit. to me the word regeneration is one that seems to be a renewal of his spirit a recharge of sorts but whenever I look it up it speaks of it meaning the initial recieving of his spirit when saved but somehow that doesn't feel right to me and then there is the baptism of the holy spirit which I always thought was the initial receiving of his spirit but some have told me it actually is the event I talked about before kind of like a renewal or recharge of the spirit.
Does anyone know anything about this could you maybe point me in the right direction?
The relationship between God and truthseekers or how the Holy Spirit of God interacts and communicates with humans may be viewed as involving three distinct stages of revelation or dispensations. Humans are born innocent babies with the potential to attain the stage of accountability, comparable to when God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (GN 2:17). At this stage, a person’s interaction with the Spirit of God begins, because he/she has become a living soul or embodied mind/spirit (GN 2:7).
A person’s fellowship with God begins in a primitive and impersonal way when a soul becomes a truthseeker, because God’s Spirit is truth (1JN 5:6). The commitment to seek and have faith in the truth as revealed is a primitive “pre-theistic” satisfaction of GRFS (MT 7:7), thus the person begins a saving relationship with God although he/she does not know it (RM 1:17). As a truthseeker at any time in history and place in the world meditates upon his/her experiences, Paul indicates that they will be able to discern God’s being and love (RM 1:20, 2:14-15, GL 5:14) by means of what theologians call “natural or general revelation”. This stage occurred from Adam to Moses per RM 5:12-14.
When truthseekers recognize the reality of God as the Creator of the universe who has a moral requirement, if they decide to become theists and worship Him, they become like Abraham and other OT believers, and their fellowship deepens or becomes personal. RM 4:1-25 teaches that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (v.3). Then this spiritual event was signified outwardly by circumcision (v.11). Similarly, all who believe in God are credited to be righteous and spiritual children of Abraham, although physical circumcision is optional (v.11-18).
At the moment of repentance/acceptance, God’s Holy Spirit (HS) enters believers’ spiritual hearts (RV 3:20), uniting them with God as heavenly Father (RM 8:9) and identifying them with Christ’s worldwide/catholic body or church (CL 1:18). As noted, Paul refers to the comparable moment for Abraham as spiritual circumcision. This manifold event is also
called spiritual birth or baptism (1CR 12:13). We can infer that this dynamic occurs also for pre-NT believers like Abraham, because there is no salvation outside of Christ’s ekklesia or church (ACTS 4:12). Partial knowledge of God’s Word will limit ability to cooperate with Him, so there is a need for evangelism or learning the full Gospel (MT 28:18-20, cf. ACTS 18:24-26) as well as for lifelong discipleship or spiritual training (2TM 3:16-17). From the advent of Christ until the Second Coming is the third or New Covenant stage of revelation and relationship with God (RM 3:21-26, GL 3:24-25, HB 7:18-10:1).
Confusion may arise from the fact that in Ephesians 4:5 Paul says there is only one baptism, but elsewhere the NT seems to refer to two types of baptism: one by water and another by the HS. In His “Great Commission” Jesus tied saving faith closely to the work of water baptism when He said “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them” (MT 28:19). Yet, in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul wrote that “We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body.” This suggests that spirit baptism occurs at the moment of conversion, when the HS unites the new saint (saved sinner/soul) with Christ, because “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” (RM 8:9) The indwelling of the HS may also be called the initial filling by the HS, because at the point of confession and conversion a person is cooperating fully with God. (See RM 6:3-7, GL 2:20) The evidence that a person has been baptized by God’s Spirit or included in Christ’s spiritual body is love in its myriad of forms (GL 5:22-23, JN 13:35).
Any confusion is resolved by understanding that
the two types of baptism are united if baptism with water is viewed as a symbolic way of portraying baptism by the HS. The details for this work are vague, but the mode of immersion best portrays a Believer’s spiritual union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection to eternal life (CL 2:12, RM 6:4). As a practical matter, a new Believer normally would be baptized by the local congregation of the catholic (worldwide) church in which he/she will want to participate as an acknowledged member. Water baptism symbolizes spiritual baptism.
Instead of commanding water baptism for salvation, Paul said in one place (RM 10:9-10) that a convert should confess “with your mouth” in order to be saved, even though elsewhere (EPH 2:8-9) he taught that one is saved by faith. Both
outward confession and water baptism may be seen as works manifesting love for God that every new Believer will want to (but we cannot say “must”) perform as soon as possible following his/her decision to have saving faith (cf. MT 3:13-15, ACTS 2:38). Although Paul did not command baptism, he administered it (in ACTS 16:33, 18:8, 19:5 & 1CR 1:114-16) even though he said Christ did not send him to baptize but to preach the gospel (1CR 1:17). IOW, Paul’s focus was on preaching (spirit baptism) and he probably left most water baptizing to his assistants.
Hope this helps.
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