Foundations of the Christian Life. Chapter 15: - Baptism #1- What is it?

Foundations of the Christian Life.
Chapter 15: - Baptism #1- What is it?

We now come to the final section of our studies on spiritual foundations – the four “instructions” that accompany repentance and faith. The rest of this series will focus on these four things.

Hebrews 6:1-2.
“Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, with instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement.”

The first instruction is about baptism.

Baptism is a rite that has been practiced in the Church since the beginning. Much discussion has been carried on over the exact nature and meaning of Baptism. These three chapters are an attempt to try to answer some of the questions raised from a Biblical perspective.

THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF BAPTISM.

Different forms of baptism were known in the ancient world, all of which were religious rites. In fact all were initiation rites into some religion or cult. So familiar was the rite that the use of it by Christians would not have seemed strange in the Greco-Roman world. It was not the rite itself, but the meaning of it, that set Christians apart.

Some forms of baptism were:
1. Initiation rites into the mystery cults and religions. Most of these practiced baptism in some form, often a baptism in the blood of the sacrificial beast offered as part of the initiation rite.
2. In Jewish culture, a self- baptism was practiced when a Gentile converted to Judaism, called proselyte baptism.
3. Many Jewish cults also practiced “washings” which were a form of baptism both as initiation rites and as a regular part of worship – a washing to be “cleansed”, signifying sanctification. The Essenes were one such group.
4. John the Baptist, who was probably brought up in an Essene community introduced a shocking and radical new twist to baptism. In his preaching he put Israel on the same level as the Gentiles – needing a thoroughgoing conversion – and so demanded a baptism of repentance of the Jews. He also seems to have been the first to baptise others in Jewish culture. Until then baptism seems to have been self-baptism.

In all of these two ideas are present, and these ideas carry through to the practice of baptism in the ministry of Jesus and the Church.
1. The Baptism was an initiation rite. Baptism was always at the point of actually joining the cult group. Until then people were only considered to be interested adherents, or seekers. This is so strong an identification that we can say: Baptism is Initiation.
2. Through the act of baptism the candidate sent himself/herself apart for the service of the “god” in a significant way. In other words Baptism brought about some form of sanctification (“Sanctify” = “to set apart”).
We will see these ideas as we look at Christian baptism.

WHY BAPTISM?

(1) It is a Command to be Baptised.

Matthew 28:19.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

* Baptism is a command directly from Christ.
* The responsibility for making sure it happens is left with the Chruch, not with the person becoming a Christian.

Acts 2:38.
"Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

* "Baptised" here is in the imperative, it is a command, not an option.

(2) We cannot grow to spiritual maturity without being baptised and coming to an understanding of it.

Hebrews 6:1-3.

One of the essential ingredients of our foundation that God, as the building inspector, will look for is Baptism. Without it he will not allow us go on to maturity.

(3) Baptism is the Seal of our Saving Faith.

James 1:22; 2:14,20-26.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
…What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?…As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead”

Faith needs accompanying works to complete it and make it effective in our lives. Baptism is the divinely appointed action that seals the faith that brings us into Christ.

Ephesians 1:13,14
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”

"sealed" - this word was used as a technical term for Baptism in the Early Church.
Here it refers primarily to the Baptism in the Spirit. However confession of Christ as Lord and Saviour, water baptism and the reception of the Spirit were seen as three parts of the one event, or package, in the Early Church. Water Baptism was thus the human side of Spirit Baptism, two sides of the one coin.

Baptism is the seal of saving faith. It is the work that completes saving faith and makes it operative in our experience. Every blessing that the Bible says comes by faith it also says comes by Baptism.

* Forgiveness, cleansing, justification - Acts 2:38, 22:16. 1 Corinthians 6:11.
* Union with Christ - Galatians 3:27.
* Identification with Christ in Death, Burial & Resurrection - Romans 6:3ff. Colossians 2:11ff.
* Participation in Christ's sonship - Galatians 3:26.
* Membership of the Church - 1 Corinthians 12:13. Galatians 3:27ff.
* Holy Spirit - Acts 2:38. 1 Corinthians 12:13.
* New Life - Titus 3:5. John 3:5.
* An inheritance in the Kingdom - John 3:5.

Hence Baptism is a Sacrament. Through it spiritual promises become real in our experience.

(4) Baptism is necessary for Salvation in the full sense of the word.

(See Chapter 16, "Baptism - What it does For Us.")

Mark 16:16.
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. “

1 Peter 3:21
“… and this water symbolises baptism that now saves you also- not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

BAPTISM – A DEFINITION.

Baptism is the Immersion of Believers in Christ, in Water, as a public confession and seal of their faith in Christ, and a testimony of their acceptance of his work on their behalf.

This definition raises three issues:

(1) What does it mean?
(2) How should we do it?
(3) Who should be Baptised?

WHAT DOES BAPTISM MEAN?

(a) Baptism is Initiation.

Baptism was always at the point of conversion in the Early Church, and it sums up the meaning of conversion in its symbolism. Often when NT writers want to recall Christians to their conversion they mention their Baptism.

E.g. Romans 6:3.
“ Or don't you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?"

Ephesians 1:13,14. (above).

Baptism has always been seen by most of the church as an INITIATION RITE into Christ, i.e. into the Church. This is because originally Baptism WAS conversion. There is no such thing as an unbaptised Christian in the NT.

Historically it was like this:
1. The gospel was first preached in a Jewish context where the listeners were familiar with the OT. The listeners already knew about sin, God, the Messiah, the coming of the Messiah, sacrifice for sin, and so on. So when the gospel was preached an appeal could be made for salvation and the respondents were baptised immediately. Because of this “background knowledge” Paul, and the other apostles, would always try to preach in any Jewish community they could find when they went into Gentile countries and cities. To find converts to Christ among those who already knew the OT would save many hours of discipling and a church could be planted in days, where if there was no such group it could take months or years to plant a church.
Hence baptism was at the point of conversion. It was an initiation rite
2. Where there was no Jewish group Paul could contact, or the Jewish group was unresponsive. Paul would then make his appeal differently. Instead of calling people to an immediate response he instead gathered the interested people into a group and would disciple them, instructing them in the Way of Christianity. A sort of Early Church "Alpha" course. The Apostle's Creed is thought to be the outline of such discipleship classes in many parts of the Roman Empire. Only when they understood what it was they were getting into would the apostle ask for commitment to Christ, and then they would be baptised. Possibly the order of things in Matthew 28, where "discipling them" comes before "baptising them" reflects this practice. This practice continued for the first several hundred years of the Church. Discipleship classes, or Catechism classes as they came to be known, preceded conversion to Christ. But Baptism was still at the point of conversion. Baptism was accompanied by the laying on of hands for the reception of the Spirit. However baptism was still seen as the point of salvation, an initiation rite.
3. As time went by the belief grew that the Spirit could only be given by the Bishop, and that baptism could only be performed by the Elders. In the beginning this was not so. So a division was made between conversion and baptism and confirmation (the laying on of hands). Also pressure from parents who were concerned (wrongly) that their unbaptised infants who died would not go to heaven led to the introduction of infant baptism. Thus one could become a Christian without being baptised and one could be baptised without becoming a Christian. Typically Baptisms were “saved up” until Easter and formed part of the Easter celebration, the rising from the waters being linked to the time of Christ’s resurrection. However the Bishop could not be present at all baptisms so often the laying on of hands (confirmation) was done at a later date. This is the pattern we see in what is known as the “traditional Churches”. It’s origins are historical but are not scriptural. The idea of baptism being an initiation rite changed slightly. Instead of being seen as the initiation into Christ, i.e. conversion, baptism came to be seen as the initiation rite into the church because baptism was now separated from conversion at least as far as timing was concerned. The right to take communion was withheld until a person had been both baptised and confirmed, these still being seen as two parts of the one event even though they were often separated by a long period of time. Doctrinally and in theory the three things were still seen as one, but in practice they were separated. It only took a matter of time for them to be separated in the minds of the common people at a theoretical leval also - no matter what the official doctrine said!

In Acts Baptism is clearly an initiation rite. Baptism was always at conversion. There were no unbaptised Christians.

Acts 2:37,38; 8:4-17,26-39; 10:1-8, 30-48; 16:25-34.
All these were clearly baptised at conversion.

Two problem cases:

(i) Paul - Acts 9:1-19.

According to popular legend Paul became a Christian on the Damascus Road, and was baptised three days later. However the events of Paul's conversion are not clear here, it is only as we examine Paul's own account of this event in Acts 22:12-16 we see that this popular understanding of the events was not the case.

Acts 22:12-16.
"A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. He stood beside me and said, `Brother Saul, receive your sight!'
And at that very moment I was able to see him. "Then he said: `The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'"

(a) Paul did not receive his sight back until Ananias came - physically, but the implication is spiritually also. One is the picture of the other.

(b) Paul says he did not "call upon the name of the Lord" until Ananias came and instructed him to do so (v16). Hence he had made no Christian commitment until this time.

(c) Ananias tells Paul to “wash away your sins” indicating clearly that Paul had not yet received Christ.

The experience of the Damascus Road was very powerful, and clearly the final catalyst in bringing Paul to repentance, but it stretches the record to say he was actually converted then. The shocked stupor Paul sat in for three days shows the tremendous turmoil he was going through. Psychologically he was not yet ready to make such a commitment. It is amazing that he could make such a strong and radical change after only three days!

The record leaves us in no doubt that Paul was converted when Ananias came to him, hence he was baptised at his conversion.

(ii) The Ephesian “Disciples” - Acts 19:1-6.

“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.
There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?" "John's baptism," they replied.
Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptised into the name of the Lord
Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them,
and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.”

Some interpreters say that these disciples were Christians before Paul spoke to them. Hence this is said to be a re- Baptism. Examination of the details shows this is not the case.

* It specifically says that they were disciples of John the Baptist and were baptised “into John’s Baptism”.
* John ministered for three and a half years before Jesus was revealed and had many disciples scattered throughout the known world. Pockets of these disciples lasted until very recent times. The last known group was in existence at the end of the 19th Century in the Middle East. There is no reason to assume that these disciples knew anything about Jesus. They knew the Messiah was coming - that was part of John's message - but the revelation as to who the Messiah was came to John only towards the very end of his ministry.
* It is clear that these disciples did not know that the Messiah HAD actually come, this clearly dates their contact with John to the period before John knew Jesus was the Messiah. Hence these "disciples" did not know about Jesus, they cannot be in any sense seen to be Christians. The Baptism they had experienced was clearly the Baptism of John, not Christian Baptism.
* When Paul introduces the subject of Jesus their reaction shows that this was all news to them.
* Also we note that they did not know anything about the Spirit, which they would have had they been Christians.

This story is one of several in Acts which show that the previous moves of God were not adequate, and that Jesus is the only way. The episode of the Samaritans is also one of these. The point of the story here is to show that John's Baptism was not enough, and did not bring salvation.

Hence the only conclusion that we can come to here is that this is not a Christian rebaptism, but another case of Baptism at conversion.

Summary: As far as we can tell from Acts every Convert was baptised at conversion. Other early Church writings confirm that this was the normal pattern.

(b) Baptism is Confession of Faith.

Through Baptism we make a Public Declaration of faith in Christ.

Romans 10:8-10.
"But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

The phrase "Jesus is Lord" was, in the Early Church, a Baptismal confession that candidates for baptism uttered while in the water. This passage, then, is referring to their Baptism.

(c) Baptism is the Seal of Faith (above).

(d) Baptism is a Sacrament.

Because Baptism makes real what faith promises, it is more than just a symbol, it is a sacrament, it does something for us (see next chapter).

Romans 10:10 (above).

Faith, which is internal, justifies us, but the fruit of faith, i.e. experiential salvation, only becomes ours through confession in Baptism.

HOW SHOULD WE BE BAPTISED?

Christians, in the main, have agreed that ALL Christians should be baptised; but have disagreed on HOW?

Three methods have been practiced:

(i) SPRINKLING - Catholics, Some Protestants.
(ii) POURING, or Affusion - Mainly Historical now.
(iii) IMMERSION - Baptists, Brethren, Most Pentecostals, etc.

The evidence is as Follows:

(a) The Greek Word: Baptizo.

(i) Traditionally meant to dip into a fluid, plunge underwater, sink (a ship), immerse.
(ii) In later Greek it came to mean, "to saturate", whether by pouring or dipping was not defined. This later meaning appears to be post-New Testament.
(iii) Either way it cannot mean “sprinkle” (Greek = rhantizo).

The English word "baptise" is a TRANSLITERATION and not a translation. “Immersion” is the proper meaning of the Greek word in the N.T. The word was not translated at the time of the translation of the KJV because of political reasons.

(b) The Symbolism of the Act.

It is important that a symbol actually symbolise what it is intending to symbolise. Symbols are not useful if they are arbitrarily chosen and bear no resemblance to the thing they are trying to symbolise.

Baptism has three sets of ideas; hence the symbol we use must effectively convey the root meanings of these three ideas:

(i) Burial and Resurrection.

Romans 6:4,5.
"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."

(ii) An outpouring / overwhelming of the Spirit.

John 1:33.
“ I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, `The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.'”

Acts 2:33.
“Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”

Romans 5:5.
“And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

(iii) Cleansing from sin, a washing.

Acts 22:16.
“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.'”

When we compare these three meanings with the three methods of Baptism we see:

(i) Sprinkling symbolises cleansing from sin, through the sprinkling of his blood
(Hebrews 9:15-21; 10:22).

(ii) Pouring symbolises the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

But neither of these convey the meaning of burial and resurrection.

(iii) Immersion clearly and completely symbolises all three meanings:

* Cleansing, as washing in a bath.
* Overwhelming by the Spirit, as being covered by the waters.
* Burial, as being buried in the waters as a grave and rising out of them again.

Immersion is clearly the only method that fully symbolises the meaning of Baptism.

(c) The Practice of Church History.

The NT and Early Church writings clearly give the impression that immersion was the norm. Pouring was allowed under exceptional circumstances.

Didache (110A.D.)
"Baptism should be threefold, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in running water, but if not available, in a pool, but if not available then three jars (each containing around 30 gallons) should be poured over in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."

Clearly the candidate got properly wet.

Sprinkling was a late development and only became popular around the 13 -15th Century. The Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches to this day practice immersion (they know the language!).

The evidence is clear - baptism should be by immersion in water.

WHO SHOULD BE BAPTISED?

Obviously all Converts should be - it is commanded! But are there other possibilities?

Two Groups have been suggested:

(i) The Families of those husbands and fathers who have been saved. This is called "Household Baptism". Proof for this theory is offered from mentions to household baptism in Acts and 1 Corinthians.

(ii) The children of Believing Parents - called "Infant Baptism".

Both of these positions can be answered with the same proof.

(a) Summary of Arguments for Infant Baptism.

(i) Baptismal Regeneration.

Roman Catholics argue that to be saved you have to be in the church. The door to the church is baptism. Unbaptised people are therefore outside the church and are going to Hell. Baptism, therefore, saves you, so baptise as many as you can. Also we should baptise infants in case they die so they will be saved. This teaching is called "Baptismal Regeneration", as it teaches that baptism in itself, somehow almost magically, will cause New Birth. This view is held to some degree by all that practice infant baptism (Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Etc) - otherwise why bother doing it? It is easy to see how this doctrine would grow out of a practice of automatically baptising all new Christians.

Answer: - The Bible teaches that only faith justifies us before God and brings about regeneration. Religious rites have to be made in response to personal faith which already exists.
The statement that "Baptism saves us" is scriptural, but is not referring to justification, but to the personal experience of salvation, i.e. a step in the process of personal deliverance from sin in experience.

Ephesians 2:8.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God"

(ii) Household Baptism.

In the NT several "households" were baptised all together. It is argued that it is "inconceivable that there were no infants present in those households." Therefore, it is said, here is proof of infant baptism in the Bible.

Answer: - Why is it inconceivable? No infants are mentioned in any of the cases, and what is said excludes the possibility of there being any:

Acts 10 Cornelius and his Household.
v2 - they all feared God already.
v33 - they were all present to hear, implying they could understand.
v44 - they all spoke in tongues, implying they were old enough to speak.
His household could possibly have been made up solely of servants and soldiers. There is no mention of a wife or children. "Household" in the Bible does not mean, as we think, "family", it is a much broader concept.

Conclusion: - No infants here.

Acts 16:25-34. The Philippian Jailer.
v32 - All in the household were spoken to, yet it was after midnight. It is unlikely that infants would have been dragged out of bed to hear, hence "all" means "no infants here".
v34 - "all rejoiced" because they believed, i.e. they were old enough to appreciate the meaning of what they had heard and respond to it with intelligent rejoicing.

Conclusion: - No infants here.

Acts 16:14,15 - Lydia's Household.
The fact that she is named implies she has no husband, either being single, divorced or widowed. She is clearly head of the household. Hence there is no infant children. Again her "household" means her servants and those who worked in her trade with her.

Conclusion: No infants here.

1 Corinthians 1:16, 16:15-17. Stephanus.
No mention of children, or even a wife.

Conclusion: - None of the references here to household baptism give any room for including infants in the number.

(iii) Covenant Theology.

Argues from the parallel between the covenant of Abraham and the New Covenant.

Acts 2:39.
"For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God calls to him."

"And your children" implies families are in on this automatically.

Romans 4.
Galatians 3.

Argument: In the Abrahamic covenant all infants in the family were circumcised, bringing them into the covenant. We are now partakers of this covenant, but baptism has replaced circumcision as the sign and seal.

Answers: -
1. This misunderstands the role of Circumcision. The descendants of Abraham were born into the covenant, then were circumcised as a sign of the covenant they already had by birth. Hence the covenant is prior to the sign of it. Failure to take the sign negated the covenant, but simply taking the sign without being born into the right family was useless. For this reason women were part of the covenant even though they could not be circumcised.

2. It also fails to understand what Paul was talking about. His whole point was that natural birth does now no longer make one automatically part of the covenant, in fact it never did (as Esau and Ishmael prove). Nor does taking the sign of the covenant. Rather it is faith that makes the covenant operative.

3. If Baptism were to be equated with circumcision it is amazing that no one says so in the NT. The constant battles Paul had with the Judaisers about circumcision would have been negated if circumcision had been replaced by baptism. Paul, as an apostle, would only have had to say it was so, and it would have been, but he did not!

4. The Phrase "and your children" needs to be evaluated and interpreted in the light of other passages of scripture that planily indicate personal faith is required, not just the faith of parents.

(iv) The Extension of Grace to Family Members.

1 Corinthians 7:14.
“…and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband.Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”

This text is offered as proof that children of believing parents are in the covenant. However "holy" does not necessarily mean "saved", and hence in the context can simply mean its basic meaning of "set apart". When one member of a family is saved God puts his hand on the family in a special way, but how is not defined.

Summary.
There is no evidence of infant or family baptism in the Bible where someone was baptised on the basis of the faith of someone else. Every passage requires the understanding that those who were baptised willingly and knowingly undertook it in response to their own faith.

Those who practice Infant Baptism believe and teach, by direct statement or by implication, that a child can be justified without personal faith in Christ. Such a belief is a denial of the Protestant faith, and the teaching of Paul, that justification is by faith alone.

(b) Who Can Be Baptised?

(i) Candidates must be able to repent.

Acts 2:37,38.
"Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

(ii) Candidates must believe.

Mark 16:15,16.

Acts 8:36,37
"As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptised?" And Philip replied, “If you believe you may.”"

(iii) Candidates must be teachable.

Matthew 28:19,20.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Baptism is a response to an inward condition of heart ALREADY OBTAINED by faith, so faith is prior to baptism.

1 Peter 3:21 (above).

Summary: - These conditions eliminate infants from being baptised.
Infant baptism is therefore invalid. It is not Christian Baptism. Anything “done without faith is sin” (Romans 14:23), so infant baptism is a sin.

SUMMARY: The 3 “I’s” of Baptism.
Baptism is:
1. An Immersion in water.
2. An Identification with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection.
3. An Initiation rite into Christ.

Note:
If you want to follow through any of the ideas in this study then try to get hold of the following books:
R.E.O.White: The Biblical Doctrine of Initiation.
G.R.Beasley-Murray: Baptism in the New Testament.
A.Gilmore: Christian Baptism.
These three are written by Baptist scholars (my roots are revealed!). The problem is they are probably all out of print now so your best bet is a library.

Also worth reading is the section in:
Derek Prince: Foundations.

A significant amount of the content of this study is drawn from these four books.

HOMEWORK:
1. There is a lot in this study. Go over it 2-3 times over the week and make sure you understand the positions put forward.
2. Don’t forget to do the transformer verse. Read it out every day, pray about it. Do it for two weeks.
3. If you get time this week, read over chapters 12,13,15 as a unit – in one sitting. Look up all the verses.

TRANSFORMER VERSE:

Baptism - a command: Matthew 28:19.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

PRAYER:
Father God, I thank you for the act of baptism. As I come to understand it more make it’s meaning real in my life I pray. Let me live in the knowledge of my sins having been washed away, the fact that I have died and have risen with Christ and the fact that the Holy Spirit has been poured out on me. In Jesus name I ask it, Amen.

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