Definition
Baptism in the Spirit (Gr. baptisma en pneumati) refers to the special reception or clothing with the Holy Spirit, distinguished in classical Pentecostal theology from regeneration as a separate, subsequent work of grace. The relationship of Spirit-baptism to new birth, the role of tongues as evidence, and the eschatological placement of the Pentecostal experience are subjects of substantive difference in the corpus. None of the authors defends the classical Pentecostal teaching unmodified; all relativize or redefine Spirit-baptism within a broader eschatological or economic framework.
Usage in the Corpus
Watchman Nee & Witness Lee
Nee/Lee distinguish two separate functions of the Holy Spirit connected to two historical moments: the Spirit of Resurrection Day (life, inward) and the Spirit of Pentecost Day (power, outward). On Resurrection Day, Christ breathed the Spirit into the disciples (John 20:21-22) — this was the communication of life. On Pentecost Day, the Spirit descended as a clothing with authority for service (Acts 1:8). “On the day of Resurrection, the day of life, the Holy Spirit proceeded out of the Lord and entered into the disciples as the breath of life. But on the day of Pentecost, the day of power, the Holy Spirit descended from the exalted and crowned Head and rested upon the disciples as a clothing with authority for service.” Both dimensions are necessary: “We need the Holy Spirit of Resurrection Day as life in us and the Holy Spirit of Pentecost Day as power upon us. The filling of the Holy Spirit is inwardly necessary; the clothing of the Holy Spirit is also outwardly necessary.” Spirit-baptism as the Pentecostal experience is the outward dimension; it is incomplete without the inward new birth. [Nee/Lee, The Economy of God, Ch. 2]
Stephen Jones
Jones reinterprets Spirit-baptism eschatologically and typologically. The Pentecostal outpouring of Acts 2 is the earnest — the down payment of the Spirit (2Cor. 1:22; Eph. 1:14) — not the fullness. The Spirit-baptism in the present age is the Pentecost-phase: “The second phase of redemption is the Pentecostal experience, which commemorates the legislation at Horeb. Pentecost means the writing of the law on our hearts through hearing the Word… At the same time, Pentecost begins at Mount Horeb and enables us to be led by the Spirit in our wilderness journey.” The fullness of the Spirit-baptism — the complete indwelling of the Spirit also in the body — belongs to the Feast of Tabernacles: “Pentecost gives us also the earnest of the Spirit (2Cor. 1:22; 5:5; and Eph. 1:14). We have received an earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession — that is, the redemption of the body (Rom. 8:23).” [Jones, The Laws of the Second Coming, Ch. 10]
George Warnock
Warnock does not elaborate Spirit-baptism as a classical two-stage system but emphasizes the law of the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2) as the framework within which the Spirit operates. The south wind (Song 4:16) as a type of the Spirit brings fruit after stripping — a pneumatology that places the accent on the inward working of the Spirit in the believer’s life, not on a moment of outward clothing. Warnock’s continuationist position distinguishes him from the classical Pentecostal model: gifts and fruit are both real, but the fruit of the Spirit as eschatological ripening is the ultimate goal. [Warnock, Evening and Morning, Chs. 2 and 4]