The beginning of the Book of Acts is filled with new things. While Luke wrote his first book (the Gospel) as a history of “all that Jesus began to do and to teach” during his thirty-three years on earth, the Book of Acts was Luke’s “new” volume, written to cover Jesus’s subsequent activity in the world.

In this new volume, Luke introduces a new apostle. Jesus had originally chosen twelve of them, in line with the number of the tribes of Israel. After Judas’s departure, Jesus chose a new apostle, Matthias, to take his place. (See Acts 1:24, noting the request, “Lord … show us which of these two you have chosen.”)

There is also a new source of power. After telling his disciples not to leave Jerusalem before the delivery of his Father’s promised gift (at which time they will be “baptized with the Holy Spirit”), Jesus talks about that power. This is verse 8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

What did Jesus mean by telling his disciples that they would be “baptized with the Spirit?” Is baptism with the Spirit a second-tier benefit extended to certain Christians – the spiritual, strong in faith, committed ones – and not to the rest? Smart people disagree on the answer to that question, but I believe it should be “No.” The baptism with the Spirit is the Father’s gift to the entire church.

If someone asks, “Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit?” I believe every genuine Christian can answer, “Yes.” For the Christian, the baptism with the Spirit happened when, believing on Christ, they confessed Jesus Lord (1 Corinthians 12:13). It is not something that happens subsequent to becoming Christ’s person, as if we were saved and only later baptized with the Spirit. It is not an experience reserved for the super-spiritual. If I have not been baptized with the Spirit, I have not been incorporated into the body of Christ, which is to say, I am not a Christian.

That is not to say that there are not wonderful experiences with the Spirit subsequent to becoming a Christian. There are. It is not to say that you should not “be filled with the Spirit”—you should; in fact, Paul commanded it. It is to say that those subsequent experiences, wonderful as they are, should not be confused with the baptism with the Spirit.

What does the baptism with the Spirit accomplish? Three things primarily. First, the baptism of the Spirit unites us to Christ. The Spirit is the vital connection between Christ and us, conveying his life to us and making us resurrectable (Romans 8:11). Without that connection, we are not his—not Christians (Romans 8:9).

Secondly, the baptism with the Spirit unites us to other believers. Though we are many members (1 Corinthians 12:12 -13), we constitute one body. We may have memberships elsewhere – the gym, Costco, AARP, or the UAW – but membership in the body of Christ is not like those. The Spirit does not make us members in an organization, but “members of one another” (Romans 12:5, literal translation). When people claim an experience of the Holy Spirit that separates them from or exalts them over other Christians, that is not the baptism of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit separates us from sin, from complacency, and from self-absorption, but not from one another.

Thirdly, as already mentioned, the baptism of the Spirit imparts power. How could it not, when it unites a person to the Creator of the universe? What can this power accomplish? Many things, perhaps, but one that Jesus specifies: It transforms men and women into Christ’s witnesses—people who see, hear, or otherwise experience the real Christ in their lives and are able to speak truthfully about what they have seen, heard, or experienced.

If someone objects that speakingdoes not require much power, they misunderstand the situation. We do not need this power to speak—the apostles could not help but speak about what they had seen and heard (Acts 4:20). We need this power in order to see, hear, and experience the risen Christ. In other words, we will not have anything to speak about – we will not experience the risen Christ – unless the Holy Spirit empowers us.

(You may take another view. Feel free to respectfully share it – with biblical support – in the comments section below!)