What is the only true baptism of the Holy Spirit today?
The only true baptism of the Holy Spirit today is the Spirit’s work at salvation by which every believer is baptized by one Spirit into the Body of Christ. It is not water baptism; at the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit places the believer into Christ’s body.
Les explains from 1 Corinthians 12 that the human body is used as a comparison: as the body is one and has many members, so also is Christ, or the Body of Christ. All believers have been brought into it and become members of it, never losing individuality but being part of the composite. He then points to 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For by one Spirit” — the Holy Spirit — this is the only true baptism of the Holy Spirit for us today. It is the true baptism everyone must have, or they will not be in glory. If a person has this baptism, their name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Les emphasizes that this is not water baptism; nobody can tell you that. Rather, it is a work of the Holy Spirit that at the moment of salvation places the believer into the Body of Christ. He also uses the analogy of the baby in the mother’s womb to illustrate this work.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
More Questions
Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit only for the most spiritual or elite believers?
The Spirit baptism into the one body is given to every believer, not just to the most elite or most spiritual believers—that exclusionary idea is a human idea, not God's.