THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN BEING
BORN OF THE SPIRIT
AND
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

Acts 1:8   You shall receive power(ability) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you....

It is important to understand that the Holy Spirits ministry in our life has more than one facet. If we only see His work in the new birth, we will miss many other aspects of His ministry.  After He works the new birth, He must be allowed to fill the believer. 

There is a difference between being born of the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit.  In John 3:3 Jesus told Nicodemus "You must be born again".  In verse six He said, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit".  This is one distinct experience; when the Holy Spirit recreates your human spirit and you are baptized into the Body of Christ.  John 20:22 is where Jesus breathed on His disciples and they were born again, (or born of the Spirit).   Later on, he instructed them not to depart, but to wait for the promise.  It was the baptism with the Spirit.  They were to be filled with the Spirit, a completely different experience.

Throughout the book of Acts, it was expected that when people were born again they were filled with the Spirit, and spoke in tongues.  That's why, in many cases, the Apostles were called to lay hands on people, or the person would be asked if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed. 

The best example in Acts is when Phillip went to Samaria and a revival broke out in chapter 8. Scripture teaches that once you believe on the Lord and receive Him, you are baptized.  Well, the people in Samaria fit the bill, didn't they?

Acts 8:12                     When they believed Phillip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom
                                   of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

 Now notice that once the Apostles arrived, they noticed that these believers were not filled with the Spirit.  So, they laid hands on them.

Act 8:14-16                  When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received
                                   the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who when they had come
                                   down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.  For as yet He had 
                                   fallen upon none of them.  They had only been baptized in the name of the
                                   Lord Jesus.

In Acts 19, Paul went to Ephesus and noticed that the brethren there were not filled with the Spirit. 

Acts 19:2                     Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

They were uniformed about Jesus. They only knew of the message of John.  Paul preached Jesus, they were baptized, and then Paul laid hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:6                     When Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they
                                  spoke with tongues and prophesied. [approximately twenty years after Acts 2]

 Notice that he did two distinctly different things.  He could not immediately pray for them to be filled with the Spirit, (when he first arrived) because they were not yet born of the Spirit.  So, he made sure they were born of the Spirit.  Then, he prayed that they be filled with the Spirit.  The point I want to make is that Paul knew, because he asked the question, that there was a distinction between being born of the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit. 

If you have never been filled with the Spirit since you received Jesus, and if you have a strong desire to deepen your relationship with the Lord, this is for you.  Go to the page titled, "How to Receive the Holy Spirit."