The Spirit also has the function of filling outwardly (Acts 2:4a; 4:8, 31; 9:17c; 13:9). When someone is baptized in water, he is filled with the water outwardly. To drink water is to be filled inwardly with water, whereas to be baptized is to be filled outwardly with water. In Greek, pleroo is used for the inward filling for life, and pletho is used for the outward filling for power and authority in the work. Acts 2:4 says that on the day of Pentecost, the disciples were filled outwardly with the Spirit. The wind which filled the house where they were sitting, filled it inwardly (v. 2), whereas they were filled outwardly with the Spirit. The baptistry is filled inwardly with water, but the baptized ones are filled with the water outwardly. To the baptistry, it is an inward filling. To the baptized ones, it is an outward filling.
In the book of Acts, the Spirit gave the utterance of tongues (2:4b; 19:6b). There are three different categories of tongue-speaking. The first one is the genuine tongue-speaking by the Holy Spirit through a believer. The second one is the tongue-speaking by a pagan with a devilish spirit. Tongue-speaking was a Gentile phenomenon in the ancient Han dynasty of China. In Africa, there has been tongue-speaking by the pagan priests and priestesses in their idol worship. This is why Paul refers to the discerning of spirits (1 Cor. 12:10; 1 Tim. 4:1). We have to distinguish the Spirit that is of God from those that are not of God (1 John 4:1-3). The third kind of tongue-speaking is humanly manufactured. Most of the so-called speaking in tongues in the Pentecostal movement is humanly manufactured speaking. The speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost, however, was the speaking of genuine dialects (Acts 2:4, 6, 8). The disciples were Galileans (v. 7), yet they spoke the different foreign dialects of the attendants who came from various parts of the world. This is strong proof that tongue-speaking must be an understandable language, not merely a voice or a sound uttered by the tongue.
In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul strongly belittled the gift of tongues and exalted the gift of prophecy, because his main concern was the church, not the individual believers. Speaking in tongues, even if it is genuine and proper, only edifies the speaker himself, but prophesying builds up the church. We have seen already that when we speak the word of God, the Spirit is dispensed. The safest way to minister the Spirit is to speak the word of God.
Joel prophesied concerning the Spirit being poured out upon all flesh (2:28-29), and this prophecy was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius (Acts 2:17-18, 33; 10:45b). The fulfillment of this prophecy in Joel is the baptism in the Spirit. The outpouring of the Spirit prophesied by Joel in the Old Testament is the New Testament baptism in the Spirit, exercised by Christ the Head to put all His members into one Body. The Spirit was outpoured, and the believers in Christ were baptized in the Spirit.
We need to experience the baptism in the Spirit that has already been accomplished on the Body. In the course of my ministry, I have had a number of miraculous experiences of the outpoured Spirit. Miraculous happenings may accompany our experience of the baptism in the Spirit, but we should not seek after these things. Otherwise, we can be deceived. If these things are needed, God will perform them. But we should not seek these things. We should seek Christ Himself in the holy Word which He has given us. This is safe.
The Spirit functions as a gift to the believers (Acts 2:38; 10:45b; 15:8). It is a hard and tiring job to be with someone all the time, but the Spirit has the function of being with us always. The Spirit which is with us is a gift, a present, to us. The Spirit is a present given by God to us to be with us. The Spirit given to us by God is a living gift who is able to be with us livingly all the time. No matter where we are or what kind of situation we are in, we believers have the feeling that someone is with us. This person is the Spirit as a gift to us. His presence with us is especially striking in our times of trouble. When we are in trouble or are lonely because we are away from our loved ones, we have the deep sensation that someone is with us. This person is the Spirit as a great gift to us.