Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit a separate occasion from penitent faith with water baptism to receive the Holy Spirit ? Or it is the same ?
A Christian life is a life in the Holy Spirit. The Christian begins his life with the new birth and the Holy Spirit is given to enable him to live the new life. Ezek 36:25-27.
We cannot build a doctrine based on descriptive passages in Acts with 2 unique accounts in the Samaritan believers (Acts 8:5-17) and the Ephesian believers who were baptized by John the Baptist (Acts 19:1-7) that the Holy Spirit was not given.
On the other hand, other descriptive passages in Acts also seem to say that the Holy Spirit was given the moment they repented and were baptized. After the sermon by Peter in Acts 2, 3000 believed though there was no mention they had the miraculous gifts like those at Pentecost. Peter concluded his sermon by saying,” Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” in Acts 2:38-39.
The authors of the epistles took it for granted that the Spirit was given to the believers from the new birth. (Rom 5:5; 1 Thess 4:8; 1 John 3:24, 4:13; Rom 8:9; Gal 5:25).
Then why was the Holy Spirit not given in the above 2 unique accounts ?
The believers in Acts 8:5-17 were the first Samaritan believers. Peter and John were sent when the Jewish believers heard that the Samaritans also received the word of God and believed. Later we learned that when Philip converted an eunuch, there was no inspection or verification by any apostle. So why this first time with the Samaritans ? I believe it was because it was the first time the gospel was preached outside Jerusalem. It was a bold step for a Jewish believer to share the gospel with Samaritans. As we know the centuries old enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans, I believe the verification by the apostles avoided the probable schism between Jewish believers and Samaritan believers in future.
Water baptism should be performed in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Matt 28:19-20. I believed Paul doubted the faith of the Ephesian believers to be professing faith and so he asked whether they had received the Holy Spirit. They answered that they had never heard of the Holy Spirit which confirmed that their baptism was not done in the name of the Triune God. In other words, their understanding of the gospel was spurious.
