Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a distinctive doctrinal emphasis in the Assemblies of God.

Pentecostals have always passionately proclaimed that Jesus is our Spirit Baptizer who fills His people with the Spirit just as He did on the Day of Pentecost.

The language of Spirit baptism is biblical. In Acts 1:5, Jesus said, “John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus promised His disciples they would receive power to witness when the Holy Spirit came upon them (1:8).

Baptism conveys the idea of total immersion in God’s Spirit. Acts also speaks of the Spirit filling believers (2:4; 4:31).

Both metaphors are suggestive of water. In John’s Gospel, Jesus said this Spirit baptism or infilling would be like “rivers of living water” flowing from within (7:38–39).

This experience of Spirit baptism is so powerful and immersive that as the Spirit flows into believers, there is also an outflow from us that includes speaking in tongues.

The Assemblies of God identifies tongues as the initial physical sign of Spirit baptism. Because of this, some have wrongly assumed tongues is the only sign of the Spirit’s fullness.

While Spirit baptism enables speaking or praying in a language the believer does not know, life in the Spirit doesn’t end there.

Pentecostals have always emphasized that Spirit baptism empowers believers for evangelism. The Spirit also helps us grow into Christ’s image, with lives that reflect His loving character.

People of the Spirit should be people who love.

Love and the Spirit

The connection between God’s love and Spirit is evident in the New Testament.

In Romans, Paul describes the Spirit’s work in terms of love: “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

Paul’s terminology mirrors Luke’s language in Acts 10:45, where the Spirit was “poured out” on Gentiles as Peter preached.

Through the Spirit, God pours himself into our lives. The Spirit is God, and God is love. Of all people, Pentecostals ought to overflow with God’s love.

We often think about the Spirit in terms of power or gifts. But Paul reminds us that when God sends His Spirit, He also pours His love into our hearts.

Lord, we need you to fill us with your love through the Holy Spirit. Send that kind of outpouring to our churches.

Love and Power

We can’t separate God’s empowerment for ministry from His love for people. The two go hand in hand.

The gospel, the Church, and the endowment of believers with spiritual gifts are all demonstrations of God’s love.

We can’t separate God’s empowerment for ministry from His love for people. The two go hand in hand.

Early Pentecostals often spoke of evangelists as individuals who had a love for souls. These ministers loved others enough to spend their lives sharing the good news of Jesus.

Love is, in fact, the best motivation for ministry. If you love people, you will want to see them saved and living in a right relationship with God.

Worship, evangelism, discipleship, and compassion are all acts of love for God and others. The most effective ministry flows from, demonstrates, and responds to God’s love.

In 1 Corinthians 12:7, Paul says God gives spiritual gifts for the “common good.” When the Spirit manifests His gifts through me, it is not just for my good. It is primarily for the good of others.

A word of prophecy from the Lord is a gift to the person who receives it. It is an act of God’s love to bring them encouragement. Healing is a gift to the suffering person who experiences God’s loving care.

Spiritual gifts allow the love of God to flow through you as He wills. Your gifts should enable others to see, feel, and come to know God’s love.

To drive this point home, Paul sandwiches his discussion of gifts and tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 with a chapter on the supremacy of love.

Chapter 12 concludes with the words, “Eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way” (verse 30).

In Chapter 13, Paul notes that tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith that moves mountains, giving, and physical deprivation are all worthless without love. Paul goes so far as to say that without love, he is nothing and gains nothing (verses 2–3).

The Spirit enables supernatural gifts and empowerment for ministry. But without love, we can neither model Christ’s example nor minister effectively.

Could it be that patience, kindness, humility, selflessness, meekness, forgiveness, trust, hopefulness, and perseverance are part of the Spirit’s empowering work (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)?

The fruit of the Spirit demonstrates the Spirit’s activity in a person’s life. Each aspect of love Paul identifies in 1 Corinthians 13 is evident in Jesus’ ministry and should characterize the lives of Spirit-filled believers.

Recognizing this reality does not diminish our Pentecostal emphasis on tongues as evidence.

Former AG General Superintendent George O. Wood once put it this way: “Tongues is the initial evidence, but love is the enduring evidence.”

Tongues should be a sign of a life filled with the love of God.

A Baptism of Love

Early Pentecostals saw love as an enduring sign of life in the Spirit.

While Pentecostal leaders unashamedly taught the doctrine of tongues as initial evidence, they often referred to Spirit baptism as a “baptism of love.”

Pastor William J. Seymour, who led the Azusa Street Mission and Revival in Los Angeles, said, “Baptism in the Spirit means baptism into God, and the baptism of the Spirit means baptism of love, for God is love. If you haven’t this divine love, there is something radically wrong with your baptism.”

What made the biggest impression on many who attended the Azusa Street Revival were expressions of love, not just charismatic manifestations.

When the Assemblies of God formulated its Statement of Fundamental Truths, it likewise understood baptism in the Holy Spirit in terms of both love and tongues.

Frank Bartleman said, “Divine love was wonderfully manifest in the meetings. They would not even allow an unkind word to be said against their opposers. The message was the love of God. The baptism, as we received in the beginning, did not allow us to think, speak, or hear evil of any man.”

Not only was love a consequence of Spirit baptism, but some described the experience itself in terms of love.

Lelia Conway, an early convert to Pentecostalism, said she was drawn to Spirit baptism because people called it a “baptism of love.”

Conway said, “This (baptism of love) was the one God chose to bestow upon me. Great divine love coming from the very heart of the Father to my heart — fervent, white-heated love. Oh, it seemed my being would melt in the sacred glowing flame.”

Chicago Pentecostal leader William Durham referenced love in describing the change Spirit baptism made in his life.

“I had a depth of love and sweetness in my soul that I never had dreamed of before,” Durham said. “A holy calm possessed me, and holy joy and peace.”

Another early Pentecostal testified, “I was melted in love and meekness and humility from Jesus.”

In each of these testimonies, there is a strong connection between Spirit baptism and a greater sense of God’s love. It seems early Pentecostals were indeed “baptized in love.”

These Pentecostals valued speaking in tongues as evidence that the Spirit had come. But they also recognized love as an enduring characteristic of Spirit-baptized people.

Like Paul and the Corinthian church, early Pentecostal leaders noticed that some who claimed to speak in tongues lacked love. For this reason, they warned people not to seek tongues as an end in itself, but to ask the Spirit to fill them with divine love.

One Azusa Street revival attendee said, “I did not ask for tongues, but I want to love God with all my heart and soul and my neighbor as myself.”

Yet this same person testified of speaking in tongues upon receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

When the Assemblies of God formulated its Statement of Fundamental Truths, it likewise understood baptism in the Holy Spirit in terms of both love and tongues. We see this in Articles 7 and 8.

Article 7 identifies Spirit baptism with “the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.” It also includes the experience of “a more active love for Christ, for His Word, and for the lost.”

Article 8 then identifies speaking in tongues as “the initial physical sign” of baptism in the Holy Spirit.

A beautiful reality of the Spirit’s fullness in our lives is that we don’t have to choose between speaking in tongues or growing in love. Pentecostals can — and should — regularly experience both. It’s a package deal.

Growing in Love

So, what should we do if we are Spirit filled but struggle with actions and attitudes that are not so loving?

We all face times of difficulty, stress, and pain that make it harder to maintain a Christlike attitude. Sometimes, instead of love flowing from us, there is a stream of anger, bitterness, and contention.

During my pastoral ministry, there were certainly times when something other than God’s love flowed from me. Ministry is a weight that takes a toll emotionally and spiritually. At times, the burdens I carried affected my relationships in ways I quickly regretted.

Too often, I was short with colleagues or overreacted to my child’s behavior. There were moments when venting frustrations on those around me damaged my Christian witness.

Spirit baptism increases our capacity to love people — both the body of Christ and the lost — but that doesn’t mean we will no longer experience human struggles and temptations.

As people of the Spirit, we must also be people of love.

The apostle Paul said those who live by the Spirit must “keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). When your attitude toward others is out of step with God’s heart, three course corrections are in order.

First, recognize when love is lacking. If the type of love 1 Corinthians 13 describes seems far from you, it is a sign that the Spirit is no longer flowing in your life as God desires.

If you find yourself being unkind, impatient, rude, easily angered, or self-seeking, you are not walking in love — even if you still speak in tongues. This calls for a return to the dependency you had when you first sought the Spirit. You need a fresh baptism of love to get your heart back on track.

Second, seek the Spirit’s outpouring continually. It’s not enough to have a testimony of experiencing Spirit baptism sometime in the past.

When Paul instructed the Ephesians to “be filled with the Spirit,” he seemed to have in mind an ongoing refilling (Ephesians 5:18). Just as believers are to give thanks “always” (verse 20), we must never stop seeking the Spirit’s outpouring on our lives.

The Spirit’s steady current should overflow in love for others. To care for others as Jesus desires, we need His love “poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” continually (Romans 5:5).

Seek the Holy Spirit’s outpouring daily. Ask God to fill your heart with His liquid love until it spills out onto those around you.

Third, pray in the Spirit more frequently. Although Romans 5:5 never mentions tongues, that was the normative experience of the Church when God poured out His Spirit in the Book of Acts (Acts 2:4,11; 10:46; 19:6). Indeed, Paul himself testified of speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:18).

Personally, I have found that spending time in prayer and allowing the Spirit to intercede for others through me is one of the best ways to keep my heart full of God’s love.

If you want Christ’s presence to flow in your life and ministry, develop a regular habit of praying in the Spirit, while asking God to form His character and compassion in you.

People of Love

The Assemblies of God is unashamed of its testimony of Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues.

While our Fellowship is rightly associated with this doctrine, I pray that we will also continue to have a reputation for love. After all, Jesus said this would be the distinguishing trait of His disciples (John 13:35).

The power of the Spirit is a hallmark of our Movement. That power is rooted in God’s love. Pentecost is a baptism of divine love. Without love, we would be nothing more than a resounding gong or clanging cymbal (1 Corinthians 13:1).

As people of the Spirit, we must also be people of love. Our churches should be known as places where people inside and outside the congregation experience God’s love.

Our ministers should be shepherds who minister with Christ’s compassion, empathy, and sacrificial love (John 10:11).

We must disciple church members to use their gifts for witnessing to the world and ministering to one another in love.

That is the type of Church the Father sent the Spirit to create.

This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Influence magazine.