Verse 13
The baptism of the Spirit took place initially on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5; Acts 2:33; Acts 11:16). Subsequently individual believers experienced Spirit baptism when they personally trusted Christ as their Savior (Acts 11:15-17; Romans 8:9).
In Spirit baptism the Holy Spirit baptizes (Gr. baptidzo, lit. submerges) the believer into the body of Christ. He makes us a part of it. Water baptism illustrates this. Every believer experiences Spirit baptism regardless of his or her race or social status. We are now on equal footing in the sense that we are all members of the body of Christ.
The figure of drinking of one Spirit recalls John 7:37-39 where Jesus invited the thirsty to come and drink of Him to find refreshment. Baptism and drinking are both initiation experiences and take place at the same time. In the first figure the Spirit places the believer into Christ, and in the second the Spirit comes into the Christian. This is probably a case of Semitic parallelism in which both clauses make essentially the same point.
". . . the Spirit not only surrounds us, but is within us." [Note: Barrett, p. 289.]
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