Clothed

It’s something we do all the time. Each day, we go to our closet or dresser and pull out what we will wear for the day. We may or may not think deeply about the clothing we wear each day. Some of us have uniforms for school or work that dictate our options. Others of us have days off where we get to put on our favorite t-shirt and sweats as we hang around the house. Clothing. When we turn to the scriptures, we find that the clothing metaphor is an important one, particularly in two ways that I think are deeply connected. 

Baptiezd, or "Clothed" in the Holy Spirit

At the end of Jesus’ ministry, he instructed His disciples to be clothed with power from on high. As followers of Jesus in the Pentecostal tradition, we rightly see this as Jesus’ promise of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. He was getting ready to leave earth and prepare His disciples for life after His ascension, and he told His disciples to wait for the right clothing for their mission. 

Luke 24:48–49 (ESV)
You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
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We find here that Jesus connects witness and power. The clothing of the power of the Holy Spirit was an essential element of the disciples’ witness in the world. It was so essential that Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem without it. They needed to wear the Holy Spirit's power if they were going to effectively live for Christ in the world. 

Clothed with Character

The baptism in the Holy Spirit is so often emphasized as a power for ministry. Gifts, power, signs, wonders—things rightly seen throughout the story of the church in Acts. And yet, there’s an interesting connection that comes through the apostles’ instructions in the epistles.
 
Multiple times, as Paul was writing the churches, he picked up on this metaphor of clothing to call the believers to live the life Christ makes possible. In Romans 13, as he’s instructing the church to live in a way that honors the new day brought in by Christ: 

​Romans 13:12–14 (ESV)
The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
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In these verses, the instruction “put on” comes from the same Greek root as “clothed.” Paul might have said, “The day is at hand, so let’s dress for the new day. Let’s dress like Christ.” Be clothed with the character of Christ. Put on Christ. I find it interesting that the same word that Christ uses to describe the empowerment of the Holy Spirit for witness is the word used here to describe the putting on of New Creation life. Clothe yourselves with the character of Christ, living in light of the New Creation in Christ.
 

A New Identity

See, when we come to Christ, we take on a new identity. We become sons and daughters of God. And when we declare that change to the world in the waters of baptism, we take on a new identity, a new clothing. 

​Galatians 3:26–27 (ESV)
for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
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Once again, we see the idea of “put on,” clothed. Paul teaches that in the waters of baptism, we are clothed with Christ, we are given new clothing, if you will, that identifies us with the resurrected, New Creation life that Christ has made possible. This is why Paul would talk about the fact that anyone who is in Christ is a New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

​Paul seems to call believers to remember their clothing when they live out their lives in this world. In Ephesians and Colossians, Paul uses the same language to describe putting on the new self:

​Ephesians 4:22–24 (ESV)
to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:9–10 (ESV)
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
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“Renewed in the spirit of your minds…renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” The call to renewal begins in our thinking, and it begins in thinking in line with our original creation in God’s image, to represent Him and live for Him in this world. As we are renewed in our thinking, it changes the way we think and the way we live. The renewed mind produces a renewed life that dresses differently than it used to. We are to put off the sin, corruption, and desires of the old life and begin to live in line with the New Day, the New Creation that Christ has brought about. 

A New Power

So how are these two ideas of the clothing of New Creation and Baptism in the Holy Spirit connected? I believe the infilling or Baptism in the Holy Spirit is empowerment for renewal. It’s not simply about signs and wonders, gifts of the Spirit, and verbal witness, though those are important. It’s a divine empowerment and transformation to live like Christ. It’s clothing that looks like Jesus, aligns with our baptismal identity, and radiates Christ’s New Creation to the world. It’s transformational.

James Mongomery Boice, in his Bible Studies Magazine in May 1989, offers the best definition of the understanding of the meaning of the Word baptize, especially as it relates to the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. Pulling on a pickle recipe from Nicander, a poet and physician who lived in 200 B.C., Boice notes how Nicander said that the cucumber was to be dipped (bapto) in water before being “baptized” in the vinegar solution. This baptism would bring about the permanent transformation from cucumber to pickle.[1] What if this is the picture of being “clothed” with the power of the Holy Spirit? A permanent clothing in New Creation life that empowers us to live in the light of the day? An empowerment for holiness? A transformation of who we are?  

As we step into a new year tomorrow, I want to challenge us to look at our clothing. What are we wearing? Has the power of the Holy Spirit transformed who we are? Have we “put on” Christ? Have we truly been “clothed with power from on high?” Perhaps this day is a day of reflection. Am I dressed like the New Creation? Let’s check out our closets, metaphorically speaking, examine our lives, and make sure we’re dressed like the New Creations we are in Christ. Let us make sure we’re clothed with God’s transforming presence. Let’s make sure we are living in the light of holiness that He has made possible in the empowerment of the Spirit.


[1]James Montgomery Boice,  Bible Studies Magazine 21(5) (May 1989).  https://www.bibestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/baptizo.html. This common definition and picture is widely attested all over the internet. A little research has seemed to indicate that Bible Studies Magazine was a monthly magazine published “The Bible Studi Hour,” Dr. Boice’s teaching ministry. Older issues are seen on Amazon and other web sites, but I have yet to come across the May 1989 issue.