A little further on we read the first message that Christ Himself preached after John had prepared the way before Him.

“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel... and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’” (Mark 1:14-15)

The first commandment that ever fell from the lips of Christ was not to believe but to repent. First repent, then believe.

After His death and resurrection, when Christ commissioned His apostles to go out to all nations with the gospel, once again the first word in His message was “repentance.”

“Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.’” (Luke 24:46-47)

Here again it is repentance first, and after that, remission of sins.

Shortly after the resurrection, the apostles, through their spokesman Peter, began to fulfil this commission of Christ. After the Holy Spirit’s coming on the day of Pentecost, the convicted (but still unconverted) multitude asked: “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). To this inquiry there came an immediate and definite answer.

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” (Acts 2:38)

Here again it is repentance first; after that, baptism and remission of sins.

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Those who claim that speaking with tongues is not necessarily the evidence of having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit are obliged by logic to suggest some alternative evidence by which we may know, according to Scripture, that a person has received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

One such alternative evidence which is commonly proposed is that of spiritual fruit. The suggestion is that unless a person demonstrates in his life the fruit of the Holy Spirit in a full way, that person cannot be considered to have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

The complete list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is given by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

This and other passages make it plain that the primary fruit of the Spirit out of which all the rest develop is love. Only a foolish, shallow-minded Christian would ever deny that spiritual fruit in general, and love in particular, are of supreme importance in the life of every Christian. This does not mean, however, that spiritual fruit is the scriptural evidence of having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In fact, this test of spiritual fruit must be rejected as contrary to Scripture on two main grounds:

it is not the test which the apostles themselves appl

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