The circumstances that the apostle was dealing with were much different than we have in the culture of the church. These members of Corinth came out of this baptism of the Holy Spirit in which there were miraculous incidents occurring with that baptism. It was an experience as if men were drunk with wine. The atmosphere was electric. So electric that the church was meeting every day in a devotion to the scripture and to the supper that was in a unity that was beyond our experience. They met to pray and confess their sins to one another constantly. It was not in the environment of will worship. There were prophetic utterances, a fire of holiness. But it was a generation who crucified Christ. It was the gospel preached in power by the apostles who were themselves experiencing a boldness that was supernatural. There was a unity that drew the people to the message that constantly overcame their devotion to worldly things and dumb down discipleship. They believed that they had been unable to repent on their own, because the message was so strong in so many people that the unified experience of deliverance from sin was visible through the reaction to the message in the large crowds. People were under such conviction that there was weeping, real repentance, and really profound unified rejoicing. They rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and the scripture says that whole towns were unified in this baptism of rejoicing. ( a reference to the churches in that community.)

They realized the God was supernaturally saving and adding to the church by this baptism of Christ with fire. The Holy Spirit was doing visible wonders in their midst. They were convinced that the word of God had a profound effect on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The apostles spoke the word of God boldly , that is it worked in that there was an instant unity in the assembly so the people left knowing that Gods visible presence was beyond those who were effect and responded to the message. There were no invitations, just visibly supernatural expressions on each face. People were brought to a supernatural rejoicing that could not be generated on a human level.

There was a perseverance that was experienced in a unified way. They met daily to persevere against the judiaziers. They were persecuted and yet were growing stronger in unity and in numbers. The worship was not only in jerusaleum , but spread into the whole known world at that time. It even spread to the gentiles who were more unable to receive the message of grace than any other people. They experience the baptism with fire so that the apostles had to acknowledge that it was a wonder beyond their ability to play down. Even the roman leaders were afraid of the multi