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The Holy
Spirit
A Real
Person
In the New
Testament the Holy Spirit clearly reveals himself as a person and as Deity. He has the
attributes of personality:
Romans 8:27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13
Ephesians 4:30
1 Corinthians 12:11
He performs
the actions of personality:
John 14:26
John 15:26
Acts 8:29; 13:2
Romans 8:14
1 Timothy 4:1
He is Deity
because he is the Spirit of God and of Christ (Romans 8:9) and proceeds eternally from the
Father (John 15:26; Galatians 4:6).
In Creation
The Spirit
hovered over the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2), and by his Spirit God adorned the heavens
(Job 26:13).
The Holy
Spirit gives life to men (Job 33:4); provides them with excellent gifts, both natural and
spiritual (Exodus 31:2-3; 1 Corinthians 12:8-11).
When men
sin, the Holy Spirit pleads with them to return to God (Genesis 6:3; John 16:8-9;
Romans 2:4).
It is
especially through the Spirit that the triune God bears witness of himself to men.
In Revelation And Inspiration
The divine
author of God’s revelation to mankind is the Holy Spirit.
The prophets
and apostles, the human instruments, “…spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:21)
It is
clearly stated that Old Testament prophets received the words of the Lord by the Holy
Spirit
- Zechariah 7:12
- Ezekiel 2:2
- Nehemiah 9:30
The Spirit of God is the one who inspired
the Scriptures, i.e., taught the very words (1 Corinthians 2:12-13) so that they are
accurate, infallible, and authoritative.
Jesus
promised to send the Holy Spirit to teach his apostles all things and bring to remembrance
all that he had said to them (John 14:26).
Jesus And The Spirit
In the New
Testament, the Holy Spirit was active before the beginning of the life of Jesus (Luke
1:13-15) to the end (1 Peter 3:18).
Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35).
He read in
the synagogue from the scroll of Isaiah about the coming Messiah: “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me...” (Luke 4:18) and said: “This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears” (Luke 4:21).
By the
Spirit he cast out demons (Matthew 12:28, RSV).
Jesus
promised his disciples to pray to the Father that he would give them “another
comforter,” “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17).
By that
Spirit the apostles would be enabled to perform their special task as teachers of the
church (John 14:26).
In The Church
Before
ascending to heaven, Jesus said to the apostles: “But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem,
and all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
With the
coming of Pentecost, the church entered upon “the last days” (Acts 2:17). Slaves
(“servants”) as well as free, and women (“handmaidens”) as well as
men, would now “prophesy” (Acts 2:18).
Henceforth,
the “Lord is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17).
With
“open face,” believers now constantly behold “the glory of the Lord,”
the glory of him who died for their sins and rose again for their justification.
In so doing
they are “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
The
“Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” has made them “free from the law of sin
and death” (Romans 8:2).
In The World
Jesus told
his disciples: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;
and you shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
And through
them he told all his followers the same.
In spite of
persecution nothing can stop the people of God as we “preach the unsearchable riches
of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).
Baptism of The Holy Spirit
Subsequent
to Salvation
The baptism
in the Holy Spirit occurred at Pentecost in fulfillment of Christ’s promise to clothe
his disciples with supernatural power (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-5,8; 2:1-12).
Similar
examples of the baptism in the Holy Spirit occurred:
- at Samaria (Acts 8:14-17)
- for Saul of Tarsus when Ananias laid his hands upon him
(Acts 9:17)
- in Cornelius’ home (Acts 10:44-45)
- at Ephesus to the disciples of John the Baptist (Acts
19:1-6)
Following these initial baptisms in the
Spirit there were many fillings (e.g., Acts 4:8,31; 13:9,52).
The prophet
Micah gives the typical testimony of believers:
But truly
I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD... Micah 3:8
The language
of the new birth is quite different from the language associated with the baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
Born of
The Spirit
This is the
language of the new birth. When we are born again, we experience a spiritual birth. Old
things are passed away and all things are become new.
Baptized
in The Spirit
The baptism
in the Holy Spirit experienced separate from and usually subsequent to the salvation
experience.
In Scripture
we find these experiential examples set forth:
Luke 3:21-23; 4:1, 14
Luke 24:46-49
The Initial Evidence
Pentecost
Three signs
were observable on the day of Pentecost:
- Wind
- Fire
- Glossolalia (tongues)
Of the three, no further mention of wind
and fire is made after verse 1, because these two signs preceded the filling of the
disciples.
Glossolalia was the result of the filling.
What Meaneth
This
This is the
question asked by those who heard the first utterance in tongues (Acts 2:12).
The question
is not nearly so profound as the answer:
This is
That
Peter’s
response in verse 16 is astounding:
But this
is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; Acts 2:16
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young
men shall see visions: Joel 2:28
The pouring
out of God’s Spirit upon all flesh is the Baptism of the Spirit.
Do you want
THAT (the outpouring of the Spirit promised by the Father)?
Then you
should accept THIS (glossolalia—the sign of the out pouring), because
“this” IS “that”!
If you have
THIS then you have THAT!
If you do
not have THIS then you may not have THAT, because THIS IS THAT!
Cornelius
(Acts 10:1-48)
On the
evidence of glossolalia alone, Peter declares that Cornelius and his household had
received the baptism of the Spirit (46, 47).
Ephesus
(Acts 19:1-6)
This takes
place more than 20 years after the day of Pentecost.
The all
important question that Paul asked of the Ephesians was, “Have ye received the Holy
Ghost since ye believed?”
- Two decades after Pentecost, the lack of glossolalia is
taken as evidence that these Christians had not been filled with the Holy Spirit.
If Holy Spirit Baptism was instantaneous,
at the moment of conversion, there would be no need to ask this question.
They had not
even heard of a Holy Spirit.
As soon as
he had laid hands on them, and glossolalia had occurred, Paul was able to affirm that
“the Holy Spirit had come upon them.”
The
Samaritans (Acts 8:5-20)
Although
Luke does not say so in so many words, it is evident that the Samaritans did speak with
other tongues when the Holy Spirit fell on them.
The
Requirement of Verse 16
(For as
yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord
Jesus.)
This
requires that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit be immediately and plainly observable.
The same is
true of other statements:
- They prayed for them that they might receive the
Holy Spirit
- The received the Holy Spirit
- Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on
of the apostle’s hands
What was the evidence that prevailed upon
Simon’s understanding?
It could
only have been glossolalia.
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