The work of the Holy Spirit - Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. As I have progressed along in my study, I've looked into the work of the Holy Spirit in individual believers in the Gospels, the Acts and lastly, the Church of today.

The Gospels:

• We know from Luke 1 that the Spirit filled John, Elizabeth and Zechariah. 
• The Spirit was received by the Apostles in John 20:22 when Jesus said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Note that through the context, we find that Jesus was specifically talking to 10 of the 12 apostles and their receiving was still not permanent.
• The Holy Spirit couldn't be given until Christ was glorified. (John 7:39)
• The Spirit coming was also dependent on Christ leaving earth (John 15:26, John 16:7)

The Acts:

The Spirit was introduced to the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 2), the Samaritans (Acts 8), the Gentiles (Acts 10) and the Old Testament converts to John the Baptist (Acts 19) in different ways. The Spirit was received in different ways and evidenced his effects in different ways.

Acts Chapter 2 (The Jews in Jerusalem)

• The apostles were "baptised with" the Holy Spirit.
• They were also "filled with" the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:4) Note that the words "baptise" and "fill" have two very different meanings. Baptise means to completely immerse into something, while fill means to insert, or stuff until full. These however, are two different operations by the Holy Spirit.
• The apostles received the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:29, Acts 2:38. Acts 11:16-17)
• The Spirit dealt primarily with the Jews as it was the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a Jewish feast in a Jewish city (v14, 22, 36) of only Jews present (v5)

Acts Chapter 8 (The Samaritans)

• The Spirit was received through the prayer of an Apostle. (Acts 8:14-15)
• The Spirit was also received through the laying on of the hands of an apostle (Acts 8:17-18)
• Please note that the Samaritans were a distinct people group from the Jews as they were half Jew and half Gentiles.  Therefore, this method by which the Samaritans received the Spirit was entirely different from that of the Jews or the Gentiles. 

Acts Chapter 10 (The Gentiles)

• The Spirit "fell" upon the Gentiles immediately after they were challenged to believe in Jesus. (Acts 10:43-44, Acts 11:15)
• The Spirit was "poured out" upon these Gentile believers (Acts 10:45)
• They "received" the Spirit. (Acts 10:47). Acts 15:8-11 takes this point one step further and states that these people were given the Holy Spirit and thus had their "hearts purified by faith" and were "saved."
• The point of this whole chapter was that God had opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles. He did so in such a way that there was no doubt to the Jews that this was indeed the hand of God Almighty. 

Acts Chapter 19 (The OT converts to John the Baptist)

•  The Spirit came upon them (in much the same way as the Samaritans) by the laying on of the hands of an apostle.(Acts 19:6)
• These men were believers without the Holy Ghost. (Acts 19:2). We need to remember the context of this verse as taking it out of its context implies that a person can be a believer and not have the Holy Spirit. This, however, is NOT the case in this chapter. In the context, we should note that these men were entirely unaware of the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the Christ. They were not believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but merely believers in the gospel of John the Baptist - that a messiah would be coming. Having never put their faith in the finished work of Christ, they were not saved from their sins in the NT sense of the word until verse 5 when they were informed of the facts by Paul. 
• The Spirit was dealing with OT Jews.

 We now see that the Spirit dealt with these four people groups in slightly different ways. This shows us that the initial works of the Spirit in Acts are not a pattern that we should seek to copy. There is no indication anywhere in Scripture that these experiences are to be repeated. The book of Acts is not a doctrinal treatise for the church, but a historical record of the progressive work of the Spirit with respect to the church. . Once this work had been established, all of the loose ends are tied together in Pauls inspired, doctrinal teachings to the Church, the body of Christ.

The Church of the 21st Century

Before salvation

• By convicting men (John 16:7-8)

At salvation

• The Spirit came to live inside you - You received the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:9, 1 Cor 3:16, Gal 4:6) Note that some people put an emphasis on the need to receive the Holy Spirit after a person has been saved. The word of God however, makes it clear that just as every believer receives and is indwelt by the Father and the Son at salvation, this same fact is true of the Holy Spirit of God. This means that the determining factor of whether or not a person belongs to God rests in whether or not they have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. One can not separate the presence of the Holy Spirit and salvation - you either have both or neither. To speak of receiving the actual presence of the Holy Spirit as a separate event from being saved is simply not consistent with the word of God.
• The Spirit comes to abide with the believer and to dwell with him forever (John 14:16-17)
• The Spirit gave you eternal life and therefore is the One who made you "born again" (John 3:5-8)
• The Spirit becomes the seal or promise of your salvation - you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. (Eph 1:13-14, Eph 4:30)
• You were baptised by the Holy Spirit into Jesus Christ/the Church. (1 Cor 12:13, Gal 3:26-28)
• You were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:17)
• All of these verses refer to the work of the Holy Spirit initiated on the Day of Pentecost and subsequently performed in every person today who comes to Jesus Christ.
• At salvation, the Holy Spirit washed, sanctified and justified you. (1 Cor 6:11)
• He imparted one or more spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:7,11). I'll touch more on this topic in more detail in a later post.

After salvation

• You'll have to wait for my next blog post to hear my thoughts on this. Still compiling my thoughts and studying at this point. Please bare with me. 

Thanks for reading!
Mel