[This book provides a very thorough
examination of every passage in the New Testament that refers to the Holy
Spirit. It was written many years ago for seminaries, Bible institutes,
and all Christian workers and Bible students. Herein also is a solid refutation
of the false teachings of the charismatic movement concerning sign gifts,
baptism, anointing, and others.]
The Holy Spirit in the New Testament
AN EXEGETICAL EXAMINATION OF EVERY NEW TESTAMENT
REFERENCE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD
A TEXT BOOK FOR SEMINARIES, BIBLE INSTITUTES AND ALL
CHRISTIAN WORKERS AND BIBLE STUDENTS
By
ARNO CLEMENS GAEBELEIN
Editor of "Our Hope"
PUBLICATION OFFICE "OUR
HOPE"
456 FOURTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY
[There was no copyright or table of contents in this
book - scanned, proofed on 2/24/01.]
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
The Promises of the Gift of the Holy Spirit in the Old
Testament
W
HEN Moses complained to the Lord on account of Israel
murmuring at Taberah, and confessed that the burden of the people was
too heavy for him, the Lord told him to gather seventy men of the
elders, and that He would give them the Spirit, who rested upon himself,
so that they might bear the burden with him. When it was done the elders
prophesied. Two of the seventy had not gone outside of the camp to the
tabernacle, Eldad and Medad, but they also prophesied in the camp. Then
Joshua rushed up to Moses and informed him of this fact, adding a
demand, "My lord Moses, forbid them." Moses answered him,
"Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people
were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them"
(Num. 11:1-29).
Moses knew that the only remedy for the unbelieving and complaining
people was the Spirit of God. But in his wish he expressed something
more. It becomes in later prophecy a definite promise for the nation God
has chosen as His earthly people, that they were to receive the Holy
Spirit and that the whole nation should be Spirit-filled. In Exodus
19:5-6 the calling of Israel is stated. They are to be, says the Lord,
"A peculiar treasure unto Me (see Matt. 13:44) above all people,
for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be to Me a kingdom of priests,
and a holy nation." In Deut. vii:6 we read, "For thou art an
holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to
be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the
face of the earth." Two things are necessary for the realization of
this calling, redemption and the Holy Spirit. It will be noticed that
the calling stated in the nineteenth chapter of Exodus is conditional.
It is in connection with the inauguration of the law-covenant. We read,
"If ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be
to Me a peculiar treasure." As they were uncircumcised in their
hearts, they could not keep His covenants nor walk in His ways as a
nation. If their calling is to be realized they must have a circumcised
heart (Deut. 30:6), in other words, be born again, which is the result
of redemption and the Spirit of God. The law covenant says nothing about
redemption and a circumcised heart, because by the works of the law no
one can be justified, nor receive the blessings of redemption. Neither
does the law covenant promise to him who keeps the law the gift of the
Holy Spirit (see Gal. 3:2).
The prophetic Word reveals the great future of the people Israel,
when they shall be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a nation born
again, a nation filled with the Spirit, a nation which will show forth
the Lord's glory. This future will be realized through grace, when the
remnant of Israel in the latter days turns to the once rejected Messiah,
the pierced One upon whom they look (Zech. 12:10). In connection with
their future conversion as a nation, the fulfillment of the many
promises of earthly glory, such as their restoration to their land and
the kingdom, the gift of the Holy Spirit is prominently mentioned.
We shall examine briefly certain passages upon the understanding of
which a great deal depends if we want to grasp the teachings of the New
Testament as to the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 32:13-18
The first Scripture we select is Isaiah 32:13-18.
"Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers,
yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city; because the palaces
shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left, the forts
and towers shall be dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of
flocks; until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the
wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a
forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness
remain in a fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be
peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever.
And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in dwellings,
and in quiet resting places."
We notice that this passage begins with a prophecy announcing that
the curse of the Lord would rest upon Israel's land. Thorns and briers,
symbolical of the curse, would change Israel's land into a wilderness,
while the joyous city would be forsaken. This, however, is not to be the
permanent condition of the land. The time is to come when the wilderness
will become again a fruitful field, when peace, the work of
righteousness will prevail, when the people scattered and driven about
among the nations, shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in sure
dwellings, and quiet resting places. The great change will come, when
"the Spirit is poured out from on high." Inasmuch as the
national and earthly blessings for Israel and Israel's land have not yet
come, and these blessings can only be realized by the Spirit poured upon
them, there is yet to come the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon that
people.
Isaiah 44:2-5
We cite another passage from Isaiah, chapter 44: 2-5.
"Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the
womb, who will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is
thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy
seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring. And they shall spring up as
among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am the
Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another
shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the
name of Israel." This passage looks forward to the day when Israel
is converted and knows the Lord. The outpouring of the Spirit of God is
here likewise a leading feature.
Ezekiel 36
Ezekiel 36 is a great chapter dealing with Israel's future
restoration blessings, and with their new birth as a nation before the
kingdom is restored unto them. When our Lord said to Nicodemus in the
third chapter of John's Gospel, "Art thou the teacher in Israel and
knowest not these things?", He had the thirty-sixth chapter of
Ezekiel in His mind. There is a beautiful chronological order in the
closing chapters of Ezekiel. In the thirty-sixth chapter the national
conversion of Israel is predicted. In the next chapter we behold their
national restoration, as seen in the vision of the valley of dry bones.
The union of the house of Judah with the house of Israel follows. In
chapters 38 and 39 the prophetic history is recorded of the last
invasion of Israel's land by Gog and Magog and their complete defeat.
From the fortieth chapter to the end we hear of the great temple to be
erected during the millennium, of the division of the land and the glory
of the earthly Jerusalem. In the thirty-sixth chapter the people Israel
are first of all reminded of their past history of sin and shame, as
well as the judgment which the Lord meted out to them as a nation.
"Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had
shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it;
and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through
the countries; according to their way and according to their doings I
Judged them. And when they entered unto the nations, whither they went,
they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people
of the Lord, and are gone forth out of this land" (verses 18-20).
The dispersion which is mentioned here is not the Babylonian captivity,
but it is the great dispersion among all the nations. Then the Lord
reveals their future. He does not say that they have repented and have
become righteous by keeping the law, but He is gracious and -merciful
unto them that His great name may be sanctified, that the world might
know the depths of His mercy. The first promise as to their future is
contained in verse 24, "For I will take you from among the nations,
and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own
land." This is their restoration and it will be seen that it is
accomplished by the Lord Himself and not by their own political efforts,
as we witness today in Zionism. The Lord who made a covenant with
Abraham and promised to him and to his seed the land, which he never
possessed, will bring them again to their land. Next we read of their
cleansing. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall
be clean; from all your filthiness, and from your idols, will I cleanse
you." It is folly to quote this verse, as it has been done, to show
that sprinkling is the only scriptural mode of baptism. It has nothing
whatever to do with baptism nor with the church. The foolish
spiritualizing of the national promises which belong to Israel has
worked, and is still working, untold harm. The Lord in His grace will
cleanse them from their sins and defilement. As Paul states by the
Spirit of God, "This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take
away their sins" (Rom. 11:27). The prophetic Word contains many
promises as to their national cleansing. Their cleansing is followed by
the new birth of the nation, "A new heart also will I give you, and
a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." This is
the circumcision of their heart (Deut. 30:6). Next to the promise of
their rebirth, when their iniquity will be removed in one day (Zech.
3:9) and the nation will be born in a day (Isa. 66:7-8), we find the
gift of the Spirit. "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall
be my people, and I will be your God." The Holy Spirit is bestowed
upon them as a nation and the result will be their sanctification and
walk of righteousness. Over and over again in this chapter we read the
divine "I will," the word of sovereign grace. The remnant of
Israel living in that day will be saved, blessed, cleansed, born again
and filled with the Spirit by grace.
Ezekiel 39
When we turn to the last verse of the thirty-ninth chapter we find
the statement again that the Lord has gathered them out of all nations
and brought them back to their land. Then the final assurance,
"Neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured
out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." No
intelligent believer will claim that this has taken place, nor will any
one who divides the Word of Truth rightly say, as we read in
commentaries, that it will never be fulfilled in Israel, but has found
its fulfillment in the church.
Joel 2
The second chapter in the prophecy of Joel contains the most
outstanding prediction and promise as to the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit in connection with the chosen people of God, the nation Israel.
We refer the reader to our larger exposition of the Book of Joel, in
which the writer examines every detail of this interesting prophecy and
shows its relation to the coming Yom Jehovah, the Day of the Lord. The
prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit is found in chapter 2:28-32,
"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. And
also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out
my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day
of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the
remnant whom the Lord shall call."
The context shows when this great prophecy will be fulfilled. That it
is a Jewish national promise is so plainly written in this chapter that
one must be willfully blind in not seeing it. The first part of the
chapter gives a prophetic description of the coming great tribulation,
the time of Jacob's trouble, preceding the Day of the Lord, which brings
the visible manifestation of the Lord for the deliverance of the remnant
of Israel. Jerusalem is in great distress once more. Then a remnant
turns to the Lord and calls upon Him. He answers and pities His people.
The enemy from the north, who had invaded the land, is repulsed. The
Lord does great things. The former rain and the latter rain comes upon
the land, and what the locusts had devoured, devastating the land, will
be restored. It is Bible interpretation gone to seed when a certain
woman-leader in Los Angeles claims that all this means the church and
that she herself has a prominent part in the fulfilment of this
prophecy. Such egotism is obnoxious to every true child of God. The
prophecy as to the great outpouring of the Spirit is closely related to
the Day of the Lord. It can therefore not be fulfilled as long as this
day has not come. Here, again, these latter day delusionists, a good
many of whom are women, claim fulfillment. They try to justify their
speaking "in tongues," usurping authority over man, taking the
place as teacher, by the passage before us, because it says, "your
daughters shall prophesy." They claim to have visions; we do not
doubt that they are visions, but certainly not the -visions of God, but
lying visions. All these delusions might have been avoided and also with
it the havoc and heartaches among a certain class of Christians, if the
context had been studied. They would have discovered that all this has
nothing whatever to do with the church of Jesus Christ and with the
present age. We mention the quotation of this passage by Peter on the
day of Pentecost in the chapter on "The Holy Spirit in the Book of
Acts."
Joel 3
The third chapter in Joel shows what else will take place in that
day, when Israel is saved and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them.
We give one more passage.
Zechariah 12:10
In Zechariah 12:10 we read: "And I will pour upon the house of
David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of
supplications, and they shall look upon Me, whom they have pierced, and
they shall mourn for Him, as one that mourneth for his only son, and
shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn." This also is future and its fulfillment awaits the day
when they shall see Him coming in the clouds of heaven and shall know
Him by the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet.
We give a summary. The promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the
Old Testament is confined to the people Israel. The Spirit of God will
be given to them in the day of their restoration, when the Lord is
manifested. The promise is therefore unfulfilled. Nowhere do we read in
the Old Testament that the Spirit of God is to be given to the Gentiles,
that Gentiles are to be united with believing Hebrews in one body and
that the middle wall of partition was to be broken down. Nor do we read
the promise in the prophets that believing sinners should receive the
Spirit of Sonship, by whom they are enabled to cry "Abba,
Father," that their bodies become the temples of the Holy Spirit.
Not a word is said, furthermore, about the Holy Spirit sealing the
believer until the day of redemption, and that He is the earnest of the
purchased possession, abiding in the believer. Nor is there a word as to
the gifts of the Spirit and the unity of the Spirit. Old Testament
believers were visited by the Spirit and guided as well as helped by
Him, but the teachings of the New Testament concerning the Spirit, and
the blessings and relationships, all the results of the finished work of
Christ on the cross, were unknown to them.
We are now prepared to examine the different references in the New
Testament Scriptures dealing with the Holy Spirit. What we have written
as to the relation of Israel to the Holy Spirit we shall have occasion
to mention again.
Return
to Table of Contents
CHAPTER 2
The Holy Spirit In The Synoptic Gospels
T
HE first three Gospel records of Matthew, Mark and Luke
are called the Synoptic Gospels. Matthew gives us the record of our Lord
as the promised King, who came as such and offered the kingdom, only to
be rejected by His own; Mark gives the record of Christ as servant and
Luke the record of His perfect manhood. The first chapter in Matthew
mentions the Holy Spirit for the first time.
Matthew 1:18
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His
mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was
found with child of the Holy Spirit." When Joseph thought of
putting her away an angel informed him that "that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (verse 20). When Gabriel
brought the heavenly announcement to Mary, the Virgin mother of our
Lord, he mentioned the Holy Spirit likewise. Luke 1:35, "The
Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God." The Holy Spirit produced the
human body for the Son of God by a creative act. Of that body the Son of
God spoke as a prepared body (Heb. 10:5). It was impossible for One who
is absolutely holy to cloth Himself with a body coming into existence by
the natural generation. If that had been the case He would have had a
body to which the taint of sin was attached. While it is true that Mary
had a body which was sinful, yet the power of holiness in the Son of
God, repulsed every particle of that, and the Holy Spirit in preparing
the body could not permit anything unholy to enter the physical body of
our Lord.
This is typically indicated in the meal offering (Lev. 2). The
meal-offering speaks of the holy humanity of our Lord. It consisted of
fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil an frankincense put upon it. No
meal offering was permitted to have leaven in it, nor any honey. Salt
was to be offered with it.
The fine white flour stands for His spotless humanity. The oil is the
emblem of the Holy Spirit. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Leaven
is the type of evil and sin. There was no evil nor sin in Him.
Frankincense denotes worship. Honey, which was also forbidden, is
symbolical of the amiableness of the natural man. All what was in Him
was the result of His own holy character. Salt typifies the separating
power of holiness. The Holy Spirit is thus eminently identified with the
physical body of our Lord.
Luke 1:15, 41 and 67
Luke 1:15, 41 and 67. These passages also mention the Holy
Spirit. John, the forerunner was filled with the Holy Spirit from his
mother's womb. Elisabeth, the mother of John, was filled with the Holy
Spirit, and so was Zechariah when he prophesied. The trinity is
therefore seen in holy action in the very beginning of the New
Testament. The Father sent the Son; the Son of God came to be incarnate.
The Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin; she conceived by the Holy Spirit.
John was filled with the Holy Spirit and also Zechariah and Elisabeth.
The same is said of Simeon, who had received a special revelation by the
Spirit and was led by Him to the temple (Luke 2:25).
Matthew 3:11-12
Matthew 3:11-12. "I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes
I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
with fire; whose fan is in His hand, and He will purge His floor, and
gather His wheat into the garner but He will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire" (Mark 1:18 and Luke 3:16 and 17 and the
reference to the same promise in John 1:33). These are
fundamental passages and need our closer attention.
We must remember that John, the Baptist, as we call him, was the
herald of the King. He still belonged to the Old Testament prophets and
did not announce under the name "the kingdom of heaven," the
church, nor this present dispensation of grace, but the kingdom, which
is promised to Israel. The baptism which he practiced is not Christian
baptism. It was a baptism unto repentance by which the Israelite
signified that he was worthy of death on account of his sins. Then he
announced that He, who came after him, the Messiah- King, would baptize
them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Every Jew who knew the
Scriptures and the promise of God as to the gift of the Spirit must have
understood by this statement, that these promises were to be
accomplished for the nation through the Messiah, the Son of David, on
the condition of repentance. The baptism with fire is something entirely
different and has nothing whatever to do with the baptism with the
Spirit. Strange confusion exists here. There are certain sects which
actually differentiate between the baptism with the Spirit and the
baptism with fire. They teach, that a believer may be baptized with the
Spirit and not be baptized with fire. Then they exhort others to
"seek the fire baptism," which they claim, is evidenced by
some startling outward phenomena, falling to the floor and talking in a
strange tongue, etc. The men who teach that a believer must
"seek" a baptism with the Holy Spirit after he has been born
again are responsible for a good deal of the confusion which exists
among Christians. This fact is taken up elsewhere in this volume.
The baptism with fire did not take place on the day of Pentecost, nor
is there a baptism with fire now. The baptism with fire means the
judgments which will be executed with the second coming of our Lord. The
words of our Lord demonstrate this. He speaks of gathering His wheat
(the children of the kingdom) into his garner and of burning the chaff
with unquenchable fire (see Matt. 13:37-43). It is the fire baptism of
judgment which He will bring to this earth when He returns. The word
baptism is used differently. There is water baptism, baptism with the
Holy Spirit and the baptism with fire-judgment. Our Lord also used the
word baptism when He said "But I have a baptism to be baptized
with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished" (Luke
12:50). It was His suffering and His death to which He referred as a
baptism. The conclusive evidence that the fire baptism has nothing to do
with the baptism with the Spirit is found in Acts 1:5 "For John
truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit
not many days hence." The Lord omitted "and with fire"
because there is no such thing as a fire baptism during the present age.
Matthew 3:16
Matthew 3:16. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up
straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him,
and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon
Him. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased" (see also Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22,
and John 1:32-34).
With His baptism in Jordan our Lord entered upon His official
ministry as "a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God,
to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (Rom. 15:8)." As John
said, "He needed not to be baptized." In His baptism He showed
forth the purpose of His coming into the world; He came to take the
sinner's place in death. In His baptism there is also indicated His
resurrection, His ascension, the gift of the Spirit and the declaration
of Sonship.
The Spirit of God came upon Him anointing Him for the great work He
came to do. This also is seen in a typical way in the meal offering, for
oil was not only to be mixed with fine flour (His incarnation) but
before the meal offering was exposed to the fire (typical of His
sufferings), oil was poured upon it. So our Lord before He began His
work as the Prophet, in His public ministry, ending with His death on
the cross, was anointed with the Spirit. Many in Old Testament times
were also anointed with the Spirit to do the work into which the Lord
had called them. But there is a difference between them and our Lord.
The Spirit of God came upon prophets, priests and kings in a certain
measure, but John 3:34 tells us that the Spirit was not upon Him
by measure, that is, He did not receive a portion of the Spirit, but the
Spirit, the Person Himself came upon Him. This is a blessed indication
how those who are dead with Christ and risen with Him should also
receive the Spirit, not by measure, but He Himself, the third person of
the Trinity, comes to dwell in their hearts.
He came upon Him in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit took the
emblem of a dove. The characteristics of the dove are too well known,
its lowliness and harmlessness, to need further mention. Even so He
manifested meekness and lowliness, the dove character; He did not cry,
nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. If one
visits nowadays certain meetings of the Pentecostalites and other sects
and sees the disorder, the howling noises and emotional fits, all
claimed to be the operation of the Spirit of God, one feels at once that
all is contrary to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of order, quietness and
peace.
Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12 and Luke 4:l
Matthew 4:l. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tested of the devil." Also Mark 1:12 and
Luke 4:l. The passage in Luke tells us that Jesus was full of the
Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit to be tested of the devil. The Son
of God full of the Spirit is now guided by the Spirit to fulfill all
which is written concerning Himself. The life He lived before He began
His public ministry was also a life of perfect trust and obedience (see
Psa. 22:9-10). The Spirit, as Mark states, drove Him into the
wilderness. Some have said, that our Lord was anxious to meet the enemy
face to face. That it was His own spirit which led Him into the
wilderness. This is incorrect. If our Lord had gone forth impatiently to
meet the old serpent, He would have been the tempter of the devil. It
was the Holy Spirit who led Him forward, who impelled Him to meet the
foe, so that a test might be applied by Him, to find out that He is the
Son of God, the holy One. There are two reasons why the Son of God could
not sin. The first is, because He is God, absolutely holy, and God
cannot sin. The second is because the Holy Spirit of God was upon Him
and He is the Spirit of holiness.
Matthew 12:18, Luke 4:14, 18
Matthew 12:18, Luke 4:14, 18. These three passages describe His
ministry in the power of the Spirit. Matthew quotes Isaiah's prophecy,
who spoke of Him as the Spirit filled servant of the Lord. Luke tells us
that after His victory over the devil He returned "in the power of
the Spirit into Galilee." As God manifested in the flesh our Lord
had power over all things. He had omnipotence and omniscience. But the
Spirit of God also acted in Him and through Him. His words were the
words of the Spirit, of life and of power. His works were also done in
the power of the Spirit. Luke quotes Isaiah 11:1-2.
Matthew 12:28
Matthew 12:28. "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of
God, then the kingdom is come unto you." These words were
occasioned by the blasphemous charge that our Lord used Beelzebub, the
prince of demons, in His work of delivering the victims of demon
possession. His divine logic shows the fallacy of such a charge.
Matthew 12:31-33, Mark 3:29-30, Luke 12:10.
Matthew 12:31-33: Mark 3:29-30, Luke 12:10. Here our Lord speaks
of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the sin for which there is no
forgiveness neither in this world nor in the world to come; he who
commits this sin is in danger of eternal damnation. What is the
blasphemy, or sin, against the Holy Spirit? Apart from these three
passages this sin is nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament. Satan
has often used the statement of our Lord, leading souls into despair, as
under his accusation they charge them- selves with having committed the
unpardonable sin. The context explains what that sin is. The scribes
which charged the Lord that He had the spirit of Beelzebub, used his
power, and not the power of the Spirit of God, were guilty of that
blasphemy. They did so against their better knowledge. In this sense the
blasphemy against the Spirit can no longer be committed.
Matthew 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 11:13.
Matthew 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 11:13. These passages contain the
promise of what should take place after the disciples had received the
promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts
shows the fulfillment, especially Chapter 4:8-13.
Luke 11:13.
Luke 11:13. "If ye then being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that ask- Him." This promise is often
quoted by Christians who think that it is to be used today. They think
that we must ask continually for the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we
might receive Him. As our examination of the testimony of the epistles
shows, a believer in Christ has received the Holy Spirit; the Holy
Spirit dwells in every child of God. Therefore there is no longer any
need to ask for the fulfillment of a promise which has been fulfilled.
These words were spoken by our Lord before the gift of the Spirit had
been given on the day of Pentecost. It was perfectly in order for them
to ask the Father for that gift, but we have no right to fall back on
this promise. Two more references are found in the Synoptic Gospels to
the Spirit of God. In Matthew 22:43 and Mark 12:36, our
Lord states the fact that David wrote by the Holy Spirit the one hundred
and tenth psalm. In Matthew 28:19 the Holy Spirit is mentioned
with the Father and the Son in the commission to teach all nations and
to baptize them.
Return
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CHAPTER
3
The Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John
W
E have seen that the Holy Spirit is comparatively little
mentioned in the Synoptics. Be- sides the promise made by John the
Baptist, there is but one other promise by our Lord that His Father
would give the Spirit to them that ask Him.
It is different in the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John. In this
Gospel is revealed the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God
and that believing we have life through His name (20:31). John bears
witness to the full glory of the Lord Jesus and makes known the teaching
He gave concerning the Holy Spirit and His work in and for the believer.
The Holy Spirit held back from the pens of the Synoptics all these
teachings which the Lord gave concerning eternal life and the work of
His Spirit, as well as the more definite promises of the Spirit as the
Paraclete, because it was outside of the scope and purpose of the first
three Gospels. We may well call the Gospel of John, written several
decades after the Synoptics, the bridge which leads from Judaism into
Christianity. The Gospel of John is the portal through which we enter
into the highest revelation as to redemption and the Holy Spirit's part.
This highest revelation is found in the Pauline epistles.
We have already mentioned in connection with the testimony of John
the Baptist, John 1:32 and 33, also 3:34, so that we do not need to
quote these verses again.
John 3:5
Chapter 3:5 is the first passage in which our Lord speaks of the
Spirit in this Gospel. "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God." Our Lord had told Nicodemus the absolute
necessity of the new birth in order to see the kingdom of God and when
Nicodemus expressed a desire to know how a man can be born a second
time, the Lord answered him in the above words. The new birth is brought
about by "water and the Spirit." Ritualists claim that the
water is baptism. Others claim that the right kind of water baptism is
necessary to salvation. The water our Lord mentions in connection with
the Spirit is not baptism at all. Water is the symbolical figure of the
Word of God. Ephesians 5:26 employs the same figure. Then I
Peter 1:23 and James 1:18 show that it is the Word of God out
of which we receive our new birth. In the Word the Holy Spirit is
active. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When man
hears the Word of God, the Holy Spirit in the Word and through the Word,
acts upon the dead condition of the human soul, and when the Word is
believed the Holy Spirit imparts to the believing sinner the new nature
and he receives eternal life.
John 3:6
In the next verse John 3:6 the Lord tells Nicodemus that
"that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit." By the natural generation man has a
nature which is flesh, the sin nature. It never can be anything else. In
the new birth the believer receives the divine nature; be is born of God
and he possesses a Spirit-nature, which enables him to be in the
presence of God and also to live and walk in the Spirit. Then again in
Verse 8 He mentions the Spirit. "The wind bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometb,
and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
This means the mysterious action of the Holy Spirit.
John 4
In John 4 in speaking to the Samaritan woman the Lord gives
also teaching about the Spirit, though He does not mention Him by name.
He said to her "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in
him a well of water springing up into ever- lasting life." The
fountain of water in the believer is the indwelling Spirit. In chapter
7:37-39 our Lord speaks again of living water and there we learn that He
spake under this term of the Holy Spirit whom they that believe on Him
should receive.
John 4:23-24
John 4:23-24. These words addressed to the Samaritan woman, tell
us of the new worship which would come with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
"God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in
Spirit and in truth." Such worshippers the Father seeketh. Only
true believers can be such worshippers for it needs the Holy Spirit
(Phil. 3:3).
John 6:63
John 6:63. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh
profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and
they are life." After feeding the multitudes miraculously He spoke
of Himself as the living bread come down from heaven. He taught again
concerning eternal life and how it is obtained. "I am the living
bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, be
shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world." Eating of Him means to
believe on Him and become identified with Him. Those who hear His words
and believe on Him are quickened by the Spirit. The word
"quicken" means imparting life, so that our Lord teaches once
more what He said to Nicodemus, that the work of the Spirit is to impart
spiritual life in the new birth. And the words He speaks are Spirit and
are life. The Spirit and Life is in them.
John 7: 37-39
John 7: 37-39. "In the last day, that great day of the
feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let Him come to
Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this He spake of
the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy
Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified."
These words of promise were spoken by Him during the
feast of tabernacles. Daily there was drawn from the pool of Siloam
water and then poured out. On the last day this ceremony was omitted. It
had a symbolical meaning. They commemorated the fact that the Lord had
supplied the water during the wilderness journey. On the eighth day no
water was poured out, for that day stands in type for the day when they
entered the land and drank of the springs there. These waters are
typical of the living water promised to His people Israel (see Zech.
14:8; Isa. 12; Ezek. 47, etc.). It was on that last day, typical of
Israel's promised blessing, that He spoke these words. The nation had
rejected Him and the promised national blessings could not come then.
Instead He offers individual blessing to him who comes by faith. To such
He gives the living water, which in return shall flow forth from the
believer's heart, as streams of living water. He spoke of the Spirit
which they should receive who believe on Him. Here we read that all
these promises of the gift of the Spirit are dependent on His
glorification, following His sacrificial death. We discover that His
teaching concerning the Spirit is progressive. In the third chapter He
speaks of the Spirit communicating eternal life in the new birth; He is
the life-giving Spirit. In the fourth chapter He teacheth under the well
of living water springing up into eternal life the indwelling Spirit. In
the seventh chapter He reveals Him as the outflowing Spirit, flowing
forth to others.
John 14:16-18
John 14:16-18. "And I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you another comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him
not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."
All believers know that the blessed chapters in this Gospel in which
our Lord has His own disciples with Him to give to them His last words
of instruction and promise, ending with His great prayer (13-17), are
not found in the Synoptics.
He was about to leave His disciples, who were gathered about Him,
except Judas, who had gone out into the night to betray the Lord. He
assured His perplexed disciples that He would not leave them
comfortless. It means literally, "I will not leave you
orphans." So He promised them another comforter. The word comforter
is in the original "Paraclete," which means one who stands
alongside to help and to defend. The same word appears in I John 2:2,
where it is translated with "advocate." "If any man sin
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
The other Paraclete, or advocate, is the Holy Spirit. During the absence
of the Lord Jesus Christ He is to take His place alongside of His
believing people. The passage before us reveals some important facts:
(1) The other comforter, the Holy Spirit, is the gift of the Father
through the Son, for our Lord says, "I will pray the Father and He
shall give you another comforter." This is a new revelation for we
do not find anywhere in the Old Testament such a promise. (2) The Holy
Spirit, the Paraclete is to abide with God's children for ever. This
also is new. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God was with those who
believed in the coming of the Messiah, who trusted the Lord. But He was
not known as the abiding Spirit. There was no assurance given that He
would remain. That is why David prayed in his penitential psalm,
"Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me"(Psa.51:11). No believer in
the New Testament needs to pray this prayer. (3) He is the Spirit of
Truth, because He is the author of the Word of God which is Truth, and
He brings Christ, the Truth, to the hearts of God's people. (4) The
disciples knew Him already, for the Lord said, "He dwelleth with
you." They were believers on Him the Son of God (except Judas) and
therefore were born again, clean every whit as the Lord had told them.
Because they had accepted Christ the Holy Spirit was with them, in the
same sense as He was with all Old Testament believers. (5) The Lord
gives a promise which was to be fulfilled in the future "and shall
be in you." When the Lord spoke this to the eleven men the Holy
Spirit as the indweller, who makes the believer's heart a temple, had
not yet been given. He came to dwell in them and to fill them on the day
of Pentecost.
"But the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The Spirit of Truth
is to teach the believer just as Christ taught His disciples, and the
words which Christ taught and the disciples did not understand, He would
bring to their remembrance all He had said to them. A number of times
the Lord told them that they should know the meaning of His words
afterwards, that is, when the Spirit had come. See John 2:22 and 12:16,
in both passages we read of the fulfillment of this promise. The Holy
Spirit then supplies the spiritual needs.
John 15:26
John 15:26. "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will
send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from
the Father, He shall testify of Me." It is the same we have pointed
out before. As the Spirit of Truth He testifies of Him who is the Truth.
John 16:7-14
John 16:7-14. What the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit
means in the world is now taught by our Lord. These words are generally
misunderstood. The common interpretation is that the Holy Spirit
convinces people that they are lost sinners, that they need
righteousness and also convinces them of a coming judgment. Conviction
of sin is certainly the work of the Holy Spirit, who also quickens those
who believe, but this is not the teaching of the passage before us in
this paragraph. Much depends on the right rendering of the word
"reprove." It has not the meaning of an inward conviction, but
rather means a conviction by demonstration. It means conviction by an
unanswerable argument. The Holy Spirit on earth is the convicting
demonstration of the world's sin, in having cast Him out, rejecting the
Lord of Glory, and having not believed on Him. The world therefore is
under condemnation and the Holy Spirit in His presence on earth bears
witness to it. Then the presence of the Holy Spirit is the convicting
demonstration of righteousness, because He has gone to the Father. The
Son of God who lived the life of perfect righteousness on earth, who
pleased God always, was condemned by the world as an unrighteous man.
They cast Him out and all was done in the name of God. Perhaps some of
them stood before the Cross when that dread darkness enshrouded the Lamb
of God and heard the cry "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me?" and they :may have imagined a vindication of their awful deed.
But God in His righteousness acted in His behalf. He raised Him from the
dead and gave Him glory. He rewarded Him who had been obedient to Him in
His holy life, obedient unto death, the death of the cross. The world
sees Him no more but the presence of the Holy Spirit demonstrates His
righteousness and is the convicting argument that He is at the right
hand of God. And therefore but one thing remains for the unbelieving
world with its guilt, and that is judgment. Already the prince of this
world is judged, though the full sentence of judgment in the all-wise
purpose of God is not yet executed. The Spirit on earth therefore is the
convicting evidence of that coming judgment.
The many things which were on His loving heart they could not
understand in their present condition. The coming of the Spirit would
bring to them the revelation of these things. He is the Spirit of truth
and therefore lie will lead into all truth. The word truth, means both
the written Word and the living Word. Of the written revelation of God
our Lord bears witness in the next chapter, when He says "Thy Word
is Truth." Of Himself He witnessed, "I am the Truth." The
Spirit has come to guide us into all truth, the truth as it is revealed
in the Bible. Believers, many of whom are found in certain Pentecostal
sects, who believe and teach that there is a Spirit-guidance independent
of the Bible, by inward impressions, by dreams and visions, arc deluded.
Some have gone so far as to declare that their inward experiences are
sufficient and that they have no more need to study the Word of God. And
the Word of God, which is truth, witnesses of Him Who is the Truth. It
is noteworthy that in the Greek the word truth in the above passage has
the definite article shall guide you into all the truth. Through the
written Word He guides to Him Who is the Truth, our Lord.
He does not speak from Himself, that is in independence of the Father
and the Son. His testimony is the testimony of the Father and the Son,
as the Son on earth heard the Father's voice and spoke of that which He
heard from the Father. Furthermore, He will show things to come. He has
done so through the testimony of the apostles. The Word of God is now
complete and He does no longer reveal the future through individuals.
His great work is to glorify Christ, to take of the things of Christ and
to show them unto those who belong to Christ and in whom He dwells.
John 20:22
John 20:22. "And when He had said this, He breathed on them,
and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Spirit." This passage
contains the first mention of the Holy Spirit after His resurrection. He
breathed on them, which was a symbolical action. Never before had He
done this, nor is the Greek expression used elsewhere in the New
Testament. It is also significant that the definite article before Holy
Spirit is not in the original text. In Gen. 2:7 we read, "The Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, and man became a living soul." It was the same
Lord who did that in the hour of creation, who now breathed on His
disciples, the breath of a better life, that, His own life, which had
passed through death, the life which delivers from the law of sin and
death. And so it is written, "The first man Adam was made a living
soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).
Inasmuch as He said, "Receive ye Holy Spirit" and not
"the Holy Spirit," it is evident that the Person of the Holy
Spirit was not sent down from heaven at this time when He breathed on
them, for He had not yet ascended to the right band of God. He
communicated to them the energy of His own life through the Spirit of
God. It has been suggested that this breathing pointed to a revival of
faith in the hearts of the disciples, while others see in it a gift of
understanding corresponding to the statement in Luke 44:45, "then
opened He their understanding that they might know the Scriptures."
Still others think that the Spirit was bestowed upon them for the fifty
days between His resurrection and the day of Pentecost. We believe, as
pointed out above, it was a symbolical action. In the 23d verse the
church, the body of Christ, composed of those who are born again and
possess the life in Him, is anticipated. The authority to discipline is
not conferred upon a priestly class, as Rome teaches, but upon the
assembly of believers.
"Repentant souls were baptized for the remission of sins, whilst
a Simon Magus was pronounced in the gall of bitterness and the bond of
iniquity (Acts 8). So the wicked person was put away from among the
saints, and the same man after the judgment of his evil and his own deep
grief over his sin, was to be assured of love by being received back by
the church (1 Cor. 5 and 2 Cor. 2). It was the action of the church.
"To whom ye forgive anything, I also; for also what I have
forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sakes in the
person of Christ."2
Return
to Table of Contents
CHAPTER 4
The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts
T
HE Book of Acts gives the historical account of the
fulfillment of the promises of our Lord as to the other Comforter. On
the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity,
came down to earth. That historical day marks the birthday of the
Church. After this great event we see Him present with His people, as
well as upon them and in them. He filled the Lord's servants, guided
them, fitted them, gave them power and sustained them in trials and in
suffering. In the affairs of the gathered company, representing the
Church, we trace His activities; He is the administrator in the Church.
Over fifty times He is mentioned in Acts, so that we might call this
book " the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit." As it is a
historical book we do not find any doctrines concerning the Spirit of
God. But we discover in it practical illustrations of the doctrine of
the Holy Spirit found else- where in the New Testament. Everything the
Lord Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit would be for His disciples is
seen fulfilled.
Acts 1:2
Chapter 1:2. This is an interesting passage for it teaches us
that our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection gave to His apostles
commandment through the Holy Spirit. The risen Christ speaks and acts by
the Holy Spirit as He did in the days of His humiliation. It is a
blessed evidence that we also shall have the Holy Spirit after our
resurrection and glorification. Then, delivered from this old body, the
Holy Spirit needs no longer to restrain and mortify the flesh, and His
power will be fully displayed in the eternal service of God. What a day
of glory that will be!
Acts 1:5-8
Chapter 1:5-8. Two statements as to the Holy Spirit are found in
these verses. He reminds them of John who baptized with water "but
ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence."
Nothing is said here of fire, as already explained in our comment on
Matthew 3:11, 2. The second statement is "but ye shall receive
power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you." It is
significant that they asked the Lord the question as to the restoration
of the kingdom to Israel. The thought must have arisen in their minds,
when that baptism takes place, will the promised kingdom also come? He
did not tell them that they erred, that there will be no such kingdom,
or that the church takes the place of the kingdom. He told them that it
was not for them to know the times and the seasons when the kingdom
comes. They were called to do another work, they were to be His
witnesses. But this witness bearing would begin with the gift of the
Holy Spirit, who would enable them to act in power.
A waiting, or as it has been called, a tarrying meeting, followed for
ten days. Misguided believers frequently appoint and call a
"waiting meeting" for the purpose of having "another
Pentecost," another outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They act in
ignorance, not realizing that this meeting in Acts 1 is unique and can
never be repeated. There can never be "another Pentecost,"
just as there cannot be another birth of Christ, another death of Christ
and another resurrection of Christ.
Acts 1:16
Chapter 1:16. Peter in addressing the assembled company speaks of
the fact that the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David had revealed
the tragedy of Judas. The action which followed in putting another
brother into the apostolate in place of the traitor was perfectly in
order and not a mistake, as some teach.
Acts 2:1-13
Chapter 2:1-13. The great day of Pentecost had come and the Holy
Spirit was given to them. "And they were all filled with the Holy
Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them
utterance." There were outward signs; a rushing mighty wind filled
the house and cloven tongues as of fire, sat upon each of them. A new
dispensation is inaugurated with outward signs, just as the law
dispensation in its beginning was accompanied by similar phenomena (Heb.
12:18-19). The rushing mighty wind was the symbol that He had come to
fill and to possess each heart, as well as to fill the house, that is
the church. Upon our Lord the Spirit had come in the form of a dove;
upon each of the assembled company He came not as a dove, but in the
form of cloven tongues like as of fire. He came on the Lord in the shape
of a dove, because He was not to make His voice heard in the streets.
But His disciples were to give the testimony, the Word with power, which
is like a consuming fire. The two outward signs witnessed to the
internal gift they had received. Then they spoke in different languages,
which was a miracle produced by the Spirit of God. They became the
mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit, uttering in at least sixteen different
languages the praises of God.
It was the oral manifestation of the parted tongues of fire. It
proclaimed outwardly the great fact that the Holy Spirit would make
known the Gospel to all the nations under heaven, and though no Gentiles
were present when all this took place, the languages of the Gentiles
were heard, and that from Jewish lips. They did not preach the
Gospel-message. Peter did that in the native tongue, they all
understood. The gift of tongues was an ecstatic utterance, a sign to all
of the supernatural person who had come to their hearts. We look in vain
through this book for the evidence that these believers continued
speaking these different languages. The error of Pentecostalism which
claims that this sign gift must today be the evidence to each Christian
that he has the Holy Spirit is more fully dealt with in other parts of
this volume.
Acts 2:14-36
Chapter 2:14-36. In his bold testimony Peter, the erstwhile
denier of Christ, manifests the power of the Holy Spirit. His inspired
testimony shows what witness the Holy Spirit will bear through the
believer, when He is unhindered. Peter preached the Word and through the
Word he preached the Person, the Work and the Glory of Christ. The
Spirit-filled believer will do the same today. When certain Christians
claim the filling with the Spirit and then speak always of their own
experiences, their feeling, their emotions and exhort others to
"seek" these things, it is a good evidence that whatever they
possess it is not the real filling with the Spirit.
Peter quotes the prophecy of Joel (Joel 2) to his Jewish hearers. It
must be noticed in quoting Joel he is led by the Spirit of God not to
use the phrase so frequently used in the New Testament "that it
might be fulfilled." He said "This is that which was spoken by
the prophet Joel." As we have seen in the first chapter of this
work the prophecy of Joel is to be fulfilled in the future, when Israel
is restored and the, kingdom is restored to them. As they were all Jews,
to whom the promise is given as a nation, Peter reminded them that
something like what they saw and heard now had been predicted by Joel,
in connection with the Day of the Lord, the visible and glorious
manifestation of the Lord.
The second time Peter mentions the Holy Spirit in his address is in
verse 33. He teaches that the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth is
the evidence that Christ s risen from among the dead and that He is
exalted at the right hand of God.
Acts 2:38
Chapter 2:38. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Spirit." This was spoken in
answer to the question of the people "What shall we do?"
Repentance and baptism are the conditions Peter names. These conditions
fulfilled, result in the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy
Spirit. These words wrongly interpreted have led to much confusion. The
words with which Peter answered the question of his co-religionists are
being used by certain sects in making water-baptism a saving ordinance.
To understand Peter's words we must remember that he addressed those who
had openly rejected Jesus, as the promised Messiah. They had,
therefore, openly to acknowledge their wrong and openly own Him as the
Messiah, whom they had disowned by delivering Him into the hands of
lawless men. Repentance means in their case to own their guilt in having
opposed and rejected the Lord Jesus. Baptism in His name was the outward
expression of this repentance. How great the difference when Peter
preached to Gentiles (Chapter 10). Of this more later. The last verses
of the second chapter show what the Holy Spirit had accomplished in
uniting them into a company, the Church, the body of Christ.
Acts 4:8
Chapter 4:8. In fulfillment of the words of the Lord, what should
happen when they are brought before the authorities, Peter was filled
with the Holy Spirit for this occasion, and was enabled to speak words
of wisdom and power. Let us notice there was not "another baptism
with the Holy Spirit" but there was another filling. There was only
one baptism, the significance of it the reader will find explained in 1
Cor. 12:13. But there are many fillings, daily, whenever He is needed in
the believer's service and witness.
Acts 4:31
Chapter 4:31. This passage illustrates what we have stated. They
returned to their own company and after they prayed and had expressed
their determination to continue in their witness for Him, asking
"that with all boldness they may speak the Word," the place
was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter also
received another filling. As a result they spake the Word of God more
boldly. The Spirit of God gave them strength to suffer and to continue
to witness in spite of the threatenings of the enemy.
Acts 5:3, 9
Chapter 5:3, 9. Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, lied against
the Holy Spirit and tempted (tested) Him. They committed a sin unto
death (physical death). The swift judgment reminds of the judgment which
came upon the two sons of Aaron, when they came into the presence of the
Lord with strange fire. The same Holy One, in the person of the Holy
Spirit, dwells in the midst of the assembled company; He dwells within,
against evil. May we, as God's children, remember always that in us
dwells He that is holy and if we sin we sin against Him and grieve Him.
The sudden death of both was a mighty, convincing testimony to all,
believers and the unbelieving Jews, of His presence. As a result fear
pervades each heart, both within and without. Such a godly fear not to
offend the indwelling guest should be our daily portion.
Acts 5:32
Chapter 5:32. Peter with the other apostles bears another great
witness before the council. He mentions the Holy Spirit as given to them
that obey Him. The obedience is the obedience of faith, in believing on
Him whom God has sent.
Acts 6:3, 5, 10
Chapter 6:3, 5, 10. Here the Holy Spirit acts as the
administrator in the church. It is a practical illustration of the
different gifts He has given to be exercised in the body of Christ (1
Cor. 12; Eph. 4). The men to be chosen were to be full of the Holy
Spirit and wisdom. Stephen is especially mentioned as a man full of
faith and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, not because lie was a learned and
able man, but because He was filled with the Spirit, they were not able
to resist him.
Acts 7:51, 55
Chapter 7:51, 55. Stephen in his great testimony, the final
national testimony born in Jerusalem, characterized Israel's past
history as a history of resisting the Holy Spirit. When he had finished
the testimony and "they gnashed on him with their teeth" we
read "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly
into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God." The Holy Spirit filling the believer directs the
believer's heart and mind to Christ above, sitting at the right hand of
God (Col. 3:1-3).
Acts 8:15-17
Chapter 8:15-17. Peter and John went to Samaria and "prayed
for them (the Samaritan converts), that they might receive the Holy
Spirit." The gift of the Spirit had been withholden from these
converts and only after these two apostles came and laid hands on them
did they receive the Spirit. This is, to many, another puzzling passage,
while others have built upon it erroneous doctrines. The Samaritan
believers had to be brought into union with those in Jerusalem, so much
the more because there existed a schism between Samaria and Jerusalem.
Samaria had rejected the authority of Jerusalem; instead of worshipping
at an appointed place they worshipped on a mountain. This controversy
had to be ended as far as the converts were concerned. It was therefore
divinely ordered that the gift of the Spirit in their case should not be
bestowed till the two apostles came from Jerusalem. This meant some kind
of a submission to Jerusalem. If the Holy Spirit had been imparted unto
them at once it might have resulted in a continuance of the existing
rivalry. Nowhere in the church-epistles, in which its fullest meaning is
revealed, is there a word said about receiving the Holy Spirit by the
laying on of hands, or that one who trusts in Christ and is born again
should seek" the gift, or baptism of the Spirit afterwards. The
case of wicked Simon Magus, who wanted to purchase the gift of the Holy
Spirit, chapter viii:18-19, needs no comment. The Holy Spirit is the
gift of grace, neither money, nor works, can secure this gift.
Acts 8:29, 39
Chapter 8:29, 39. Philip, one of the seven deacons chosen, was
led by the Spirit to join himself to the chariot on the road to Gaza,
after an angel had directed to leave Samaria. The Holy Spirit spoke to
him. After the conversion and baptism of the eunuch had taken place
"the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him
no more." And Philip was found at Azotus, twenty miles north of
Gaza. A similar action of the Spirit of God occurred in the experience
of Ezekiel. It was not some undefinable "spiritual" catching
away, but a physical experience. It foreshadows the coming event when
the true church on earth, her testimony-finished, will be caught up in
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The Spirit of God will have a part
in that (Rom. 8: 11).
Acts 9:17
Chapter 9:17. Saul, the great persecutor of the church, converted
by seeing the Lord in the glory light on the road to Damascus, received
the Holy Spirit when the Lord sent Ananias to him, and this disciple put
his hand on him. The influential Pharisee and son of a Pharisee, Saul,
the commissioned enemy of the truth and of Christ, in possession of
documents from the high-priest, had to make this experience for his
humiliation. Blind for three days, the Lord sent to him an humble
disciple and used him as the channel in blessing Saul and in receiving
the Holy Spirit.
Acts 9:31
Chapter 9:31. After Saul's conversion the churches had rest,
"Walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy
Spirit, were multiplied." The comfort of the Holy Spirit means His
gracious help in all our walk and service.
Acts 10:19
Chapter 10:19. A vision had been given to Peter on the housetop
of Simon, the tanner. While Peter meditated on it, to ascertain its
meaning, the Spirit of God informed Peter that three men were down-
stairs, and told him to go with them, assuring him they were sent by
Himself. Peter brushed his Jewish prejudice aside when he found they
were Gentiles. He is obedient to the Spirit.
Acts 10:38, 44, 45, 47
Chapter 10:38, 44, 45, 47. In preaching his first sermon to the
Gentiles Peter refers only once to the Holy Spirit in a historical way.
"God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power."
After speaking of His death and resurrection and His coming judgeship,
Peter said, "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His
name whosoever believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins."
At this point his address was suddenly ended. "While Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the
Word." Peter and his companions were astonished, because that on
the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. In order
to leave no room for doubt, to convince Peter and his Jewish companions,
that the same gift was given to the Gentiles, and that there was no
difference, they also spoke in tongues, magnifying God. Peter did not
use the word "repentance" once. In Acts ii he told the Jews to
repent and be baptized; neither repentance nor water baptism are
mentioned here. The assembled company believed the Word and that is
sufficient for salvation and the gift of the Spirit. There was no
process of seeking, surrendering, examining themselves, giving up,
praying for it, to receive the Holy Spirit. It was solely by the hearing
of faith, in believing the Gospel message that the Holy Spirit was given
to these Gentile believers. It is so still (Gal. 3:2).
Acts 11:15, 16
Chapter 11:15, 16. Peter rehearsed the facts in Jerusalem of what
had happened in the house of Cornelius when they received the Holy
Spirit.
Acts 11:24 and 28
Chapter 11:24 and 28. The first verse speaks of Barnabas
as a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; such every believer
should be. In verse 28 we have the first mention of Agabus who predicted
by the Spirit a great drought throughout the world. Such predictions are
possible with the Spirit of God, who knows all things, and when the Word
of God was still uncompleted, they were quite in order in connection
with the establishment of the church. A second pre- diction, by Agabus,
is recorded later.
Acts 13:2, 4, 9
Chapter 13:2, 4, 9. This chapter contains the record of a new
beginning, the first great missionary effort to carry the Gospel to the
regions beyond. In Antioch, the great Gentile center of the church, a
number of prophets and teachers were together ministering to the Lord
and fasting. Ministering to the Lord means that they were engaged in
prayer. It was at this time when the voice of the Holy Spirit was heard
in their midst. "The Holy Spirit said, Separate Me Barnabas and
Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Here is the order:
prayer and fasting, followed by the direction given by the Holy Spirit.
Every other true missionary movement in the church has started in the
same way. The Holy Spirit, as the administrator in the church, is seen
here calling the instruments He desires to use, to the work He has for
them. This is the source of all true ministry for Christ. In the fourth
verse we read that, when they departed in obedience to the voice of the
Holy Spirit, they were sent forth by the Holy Spirit, not by the church
or by a missionary society. As the Holy Spirit had called them into a
special work and sent them forth, He also guided them and used them in
the places they visited. Saul, whose name is from now on Paul, was
filled with the Holy Spirit and with the discernment the Spirit gave to
him, pronounced judgment upon Elymas, Bar- Jesus, the instrument of
Satan to keep the Gospel away from the Gentile Deputy. Here is the gift
of the Holy Spirit in discerning the spirits.
Acts 13:52
Chapter 13:52. In this verse we find another filling with the
Spirit. They were persecuted and expelled. They suffered for Christ's
sake and as they departed they were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Acts 15:8, 28
Chapter 15:8, 28. These are incidental references to the Holy
Spirit; the one in connection with Peter's rehearsal of the gift of the
Spirit bestowed upon the Gentiles; the other in connection with the
document sent forth from this first General Church council.
We must not overlook the closing verses of the fifteenth chapter,
though the Spirit is not mentioned. Bamabas and Paul became separated.
Paul had suggested to go forth again and to visit the same places to see
how the brethren were getting along. Bamabas wanted to take again John
Mark, who had left them in the first part of their journey. Paul refused
and a sharp contention resulted. Why this failure? There is no record of
any prayer, nor of the Spirit's voice. The guidance by the Holy Spirit
is impossible without prayer and true waiting on the Lord.
Acts 16:6, 7
Chapter 16:6, 7. The Holy Spirit is seen here acting in
forbidding them to go to certain places, though the intention of the
messengers was the very best. He did not allow them to go their own
path. He knows when and where to send the servants of the Lord.
Acts 19:2, 6
Chapter 19:2, 6. The disciples whom Paul found at Ephesus were
disciples of John the Baptist. The question Paul asked of them has been
misused even by good and well meaning teachers of the truth and as a
result many have been misled into serious error. These brethren teach
that the disciples were Christians, but they had never received the Holy
Spirit. From this they reason that one may be saved, born again and not
have the Spirit. They preach from this text: "Have you received the
Holy Spirit since you believed?" They tell their hearers their own
experience and exhort them to make a similar experience by seeking the
gift of the Spirit. At the same time they lay down certain rules how
they may receive the Spirit. All this is fundamentally wrong. When we
examine the testimony concerning the Holy Spirit in the epistles we
shall discover that there is no such thing as a sinner saved by grace,
born again and destitute of the Spirit, nor is there a single
exhortation anywhere in these epistles that a believer should receive
the Spirit in a certain "second blessing" experience.
In the first place there is a little word in the question of Paul
which we are obliged to change. The word "since" means in the
original "when." The question then is "Did ye receive the
Holy Spirit when you believed?" Paul makes the gift of the Holy
Spirit the test of true discipleship. If they were true believers they
received the Spirit when they believed, in the act of believing. If they
did not have the Spirit it was an evidence that they were not true
believers. They acknowledged this fact and Paul gave them the full
truth. Having believed they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then they received the Holy Spirit, spoke with tongues and prophesied.
This is the third and last time we read of speaking with tongues in the
book of Acts. The disciples numbered twelve. They stand evidently for
the tribes of Israel in dispersion, hence the same supernatural evidence
followed the reception of the Spirit in their case. Of the many
thousands who were saved among the Gentiles and received the Holy Spirit
nothing is said that they received the gift of tongues.
Acts 19:21
Chapter 19:21. The word "spirit" occurs in this verse.
Did Paul purpose in his own spirit to go to Jerusalem again, or did he
purpose in the Holy Spirit? Was lie led to visit again the city of his
fathers by the Holy Spirit or did he do it on his own initiative? We
shall find that it was not the Holy Spirit who led him to go back to
Jerusalem.
Acts 20:22,23,28
Chapter 20:22,23,28. Here is the first evidence that Paul
purposed in his own spirit. The Holy Spirit witnessed in every city,
probably through others, that bonds and afflictions were in store for
him. The Lord had told him "I will send thee far hence to the
Gentiles." The order had been, beginning at Jerusalem. Jerusalem
had heard and had rejected. Therefore the Holy Spirit did not lead Paul
to go back to the city.
In verse 28 the Holy Spirit is again seen as the appointing power in
the Church.
Acts21:4,11
Chapter21:4,11. These verses contain two solemn warnings given by
the Spirit through others. Disciples said to Paul through the Spirit
that he should not go up to Jerusalem, Agabus appears once more as a
prophet. He bound himself with Paul's girdle and said that Paul would be
bound and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. Why did Paul go? It
was his all- consuming love for his brethren and his kinsmen (Rom. 9:3).
His strange actions in Jerusalem which resulted in his arrest and other
incidents, such as the claim he made of being a Pharisee and his refuge
under Roman citizenship, show that he did not act in the Spirit. The
lesson is that the warnings of the Holy Spirit must be heeded.
Acts 28:25
Chapter 28:25. This is the last reference in Acts to the Holy
Spirit. Paul quotes from the sixth chapter of Isaiah showing that the
Holy Spirit had predicted the judicial blindness of the people Israel
and their rejection. Then the Holy Spirit spoke through him to the
assembled Jews that the salvation of God is to be sent to the Gentiles.
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CHAPTER 5
The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Romans
T
HE last statement in the Book of Acts, coming from the
lips of the Apostle to the Gentiles, is, that the salvation of God is to
go forth to the Gentiles. What this salvation of God is and what it
includes is the great revelation of the epistle to the Romans. In the
first place Romans shows that Jews and Gentiles, with the law and
without the law, need salvation, because both are guilty before God and
therefore lost and under condemnation. Then we learn if man is to be
saved, God must do it for him. After this we read how the salvation man
needs is given to man through the blessed sacrificial work of the Son of
God. It is in His great sacrificial work that God declares His
righteousness in saving guilty and lost sinners. God justifies, that is,
acquits, all who believe on Jesus, that He died for our sins and was
raised from among the dead. Then we read, "Being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom
also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (v:1-2). But we read more
than that. The believer who has believed on Christ is not only
justified, in possession of peace with God, accepted by Him and having
the hope of the glory of God, but he is also identified with Christ, one
with Him, who is the head of the new creation, the last Adam. The
believer has received a new nature and is saved from the power and
dominion of indwelling sin.
It is significant that in the opening chapters of the epistle of our
salvation not a word is said about the work of the Spirit. It is true,
of course, that the Holy Spirit is active in the sinner's salvation. He
quickens because man is dead in his spiritual nature. In the fifth
chapter the Holy Spirit is mentioned for the first time.
Romans 5:5
Chapter 5:5. "And hope maketh not ashamed, be- cause the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given
unto us." The first mention of the Spirit is only incidental, but
it shows conclusively that the sinner is not saved by the work of the
Holy Spirit, but by the work of the Son of God. While the Holy Spirit is
absolutely needed in the salvation of a sinner, the Holy Spirit is not
the Saviour, but the Lord Jesus Christ is. That the Holy Spirit is not
mentioned in these great opening chapters of this epistle illustrates
the words of our Lord in John 16:13, 14. "For He shall not speak of
Himself. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine. and shall
show it unto you." He is the blessed author of this great document,
yet He bears the first witness to Christ, and His blessed redemption
work. He gives Him the first place.
We notice, then, that Romans 5:5 shows conclusively that the Holy
Spirit shedding the love of God abroad in the believer's heart is given
by the grace of God in redemption. Each justified believer has received
this gift. We shall find in the eighth chapter what this gift includes.
According to the twisted teachings of Pentecostalism, Perfectionism and
other Holiness "isms," the Holy Spirit and the baptism with
the Holy Spirit should occupy the most prominent place in the very
foreground of this epistle. Paul, according to their conceptions, should
have told them that they were justified, had their sins put away, but
what they needed now was to seek the Holy Spirit. Instead of it there is
just this passing statement that the Holy Spirit is given to those who
are justified by faith. Equally significant is it that no other mention
of the Holy Spirit is made till we reach the eighth chapter. In the next
two chapters we are told how God has dealt with sin (our old nature) in
the sacrificial work of His Son; in the preceding chapters we learn what
was done with our sins, the fruits of our fallen nature. The justified
believer is both dead with Christ and risen with Christ. He is under
grace and the assurance is given him that sin is not to have dominion
over him. He is to reckon himself dead unto sin and alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. This means the sanctification of the
justified believer. In all this, the deliverance of the justified
believer from the power and dominion of sin, the Holy Spirit does not
mention Himself. We are sanctified by the work of Christ. He is not only
our righteousness, but our sanctification. The Holy Spirit is of course
needed to make this real in our hearts and lives. He is the power of
sanctification, but He is not our sanctification. We now turn to the
eighth chapter.
Romans 8:2
Chapter 8:2. "For the law of the Spirit, of life in Christ
Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." It is not the
question here of our sins, but of being identified with Christ risen
from the dead. We have in Him the new life and the power in that new
life, risen with Christ, is the Holy Spirit. This law of the Spirit,
operating in the new life, delivers, if permitted to operate, from the
law of sin and death which before reigned in the old nature, producing
its fruit unto death. As in Christ, risen with Him, one with Him, in
possession of His life, the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, walking
by faith, we walk after the Spirit and as a result the righteous
requirements of the law are fulfilled in us. We are, as in Christ,
perfect before God without any righteousness of the law whatever. But as
we walk according to the Spirit, as risen with Christ, the law is
fulfilled in us, though we are not under the law. This is the gracious
result of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts. He has the power, if
we let Him, to manifest His energy in our lives in giving us power over
in- dwelling sin; in the resurrection of the believer (or the promised
change in a moment, when He comes) the energy of the Spirit will deliver
from the law of death.
Romans 8:5
Chapter 8:5. "For they that are after the flesh mind the
things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of
the Spirit." The natural man desires the things which his nature
craves; the spiritual man, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, desires the
things of the Spirit. The carnal mind is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Therefore the affection of the flesh is enmitv
against God, and they that are in the flesh, who live according to the
old nature, cannot please God. The Spirit of God dwells in the believer
so that he can be spiritually minded.
Romans 8:9
Chapter 8:9. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." God looks upon
those who have believed on Christ, who are in Him, as no longer in the
flesh. They are a new creation and old things have passed away. The
flesh certainly exists for there is as long as we are in the body the
conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, but in God's sight we are no
longer in the flesh, but having received the Holy Spirit, and having
life of the Holy Spirit we are before God in the Spirit and no longer in
the realm of the old nature, the flesh. The Holy Spirit indwelling the
believer is the power to realize this and to act as no longer '-n the
flesh. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of
His." The possession of the Spirit of Christ makes a man a
Christian. All who believe on Christ become His and immediately the
Spirit of God seals them. This verse disposes of the false teaching that
a man may be a Christian, belong to Christ, know that he is saved, and
yet have not the Spirit. A man is a Christian because He has the Spirit
of Christ.
Romans 8:11
Chapter 8:11. "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you, He that raised Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit who dwelleth in you."
This is one of the star-texts of divine healers. They teach that the
Holy Spirit dwells in the believer to quicken his body in case of
illness. The quickening refers to resurrection. When the Lord Jesus
Christ was raised from among the dead the Holy Spirit was active. (see
note on 1 Peter 3:18). He is the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from
among the dead. C)n account of the Spirit dwelling in the believer the
same will also be accomplished for the mortal body of the believer. He
will raise up our mortal bodies. Then the question, "Who shall
deliver me from this body of death?" will be fully answered. The
passage does not teach that the Holy Spirit quickens now our bodies, and
is in our mortal bodies to give them perfect health and immunity from
sickness. Some of the choicest saints, filled with the Spirit, mightily
used by Him, have been frail in their bodies and troubled with much
sickness. Paul had his thorn in the flesh and Timothy oft infirmities,
though both were filled with the Spirit.
The "Synopsis by J. N. D." calls attention to the
designation of the Spirit in verses 9-11. "He is designated in
three ways: the Spirit of God, in contrast with sinful flesh, the
natural man; the Spirit of Christ, the formal character of the life
which is the expression of His power; the Spirit of Him that raised
Jesus from the dead. Here it is the perfect and final deliverance of the
body itself by the power of God acting through His Spirit. We see that
Christian life in its true character (that of the Spirit) depends on
redemption. It is by virtue of redemption that the Spirit is present
with us."
Romans 8:12-13
Chapter 8:12-13. As redeemed, indwelt by the Spirit, believers
are not debtors to the flesh, the old nature, to live after the flesh.
We do not owe anything anymore to that old nature, which was put to
death in the death of Christ. If we live after the flesh, we are on the
road to death (about to die), but if the believer through the Spirit
mortifies, puts into the place of death, the deeds of the body, the old
nature, he shall live. The Spirit of God is the power, which makes it
possible not to live after the flesh, the power which enables the
believer to mortify the flesh and live unto God.
Romans 8:14-16
Chapter 8:14-16. Here the Spirit of adoption, of Sonship is made
known. They are the sons of God, who are led by the Spirit. The Spirit
of God is in the believer as a Spirit of adoption. We have not received
a spirit of bondage to be again in fear, as it was with the Old
Testament believers, but a spirit that answers to our sonship in Christ,
and by that Spirit we cry, Abba, Father. He is called a Spirit of
adoption because He produces in the believer the reality of divine
Sonship as well as all which appertains to this relation- ship. The Holy
Spirit does not make believers sons, but He is given to them, and is in
the believer as the Spirit of sonship, because they are sons. It must be
noted that believers are spoken of as children of God and also as sons
of God. In our relationship we are children, born into the family of
God; in our position and future glory we are sons. Indwelling the
believer the Holy Spirit bears witness "with our spirit, that we
are the children of God." The witness of the Spirit is in the Word
of God, and because the believer has accepted His witness as to
redemption he knows there- fore that God is His Father, and, being born
again, that be is in the family of God. He produces in the believer the
consciousness of being a child of God, as well as the affections of a
child. "We have this testimony in our hearts in our relationship
with God; but the Holy Spirit Himself, as distinct from us, bears this
testimony to those in whom He dwells. The true believer knows that he
recognizes in his heart God as his Father, but He also knows that the
Holy Spirit bears the same testimony to him. That which is founded on
the Word is realized and verified in the heart." The witness of the
Spirit is more than "a good feeling," it is the deep
consciousness produced by believing the Word in the power of the Spirit
of God that we are the children of God.
Romans 8:23
Chapter 8:23. In the context the future is revealed to the
children of God, the heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. A day is
coming when groaning creation will be delivered and share the glorious
liberty of the children of God. All is awaiting the manifestation of the
sons of God, which comes with the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
same Spirit who reveals to believers through the Word that they are
children and heirs, gives intelligence as to the coming glorious
deliverance, and therefore those who have the first fruits of the Spirit
(elsewhere called the earnest of the Spirit), in possession of this
knowledge given by the Spirit of a coming redemption, groan within
themselves, waiting for the full adoption, the fullest manifestation of
their sonship, which is the redemption of the body. This groaning and
waiting is the effect of the indwelling Spirit (see note on Gal. v:5).
Romans 8:26-27
Chapter 8:26-27. Another blessed and deep activity of the Holy
Spirit in the believer is revealed in these verses. lie not only
witnesses to us that we are the children of God, but He enters into the
life of the children of God in connection with their infirmities, their
weaknesses and their sorrows, in infinite grace and sympathy. He acts as
intercessor, so that the believer has two intercessors, Christ in the
presence of God and the Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer. The Holy
Spirit takes part in us in our sorrows in the midst of suffering
creation and helps our infirmities,
and then He pleads in our hearts in groans which cannot be expressed
in words, while we do not know what to ask for as a remedy. "And He
(God) that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because He maketh intercession for the Saints according to God."
While He acts in divine sympathy in us, in the infirmity of our body and
the suffering of creation, n the midst of which the children of God
still are, His intercession and pleading with unutterable groans,
becomes through us the voice of this suffering before God. "What a
sweet and strengthening thought, that when God searches the heart, even
if we are burdened with the sense of the misery in the midst of which
the heart is working, He finds there, not the flesh, but the affection
of the Spirit; and that the Spirit Himself is occupied in us, in grace,
with all our infirmities. What an attentive ear must God lend to such
groans!" 3
Romans 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 19 and 30
Chapter 9:l; 14:17; 15:13, 19 and 30. These passages contain
statements showing the activities of the Spirit of God in the believer.
The apostle Paul, in deploring the condition of his kinsmen, and
expressing his deep love for them, speaks of his conscience bearing
witness in the Holy Spirit, a different thing from the natural man, who
has also a conscience, but not the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit gives
joy as well as peace in believing and if we abound in hope it is through
the power of the Holy Spirit (15:13). In chapter 15:19 Paul speaks of
his own God-given ministry which was attended by mighty signs and
wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. But the Spirit of God
produced also in the great instrument a great and Christ-like humility,
for he wrote "I will not dare to speak of any of those things which
Christ hath not wrought by me." Finally in asking the Roman
believers to pray for him, he beseeches them for the sake of the Lord
Jesus Christ and for the love of the Spirit (Chapter xv:30). It is
interesting to find that not a word is said in this epistle about the
"Baptism with the Spirit" nor a word about the gift of tongues
and other supernatural manifestations of the Spirit.
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CHAPTER 6
The Holy Spirit in First and Second Corinthians
I
N the second chapter of this epistle the Holy Spirit is
mentioned by the Apostle Paul several times.
1 Corinthians 2:4
Chapter 2:4. Paul went to Corinth declaring that he would know
nothing but Christ in contrast with philosophy among these heathen. He
preached Christ and Him crucified. This he did not, by embellishing his
speech, or by words of human wisdom and eloquence. He preached Christ
from the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit accompanied the message
he preached, so that it was in the demonstration and power of the Holy
Spirit. If Christ is preached in His blessed person and His work as
Saviour and Lord, the Holy Spirit will stand back of this message and
use it.
1 Corinthians 2:9, 10
Chapter 2:9, 10. "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea,
the deep things of God." The ninth verse has nothing whatever to do
with heaven. It is a quotation from Isaiah 64:4. It was not revealed in
the Old Testament what man redeemed in Christ, saved by grace and
indwelt by the Holy Spirit, would be. The glory of sonship and that
redeemed sinners should be the heirs of God and the fellow heirs of the
Lord Jesus Christ, was not known to anyone in the Old Testament. But now
God has revealed it by His Spirit, for His Spirit searches the deep
things of God; these deep things are the things of Christ in whom are
hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
1 Corinthians 2:11, 12
Chapter 2:11, 12. Only the spirit which is in man knows the
things man has left unexpressed in words; even so no one knows the
things of God save the Spirit of God. And this Spirit who knows the
things of God was given to Paul end to others who revealed the truth of
God, that they might know the things which are freely given of God.4
1 Corinthians 2:13, 14
Chapter 2:13, 14. Paul and the other chosen instruments who
received the revelation of God and communicated it to others received
the knowledge of the things of God first of all by the Spirit of God.
And when they wrote it down, as we possess it now, they did not write in
their own words, in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but in words
taught by the Spirit of God. It means nothing less than verbal inspiration.
The truth of God has been given by the Spirit of God in the very
words which the Holy Spirit dictated. There was given a spiritual
message, a spiritual revelation by spiritual means.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Chapter 3:16. He reminds them of their great dignity as
believers, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Solemn truth it is! How different
many a Christian's life would be lived if daily this great truth, that
the Holy Spirit indwells the heart would be remembered.
1 Corinthians 6:ll
Chapter 6:ll. What the Corinthians were in their old nature is
stated in the preceding verse. Having accepted the Gospel they were
washed, sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 6:17
Chapter 6:17. The Corinthian church was given to worldliness.
Many evils existed in their midst. In spite of it all they were saints,
separated ones. The apostle did not exhort them to seek a remedy in a
"second blessing experience" or in getting "their
Pentecost" or in anything else. But he reminded them, that the
Spirit of God dwelled in them, in spite of their worldliness.
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,
who is in you, whom ye have of God and ye are not your own?" This
is another strong argument against the false teachings that the Holy
Spirit dwells only in a certain class of believers.
1 Corinthians 12:3-13
Chapter 12:3-13. This is an important and fundamental chapter as
it deals with the different gifts of the Spirit and mentions for the
last time the baptism of the Spirit.
The chapter begins with a significant statement. "Wherefore I
give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God
calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Spirit." The Corinthians had been heathen Gentiles
who were carried away by dumb idols and were as idolators under the
influence of demons. After their conversion the Holy Spirit had been
given to them and He manifested His power in their midst through the
different gifts. The power of the Spirit of God attracted the attention
of the world about them and also stirred up the enemy who attempted to
creep in among them through evil spirits, who generally try to imitate
and counterfeit the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. As these
Corinthians lacked in discernment they were in danger of being again
deceived by certain manifestations, which appeared to be the work of the
Spirit of God, when they were the work of demons. So the apostle gives a
test. A demon would not acknowledge the Lordship of Christ; the true
confession that Jesus is Lord is only possible by the Spirit of God, nor
would any man who speaks by the Holy Spirit call Jesus accursed. It
seems that there were powers in their midst which did this and while
they spoke of Jesus, they did not acknowledge Him as Lord. It is a
striking fact that in the different sects which claim a restoration of
apostolic gifts, such as the gift of healing, the gift of miracles and
especially the gift of tongues, our Lord is called exclusively by the
name of His humiliation. They constantly speak of Jesus and rarely of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The damsel in Philippi who had a demon
acknowledged the apostles as servants of God, but the demon in her would
not own and acknowledge the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Paul
used that worthy name, the girl was delivered. The vagabond
Jewish exorcists also used the name Jesus, but did not speak of Him as
Lord.5
From verses 4-13 we have a revelation concerning the gifts of the
Spirit. First, we read of the diversities of gifts, but it is the same
Spirit. Then the Lord is mentioned, that there are differences of
ministrations, but it is the same Lord; and there are diversities of
operations, but it is the same God. They are bestowed through Him. These
gifts are in relation to the Lord; they are to be used in ministry, that
is, in service for the Lord, under whom and for whose glory these gifts
arc to be used. The whole operations are of God who worketh all in all.
All is confined to the church, the body of Christ. "But the
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man (a true believer) for
profit." The gift bestowed upon one member of the body is not for
self-gratification, to please oneself, but the gift is given for the
whole body, for the edification of each member of the church.
Then follows the enumeration of the gifts of the Spirit. There are
nine: The Word of wisdom; The Word of knowledge; the gift of faith; the
gift of healing; the working of miracles; prophecy; discerning of
spirits; gift of tongues and the gift of the interpretation of tongues.
The miraculous sign-gifts hold a secondary place, the last mentioned are
the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. The highest gifts
are the gifts of wisdom and knowledge. By these gifts the deep things of
God are understood and the ability is given to communicate them to
others. The gift of faith is a special endowment of confidence in God
and His promises, which enables the possessor to lay hold on God and
accomplish great things by faith. Of course all believers have faith and
live by faith. The gift of healing and the working of miracles were sign
gifts specially bestowed for the beginning of Christianity when the
present dispensation started. There is no intimation that these
sign-gifts were to continue throughout the present dispensation on the
other hand, we do not find a statement that they should be withdrawn. It
is, however, a fact that these gifts, like the gift of healing, of
working miracles, of tongues and interpretation of tongues, began to
disappear even in apostolic days. Many times in church history persons
appeared who claimed that these gifts had been restored. Each time it
was found out that they were imitations brought about by satanic powers,
for Satan's sphere is counterfeiting the manifestations of the Spirit.
Such is the case in Irvingism, Mormonism, Spiritism, Christian Science
and in certain other sects. The Pentecostal sects, for instance, claim a
restoration of the gift of tongues and their interpretation, under the
plea that the age is about to close, and the church should expect a
revival of apostolic powers. But where is it taught that the end of the
age should bring back apostolic powers and supernatural manifestations?
There is a prophecy in Scripture that before the coming of the Lord
signs and wonders will be manifested, but they are the lying signs and
wonders of the man of sin (2 Thess. 2). There is a gift of tongues,
besides the gift of prophecy and discerning the spirits (trying the
spirits whether they are of God).
As we find in chapter xiv of this epistle, the Corinthians, whose
spiritual state was so unsatisfactory, esteemed the gift of tongues the
highest, while the Spirit of God put it in the lowest place. They seemed
to have been destitute of the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, and
magnified the gift which was for an outward, demonstrative display,
because it exalted themselves. The fourteenth chapter enters more fully
into this. That chapter also gives an important injunction against women
speaking and taking part in the exercise of gifts in the church.5
We have pointed out in the comment on Ephesians 4 that the permanent
gifts of the Lord through the Spirit are mentioned there, the gifts
which will remain till the Lord comes; the sign gifts are omitted. Nor
are these gifts of miracle-working mentioned in Rom. 12:3-8. Of much
importance is verse 13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into
one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
