Category Archives: Holy Spirit

The gift of the Spirit in Acts 2:38

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waterAs we’ve seen, in Acts 2:38 the apostle Peter tells the Jews that have gathered that they need to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. He also says they would receive the Holy Spirit.

It’s fair to ask, “Receive the Spirit in what way?” People in the Old Testament had the Spirit of God come upon them and operate through them. Yet John says the Spirit “wasn’t yet” until after Jesus’ crucifixion (John 7:39).

Does Peter mean that everyone will do miracles? Doesn’t seem like it; for some time after this, the only people we see doing miracles are the Twelve (Acts 5:12). In fact, that was long seen as the mark of an apostle (1 Corinthians 12:12). John the Baptist was said to have been filled with the Spirit from birth, yet never did miracles (John 10:41).

Jesus spoke of an indwelling Spirit, a comforter. That seems to be what Peter is talking about, the presence of God living within us (Romans 8:9-11).

Some people have tried to make much of the fact that the word repent is plural, the word be baptized is singular, and the word “receive” (the Spirit) is plural again. They say that Peter was promising the Spirit to those who repented, not those who were baptized. Need we give serious discussion to that? Notice the phrase “every one of you” after the command to be baptized; unless we’re merely trying to be argumentative, we’ll note that all were told to repent and all told to be baptized.

Peter tells them that if they repent and are baptized, they will receive the Spirit. This is the normal way in which God gives his Spirit, at least according to the book of Acts. Everyone who obeys receives the Spirit (Acts 5:32). Are the Samaritans in Chapter 8 and Cornelius in Chapter 10 possible exceptions? Sure. God is still God, as I mentioned yesterday.

But I’m not sure that we’re being told that the Samaritans hadn’t received the indwelling Spirit in chapter 8. What they were lacking certainly seems to have been observable. It seems more likely that they hadn’t yet received tongues or any of the other outward signs. (I discussed this in an earlier post on “Signs of an Apostle“)

And I think it quite possible that Cornelius and family received similar manifestations. Something happened to let those present know that the Spirit had come upon them. It was something so different that it made Peter remember Pentecost (Acts 11:15). Did they also receive the indwelling? Possibly. We can’t really say. Either way, we know that this was an exceptional case.

Just as Peter said that this promise was for “you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call,” so I believe that it remains today. Repent and be baptized, and you’ll receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s Get Spiritual

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337522537_ebc4a82409People mean lots of different things when they say “spiritual.” For some it just means something religious. For others, it means someone who takes his religion seriously: “He’s a very spiritual person.” But what does it mean in the Bible?

The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, contrasts the spiritual man with the “natural” man. In chapter 3, he says that the Corinthians were not acting as spiritual men but as “fleshly” men. Yet, he affirms several times in this book that the Corinthians have received the Holy Spirit and that the Holy Spirit lives in them. However Paul had trouble discussing spiritual things with these Christians because they were looking at things from a human point of view, not a spiritual point of view.

So it seems that when the Bible talks about spiritual things, it is contrasting them with physical or natural things (see 1 Corinthians 15:44). You have the things of this world, the things of our human lives, and you have the things that go beyond that, the spiritual things. I’d like to suggest that we take more time this year to focus on the spiritual things. How? Here are a few suggestions:

1) Recognize the reality of the spiritual world. All right, I’ll admit it. Just thinking about such things makes me uncomfortable. I am a child of Western society, raised with the idea that logic is king and that the scientific process is our constitution. We are only supposed to believe that which can be touched, handled or tested in a laboratory. As Christians, we’ve learned to get beyond that point, yet we are still reluctant to truly believe in an unseen spiritual world.

The Bible says: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:11-12) There are spiritual forces, real powers that exist and work against us. Denying that fact won’t help us win that struggle.

Lest you become afraid, let me remind you that as Christians, we need not fear these powers. John wrote: “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) As long as we walk in the light, we have God’s protection. Just as there are spiritual powers that oppose us, there are spiritual powers that defend us and aid us. James says that if we submit to God and resist the devil, the devil will flee from us.

At the same time, we should not be complacent. Peter says that: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) We need to be aware that the struggle is real and that it is one of life and death.

2) Recognize how our actions affect our place in that struggle. We need to take sin seriously. When we sin, we are aiding and abetting the enemy, allowing these dark forces to have some degree of control over us. No, I’m not talking about demon possession as it occurred in the time of Jesus; I think that was a special situation limited to that time (which is why the epistles do not speak of casting out demons). But I do believe that, by our own actions, we can allow evil to have a real place in our lives. Paul warned the Ephesians not to give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27). He also says that when we offer our bodies to sin, we becomes slaves of sin (Romans 6:14-23). We must choose whether to walk in the light or crawl in the darkness.

3) Recognize the real power of prayer. He who is not spiritual sees prayer as a psychological exercises on the par with meditation and self-hypnosis. Those of us who are spiritual realize that prayer changes things, that prayer is a communication with the Supreme Power of creation, with the Almighty God. Prayer summons the aid of all that is right and holy. Paul concludes his discussion of our spiritual armor by saying “Pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). We need to pray often, pray fervently and pray with faith.

Temples of God: The Lord is in His Holy Temple

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cloudsOne of the most beautiful promises of the New Testament is that God will come to live inside of us, his children. We, both individually and collectively, are made into temples of God:

Romans 8:9     You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 

1 Corinthians 3:16     Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 

2 Corinthians 6:16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

Ephesians 2:21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 

Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

1 Peter 2:4     As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—  5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

According to the New Testament, the implications of this are that we are to be holy, set apart from “common” things, just as the Old Testament temple was a special, sanctified place. God lives in us! We aren’t meant for immorality. Christ in us, the hope of glory. We are meant for good, not evil. The sanctifying Spirit dwells in us. Because of that, we are to dedicate our bodies to God’s service. The church is the temple of God. Therefore, anything that we do to harm the church is an attack on God’s temple.

We need to recapture that feeling of awe, the recognition of the holiness that is ours, not because of our human efforts, but because the Creator of all has chosen to make a home within our hearts.

Temples of God: The Spirit at work in us

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cloudsSo what does the Bible tell us about the work of the Holy Spirit? In the first place, we see that Jesus promised to send his apostles the Paraclete, a comforter/counselor/helper (John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7). We need to recognize that the promises in these three chapters in John were made specifically to the apostles. While we learn about how the Spirit works and what his nature is, we can’t directly claim these promises.

The letters to Christians in the New Testament give us more insight into the Spirit and his work in our life. God gives us the Spirit as a “deposit” on our salvation (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; Romans 8:23). The Spirit helps us approach the Father (Romans 8:26; Ephesians 2:18; 6:18; Jude 20). He leads us toward godly living (Romans 8:1-17; Galatians 5:16-25) and helps to make us holy (Romans 15:15-16; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Peter 1:1-2).

In the New Testament, the work of the Spirit is related to God’s Word: both are described as dwelling in us, teaching and convicting, guiding and sanctifying. However, the Spirit is not confined to the Word. He speaks (Acts 13:2-3). He intercedes for us with groans (Romans 8:26-27). He can be lied to (Acts 5:3-9) and can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30). He gives gifts to believers (1 Corinthians 12:11).

There is a definite connection between the Word and the work of the Spirit, but the two are not one and the same. God’s Spirit is the living presence of God in our lives.

Temples of God: Receiving the Spirit

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cloudsOK, I didn’t forget that I was going to get back to the subject of the Spirit. I don’t promise anything earth-shaking nor definitive, but I’ll share some of what I’ve come to see in the Bible.

I believe that when we are baptized (Acts 2:38; 5:32) Christ/the Spirit/the Spirit of God/the Spirit of Christ/the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:9-11) comes to live in us (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Colossians 1:27; 2 Timothy 1:14).

For reasons that I don’t fully understand, some have tried to explain away this reality, either saying that the Spirit only works through the Word and doesn’t indwell or by saying that the Spirit only indwells us through the Word (and no, I don’t fully see the difference in those two arguments). I believe that Jesus Christ comes to live in us through the Spirit, helping us to live the way God desires us to live. Let us give thanks to God that he saw fit to make us his temples, leading us to be ever holier, day by day.