Receiving the Holy Spirit
Like an old marital dispute - the same attacks and retorts year by year - evangelical contentions about the Holy Spirit weary those who've heard them all before and confuse those who hear them for the first time. When we argue this way in God's presence, don't we sometimes sound like those two women who shouted this and that in the presence of the king (1 Kings 3:22)? Truth is not that way, so let's back up and start with some basics.
What is "spirit?"
Throughout the Bible, the Hebrew and Greek words translated "spirit" mean breath or wind - a being's essence breathing out into the world. The spirit reveals the real person to the outside world.
James plainly says that the spirit of faith consists of the actions resulting from it (James 2:14-26). Since real faith in God results in doing what He says, faith is all we need to please God (James 2:26, Rom. 1:16-17), even though God will judge everyone by what he does (Rom. 2:6-11).
"The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the chambers of the body" (Prov. 20:27). My spirit, expressed in word and deed in the world, reveal what kind of man I really am. I may imagine that I feel this way, believe that way, and truly love my wife. But based on what I say and do, how do I really feel? What do I really believe? Do I really love my wife? My spirit is indeed God's lamp. The things revealed through my words and deeds are often news even to me.
If my spirit reveals my nature, how much more does the Spirit of God reveal God's nature (1 Cor 2:10-12)! Failing to make place for the Holy Spirit will always deprive us of God's truth. If we want to hear and understand what God has to say, and know Him as He is, it pays for us to learn how to receive the Holy Spirit in every way possible.
What is "holiness?"
We often think of holiness as goodness or virtue, but the Hebrew term used in Scripture is essentially the quality of being set apart from what is common.
Scripture uses the word to speak of sanctification either to good or evil, and it is essential to understand this. Holiness is a fundamental human craving, because holiness is essential to God's nature and we are made in His image and likeness. If we do not share in God's holiness, we will certainly partake of some other kind, often with horrifying results. Consider for instance the Nazi pursuit of racial purity.
Whether it is good or bad to be set apart depends entirely on the thing to which we are set apart. The Bible speaks not simply of holiness, but holiness to the Lord, because we may also be consecrated to evil. Isaiah writes, for instance, "Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, after an idol in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, shall come to an end together, says the Lord" (Isa. 66:17 NKJV).
If we fail to partake of God's holiness, we always fall prey to debased substitutes like racial, ethnic and national chauvinism or trivial religious distinctions. Advertisers of fancy cars and "exclusive" real estate quite openly promise a kind of holiness, as do Marine Corps recruiters. Just as a dog dropping reveals its nature by a certain smell, all such "holiness" reveals its nature to God and man by the aroma of pride.
Unlike such vanities, the holiness of God is pure and real, and people touched by the Spirit of God will often never let go of Him even at the point of a very unpleasant death. Though God's holiness can be terrifying, it is exactly what we need, as we show in its absence by always chasing after emptiness.
Exodus 15:11 asks, "Who is like You, majestic in holiness?" Real holiness is majestic. There's a rumor of it in a good Western - the hero, unlike all the other characters both good and bad, is above all their fears, their greed, and their daily business. He is set apart to a great purpose, turning aside for nothing less.
The proverb says that a lion is stately in his going, turning back for nobody (Prov. 30:29-30). The Lion of Judah was stately in His going to the cross and through it to the resurrection, not turning back even from the accursed death of hanging on wood. The whole point of the Christian life is to become like Him and so do likewise, thereby joining Him in His glory (Rom. 8:28-29, Rev. 3:20-21).
The nature of the Spirit of God
God is a Person, God is holy, and God is truly God. He gives being to all else, as the ocean makes possible the life of the fish (Acts 17:28), and in Himself alone HE IS, not receiving His Name or His being from another (Ex. 3:14).
Being the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit is the revelation of God's nature to His creation - we have no other direct contact with God. Being the Spirit of Truth, He reveals God as He is.
An impersonal force, or something less than God, or any power that is not acting all the time to set you apart to the true God, is never the Holy Spirit of God.
How does the Holy Spirit bring us to life? The new birth
Jesus said that to even see the kingdom of God we must be born again (John 3:3). People try to make this happen in various ways - often through sacraments like baptism or "making a decision for Christ," depending on denominational background. But since it happens from above, it doesn't happen from below. [1] Even though God uses such means, He is not thereby inviting us to profane them by using them to make Him show up at our convenience. There simply is no crank for man to turn which will make a child of God pop out.
Some assert that the new birth is a New Testament exclusive. If it is, why did Jesus upbraid Nicodemus for not understanding it? Where was Nicodemus supposed to have learned it, except from the Law and the Prophets? Aren't those today who miss the new birth in the Hebrew Scriptures displaying the ignorance Jesus reproved in Nicodemus?
Jesus said that unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). The prophets not only saw the kingdom of God, but saw it from far off, which they could not have done without being born from above. Jesus said of Abraham, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56).
This new birth, without which we cannot enter the kingdom of God, is by water and the Spirit (John 3:5). If Jesus said this, we know it's important to understand what he means by water and the Spirit. The Spirit is evidently the Spirit of God, but what about the water?
Some say that this refers to one's natural birth or to water baptism, but John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and recognized the mother of Jesus while still in the womb (Luke 1:39-45). He certainly saw the kingdom of God, since he leaped in the womb when he heard Mary's voice. Jesus later taught that to have seen the kingdom, John had to have been born from above (John 3:3). For his new birth to come before his natural birth was unusual, but it shows that being born from above in no way depends on natural birth, baptism, or any other human agency (John 1:12-13, 3:6).
The water of the new birth is clearly not natural but comes from above. Failure to understand this undoubtedly contributes to our futile efforts to bring about conversion by means of ritual, by doctrinal correctness, or by psychological and emotional manipulation.
Comparing his word to water, Jesus said to His disciples, those that were abiding in his word, "You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you" (John 15:3, 13:7-11). Echoing John 3:3, Paul said, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5). Jesus cleansed the church by the washing of water with the word (Eph. 5:26).
All this fulfills what Isaiah said: "'Come now, and let us reason together', says the Lord. 'Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool'" (Isa. 1:18).
Faith comes as we hear God speak to us. It's impossible to reason with anyone without hearing what he has to say, which is why we avoid reasoning with people when we don't want to understand their point of view. Reasoning together with God invites Him to say things to us, which gives our ears more opportunity to hear His truth. As His words wash over us, we become clean.
What makes the word of Jesus able to wash us in this way? In order to sanctify the Church, Jesus gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25-26). As Paul points out here, this is evident in married life - only when a husband gives himself up for his wife does he have any power to speak to her heart and set her apart to himself.
The word of Jesus washes us because he gave himself up for us. He gave himself up for us because he loved us. Indeed, he even gave himself up for each individual by name - as it is written, "who loved me, and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20). His sacrifice for us works because his Father accepted it by raising him from the dead (1 Cor. 15:17).
We are washed not only by the water of the word, but by the blood (1 John 5:6). If Jesus had not faced and overcome death on our behalf, shedding his blood on the cross, he would have no cleansing and life-giving words for us.
Consider this occasion in David's life (2 Sam. 23:15-17):
David had a craving and said, "Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!" So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord; and he said, "Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?"
David's Son Jesus was familiar with this incident, and he understood its meaning. Instead of water from a well, he brought words of truth from His Father. By receiving these words, which cost him his life, we eat his flesh and drink his blood (John 6:63).
Unlike David, we must drink. Jesus did not bring it to us to satisfy our craving - we were too far gone in folly even to want it. He brought it in his mercy because we cannot live without it. When God urges us to listen to his word, it puts a different slant on things to realize that he gave his blood to bring that word to our ears.
What about sacraments like baptism, in which we wash away our sins (Acts 22:16), and the Lord's supper, in which we truly eat and drink the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27)?
Paul's discussion of circumcision explains the effect of any sacrament. Circumcision helps you if you keep God's law, by making visible to us the reality it portrays. If your heart remains uncircumcised, however, circumcision will actually harm you by encouraging you to suppose that you have done all you need to do. By helping you justify disobedience God in other things, circumcision in this case becomes uncircumcision (Rom. 2:25, Luke 3:7-9, Jer. 9:25-26).
In just the same way, baptism washes those who truly wash in his words. The bread and wine are food to those who eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man by truly abiding in his word, as his disciples do. But these things are worse than nothing to those who find in having done them an excuse not to actually do as he says in all things, as these acts are meant to teach us (1 Cor. 11:26-30, Matt. 7:21-27). Justifying our refusal to follow Jesus to the cross by claiming to believe in the cross has made the American church the lapdog of the rich and powerful of the world. Our faith has frequently been worse than nothing, to the complete disgust throughout American history of those like Malcolm X who know there is something wrong with a gospel which makes Jesus the defender of the master and all his ways.
One thing we get by being born is a family and a set of ancestors. In the same way, being born from above gets us a family that we didn't have before, and a whole set of fathers and mothers that we had no part in. How else do Gentile believers come to be part of the commonwealth of Israel (Eph. 2:11-13), having Isaac as their father (Rom. 9:10)? Why is the Spirit who causes us to be born from above called the Spirit of adoption? Is it not because being born again amounts to adoption into God's family (Rom. 8:15)?
With a new birth, there is of necessity a change of family and ancestry - in particular, we become part of Abraham's family and are blessed in him (Gen. 12:3). On this basis we are redeemed from the futility we inherited from our natural families, and by realizing this we can live accordingly (1 Pet. 1:17-18). We learn, being the children of our fathers and mothers crushed under Pharaoh’s foot in Egypt, that futility includes all of Pharaoh’s ways, and we develop a horror of doing as he did.
Although the righteous do not resist him with violence (James 5:1-6), we no longer identify with the American master’s terror of slave revolts around the world. We have begun to learn that his riches and pride indeed have no future, and they threaten the eternal future of all that desire them. They are futile as James and Peter wrote - and so we choose instead to be afflicted along with Christ. But if we find comfort in the safety of Pharaoh’s house (and inevitably in the oppressions by which he makes it safe), are we really born from above? “Peace and safety!” cry those who trust in Antichrist (1 Thess. 5:3). But God does not teach His servants to pursue first peace and safety. God says, “Justice, justice, you shall pursue” (Deut. 16:20). Examine your life. Which of these comes first for you? You can’t pursue both at once (Matthew 6:24)!
Baptism into the body of Christ
After describing various gifts of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:11-14:
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. For even as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.
At the heart of this passage is the baptism by the Spirit into the body of Christ. Some carelessly identify this baptism with the baptism in the Holy Spirit by Jesus Christ, in which the body of Christ is not mentioned at all (Matt. 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33-34). In some cases, perhaps, coveting the text for their own purposes has impaired their judgment. How can baptism into the body be the same as baptism in the Holy Spirit, since the body and the Holy Spirit are by no means the same?
"By one Spirit" may just as accurately be translated "in one Spirit," so this passage appears ambiguous if we read it out of context. In context, however, which is how Paul wrote it, it becomes quite clear.
Baptism means "immersion," and the rest of the chapter describes how God places each of us in the body, immersing us in it (1 Cor. 12:14-30). Paul's description explains this baptism in detail. Instead of speculating about Paul's meaning, we can just read his own explanation.
Paul shows us that the Spirit of God performs this baptism by using both our abilities and our weaknesses to move us into our proper positions in the body. These abilities are manifestations of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11, 28). Our needs and weaknesses are also given by the Spirit in order to make us dependent on one another (1 Cor. 12:21-22, 2 Cor. 12:9).
The Greek word meaning "in" or "by" was well chosen, because both senses are true. Being immersed by the Holy Spirit into His body, which is the Church (Col. 1:18, 24) happens by being in the Holy Spirit and thereby led by Him (1 Cor. 12:2-3, Rom. 8:14, Gal. 5:16-26, Ps. 107:1-7). Finding our proper place in the Church is a work of God, for which we need His help, not a matter of choosing someplace that seems good in our own eyes.
Although God certainly does these things, someone will now protest: "What church are you talking about, Attwood? There's a place for my money, but not for me!"
Yes, the church can be pretty tough. Has the word of God failed? Did Paul fail to foresee our present condition? Not at all! The prophets, Jesus, and the apostles all foretold our experience today.
Right before describing how the Holy Spirit puts the church together, Paul describes how the Corinthian church was trying to put itself together, declaring, "You come together not for the better but for the worse." The details supporting his assertion are depressingly familiar (1 Cor. 11:17-34). James also described at length the dismal condition of those to whom he wrote (James 2:1-13, 4:1-5).
Early in Acts the disciples were caring for each other and continuing in the apostolic doctrine, not just debating it. Later on, Paul reported to the Philippian church that besides Timothy he had no one to send them who would be genuinely concerned for their welfare (Phil. 2:19-21). Paul foresaw that it would get even worse - his last letter, Second Timothy, clearly anticipates the gathering darkness. In its context, 2 Timothy 3 is clearly describing how people would be, not in the world, but in the household of God (2 Tim. 2:20, 4:1-5)!
Jesus, foreseeing these days, also warned the apostles about them (Matt. 13:24-30, 13:36-43). Long before Jesus, Ezekiel foretold our present situation too (Ezek. 34); and his prophecy has been precisely fulfilled by the things which Paul, Peter, and James described (Ezek. 34:3-5, 34:17-23, 1 Cor. 11:20-22, 2 Pet. 2:3, James 2:1-4).
The church is a hard place to grow, but is there any place better? Paul spoke of dangers among false brethren - and there are many dangers: deceptions, betrayals, rip-offs of all kinds. But the biggest danger among false brethren, the one to really look out for, is allowing these things to embitter us against the brotherhood so that we separate ourselves. What Paul endured even from the churches he founded assures us that he really knew the obstacles we face and considered them worth enduring.
Consider how vital to new life it is that we should be properly placed in the body of Christ, how crucial this is to evangelism and normal spiritual growth! It follows that the single greatest thing we can do for evangelism is to become genuinely hospitable to one another and to strangers, permitting the Holy Spirit to knit our hearts together. If on occasion the process feels unpleasant, should we be astonished? Doesn't God promise that it will be a great struggle, although worth whatever it takes (Col. 2:1-2)?
How apt we are to major in minors! The Bible says little or nothing about organized evangelistic campaigns, 4- or 5-step methods of presenting the gospel, direct mail appeals, and other such worldly rubbish. The Bible says much more about receiving whomever the Lord sends and welcoming one another as Christ has welcomed us. It warns us against the damage we do to ourselves and God's kingdom by resisting His work of putting us together as it pleases Him.
Satan's purpose in all these bad things is obvious. But since in all things God works for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose, what is God's purpose in them? This at least - it is impossible for His people to come together except through the power and leading of His Holy Spirit. Mere human enthusiasm and willingness will never make it, so whenever the will of God is really done on earth, people will glorify our Father Who is in heaven, and not us.
Being led by the Holy Spirit - the case of Abraham
If those who are of faith are sons of Abraham (Gal. 3:7), then growing in faith toward God amounts to being led as Abraham was led. His example is written for us so that we may "look to" him and follow in his steps (Isa. 51:1-2). Anyone who is not led by the Holy Spirit is always led astray to dumb idols (1 Cor. 12:2). Since our father Abraham was led to the living God and away from dumb idols, we know he was led by the Holy Spirit.
Abraham first went out by hearing God's voice (Gen. 12:1-4). Lot also heard the same words, but only in Abraham's voice. They both went out, but only one really heard God's voice. The years that follow show the difference between merely hearing God's words and hearing God's words spoken by the voice of God.
Just being acquainted with God's words in the Bible won't do. We must hear them from God. We know that we've heard them from God when our beings are seized with the imperative to do His words even if we see no one else doing them, just as Abraham did. What distinguishes God's sheep is not that they are acquainted with his words - even the devil is an expert in God's words - but that they have heard and responded to His voice (John 10:3-5, 18:37).
Does hearing consist merely of detecting the sound of a voice in our ears? The Pharisees heard the words of Jesus, and could even sift His words for ways to trap Him, but did they ever hear? In the desert, their fathers heard the words of Moses and saw his deeds, and God led them through the sea and fed them from heaven every day. They were still unable to understand that God would lead them through the desert and supply them with water on the way. Hearing is a matter of the heart, not of the ears.
Truly hearing made Abraham a doer of what he heard. The children of Abraham do likewise. Our power to do what we hear comes through the voice of the Lord. Not for nothing does the 29th Psalm declare the power of that Voice.
Just the same, how often and how badly Abraham stumbled! Why then is he given as our example to follow (Isa. 51:1-2)? Since Abraham's children likewise "stumble in many ways" (James 3:2), don't we need to see grace which causes the stumbling to stand? Don't those who observe our lives need to see that grace in us too?
Abraham messed up pretty badly on three occasions: when he went down to Egypt and lied about his wife (Gen. 12:10-20), when he agreed with Sarah to have a son by Hagar the Egyptian (Gen. 16), and when he went down to Abimelech the king of Gerar and lied again about his wife (Gen. 20).
Although God kept even Abimelech from doing wrong, God clearly did not keep Abraham from doing wrong on these occasions. Instead, God pushed him into a tight place and allowed him to fall. Since God tempts no one with evil and is not the author of sin, why did He work this way with Abraham? What good purpose was served by Abraham's failures? I see at least two.
Stumbling taught Abraham to trust in God rather than himself. Abraham's faith did not proceed from being superhuman but from being frail - he trusted in God by learning that his own devices didn't work. Paul stated that we are the true circumcision who put no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3). How do we lose confidence in our own powers, except by finding that they don't work?
Moreover, as Jesus pointed out, he who is forgiven much loves much, and he who is forgiven little loves little. The law commands that we love the Lord, but we do that by receiving forgiveness from Him. Many try to love God by not needing to be forgiven, but it doesn't work that way - not in human relationships, and certainly not with God. Abraham came to love God much by being forgiven much. All of Abraham's children have to do it that way.
Is it good then for us to keep messing up? By no means, since the fool returns to his folly as a dog returns to his vomit (Prov. 26:11). Just as a dog eating his own vomit does not faithfully represent the character of Christ, neither does a Christian who persists in the same follies year by year.
Abraham's failures had a common root, and a common solution. In each case, he was overpowered by the fear of death. Both times that he lied about his wife, he was afraid they were going to kill him in order to take her. In Hagar we see that the fear of death is more general than the fear of one's own physical demise - Abraham was not afraid of being killed, but of dying without an heir. The fear of death in any form inevitably moves us to sin, since it is through the fear of death that people are subject to slavery all their lives - and what slavery did Jesus die to free us from (Heb. 2:14-15)? To be cured of sin we must be delivered from the fear of death.
God cured Abraham's fear of death by revealing Himself to be the resurrection and the life. When Abraham sinned in Egypt, God plagued Pharaoh and his household in order to get Sarah back. As a result, Abraham was led to call upon the Lord as he had at the beginning, recalling His promise (Gen. 13:3-4, 12:7-8).
When Lot was taken captive, God empowered Abraham to overcome a great army with only 318 men, much as Gideon did later (Gen. 14:1-16). When Abraham confessed his fear and doubt, even after this victory, God strengthened him by His power (Gen. 15). When Abraham wanted to settle for Ishmael, the Lord appeared to him again to strengthen him (Gen. 17). When Abraham acted shamefully in the case of Abimelech, God rescued him again and answered his prayer for Abimelech's household (Gen. 20). The next year, Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
All these things were teaching Abraham that God preserves those that are His and raises them up when they fall. God even revealed resurrection power in Abraham's body. When Abraham was 99 years old and heard yet again that his body would beget a son, he fell on his face and laughed (Gen. 17:17).
When Isaac was a strong young man, maybe 15 years later, Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and split the wood for the burnt offering (Gen. 22:3). When Isaac was at least 37 years old (Gen. 17:17, 23:1-2), Abraham married Keturah and had six more sons - it's mentioned in passing, like a little thing (Gen. 25:1-2). For forty years beginning with Isaac's conception, Abraham's body was getting younger every year.
By the time God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, Abraham knew that God raises the dead. He was not giving his son over to death, viewing death as the price to pay for what he needed, as abortionists and other idolaters do.
Knowing that he and Isaac had no power to keep themselves alive, he was obeying the God Who defeats death and raises the dead, as one obeys a fireman who tells him to jump out of a burning house.
Abraham had finally been cured of the fear of death, and so he was able to become obedient. This is the goal to which the Holy Spirit means to lead us.
How can we have the Holy Spirit?
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray (Luke 11:1-13), he urged them to persist in prayer until they received what they needed. What do we always need? When "there was a famine in the days of David for three years . . . David sought the presence of the Lord" (2 Sam. 21:1). Agreeing with David, Jesus also taught that the way to our daily food and drink is to "seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:31-33). Indeed, Jesus concluded that in all our needs, we need the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:9-13):
And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Or if he is asked for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
If this is not a command to ask for and to seek the Holy Spirit, what would be? Since God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey Him, a good way to not receive the Holy Spirit is to disobey Jesus by not asking (James 4:2). When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, this was the punch line.
Why would anyone not want to ask for the Holy Spirit? Is it such a big thing to do? The servants of Naaman the leper entreated their master, "Had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, when he says, 'Wash and be clean?'" (2 Kings 5:13). Here Jesus says, "Ask and receive," and people argue about it!
Doesn't this happen because to ask is to admit we do not already have? We might even have to acknowledge that someone else does have what we lack. We might have to count someone else better than ourselves. Is that really a problem, since that's what the gospel tells us to do?
Obeying the gospel can only be good for us. Are we not like our fathers, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken?
Claiming that all believers have the Holy Spirit in full measure without asking quite obviously nullifies the commandment of Jesus to ask and receive, but the teaching that we should ask for and receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit often does the same.
Charismatic theology tends to stop people from asking for the Holy Spirit by placing them in a class of people who already have the Holy Spirit in a special way through a one-time event in their past. It's easy to think that this experience makes it unnecessary to ask for the Holy Spirit any longer. For many, an undeniable attraction of the charismatic experience is the illusory prospect of becoming rich and full and in need of nothing more.
The moral and spiritual rot which makes people want to deny our need to seek the Holy Spirit continually is obvious, but because it is often cloaked in cunning rationalizations, I should answer some of these clever arguments in detail.
Is the Holy Spirit given only at conversion?
The Bible certainly teaches that everyone who believes has the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12-13, Rom. 8:9). If that's the case, can we receive the Spirit later, since we have already received Him? Because some understand that this is impossible, and others understand that it makes perfect sense, these human understandings lead often to strife. Since the Bible and life itself warn us against such confidence in our own understanding, let's see what the Bible says.
The disciples certainly received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:4-8, 2:1-4). They were already born again, because being witnesses of the resurrection, they had seen the kingdom of God (John 3.3, Luke 9:27). But had they already received the Holy Spirit?
The Bible gives us several reasons to believe the disciples already had the Holy Spirit before Pentecost. In the first place, it is impossible to be born again without the Holy Spirit. Although Jesus was physically present with them, his physical presence was useless apart from the Holy Spirit, because as he told Peter, Jesus could not be known by flesh and blood - only by his Father, working by his Spirit. Jesus was just as physically present to Judas as to the other eleven, but Judas remained a son of perdition. The disciples were born again by the Holy Spirit, like everyone else who recognizes who Jesus really is.
When all took offense and left Jesus, was it not by the Holy Spirit that the remaining disciples realized that Jesus alone had the words of eternal life?
Someone will remind me that the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39), but this refers to the Holy Spirit being poured out on all flesh after the resurrection, as prophesied by the prophet Joel and proclaimed at Pentecost by Peter. To say that the Holy Spirit was not yet given does not imply that He was no longer given as He had always been given. Was not John the Baptist given the Holy Spirit during this time?
Finally, by the day of Pentecost, Jesus had already breathed on His disciples and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:19-23).
Someone will object that although he said this, it wasn't really supposed to happen right then - only later, at Pentecost. But why would Jesus have actually breathed on the disciples as he was telling them to receive the Holy Spirit unless it were to happen right then? Every other time we see Jesus doing things to people, something happens right away. Why is this case any different?
Some argue that the disciples did not act like they had the Holy Spirit after Jesus did this, because they were hiding fearfully in a locked room, going nowhere and doing nothing. But since they were not supposed to go anywhere or do anything (Acts 1:4), what was the Holy Spirit supposed to do in them, except to make them go nowhere and do nothing as Jesus commanded?
Indeed, the Spirit's power and presence were powerfully revealed during this time in several ways. Jesus for the first time was able to open their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:25-45). Although Jesus had often taught these things before, they just didn't get it. Now they did, as promised in Prov. 1:23, which says to those who turn to His reproof - to His disciples - "Behold, I will pour out my Spirit on you, I will make my words known to you."
How the two disciples had their eyes and minds opened while separated from the others on the road to Emmaus recalls how Eldad and Medad were filled with the Holy Spirit in the wilderness while they were separated from their companions who were being given the Holy Spirit (Num. 11:24-30).
Why should we idly speculate about the experience of the disciples in John 20, including these two who were away, when the Bible plainly instructs us by this earlier incident in the wilderness? If it comes to my mind, can anyone believe it didn't occur to Luke as he recorded these things, or that God had forgotten about it when He inspired him?
From this day, the disciples behaved very differently. We never again find them discussing who was the greatest, as they had more than once before. On the contrary, 120 were with one mind devoting themselves continually to prayer (Acts 1:14-15) - nothing like anything they had done before.
In truth, the disciples showed more evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives during this period before Pentecost than most churches anywhere do today, charismatic or otherwise.
In how many congregations do we find 120 persons with one mind devoting themselves to prayer for ten days? How many "Spirit-filled" Christians, if seriously threatened with death by stoning or the cross, would do anything but hide themselves?
If the behavior of the disciples before Pentecost shows that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit, then our behavior certainly shows the same about us. In that case we need to ask and seek until we do receive, instead of arguing about it. But if we do have the Holy Spirit, and if behavior means anything, so did the disciples before Pentecost.
But if the disciples had already received the Holy Spirit from Jesus before His ascension (John 20), why were they still waiting for the Holy Spirit along with the 120 after His ascension (Acts 1)? This question is easily resolved when we consider the Scriptures.
Immediately after stating that all believers have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, Paul prays that God should give these believers the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:13-17). This "spirit of wisdom and revelation" is clearly the same Holy Spirit given to lead us into all the truth (1 Cor. 2:9-11, John 16:13-15). Is this not a prayer that believers, who already have the Holy Spirit, should be given Him in greater measure?
The Holy Spirit is given in various manifestations in order to fulfill God's will. Are we to be satisfied that we have the Holy Spirit, or are we to seek these in greater measure in order to more effectively serve the purposes of God (1 Cor. 14:1-4)?
God's church is the temple of God, the place where He dwells. Is it wise to talk confidently about how God filled His house at Pentecost without considering how God's glory filled His temples on earlier occasions? Why do we have these accounts, if not to be instructed by them (1 Cor. 10:11, Rom. 15:4)? Consider too that these lessons apply not only to the church as a whole at Pentecost, but to each individual within it, because each one is individually the temple of God (1 Cor. 6:19).
Let's look briefly at two cases - the tabernacle in the wilderness and Solomon's temple.
Although the glory of God filled the tabernacle and rested upon it when it was finished (Ex. 40:34-35), how did it reach that point? People who were filled with the Holy Spirit beforehand prepared the tabernacle itself to be filled (Ex. 28:3, 31:2-6, 35:30-35).
Moreover, the tabernacle itself and everything in it had to be anointed by Moses before the tabernacle could be filled with God's glory (Ex. 40:9). It is fitting that Jesus the Prophet like Moses, who anoints not with oil but with the Holy Spirit, had to anoint all His holy vessels beforehand in order to prepare His house to be filled on the day of Pentecost.
In the case of Solomon's temple, the parallel to Acts is quite striking. The filling of the temple was preceded by worship which God accepted by filling the house with His glory. Since God found this worship acceptable, we know it was inspired by the Spirit of God (John 4:23-24, Phil. 3:3). Through the Holy Spirit, the 120 priests blew the trumpets in unison, and then the house was filled. Likewise in Acts, the 120 devoted themselves to prayer with one accord, being directed by God's Spirit, and after that the house was filled.
To suppose that God anoints us with His Spirit so that we need no more is a big mistake. On the contrary, God anoints us to enable us to receive more. It is the blessing of the Holy Spirit for us to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5:6). In this way we may go from strength to strength (Ps. 84:7) and from faith to faith (Rom. 1:17).
Why do believers need to ask for the Holy Spirit?
Jesus promised that those who believed in him were to receive the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). Why then should those who believe in him have to ask?
When the disciples began to pray before the day of Pentecost, Jesus had already promised them that they would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 1). Were they not asking for what Jesus had already promised them? Since this particular text does not plainly tell us what they prayed for, it makes sense to let the Bible interpret it for us by investigating other cases like it.
When Daniel read that the time had come for the restoration of Jerusalem, did he simply wait for God to do what He had promised? No indeed! He set his face to seek the Lord with "prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes," which suggests perhaps several days. He confessed all the obstacles to this fulfillment in the ways of himself and his people, earnestly pleading with God to fulfill His promise (Dan. 9:2-19).
Not only were the 120 awaiting the fulfillment of God's promise as Daniel had; Daniel's concern for Jerusalem resembled their own (Dan. 9:2, Acts 1:6). Is it conceivable that these 120 people could have prayed and considered the word of God for those 10 days without thinking of Daniel's intercession? Would they have disdained Daniel's example, or would they have followed it? If Daniel pleaded earnestly for the fulfillment of what Jeremiah had spoken, wouldn't the 120 have sought in the same way for the fulfillment of what Jesus had spoken to them?
To seek what is already ours is normal. Jesus knew that He was to be raised from the dead on the third day. Far from simply awaiting the fulfillment of this promise, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him out of death, much as Hezekiah had done before Him (Heb. 5:7, 2 Kings 20:2-5).
God promised to visit the people in Egypt and to bring them out before they went down there, but He actually did so after they began to sigh and cry to Him in their bondage (Gen. 50:25, Ex. 2:23-25). Likewise, when Jesus says that He is coming quickly, John responds, "Come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:17, 20).
The prayer Jesus gave his disciples consists entirely of requests for things already promised: "Hallowed be Your name" (Ezek. 36:23), "Your kingdom come" (Dan. 2:44), "Your will be done" (Isa. 2:2-4), "our daily bread" (Ex. 16:4, Matt. 6:31-34), "forgive us our sins" (Luke 15), "lead us not into temptation" (James 1:13), "but deliver us from evil" (Rom. 8:28-39).
Far from declining to ask for what God has promised, we should insist all the more, as we realize that what we are asking for is according to His will.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit
Outside the gospels and Acts, the Bible says very little about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The only examples given are found in Acts. Since the events in Acts occurred in a transitional time unlike our own, some assert that these do not apply to us unless found elsewhere in apostolic teaching. In effect, Acts becomes an Apocryphal book - nice reading, maybe, but not authoritative on its own. How nicely they claim to believe the Bible while setting aside what displeases them for the sake of their own tradition!
But what does the Bible say? 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture inspired by God is profitable for teaching . . ." No doubt many things happened in the early church which did not apply to later times. But if "all Scripture inspired by God," including Acts, is "profitable for teaching," then whatever does not apply to us was left out of Acts, which contains only a tiny fraction of what could have been written about those very eventful thirty years.
If we acknowledge Paul's words to Timothy, we must confess that every one of these few words is written to instruct believers in all ages.
Jesus plainly held this view concerning historical narrative, in particular the instance in 1 Samuel 21 in which David ate the showbread and gave it to his companions. The teaching Jesus derived from 1 Samuel 21 (Luke 6:1-5) about the showbread is not repeated anywhere else in the Law and the Prophets, as far as I know, but Jesus considered it decisive. His adversaries evidently held the same opinion, because they could not refute him. What the Bible says about how to interpret itself must certainly take priority over evangelical tradition.
Acts teaches that people are baptized in the Holy Spirit the moment they believe (Acts 10), or at some later time (Acts 8, 9, and 19). It all depends, and it pays to learn what we can about what causes delay.
Notice first that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a definite event obvious even to unspiritual men (Acts 8:12-18). The Samaritans had believed and been baptized, and they had great joy in their salvation, but the Bible says that the Holy Spirit had not fallen upon any of them.
If the baptism in the Holy Spirit were an automatic and not necessarily noticeable event, as many assert, there would have been no way to say the Holy Spirit had not fallen upon them. The Bible would agree that the Samaritan believers had been baptized in the Holy Spirit simply because they had believed and been baptized in water.
The cause for delay in this case is most relevant to our own time. If they had received the Holy Spirit apart from the apostles, they would not have recognized the apostolic authority, and a schism would have developed, resulting in a Samaritan church that was accountable to nobody, just as we often see today.
If a great revival broke out among Mormons in Utah, and thousands turned to the orthodox Christian faith, they clearly would need to receive the Holy Spirit through the hands of recognized Christian leadership for the reasons we find in Samaria. But among Christians everywhere, real apostolic authority is lacking or unrecognized, and when the Holy Spirit does fall upon people, they often distinguish themselves from the rest of the church as the Samaritans would have done. Is it any wonder that the baptism in the Spirit should be so often deferred among us as it was in Samaria?
An error we make as charismatic believers is to find signs of the baptism in the Spirit in Acts, and to suppose that if we get those signs then we have the baptism. But the signs can be counterfeited, and in any case the signs in Acts did not come about by seeking them.
If we want what they had in Acts, we have to seek what they sought in Acts, which was the Holy Spirit Himself, and we have to remove the same obstacles they removed. That's much more difficult for us than it was in Samaria. It will take a lot of self-denial, a lot of finding one another and working things out - we've been badly scattered these last 2000 years. With God, however, this is possible, and if we refuse to undertake it, there's just a lot we're going to miss, whatever we believe.
Yielding to the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit
Although related, these are distinct, and it does harm to confuse them. Jesus said, "Ask and receive," but if we ask but refuse to hear and obey, is it the Holy Spirit we want, or a Power to get our own way? God is not obliged to listen to those who won't listen to Him (Isa. 58:1-4, Jer. 7:9-11, James 4:3).
On the other hand, if we strive to yield to Him when we need to ask for more, trust in our own obedience becomes inevitable, and we imperceptibly start forgetting the grace of God. We need to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Only the irresistible weight of that Hand can keep us from becoming proud of how well we humble ourselves! To yield humbly, we must always be yielding under outside pressure from God.
Yielding, to keep it simple, is done by listening up. When Jesus was transfigured before the disciples, Peter offered to build booths for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses so that the glory of God would remain with them, just as David had offered to build God a house for the same reason. But the Father answered Peter's desire as follows: "This is my beloved Son, listen to Him!" Since God's glory departs because people refuse to hear, it follows that His glory remains when we listen.
But where do we find the power to listen? And how do we learn
to boast of His mighty voice instead of our hearing ears? Let's ask
God that His Spirit fall upon us in power, and every day, while it is called
"today," let's make Him welcome by listening whenever we hear His voice
(Heb. 3:12-19). Make no mistake – each such instance will in some
way be an act of self-denial, a kind of death, because listening to God
will always mean dying to whatever we’ve worked out without Him.
Notes
1. The word translated "again" in "born again" also means "from above." Many translations show this in a marginal note.