05. The Holy Spirit
THE HOLY SPIRIT Is the Holy Ghost a Spirit?
Yes. The Holy Ghost is a Spirit—the Holy Spirit. Ghost and Spirit are the same word in the original text. In what way do you believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit? We abide by Acts 2—Pentecost. But I have never yet received the baptism, though four of my friends have, in a wonderful way. Please give me your opinion on the subject.
You are quite wrong in supposing that a born-again person may be without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. With regard to the person and work of the Holy Spirit in relation to believers the New Testament teaches:
1. In this present dispensation every Christian is born of the Spirit. The new birth is as truly a birth as is the old birth. We are children of our earthly parents by generation: and we are children of our heavenly Father by regeneration. This work of regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit, whose instrumentality in bringing about the new birth is the incorruptible seed of the Word of God (John 3:1-7; 1 Peter 1:23-25; James 1:18; John 1:11-13).
2. Every Christian (by which is meant every born-again person) becomes at the moment of his new birth a member of the body of Christ. “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones” (Ephesians 5:30). This union with Christ is the result of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not true, therefore, as some would have us believe, that this baptism of the Holy Spirit is “a second work of grace” separated from regeneration by an interval of time. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the experience not of some, but of all Christians. “For by (or, in) one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor.l2:13; compare Ephesians 4:4-5; Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27).
3. Every born-again person at the moment of his new birth receives the Holy Spirit into his own body, and ever afterward is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This abiding with us forever is continuous and without a moment’s intermission. We may grieve Him, we may resist Him, we may quench Him; but we cannot grieve Him away, nor can we drive Him away. To the carnal Corinthian Christians the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul wrote, saying: “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?” (1 Corinthians 6:19; compare 1 Corinthians 3:16; Romans 8:8-9).
4. The Holy Spirit thus indwelling the believer becomes the believer’s anointing; and as such He is our infallible Teacher, and Guide into all truth. This is in fulfillment of our Lord’s promise in John 16:13. Every one of God’s “little children” is thus made absolutely safe from the danger of apostasy. “Little children, it is the last time: and ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; . . . But ye have an Unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. .. . These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the Anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same Anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:18-27). The words “Unction” and “Anointing” represent the same word in the Greek (Chrisma), and it is easily seen that the reference is to the Holy Spirit, of whom oil is a frequently employed symbol in the Word of God (compare Zechariah 4:1-6). All the anointings of prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament were typical of the enduement of the Holy Spirit. It is good to have such a Teacher, and to be assured that by His power the promise is certain of fulfillment that we shall be kept from falling and presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24).
5. The Holy Spirit who is our Anointing is also our Seal. In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, it is written, “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” He is thus the token to us of safety, and security, as well as of ownership and possession. We who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ were, upon believing, “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14; compare 4:30).
6. Believers are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Having been born of Him, and baptized into Christ in Him, having become in our bodies His temple, having received Him as our Anointing, and Seal, it is fitting that we should yield ourselves unto Him (Romans 6:13), presenting to Him our bodies “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,” which is indeed our “reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). When we thus yield ourselves to Him and permit Him to fill us He controls our lives and produces in us His own fruit, which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the secret of effectiveness in the Christian life.
InLuke 11:13our Lord said that the heavenly Father would “give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.” Are we to conclude from this that the Christian must ask for the gift of the Spirit before he receives Him?
No. When the words of Luke 11:13 were spoken the Holy Spirit had not yet been bestowed upon the Church (John 7:39). Today we are in a new dispensation or order of things; and in this present order of things every saved person is (1) born of the Spirit through believing the Word (John 1:11-13; John 3:3-8; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:22-25); (2) baptized in the Spirit, and into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13, R.V.; Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27); (3) anointed of the Spirit as his infallible Teacher (1 John 2:20-27); (4) sealed by the Spirit as the earnest of his inheritance until the day of redemption (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14; Ephesians 4:30); and (5) indwelt by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 8:8-11). In addition to all this the believer is commanded in Ephesians 5:18-21 to be also filled with the Spirit in order that the Spirit Who is the Holy Spirit of God may take full possession of him, and control his life, and bring forth His own fruit in the believer (Galatians 5:22-23). Is it sinning against the Holy Spirit when one does not believe in His personality as the third person in the Godhead?
Yes, it is sinning against the Holy Spirit, and sinning against the Godhead generally, for in rejecting the testimony of Scripture as to the personality of the Holy Spirit one makes God a liar. But it should be added that this is not the sin against the Holy Spirit mentioned in Matthew 12:24-32; Mark 3:22-30 and Luke 11:14-20. The sin referred to there is the sin committed by those who said that the Lord “hath an unclean spirit” (Mark 3:30). This is the unpardonable sin. Will you deal with the question of the witness of the Spirit in the light ofHebrews 10:15;1 John 5:10;Romans 8:16? I notice one word in each of these Scriptures that seems to stand out prominently; namely, “to,” “in” and “with.” Will you stress the application of these three words in the light of their context? The witness of the Holy Spirit to us, spoken of in Hebrews 10:15, is through the Word, whose Author He is, and which is cited in the next verse (16): “This is the covenant,” etc., quoted from Jeremiah 31:33. The same passage is also quoted in Hebrews 8:10. Let us learn from this that all the Holy Spirit’s testimony is according to His Word. The witness of the Holy Spirit in us is an inward conviction of the truth as set forth in that same Word of God. It is not a mere “feeling” that we are saved; it is far more and better than feeling; it is an assurance, based upon the plain promises of Scripture. It results from believing “the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.” As it is put in John 3:33, “He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.” And the witness of the Holy Spirit with us is His testimony concerning the result of believing God. The Spirit of God at once communicates with the spirit of the believer and convinces him that he has now become God’s child and heir.
All this is precious. How wonderful it is thus to come into communication and fellowship with ‘The Most High God, Possessor of Heaven and Earth,” and to be assured of an eternal relationship to Him as His child and an eternal position in His household! Hallelujah!
Please explain why the “birth” of the Spirit and the “baptism” of the Spirit are usually thought of, spoken of and taught as being one and the same operation. InJohn 20:22Jesus breathed on the disciples and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” That was their birth of the Spirit, was it not? InActs 2:4they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Was not this their baptism of the Spirit?
I have asked one or two learned theologians who frankly confess that they cannot differentiate the birth and the baptism. Why should they be thought identical? The dictionary defines them as separate and distinct, why should not we so separate them in our spiritual thought and practice?
While the birth and the baptism are simultaneous, they are by no means identical. By the birth we are brought into the family of God as new-born babes; by the baptism we are made members of Christ, “of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”
We ought not to take the experience of the apostles and first disciples as the norm and pattern of our own experience. They were saved before the cross and before the New Testament advent of the Holy Spirit; we were saved long afterwards. In the present dispensation every believer (1) is born of the Spirit (John 3:3-7; James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23-25); (2) is baptized by Him into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 6:1-3; Galatians 3:27); (3) receives Him as the Anointing by whom we are to be led into the truth (1 John 2:20-27; John 14:16-17; John 16:12-15); (4) is sealed by Him unto the day of redemption (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30); (5) and is indwelt by Him (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Romans 8:9). All of these things are true of every believer; but not every believer is filled with the Spirit. This we are commanded to be:
“Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). As we yield to Him He fills us, and as He fills us, He controls us and transfigures us “into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
What is meant by the baptism with fire, inMatthew 3:11andLuke 3:17? The reference is to the baptism of the Holy Spirit as our Energizer and Purifier. “Quench not the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:9) means “Don’t put out the fire.” In the light ofActs 8:15-17, andActs 19:2, are we to believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as distinct from His incoming at regeneration?
No. Acts 8:15-17 belongs to the transition period while the gospel was passing from Jews to Gentiles. Up to the time when the gospel went fully over to the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit seems to have waited until after water baptism (Acts 2:38); but beginning with the meeting in the house of Cornelius the Holy Spirit’s coming upon believers was immediate, and preceded water baptism (Acts 10:44-48). The Ephesian “disciples” of John the Baptist were not Christians when Paul met them. Paul preached Christ to them and rebaptized them, using “the name of the Lord Jesus”; and, perhaps because there might have been some doubt as to the risen Christ’s approval of his action without a visible manifestation, the visible manifestation was given. But the doctrine of Holy Spirit baptism for this Church age is unmistakably set forth in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13. We are all baptized by the one Spirit into the body of Christ. This means that every believer, when he believes, is at once baptized by the Holy Spirit “into Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:2-3; Galatians 3:27).
Please explain why the believers at Samaria failed to receive the Holy Spirit upon believing. What was the difference between their case and that of the Hebrew believers at Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts? The record is found in Acts 8:14-17 : “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.” The difference between the case at Samaria and that at Jerusalem lay in the fact that no aposdes were present at Samaria. The preacher was not Philip the apostle, but Philip the deacon or evangelist. It was necessary that apostles should be present, especially Peter, to whom was given authority in Matthew 16:19 to act as spokesmen for the absent Christ.
Please explain Paul’s question, addressed to “certain disciples” at Ephesus, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2). Does this indicate or imply that the believer does not receive the Holy Spirit until some time subsequent to regeneration?
No. The correct reading is given in the Revised Version: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?” Something was obviously wrong with these “certain disciples,” and this provoked the aposde’s question. It developed, as shown by the context, that these were “disciples,” not of Christ, but of John the Baptist. Therefore Paul preached Christ to them, and they believed, were rebaptized, and received the Holy Spirit in visible manifestation, as had been the case with the Jews in Acts 2, and with the Samaritans in Acts 10. The reception of the Holy Spirit is not “a second blessing” or “a second work of grace,” for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ (meaning the Holy Spirit of God, as shown by the context), he is none of his” (Romans 8:8-11; compare 1 Corinthians 6:19). Do you teach “death to self” as the only means of experiencing a complete filling of the Spirit? Is this not the meaning ofRomans 12:1-2, and1 Thessalonians 5:22-23?
Every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit exactly in the degree that he yields himself to God as one who is alive from the dead, and his members as instruments of righteousness unto God. To yield himself fully he must reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:11-13). “Yield” in this passage and “present” in Romans 12:1 are the same word in the Greek Testament. The Thessalonian passage cited calls us to separation as to our walk. “Sanctify” means to set apart, that is, to separate. As we yield ourselves unto God we are separated unto Him, and therefore separated from everything contrary to Him.
Please explain the first part ofGenesis 6:3: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” I am anxious to know. Our pastor has told some dreadful stories about God leaving man never to return. I know that we should not grieve the Holy Spirit. The whole verse should be read: “And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” This period of probation was for the world of men before the flood of Noah’s day. There is nothing here to indicate that the Spirit of God leaves man “never to return.” Yet it is a dangerous thing to reject His pleadings. There is no time assured to any man but now. As the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the world at Christ’s second coming, how can unbelievers be converted during the millennium?
There is no statement in Scripture that the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the world. He is omnipresent, and therefore, cannot be absent from any place at any time. In 2 Thessalonians 2:7 the Scripture testifies that He will be taken out of the way as the restrainer of iniquity. There is a real difference between being taken out of the world and being taken out of the way.
What do you mean by saying, “being led by the Holy Spirit”? The Holy Spirit of God seeks to guide every child of God in even the smallest details of life. He indwells every believer (1 Corinthians 6:19), and is perfectly able to make a willing child hear His voice. He may speak through the Word, or through circumstances, or by the still, small voice. His leading is never contrary to the Word, of course. But that does not mean that the way to be led by Him is to shut one’s eyes and then open the Bible and put a finger on a verse with the eyes still shut, expecting guidance to come that way. The Spirit leads through the Word by the plain teaching of the Word, and when that does not fully reveal His will He will find other ways of communicating His will to those who really desire to know it in order to obey it. “For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
How can there be salvation after the Church is raptured and the Holy Spirit is taken away?
There is no Scripture which teaches that the Holy Spirit will be taken away from the earth at the Rapture, but rather He is to be “taken out of the way” as the Restrainer of the working of lawlessness (2 Thessalonians 2:7). From that time the Holy Spirit, who is ever omnipresent, will be still here, but here in the same sense as He was here before His coming in Acts 2 for the work of gathering out a people for the name of the Lord. Is it possible for a child of God to grieve away the Holy Spirit?
No. We may indeed grieve Him (Ephesians 4:30), but we cannot grieve Him away. We may resist Him (Acts 7:51), But once He comes to dwell in our bodies He comes to abide forever (1 Corinthians 6:19; compare John 14:16). We may quench Him (1 Thessalonians 5:19), but He will never leave us nor forsake us. Having begun a good work in us He “will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6).
What is the sin against the Holy Spirit? The answer to your question about the sin against the Holy Spirit is found in Mark 3:30. It was “because they said, he hath an unclean spirit,” that He uttered the words of solemn warning just preceding. They were in effect calling the Holy Spirit of God the unclean spirit of Satan. All the light we have upon the subject is in Matthew 12:24-29; Mark 3:22-30 and Luke 11:14-23. The practical lesson for us seems to be that we ought to distinguish carefully every religious work, as to whether it has behind it the Holy Spirit of God or the unclean spirit of Satan. And while we must not judge persons we are called upon to judge their works, the test always being the Word of God.
Please explainActs 8:12-17. When a man believes in the Lord JesusChrist as his personal Savior he receives the Holy Spirit. Why, in the case of the Samaritans, did it also require the laying on of hands? The reason the Holy Spirit did not respond in Acts 8:12-17 was that Peter was not present. According to Matthew 16:19 Peter was the appointed spokesman for the risen Christ, and so he had to be present, first, in the second chapter of Acts when the Jews first heard the gospel; then in the eighth chapter when the Samaritans were to be let in; and then in the fourteenth chapter when the Gentiles were to receive the message. After his three keys were used, that was the end of it.
Why did the disciples have to wait ten days in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come upon them? What about those who died in the interval of the ten days? The ten days’ waiting was needed to fulfill the Pentecostal type of Leviticus 23. In verses 9 to 14 of that chapter there is the type of the wave-sheaf of the firstfruits which was fulfilled in the resurrection of our Lord. Verses 15 to 21 give the type of the firstfruits fulfilled in the formation of the New Testament Church in Acts 2. This, according to the type, must take place on the morrow after the seventh sabbath following the wave-sheaf offering. That is, it must be fifty days between the offering of the wave-sheaf and the offering of the firstfruits. The word “Pentecost” is the Hebrew word for fiftieth, and therefore the antitype must be delayed until “the day of Pentecost was fully come.” As for those who died in the interval of the ten days, if there were such, their salvation was in no way affected, but they missed being included in the New Testament Church.
Please define “the unity of the Spirit.” The word “unity” occurs but three times in the English Bible, and in all these three occurrences it refers to the same thing—the unity of the body of Christ established and maintained by the Holy Spirit. The word first appears in Psalms 133, where this unity is likened to “the precious ointment upon the head” of the high priest, reaching even “to the skirts of his garments.” The reference is unmistakable. Our Lord Jesus, anointed with the Holy Spirit as “the oil of gladness” above His fellows (Psalms 45), is presented typically as the Head over all things to the Church which is His body (Ephesians 1:22-23). The other two uses of the word “unity” are in Ephesians 4. In verse 3 we are exhorted to “keep the unity of the Spirit,” and then this “unity of the Spirit” is analyzed for us: it consists of seven fundamental truths to which we are to hold; they are (1) one body, (2) one Spirit, (3) one hope, (4) one Lord, (5) one faith, (6) one baptism, and (7) one God and Father. These are the true “Christian fundamentals,” and they are the proper and Scriptural basis for all Christian fellowship. Then follows the mention of gifts bestowed by the risen Lord upon His body for its upbuilding, “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (verse 13). The “perfect man” referred to is Christ as He shall be when His Church is completed and manifested as His Body, “the fullness of him that filleth all in all.” Is it true that speaking with tongues is an indispensable sign of having been baptized with the Holy Spirit?
No, it is not true. During the formation of the New Testament this sign generally accompanied the baptism of the Holy Spirit; but, like other spectacular signs, this sign was withdrawn as the New Testament approached completion. In 1 Corinthians 14, where the whole question of tongues is treated in detail, it is forbidden to speak in tongues in the absence of an interpreter (verse 28). The baptism of the Holy Spirit is simultaneous with regeneration, as are also the anointing, the sealing and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (see John 3:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27; 1 John 2:20-27; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30). And in addition to all these we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit, which filling is not like the others, once for all, but should be often repeated. Indeed, we are filled with the Spirit continuously so far as we are yielded to Him.
1. Did Paul have the gift of “divers kinds of tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:18)?
2. If1 Corinthians 14:22is true, why do we not have that gift today?
1. Yes.
2. Because it has pleased the Lord to withdraw it. Even in apostolic times its exercise was forbidden in the absence of an interpreter (1 Corinthians 14:28).
There is a sect in our town calling itself “The Four-Square Gospel” and teaching that we must speak in tongues or else we are not sealed with the Holy Spirit. Is this true?
No, it is not true. Every believer is sealed at the moment he believes. “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22). “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed (having also believed, R.V.), ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13-14). “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, where by ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). These Scriptures show plainly that the sealing of the Holy Spirit is the common possession of all believers.