Baptized at the age of eleven, a product of Sunday school education, and faithful at church services three times weekly, I had not heard there is a Holy Spirit. I had heard of the Holy Ghost. He divinely inspired the word of God and empowered the apostles and prophets of Bible times with miraculous powers. He indwelt in Christians personally in New Testament times because the church needed the special help of the gifts of the Holy Ghost until he completed inspiring the Bible. Yet with the words of the Bible implanted in my mind, I was taught that I did not need any other help from the Holy Ghost.
Doctrinally I did not understand that there is a Holy Spirit for me until I was in my second year in college. Nevertheless, what I did not understand by doctrine, God taught me by experience. In experience I sought and grew in my personal relationship with Jesus. I trusted in my Lord’s unseen providence, guidance and presence in my life, even though I did not call his presence and influence the Holy Spirit. My experience proves to me that God’s promise is faithful although we are often lacking and lagging. As I have learned the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, my richer knowledge and practice has enriched my experience.
Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speak and teach about Jesus with a fervent spirit. Yet his knowledge was imperfect, so they took him aside and explained the way more accurately. Where did his inaccurate knowledge come from? Luke’s account says that Apollos knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-28). Did Apollos preach John the Baptist’s message by calling upon his hearers to repent, and then receive the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3)? Luke’s account that follows in Acts 19:1-7 makes clear what was imperfect about the baptism of John the Baptist. Paul encountered twelve disciples who did not even know there was a Holy Spirit, even though John the Baptist announced that the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:15-18). Paul instructed the twelve disciples to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Although John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, it still looked forward to the coming of Jesus. John’s baptism was not in the name of the Lord Jesus and it is only in the name of Jesus as the resurrected and exalted Messiah, or Lord, that the promise of the Holy Spirit is imparted.
Luke tells us that Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos in the way more accurately. Certainly Apollos received their correction obediently for afterwards his preaching and debating blesses disciples everywhere as he proves from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah. According to the Apostle Peter’s sermon on Pentecost in Acts 2, the promise of the Holy Spirit is given and poured out upon all flesh by Jesus upon this truth: God has raised Jesus from the dead, exalted him to his right hand of authority, and declared him to be both Lord and Messiah. And so Peter told the Jews on Pentecost that the promise of the Holy Spirit is for you, your children and for all who are far off, for as many as the Lord God calls to himself (Acts 2:39).
Why would a Christian like me, who grew up with Christian teaching, not understand this truth until college? Christians do not understand this truth if they are taught false or incomplete doctrine on the Holy Spirit. I was taught that references to a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit were only meant for first century Christians and that now God only influences us through the indwelling word of God. Indeed, the Holy Spirit did inspire the word and does influence us through the word, but these truths do not exclude the truth that God in Christ promised to make His home with us to help us. See 2 Peter 1:16-21, 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, and John 14:15-31.
Look closely at Romans 8. The truth of our new nature, our relationship with God, and destiny in a new creation depends upon a true teaching and practice of the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Yet the reason I was not taught the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit was to keep me from believing in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon or in my spirit. The assumption is that those who believe in direct operation have less respect for God’s propositional revelation, the Bible; and will be open to all kinds of strange subjective influences.
As living creatures we are open to many different kinds of influences. For example, what influence does a hot day have upon you in contrast to a cold day? Can you tell the difference? What influence does much wine have upon you in contrast to much coffee? The influence is discernible. What influence does bad company have upon you in contrast to good company? Personal influences are among the strongest influences upon us. How do we experience the impact of various kinds of personal influences; for example, a phone call from a friend we haven’t heard from in a while, the writings of a famous person that we admire for their accomplishments, and the welcome presence of the person we have fallen in love with? You can even discern and describe ways that you are influenced by your own inner self. Has a friend said to you, “A penny for your thoughts?” That’s what a friend says to me when they see a telling expression on my face. Could I tell what I was thinking and how I was feeling in that moment? Certainly, for influences are discernible and can often be articulated.
God’s Spirit is not just the words of the Bible, and should not be confused with our own spirit. Rather, the Spirit is the personal presence and influence of the Son of God who indwells in my spirit and cries “Abba” so my spirit realizes I am a child of God and also cries “Father” (Romans 8 and Galatians 4). Don’t you accept that the human spirit is real and is not mere words and attitudes, although capable of understanding and expressing words and attitudes? Because the human spirit is the unseen, inner self of human beings who are made in God’s image, we are able to understand God’s word and to receive the things of His Spirit (1 Corinthians 1-4 and Ephesians 1). Therefore, like Apollos or the twelve disciples of John you may be enlightened to a more accurate understanding of the promised Spirit, God’s gift to us in the name of Jesus the Messiah. Not only may we hear of the Holy Spirit, but we can discern and describe the experience of the blessings of the Holy Spirit in our life, understanding, experiences, relationships and obedience to the word of God.
2 Comments
December 24, 2008 at Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I as well went to church most of my life and never found out many things until age 29 (age 46 now). I was taught to say this prayer and you will be saved. I went to many churches from my 20’s-28 and not a one sat down with me to discuss my personal salvation. It was not until I was 29 and in middle of a divorce that some great brothers in the Lord really taught me about true conversion and salvation. Acts 2:36 is clear about baptism, forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. What I have found through my studies in Acts, Romans, and the other gospels is that Acts 2:36-38 was the foundation on which the churches were built. I was baptized at 24 when I met my first wife but I was living with her prior to our marriage when her Baptist preacher father baptized me. He said,”way to go son” and I thought, “way to go for what?”. Fast forward to age 29 and I realized that I had no faith at all in the power of that event nor was I at all “cut to the heart” over my sins. At 29 I responded to the cross, I was bapized (in water) for the forgiveness of sins and then and only then did I receive the Holy Spirt. Since light cannot have anything to do with darkness, my sins needed to be removed prior to God’s Holy Spirit being placed in me. The scriptures seem really plain to me much as they seemed to “unschooled and ordinary men” like Peter.
December 31, 2008 at Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thank you for your comment and sharing your testimony. Pentecost and Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 are significant as both a fulfillment and a new beginning. The sermon contains the essence of the gospel message and of God’s call of salvation. I however think many entrenched in sectarian doctrines could misinterpret any passage, even Acts 2. For example, I know some who give so much prominence to their way of reasoning Acts 2, that they fail to recognize the prominence that the same Apostle Peter gave to God’s acceptance of Cornelius based on the genuine faith God saw in his heart (See Acts 15 and the background of Acts 10 and 11). While the example of Cornelius does not reduce the significance of Peter’s teaching in Acts 2, it shows a more multidimensional significance to baptism than I first learned when I was baptized. My point is that the scriptures are a wealth of knowledge pertaining to the immense significance of Christ. If all I had to rely upon were the insights from one chapter of the Bible, then I would be missing way too much; and in great danger of distorting what little I knew. God bless you and keep studying the scriptures in the New Year.
Bryan