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The
Gift of the Holy Spirit By
Bob Myhan God
promised, through the prophet, Joel, that He would one day pour out His Spirit
upon all mankind, without regard to nationality, age, gender or social position. "And
it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My
maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "And
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars
of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before
the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in On
the first Day of Pentecost, following the ascension of Jesus back to heaven, the
apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit “and
began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance”
(Acts 2:1-4). Then
[the people] were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, "Look,
are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our
own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those
dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome,
both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our own
tongues the wonderful works of God." So they were all amazed and perplexed,
saying to one another, "Whatever could this mean?" Others mocking
said, "They are full of new wine."
(Acts 2:7-13) Peter
then quoted the prophecy of Joel and explained that the promise was being
fulfilled—the Spirit of God had begun to be poured out on mankind. He then
preached Jesus of Nazareth as the Lord on whose name they would have to call in
order to be saved (Acts 2:14-36). Now
when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest
of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then Peter said
to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit." (Acts
2:37-38) But
what did Peter mean by the phrase, “the gift of the Holy Spirit”? Did he
mean “the gift which is
the Holy Spirit” or “the gift the Holy Spirit will give”? Grammatically,
it could be either, in both English and Greek. It
matters not how this phrase is understood in this passage; Jesus promised that “those
believing in Him would receive”
the Holy Spirit. John adds that this would take place after Jesus was glorified
(John 7:37-39). But the Holy Spirit, by the figure of speech known as metonymy,
can stand for what the Holy Spirit causes (compare Matt. 7:7-11; Luke 11:9-13
for an example of this. There are various forms of metonymy; this is metonymy of
the cause, where the cause, the Holy Spirit, stands for the effect, good things
which the Father gives through Him). While
He was with them, Jesus promised the apostles (1) that they would be baptized
with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5); (2) that the Holy Spirit would guide them
“into all truth”
(John 16:13) and (3) that the Holy Spirit would give them power (Acts 1:8). The
various manifestations of power were referred to by Paul as “the
signs of an apostle” (2 Cor. 12:12). One manifestation was the
ability to bestow miraculous spiritual gifts by the laying on of hands. Paul
listed several of these in his first epistle to the Corinthians. But
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for
to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of
knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to
another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of
miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another
different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one
and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one
individually as He wills. (1
Cor. 12:7-11) These
gifts were limited in duration to the first century and were given to supplement
the work of the apostles in revealing and confirming the gospel (Mark 16:17-20;
Heb. 2:2-4). They belonged to the infancy of the church and were to cease when
revelation was complete and the church had grown into manhood. (1 Cor. 13:8-12) Is
it possible that this is that of which Peter spoke in Acts 2:38? There are only
three other places in Acts that speak of the Holy Spirit being received
(8:14-17; 10:44-48; 19:1-6). The
dozen or so disciples in the city of Some
believe that the Holy Spirit actually, literally and personally indwelt the
Samaritans from the time they were baptized but that He was unable to enable
them to perform miracles until the apostles’ hands were laid on them.
Consistency would demand the same in regard to those in To
summarize, we are told by some that “the gift of the Holy Spirit” in Acts
2:38 is “the Holy Spirit” (a non-miraculous indwelling) but that “the Holy
Spirit” in Acts 8:17 is a miraculous “gift of the Holy Spirit.” Confused? Finally,
to what does “promise” refer in the statement of Peter in Acts 2:39? “For
the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many
as the Lord our God will call." If
Peter does not refer to the promise of Joel, with which he began his sermon, the
sermon is incomplete. Does he ever make application to sons and daughters
prophesying, old men dreaming dreams or young men seeing visions? If not, why
not? In
light of the immediate context of Acts 2 and the remote context of Acts 8, Acts
10, Acts 19 and Joel 2, “the gift of the Holy Spirit” refers to “the
miraculous outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” usually given by the laying on of
an apostle’s hands. But the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is no longer needed
inasmuch as its goal was accomplished in the first century. Thus, “the gift of
the Holy Spirit” is not being bestowed on anyone living today.
& The
Prayer of Praise (1) By
Mitch Simpson Praising
God in prayer is speaking to Him about Him, relating to Him (and secondarily to
ourselves and others) the wonder, delight and gratitude that His character and
acts generate in us. ·
He
is marvelous, therefore, we marvel at Him. ·
He
is magnificent; therefore, we magnify Him. ·
He
is glorious; therefore, we glorify Him. ·
He
is wonderful; consequently, we respond with wonder. ·
He
is delightful; consequently, we delight in Him. ·
He
is generous; consequently, we are grateful. The
prayer of praise gives glory and honor to God’s: ·
character ·
creation
of mankind ·
physical
and spiritual provisions for us When
Jesus began the model prayer, His opening words were all centered on God (Matt.
6:9). Praise
is our way of putting God first in our prayers. To praise God biblically is to
publicly announce His glorious nature and marvelous acts. God
designed praise that He might receive glory not because He needs to receive it,
but because: ·
we
need to give it ·
it
is His proper due as we consider who He is and what He has done ·
it
is the truth about Him &
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