Library Resources

[This book  provides a very thorough examination of every passage in the New Testament that refers to the Holy Spirit.  It was written many years ago for seminaries, Bible institutes, and all Christian workers and Bible students. Herein also is a solid refutation of the false teachings of the Charismatic Movement concerning sign gifts, baptism, anointing, and others.]

The Holy Spirit in the New Testament

AN EXEGETICAL EXAMINATION OF EVERY NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD

A TEXT BOOK FOR SEMINARIES, BIBLE INSTITUTES AND ALL CHRISTIAN WORKERS AND BIBLE STUDENTS

By

ARNO CLEMENS GAEBELEIN
Editor of "Our Hope"

PUBLICATION OFFICE "OUR HOPE"
456 FOURTH AVENUE
NEW YORK CITY

[There was no copyright or table of contents in this book - scanned, proofed on 2/24/01.]

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1   The Promises of the Gift of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

CHAPTER 2   The Holy Spirit In The Synoptic Gospels  

CHAPTER 3   The Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John 

CHAPTER 4   The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts 

CHAPTER 5   The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Romans

CHAPTER 6   The Holy Spirit in First and Second Corinthians

CHAPTER 7   The Holy Spirit in Galatians 

CHAPTER 8   The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Ephesians 

CHAPTER 9   The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Philippians 

CHAPTER 10    The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Colossians

CHAPTER 11    The Holy Spirit in the Epistles to the Thessalonians

CHAPTER 12    The Holy Spirit in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus

CHAPTER 13    The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Hebrews

CHAPTER 14    The Holy Spirit in the Epistles of Peter

CHAPTER 15    The Holy Spirit in the Epistle of John

CHAPTER 16    The Holy Spirit in the Epistle of Jude 

CHAPTER 17    The Holy Spirit in the Book of Revelation

CHAPTER 18    One Hundred New Testament Facts as to the Holy Spirit

CHAPTER 1

The Promises of the Gift of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

WHEN Moses complained to the Lord on account of Israel murmuring at Taberah, and confessed that the burden of the people was too heavy for him, the Lord told him to gather seventy men of the elders, and that He would give them the Spirit, who rested upon himself, so that they might bear the burden with him. When it was done the elders prophesied. Two of the seventy had not gone outside of the camp to the tabernacle, Eldad and Medad, but they also prophesied in the camp. Then Joshua rushed up to Moses and informed him of this fact, adding a demand, "My lord Moses, forbid them." Moses answered him, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them" (Num. 11:1-29).

Moses knew that the only remedy for the unbelieving and complaining people was the Spirit of God. But in his wish he expressed something more. It becomes in later prophecy a definite promise for the nation God has chosen as His earthly people, that they were to receive the Holy Spirit and that the whole nation should be Spirit-filled. In Exodus 19:5-6 the calling of Israel is stated. They are to be, says the Lord, "A peculiar treasure unto Me (see Matt. 13:44) above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." In Deut. vii:6 we read, "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth." Two things are necessary for the realization of this calling, redemption and the Holy Spirit. It will be noticed that the calling stated in the nineteenth chapter of Exodus is conditional. It is in connection with the inauguration of the law-covenant. We read, "If ye will obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be to Me a peculiar treasure." As they were uncircumcised in their hearts, they could not keep His covenants nor walk in His ways as a nation. If their calling is to be realized they must have a circumcised heart (Deut. 30:6), in other words, be born again, which is the result of redemption and the Spirit of God. The law covenant says nothing about redemption and a circumcised heart, because by the works of the law no one can be justified, nor receive the blessings of redemption. Neither does the law covenant promise to him who keeps the law the gift of the Holy Spirit (see Gal. 3:2).

The prophetic Word reveals the great future of the people Israel, when they shall be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a nation born again, a nation filled with the Spirit, a nation which will show forth the Lord's glory. This future will be realized through grace, when the remnant of Israel in the latter days turns to the once rejected Messiah, the pierced One upon whom they look (Zech. 12:10). In connection with their future conversion as a nation, the fulfillment of the many promises of earthly glory, such as their restoration to their land and the kingdom, the gift of the Holy Spirit is prominently mentioned.

We shall examine briefly certain passages upon the understanding of which a great deal depends if we want to grasp the teachings of the New Testament as to the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 32:13-18

The first Scripture we select is Isaiah 32:13-18.

"Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city; because the palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the city shall be left, the forts and towers shall be dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in a fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in dwellings, and in quiet resting places."

We notice that this passage begins with a prophecy announcing that the curse of the Lord would rest upon Israel's land. Thorns and briers, symbolical of the curse, would change Israel's land into a wilderness, while the joyous city would be forsaken. This, however, is not to be the permanent condition of the land. The time is to come when the wilderness will become again a fruitful field, when peace, the work of righteousness will prevail, when the people scattered and driven about among the nations, shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in sure dwellings, and quiet resting places. The great change will come, when "the Spirit is poured out from on high." Inasmuch as the national and earthly blessings for Israel and Israel's land have not yet come, and these blessings can only be realized by the Spirit poured upon them, there is yet to come the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon that people.

Isaiah 44:2-5

We cite another passage from Isaiah, chapter 44: 2-5.

"Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring. And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." This passage looks forward to the day when Israel is converted and knows the Lord. The outpouring of the Spirit of God is here likewise a leading feature.

Ezekiel 36

Ezekiel 36 is a great chapter dealing with Israel's future restoration blessings, and with their new birth as a nation before the kingdom is restored unto them. When our Lord said to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John's Gospel, "Art thou the teacher in Israel and knowest not these things?", He had the thirty-sixth chapter of Ezekiel in His mind. There is a beautiful chronological order in the closing chapters of Ezekiel. In the thirty-sixth chapter the national conversion of Israel is predicted. In the next chapter we behold their national restoration, as seen in the vision of the valley of dry bones. The union of the house of Judah with the house of Israel follows. In chapters 38 and 39 the prophetic history is recorded of the last invasion of Israel's land by Gog and Magog and their complete defeat. From the fortieth chapter to the end we hear of the great temple to be erected during the millennium, of the division of the land and the glory of the earthly Jerusalem. In the thirty-sixth chapter the people Israel are first of all reminded of their past history of sin and shame, as well as the judgment which the Lord meted out to them as a nation. "Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it; and I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their way and according to their doings I Judged them. And when they entered unto the nations, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of this land" (verses 18-20). The dispersion which is mentioned here is not the Babylonian captivity, but it is the great dispersion among all the nations. Then the Lord reveals their future. He does not say that they have repented and have become righteous by keeping the law, but He is gracious and -merciful unto them that His great name may be sanctified, that the world might know the depths of His mercy. The first promise as to their future is contained in verse 24, "For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land." This is their restoration and it will be seen that it is accomplished by the Lord Himself and not by their own political efforts, as we witness today in Zionism. The Lord who made a covenant with Abraham and promised to him and to his seed the land, which he never possessed, will bring them again to their land. Next we read of their cleansing. "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from your idols, will I cleanse you." It is folly to quote this verse, as it has been done, to show that sprinkling is the only scriptural mode of baptism. It has nothing whatever to do with baptism nor with the church. The foolish spiritualizing of the national promises which belong to Israel has worked, and is still working, untold harm. The Lord in His grace will cleanse them from their sins and defilement. As Paul states by the Spirit of God, "This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom. 11:27). The prophetic Word contains many promises as to their national cleansing. Their cleansing is followed by the new birth of the nation, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." This is the circumcision of their heart (Deut. 30:6). Next to the promise of their rebirth, when their iniquity will be removed in one day (Zech. 3:9) and the nation will be born in a day (Isa. 66:7-8), we find the gift of the Spirit. "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God." The Holy Spirit is bestowed upon them as a nation and the result will be their sanctification and walk of righteousness. Over and over again in this chapter we read the divine "I will," the word of sovereign grace. The remnant of Israel living in that day will be saved, blessed, cleansed, born again and filled with the Spirit by grace.

Ezekiel 39

When we turn to the last verse of the thirty-ninth chapter we find the statement again that the Lord has gathered them out of all nations and brought them back to their land. Then the final assurance, "Neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God." No intelligent believer will claim that this has taken place, nor will any one who divides the Word of Truth rightly say, as we read in commentaries, that it will never be fulfilled in Israel, but has found its fulfillment in the church.

Joel 2

The second chapter in the prophecy of Joel contains the most outstanding prediction and promise as to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in connection with the chosen people of God, the nation Israel. We refer the reader to our larger exposition of the Book of Joel, in which the writer examines every detail of this interesting prophecy and shows its relation to the coming Yom Jehovah, the Day of the Lord. The prophecy of the outpouring of the Spirit is found in chapter 2:28-32, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered, for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call."

The context shows when this great prophecy will be fulfilled. That it is a Jewish national promise is so plainly written in this chapter that one must be willfully blind in not seeing it. The first part of the chapter gives a prophetic description of the coming great tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble, preceding the Day of the Lord, which brings the visible manifestation of the Lord for the deliverance of the remnant of Israel. Jerusalem is in great distress once more. Then a remnant turns to the Lord and calls upon Him. He answers and pities His people. The enemy from the north, who had invaded the land, is repulsed. The Lord does great things. The former rain and the latter rain comes upon the land, and what the locusts had devoured, devastating the land, will be restored. It is Bible interpretation gone to seed when a certain woman-leader in Los Angeles claims that all this means the church and that she herself has a prominent part in the fulfilment of this prophecy. Such egotism is obnoxious to every true child of God. The prophecy as to the great outpouring of the Spirit is closely related to the Day of the Lord. It can therefore not be fulfilled as long as this day has not come. Here, again, these latter day delusionists, a good many of whom are women, claim fulfillment. They try to justify their speaking "in tongues," usurping authority over man, taking the place as teacher, by the passage before us, because it says, "your daughters shall prophesy." They claim to have visions; we do not doubt that they are visions, but certainly not the -visions of God, but lying visions. All these delusions might have been avoided and also with it the havoc and heartaches among a certain class of Christians, if the context had been studied. They would have discovered that all this has nothing whatever to do with the church of Jesus Christ and with the present age. We mention the quotation of this passage by Peter on the day of Pentecost in the chapter on "The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts."

Joel 3

The third chapter in Joel shows what else will take place in that day, when Israel is saved and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them. We give one more passage.

Zechariah 12:10

In Zechariah 12:10 we read: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon Me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one that mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." This also is future and its fulfillment awaits the day when they shall see Him coming in the clouds of heaven and shall know Him by the prints of the nails in His hands and His feet.

We give a summary. The promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is confined to the people Israel. The Spirit of God will be given to them in the day of their restoration, when the Lord is manifested. The promise is therefore unfulfilled. Nowhere do we read in the Old Testament that the Spirit of God is to be given to the Gentiles, that Gentiles are to be united with believing Hebrews in one body and that the middle wall of partition was to be broken down. Nor do we read the promise in the prophets that believing sinners should receive the Spirit of Sonship, by whom they are enabled to cry "Abba, Father," that their bodies become the temples of the Holy Spirit. Not a word is said, furthermore, about the Holy Spirit sealing the believer until the day of redemption, and that He is the earnest of the purchased possession, abiding in the believer. Nor is there a word as to the gifts of the Spirit and the unity of the Spirit. Old Testament believers were visited by the Spirit and guided as well as helped by Him, but the teachings of the New Testament concerning the Spirit, and the blessings and relationships, all the results of the finished work of Christ on the cross, were unknown to them.

We are now prepared to examine the different references in the New Testament Scriptures dealing with the Holy Spirit. What we have written as to the relation of Israel to the Holy Spirit we shall have occasion to mention again.

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CHAPTER 2

The Holy Spirit In The Synoptic Gospels

THE first three Gospel records of Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels. Matthew gives us the record of our Lord as the promised King, who came as such and offered the kingdom, only to be rejected by His own; Mark gives the record of Christ as servant and Luke the record of His perfect manhood. The first chapter in Matthew mentions the Holy Spirit for the first time.

Matthew 1:18

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit." When Joseph thought of putting her away an angel informed him that "that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (verse 20). When Gabriel brought the heavenly announcement to Mary, the Virgin mother of our Lord, he mentioned the Holy Spirit likewise. Luke 1:35, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The Holy Spirit produced the human body for the Son of God by a creative act. Of that body the Son of God spoke as a prepared body (Heb. 10:5). It was impossible for One who is absolutely holy to cloth Himself with a body coming into existence by the natural generation. If that had been the case He would have had a body to which the taint of sin was attached. While it is true that Mary had a body which was sinful, yet the power of holiness in the Son of God, repulsed every particle of that, and the Holy Spirit in preparing the body could not permit anything unholy to enter the physical body of our Lord.

This is typically indicated in the meal offering (Lev. 2). The meal-offering speaks of the holy humanity of our Lord. It consisted of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil an frankincense put upon it. No meal offering was permitted to have leaven in it, nor any honey. Salt was to be offered with it.

The fine white flour stands for His spotless humanity. The oil is the emblem of the Holy Spirit. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Leaven is the type of evil and sin. There was no evil nor sin in Him. Frankincense denotes worship. Honey, which was also forbidden, is symbolical of the amiableness of the natural man. All what was in Him was the result of His own holy character. Salt typifies the separating power of holiness. The Holy Spirit is thus eminently identified with the physical body of our Lord.

Luke 1:15, 41 and 67

Luke 1:15, 41 and 67. These passages also mention the Holy Spirit. John, the forerunner was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. Elisabeth, the mother of John, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and so was Zechariah when he prophesied. The trinity is therefore seen in holy action in the very beginning of the New Testament. The Father sent the Son; the Son of God came to be incarnate. The Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin; she conceived by the Holy Spirit. John was filled with the Holy Spirit and also Zechariah and Elisabeth. The same is said of Simeon, who had received a special revelation by the Spirit and was led by Him to the temple (Luke 2:25).

Matthew 3:11-12

Matthew 3:11-12. "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire; whose fan is in His hand, and He will purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Mark 1:18 and Luke 3:16 and 17 and the reference to the same promise in John 1:33). These are fundamental passages and need our closer attention.

We must remember that John, the Baptist, as we call him, was the herald of the King. He still belonged to the Old Testament prophets and did not announce under the name "the kingdom of heaven," the church, nor this present dispensation of grace, but the kingdom, which is promised to Israel. The baptism which he practiced is not Christian baptism. It was a baptism unto repentance by which the Israelite signified that he was worthy of death on account of his sins. Then he announced that He, who came after him, the Messiah- King, would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Every Jew who knew the Scriptures and the promise of God as to the gift of the Spirit must have understood by this statement, that these promises were to be accomplished for the nation through the Messiah, the Son of David, on the condition of repentance. The baptism with fire is something entirely different and has nothing whatever to do with the baptism with the Spirit. Strange confusion exists here. There are certain sects which actually differentiate between the baptism with the Spirit and the baptism with fire. They teach, that a believer may be baptized with the Spirit and not be baptized with fire. Then they exhort others to "seek the fire baptism," which they claim, is evidenced by some startling outward phenomena, falling to the floor and talking in a strange tongue, etc. The men who teach that a believer must "seek" a baptism with the Holy Spirit after he has been born again are responsible for a good deal of the confusion which exists among Christians. This fact is taken up elsewhere in this volume.

The baptism with fire did not take place on the day of Pentecost, nor is there a baptism with fire now. The baptism with fire means the judgments which will be executed with the second coming of our Lord. The words of our Lord demonstrate this. He speaks of gathering His wheat (the children of the kingdom) into his garner and of burning the chaff with unquenchable fire (see Matt. 13:37-43). It is the fire baptism of judgment which He will bring to this earth when He returns. The word baptism is used differently. There is water baptism, baptism with the Holy Spirit and the baptism with fire-judgment. Our Lord also used the word baptism when He said "But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished" (Luke 12:50). It was His suffering and His death to which He referred as a baptism. The conclusive evidence that the fire baptism has nothing to do with the baptism with the Spirit is found in Acts 1:5 "For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." The Lord omitted "and with fire" because there is no such thing as a fire baptism during the present age.

Matthew 3:16

Matthew 3:16. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (see also Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:32-34).

With His baptism in Jordan our Lord entered upon His official ministry as "a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers (Rom. 15:8)." As John said, "He needed not to be baptized." In His baptism He showed forth the purpose of His coming into the world; He came to take the sinner's place in death. In His baptism there is also indicated His resurrection, His ascension, the gift of the Spirit and the declaration of Sonship.

The Spirit of God came upon Him anointing Him for the great work He came to do. This also is seen in a typical way in the meal offering, for oil was not only to be mixed with fine flour (His incarnation) but before the meal offering was exposed to the fire (typical of His sufferings), oil was poured upon it. So our Lord before He began His work as the Prophet, in His public ministry, ending with His death on the cross, was anointed with the Spirit. Many in Old Testament times were also anointed with the Spirit to do the work into which the Lord had called them. But there is a difference between them and our Lord. The Spirit of God came upon prophets, priests and kings in a certain measure, but John 3:34 tells us that the Spirit was not upon Him by measure, that is, He did not receive a portion of the Spirit, but the Spirit, the Person Himself came upon Him. This is a blessed indication how those who are dead with Christ and risen with Him should also receive the Spirit, not by measure, but He Himself, the third person of the Trinity, comes to dwell in their hearts.

He came upon Him in the form of a dove. The Holy Spirit took the emblem of a dove. The characteristics of the dove are too well known, its lowliness and harmlessness, to need further mention. Even so He manifested meekness and lowliness, the dove character; He did not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. If one visits nowadays certain meetings of the Pentecostalites and other sects and sees the disorder, the howling noises and emotional fits, all claimed to be the operation of the Spirit of God, one feels at once that all is contrary to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of order, quietness and peace.

Matthew 4:1, Mark 1:12 and Luke 4:l

Matthew 4:l. "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested of the devil." Also Mark 1:12 and Luke 4:l. The passage in Luke tells us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit to be tested of the devil. The Son of God full of the Spirit is now guided by the Spirit to fulfill all which is written concerning Himself. The life He lived before He began His public ministry was also a life of perfect trust and obedience (see Psa. 22:9-10). The Spirit, as Mark states, drove Him into the wilderness. Some have said, that our Lord was anxious to meet the enemy face to face. That it was His own spirit which led Him into the wilderness. This is incorrect. If our Lord had gone forth impatiently to meet the old serpent, He would have been the tempter of the devil. It was the Holy Spirit who led Him forward, who impelled Him to meet the foe, so that a test might be applied by Him, to find out that He is the Son of God, the holy One. There are two reasons why the Son of God could not sin. The first is, because He is God, absolutely holy, and God cannot sin. The second is because the Holy Spirit of God was upon Him and He is the Spirit of holiness.

Matthew 12:18, Luke 4:14, 18

Matthew 12:18, Luke 4:14, 18. These three passages describe His ministry in the power of the Spirit. Matthew quotes Isaiah's prophecy, who spoke of Him as the Spirit filled servant of the Lord. Luke tells us that after His victory over the devil He returned "in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." As God manifested in the flesh our Lord had power over all things. He had omnipotence and omniscience. But the Spirit of God also acted in Him and through Him. His words were the words of the Spirit, of life and of power. His works were also done in the power of the Spirit. Luke quotes Isaiah 11:1-2.

Matthew 12:28

Matthew 12:28. "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom is come unto you." These words were occasioned by the blasphemous charge that our Lord used Beelzebub, the prince of demons, in His work of delivering the victims of demon possession. His divine logic shows the fallacy of such a charge.

Matthew 12:31-33, Mark 3:29-30, Luke 12:10

Matthew 12:31-33: Mark 3:29-30, Luke 12:10. Here our Lord speaks of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the sin for which there is no forgiveness neither in this world nor in the world to come; he who commits this sin is in danger of eternal damnation. What is the blasphemy, or sin, against the Holy Spirit? Apart from these three passages this sin is nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament. Satan has often used the statement of our Lord, leading souls into despair, as under his accusation they charge them- selves with having committed the unpardonable sin. The context explains what that sin is. The scribes which charged the Lord that He had the spirit of Beelzebub, used his power, and not the power of the Spirit of God, were guilty of that blasphemy. They did so against their better knowledge. In this sense the blasphemy against the Spirit can no longer be committed.

Matthew 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 11:13

Matthew 10:20; Mark 13:11; Luke 11:13. These passages contain the promise of what should take place after the disciples had received the promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts shows the fulfillment, especially Chapter 4:8-13.

Luke 11:13

Luke 11:13. "If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask- Him." This promise is often quoted by Christians who think that it is to be used today. They think that we must ask continually for the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we might receive Him. As our examination of the testimony of the epistles shows, a believer in Christ has received the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit dwells in every child of God. Therefore there is no longer any need to ask for the fulfillment of a promise which has been fulfilled. These words were spoken by our Lord before the gift of the Spirit had been given on the day of Pentecost. It was perfectly in order for them to ask the Father for that gift, but we have no right to fall back on this promise. Two more references are found in the Synoptic Gospels to the Spirit of God. In Matthew 22:43 and Mark 12:36, our Lord states the fact that David wrote by the Holy Spirit the one hundred and tenth psalm. In Matthew 28:19 the Holy Spirit is mentioned with the Father and the Son in the commission to teach all nations and to baptize them.

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CHAPTER 3

The Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John

WE have seen that the Holy Spirit is comparatively little mentioned in the Synoptics. Be- sides the promise made by John the Baptist, there is but one other promise by our Lord that His Father would give the Spirit to them that ask Him.

It is different in the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John. In this Gospel is revealed the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that believing we have life through His name (20:31). John bears witness to the full glory of the Lord Jesus and makes known the teaching He gave concerning the Holy Spirit and His work in and for the believer. The Holy Spirit held back from the pens of the Synoptics all these teachings which the Lord gave concerning eternal life and the work of His Spirit, as well as the more definite promises of the Spirit as the Paraclete, because it was outside of the scope and purpose of the first three Gospels. We may well call the Gospel of John, written several decades after the Synoptics, the bridge which leads from Judaism into Christianity. The Gospel of John is the portal through which we enter into the highest revelation as to redemption and the Holy Spirit's part. This highest revelation is found in the Pauline epistles.

We have already mentioned in connection with the testimony of John the Baptist, John 1:32 and 33, also 3:34, so that we do not need to quote these verses again.

John 3:5

Chapter 3:5 is the first passage in which our Lord speaks of the Spirit in this Gospel. "Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Our Lord had told Nicodemus the absolute necessity of the new birth in order to see the kingdom of God and when Nicodemus expressed a desire to know how a man can be born a second time, the Lord answered him in the above words. The new birth is brought about by "water and the Spirit." Ritualists claim that the water is baptism. Others claim that the right kind of water baptism is necessary to salvation. The water our Lord mentions in connection with the Spirit is not baptism at all. Water is the symbolical figure of the Word of God. Ephesians 5:26 employs the same figure. Then I Peter 1:23 and James 1:18 show that it is the Word of God out of which we receive our new birth. In the Word the Holy Spirit is active. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. When man hears the Word of God, the Holy Spirit in the Word and through the Word, acts upon the dead condition of the human soul, and when the Word is believed the Holy Spirit imparts to the believing sinner the new nature and he receives eternal life.

John 3:6

In the next verse John 3:6 the Lord tells Nicodemus that "that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." By the natural generation man has a nature which is flesh, the sin nature. It never can be anything else. In the new birth the believer receives the divine nature; be is born of God and he possesses a Spirit-nature, which enables him to be in the presence of God and also to live and walk in the Spirit. Then again in Verse 8 He mentions the Spirit. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometb, and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit." This means the mysterious action of the Holy Spirit.

John 4

In John 4 in speaking to the Samaritan woman the Lord gives also teaching about the Spirit, though He does not mention Him by name. He said to her "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into ever- lasting life." The fountain of water in the believer is the indwelling Spirit. In chapter 7:37-39 our Lord speaks again of living water and there we learn that He spake under this term of the Holy Spirit whom they that believe on Him should receive.

John 4:23-24

John 4:23-24. These words addressed to the Samaritan woman, tell us of the new worship which would come with the gift of the Holy Spirit. "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." Such worshippers the Father seeketh. Only true believers can be such worshippers for it needs the Holy Spirit (Phil. 3:3).

John 6:63

John 6:63. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life." After feeding the multitudes miraculously He spoke of Himself as the living bread come down from heaven. He taught again concerning eternal life and how it is obtained. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, be shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Eating of Him means to believe on Him and become identified with Him. Those who hear His words and believe on Him are quickened by the Spirit. The word "quicken" means imparting life, so that our Lord teaches once more what He said to Nicodemus, that the work of the Spirit is to impart spiritual life in the new birth. And the words He speaks are Spirit and are life. The Spirit and Life is in them.

John 7: 37-39

John 7: 37-39. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let Him come to Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this He spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified."

These words of promise were spoken by Him during the feast of tabernacles. Daily there was drawn from the pool of Siloam water and then poured out. On the last day this ceremony was omitted. It had a symbolical meaning. They commemorated the fact that the Lord had supplied the water during the wilderness journey. On the eighth day no water was poured out, for that day stands in type for the day when they entered the land and drank of the springs there. These waters are typical of the living water promised to His people Israel (see Zech. 14:8; Isa. 12; Ezek. 47, etc.). It was on that last day, typical of Israel's promised blessing, that He spoke these words. The nation had rejected Him and the promised national blessings could not come then. Instead He offers individual blessing to him who comes by faith. To such He gives the living water, which in return shall flow forth from the believer's heart, as streams of living water. He spoke of the Spirit which they should receive who believe on Him. Here we read that all these promises of the gift of the Spirit are dependent on His glorification, following His sacrificial death. We discover that His teaching concerning the Spirit is progressive. In the third chapter He speaks of the Spirit communicating eternal life in the new birth; He is the life-giving Spirit. In the fourth chapter He teacheth under the well of living water springing up into eternal life the indwelling Spirit. In the seventh chapter He reveals Him as the outflowing Spirit, flowing forth to others.

John 14:16-18

John 14:16-18. "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."

All believers know that the blessed chapters in this Gospel in which our Lord has His own disciples with Him to give to them His last words of instruction and promise, ending with His great prayer (13-17), are not found in the Synoptics.

He was about to leave His disciples, who were gathered about Him, except Judas, who had gone out into the night to betray the Lord. He assured His perplexed disciples that He would not leave them comfortless. It means literally, "I will not leave you orphans." So He promised them another comforter. The word comforter is in the original "Paraclete," which means one who stands alongside to help and to defend. The same word appears in I John 2:2, where it is translated with "advocate." "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." The other Paraclete, or advocate, is the Holy Spirit. During the absence of the Lord Jesus Christ He is to take His place alongside of His believing people. The passage before us reveals some important facts: (1) The other comforter, the Holy Spirit, is the gift of the Father through the Son, for our Lord says, "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another comforter." This is a new revelation for we do not find anywhere in the Old Testament such a promise. (2) The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete is to abide with God's children for ever. This also is new. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God was with those who believed in the coming of the Messiah, who trusted the Lord. But He was not known as the abiding Spirit. There was no assurance given that He would remain. That is why David prayed in his penitential psalm, "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me"(Psa.51:11). No believer in the New Testament needs to pray this prayer. (3) He is the Spirit of Truth, because He is the author of the Word of God which is Truth, and He brings Christ, the Truth, to the hearts of God's people. (4) The disciples knew Him already, for the Lord said, "He dwelleth with you." They were believers on Him the Son of God (except Judas) and therefore were born again, clean every whit as the Lord had told them. Because they had accepted Christ the Holy Spirit was with them, in the same sense as He was with all Old Testament believers. (5) The Lord gives a promise which was to be fulfilled in the future "and shall be in you." When the Lord spoke this to the eleven men the Holy Spirit as the indweller, who makes the believer's heart a temple, had not yet been given. He came to dwell in them and to fill them on the day of Pentecost.

"But the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The Spirit of Truth is to teach the believer just as Christ taught His disciples, and the words which Christ taught and the disciples did not understand, He would bring to their remembrance all He had said to them. A number of times the Lord told them that they should know the meaning of His words afterwards, that is, when the Spirit had come. See John 2:22 and 12:16, in both passages we read of the fulfillment of this promise. The Holy Spirit then supplies the spiritual needs.

John 15:26

John 15:26. "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me." It is the same we have pointed out before. As the Spirit of Truth He testifies of Him who is the Truth.

John 16:7-14

John 16:7-14. What the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit means in the world is now taught by our Lord. These words are generally misunderstood. The common interpretation is that the Holy Spirit convinces people that they are lost sinners, that they need righteousness and also convinces them of a coming judgment. Conviction of sin is certainly the work of the Holy Spirit, who also quickens those who believe, but this is not the teaching of the passage before us in this paragraph. Much depends on the right rendering of the word "reprove." It has not the meaning of an inward conviction, but rather means a conviction by demonstration. It means conviction by an unanswerable argument. The Holy Spirit on earth is the convicting demonstration of the world's sin, in having cast Him out, rejecting the Lord of Glory, and having not believed on Him. The world therefore is under condemnation and the Holy Spirit in His presence on earth bears witness to it. Then the presence of the Holy Spirit is the convicting demonstration of righteousness, because He has gone to the Father. The Son of God who lived the life of perfect righteousness on earth, who pleased God always, was condemned by the world as an unrighteous man. They cast Him out and all was done in the name of God. Perhaps some of them stood before the Cross when that dread darkness enshrouded the Lamb of God and heard the cry "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and they :may have imagined a vindication of their awful deed. But God in His righteousness acted in His behalf. He raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory. He rewarded Him who had been obedient to Him in His holy life, obedient unto death, the death of the cross. The world sees Him no more but the presence of the Holy Spirit demonstrates His righteousness and is the convicting argument that He is at the right hand of God. And therefore but one thing remains for the unbelieving world with its guilt, and that is judgment. Already the prince of this world is judged, though the full sentence of judgment in the all-wise purpose of God is not yet executed. The Spirit on earth therefore is the convicting evidence of that coming judgment.

The many things which were on His loving heart they could not understand in their present condition. The coming of the Spirit would bring to them the revelation of these things. He is the Spirit of truth and therefore lie will lead into all truth. The word truth, means both the written Word and the living Word. Of the written revelation of God our Lord bears witness in the next chapter, when He says "Thy Word is Truth." Of Himself He witnessed, "I am the Truth." The Spirit has come to guide us into all truth, the truth as it is revealed in the Bible. Believers, many of whom are found in certain Pentecostal sects, who believe and teach that there is a Spirit-guidance independent of the Bible, by inward impressions, by dreams and visions, arc deluded. Some have gone so far as to declare that their inward experiences are sufficient and that they have no more need to study the Word of God. And the Word of God, which is truth, witnesses of Him Who is the Truth. It is noteworthy that in the Greek the word truth in the above passage has the definite article shall guide you into all the truth. Through the written Word He guides to Him Who is the Truth, our Lord.

He does not speak from Himself, that is in independence of the Father and the Son. His testimony is the testimony of the Father and the Son, as the Son on earth heard the Father's voice and spoke of that which He heard from the Father. Furthermore, He will show things to come. He has done so through the testimony of the apostles. The Word of God is now complete and He does no longer reveal the future through individuals. His great work is to glorify Christ, to take of the things of Christ and to show them unto those who belong to Christ and in whom He dwells.

John 20:22

John 20:22. "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the Holy Spirit." This passage contains the first mention of the Holy Spirit after His resurrection. He breathed on them, which was a symbolical action. Never before had He done this, nor is the Greek expression used elsewhere in the New Testament. It is also significant that the definite article before Holy Spirit is not in the original text. In Gen. 2:7 we read, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." It was the same Lord who did that in the hour of creation, who now breathed on His disciples, the breath of a better life, that, His own life, which had passed through death, the life which delivers from the law of sin and death. And so it is written, "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45).

Inasmuch as He said, "Receive ye Holy Spirit" and not "the Holy Spirit," it is evident that the Person of the Holy Spirit was not sent down from heaven at this time when He breathed on them, for He had not yet ascended to the right band of God. He communicated to them the energy of His own life through the Spirit of God. It has been suggested that this breathing pointed to a revival of faith in the hearts of the disciples, while others see in it a gift of understanding corresponding to the statement in Luke 44:45, "then opened He their understanding that they might know the Scriptures." Still others think that the Spirit was bestowed upon them for the fifty days between His resurrection and the day of Pentecost. We believe, as pointed out above, it was a symbolical action. In the 23d verse the church, the body of Christ, composed of those who are born again and possess the life in Him, is anticipated. The authority to discipline is not conferred upon a priestly class, as Rome teaches, but upon the assembly of believers.

"Repentant souls were baptized for the remission of sins, whilst a Simon Magus was pronounced in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity (Acts 8). So the wicked person was put away from among the saints, and the same man after the judgment of his evil and his own deep grief over his sin, was to be assured of love by being received back by the church (1 Cor. 5 and 2 Cor. 2). It was the action of the church. "To whom ye forgive anything, I also; for also what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sakes in the person of Christ."²

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CHAPTER 4

The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts

THE Book of Acts gives the historical account of the fulfillment of the promises of our Lord as to the other Comforter. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, came down to earth. That historical day marks the birthday of the Church. After this great event we see Him present with His people, as well as upon them and in them. He filled the Lord's servants, guided them, fitted them, gave them power and sustained them in trials and in suffering. In the affairs of the gathered company, representing the Church, we trace His activities; He is the administrator in the Church. Over fifty times He is mentioned in Acts, so that we might call this book " the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit." As it is a historical book we do not find any doctrines concerning the Spirit of God. But we discover in it practical illustrations of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit found else- where in the New Testament. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ promised the Holy Spirit would be for His disciples is seen fulfilled.

Acts 1:2

Chapter 1:2. This is an interesting passage for it teaches us that our Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection gave to His apostles commandment through the Holy Spirit. The risen Christ speaks and acts by the Holy Spirit as He did in the days of His humiliation. It is a blessed evidence that we also shall have the Holy Spirit after our resurrection and glorification. Then, delivered from this old body, the Holy Spirit needs no longer to restrain and mortify the flesh, and His power will be fully displayed in the eternal service of God. What a day of glory that will be!

Acts 1:5-8

Chapter 1:5-8. Two statements as to the Holy Spirit are found in these verses. He reminds them of John who baptized with water "but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence." Nothing is said here of fire, as already explained in our comment on Matthew 3:11, 2. The second statement is "but ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you." It is significant that they asked the Lord the question as to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. The thought must have arisen in their minds, when that baptism takes place, will the promised kingdom also come? He did not tell them that they erred, that there will be no such kingdom, or that the church takes the place of the kingdom. He told them that it was not for them to know the times and the seasons when the kingdom comes. They were called to do another work, they were to be His witnesses. But this witness bearing would begin with the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would enable them to act in power.

A waiting, or as it has been called, a tarrying meeting, followed for ten days. Misguided believers frequently appoint and call a "waiting meeting" for the purpose of having "another Pentecost," another outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They act in ignorance, not realizing that this meeting in Acts 1 is unique and can never be repeated. There can never be "another Pentecost," just as there cannot be another birth of Christ, another death of Christ and another resurrection of Christ.

Acts 1:16

Chapter 1:16. Peter in addressing the assembled company speaks of the fact that the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David had revealed the tragedy of Judas. The action which followed in putting another brother into the apostolate in place of the traitor was perfectly in order and not a mistake, as some teach.

Acts 2:1-13

Chapter 2:1-13. The great day of Pentecost had come and the Holy Spirit was given to them. "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." There were outward signs; a rushing mighty wind filled the house and cloven tongues as of fire, sat upon each of them. A new dispensation is inaugurated with outward signs, just as the law dispensation in its beginning was accompanied by similar phenomena (Heb. 12:18-19). The rushing mighty wind was the symbol that He had come to fill and to possess each heart, as well as to fill the house, that is the church. Upon our Lord the Spirit had come in the form of a dove; upon each of the assembled company He came not as a dove, but in the form of cloven tongues like as of fire. He came on the Lord in the shape of a dove, because He was not to make His voice heard in the streets. But His disciples were to give the testimony, the Word with power, which is like a consuming fire. The two outward signs witnessed to the internal gift they had received. Then they spoke in different languages, which was a miracle produced by the Spirit of God. They became the mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit, uttering in at least sixteen different languages the praises of God.

It was the oral manifestation of the parted tongues of fire. It proclaimed outwardly the great fact that the Holy Spirit would make known the Gospel to all the nations under heaven, and though no Gentiles were present when all this took place, the languages of the Gentiles were heard, and that from Jewish lips. They did not preach the Gospel-message. Peter did that in the native tongue, they all understood. The gift of tongues was an ecstatic utterance, a sign to all of the supernatural person who had come to their hearts. We look in vain through this book for the evidence that these believers continued speaking these different languages. The error of Pentecostalism which claims that this sign gift must today be the evidence to each Christian that he has the Holy Spirit is more fully dealt with in other parts of this volume.

Acts 2:14-36

Chapter 2:14-36. In his bold testimony Peter, the erstwhile denier of Christ, manifests the power of the Holy Spirit. His inspired testimony shows what witness the Holy Spirit will bear through the believer, when He is unhindered. Peter preached the Word and through the Word he preached the Person, the Work and the Glory of Christ. The Spirit-filled believer will do the same today. When certain Christians claim the filling with the Spirit and then speak always of their own experiences, their feeling, their emotions and exhort others to "seek" these things, it is a good evidence that whatever they possess it is not the real filling with the Spirit.

Peter quotes the prophecy of Joel (Joel 2) to his Jewish hearers. It must be noticed in quoting Joel he is led by the Spirit of God not to use the phrase so frequently used in the New Testament "that it might be fulfilled." He said "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." As we have seen in the first chapter of this work the prophecy of Joel is to be fulfilled in the future, when Israel is restored and the, kingdom is restored to them. As they were all Jews, to whom the promise is given as a nation, Peter reminded them that something like what they saw and heard now had been predicted by Joel, in connection with the Day of the Lord, the visible and glorious manifestation of the Lord.

The second time Peter mentions the Holy Spirit in his address is in verse 33. He teaches that the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth is the evidence that Christ s risen from among the dead and that He is exalted at the right hand of God.

Acts 2:38

Chapter 2:38. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Spirit." This was spoken in answer to the question of the people "What shall we do?" Repentance and baptism are the conditions Peter names. These conditions fulfilled, result in the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. These words wrongly interpreted have led to much confusion. The words with which Peter answered the question of his co-religionists are being used by certain sects in making water-baptism a saving ordinance. To understand Peter's words we must remember that he addressed those who had openly rejected Jesus, as the promised Messiah. They had, therefore, openly to acknowledge their wrong and openly own Him as the Messiah, whom they had disowned by delivering Him into the hands of lawless men. Repentance means in their case to own their guilt in having opposed and rejected the Lord Jesus. Baptism in His name was the outward expression of this repentance. How great the difference when Peter preached to Gentiles (Chapter 10). Of this more later. The last verses of the second chapter show what the Holy Spirit had accomplished in uniting them into a company, the Church, the body of Christ.

Acts 4:8

Chapter 4:8. In fulfillment of the words of the Lord, what should happen when they are brought before the authorities, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit for this occasion, and was enabled to speak words of wisdom and power. Let us notice there was not "another baptism with the Holy Spirit" but there was another filling. There was only one baptism, the significance of it the reader will find explained in 1 Cor. 12:13. But there are many fillings, daily, whenever He is needed in the believer's service and witness.

Acts 4:31

Chapter 4:31. This passage illustrates what we have stated. They returned to their own company and after they prayed and had expressed their determination to continue in their witness for Him, asking "that with all boldness they may speak the Word," the place was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter also received another filling. As a result they spake the Word of God more boldly. The Spirit of God gave them strength to suffer and to continue to witness in spite of the threatenings of the enemy.

Acts 5:3, 9

Chapter 5:3, 9. Ananias, with Sapphira, his wife, lied against the Holy Spirit and tempted (tested) Him. They committed a sin unto death (physical death). The swift judgment reminds of the judgment which came upon the two sons of Aaron, when they came into the presence of the Lord with strange fire. The same Holy One, in the person of the Holy Spirit, dwells in the midst of the assembled company; He dwells within, against evil. May we, as God's children, remember always that in us dwells He that is holy and if we sin we sin against Him and grieve Him. The sudden death of both was a mighty, convincing testimony to all, believers and the unbelieving Jews, of His presence. As a result fear pervades each heart, both within and without. Such a godly fear not to offend the indwelling guest should be our daily portion.

Acts 5:32

Chapter 5:32. Peter with the other apostles bears another great witness before the council. He mentions the Holy Spirit as given to them that obey Him. The obedience is the obedience of faith, in believing on Him whom God has sent.

Acts 6:3, 5, 10

Chapter 6:3, 5, 10. Here the Holy Spirit acts as the administrator in the church. It is a practical illustration of the different gifts He has given to be exercised in the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4). The men to be chosen were to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Stephen is especially mentioned as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, not because lie was a learned and able man, but because He was filled with the Spirit, they were not able to resist him.

Acts 7:51, 55

Chapter 7:51, 55. Stephen in his great testimony, the final national testimony born in Jerusalem, characterized Israel's past history as a history of resisting the Holy Spirit. When he had finished the testimony and "they gnashed on him with their teeth" we read "But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." The Holy Spirit filling the believer directs the believer's heart and mind to Christ above, sitting at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1-3).

Acts 8:15-17

Chapter 8:15-17. Peter and John went to Samaria and "prayed for them (the Samaritan converts), that they might receive the Holy Spirit." The gift of the Spirit had been withholden from these converts and only after these two apostles came and laid hands on them did they receive the Spirit. This is, to many, another puzzling passage, while others have built upon it erroneous doctrines. The Samaritan believers had to be brought into union with those in Jerusalem, so much the more because there existed a schism between Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria had rejected the authority of Jerusalem; instead of worshipping at an appointed place they worshipped on a mountain. This controversy had to be ended as far as the converts were concerned. It was therefore divinely ordered that the gift of the Spirit in their case should not be bestowed till the two apostles came from Jerusalem. This meant some kind of a submission to Jerusalem. If the Holy Spirit had been imparted unto them at once it might have resulted in a continuance of the existing rivalry. Nowhere in the church-epistles, in which its fullest meaning is revealed, is there a word said about receiving the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, or that one who trusts in Christ and is born again should seek" the gift, or baptism of the Spirit afterwards. The case of wicked Simon Magus, who wanted to purchase the gift of the Holy Spirit, chapter viii:18-19, needs no comment. The Holy Spirit is the gift of grace, neither money, nor works, can secure this gift.

Acts 8:29, 39

Chapter 8:29, 39. Philip, one of the seven deacons chosen, was led by the Spirit to join himself to the chariot on the road to Gaza, after an angel had directed to leave Samaria. The Holy Spirit spoke to him. After the conversion and baptism of the eunuch had taken place "the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the eunuch saw him no more." And Philip was found at Azotus, twenty miles north of Gaza. A similar action of the Spirit of God occurred in the experience of Ezekiel. It was not some undefinable "spiritual" catching away, but a physical experience. It foreshadows the coming event when the true church on earth, her testimony-finished, will be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. The Spirit of God will have a part in that (Rom. 8: 11).

Acts 9:17

Chapter 9:17. Saul, the great persecutor of the church, converted by seeing the Lord in the glory light on the road to Damascus, received the Holy Spirit when the Lord sent Ananias to him, and this disciple put his hand on him. The influential Pharisee and son of a Pharisee, Saul, the commissioned enemy of the truth and of Christ, in possession of documents from the high-priest, had to make this experience for his humiliation. Blind for three days, the Lord sent to him an humble disciple and used him as the channel in blessing Saul and in receiving the Holy Spirit.

Acts 9:31

Chapter 9:31. After Saul's conversion the churches had rest, "Walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied." The comfort of the Holy Spirit means His gracious help in all our walk and service.

Acts 10:19

Chapter 10:19. A vision had been given to Peter on the housetop of Simon, the tanner. While Peter meditated on it, to ascertain its meaning, the Spirit of God informed Peter that three men were down- stairs, and told him to go with them, assuring him they were sent by Himself. Peter brushed his Jewish prejudice aside when he found they were Gentiles. He is obedient to the Spirit.

Acts 10:38, 44, 45, 47

Chapter 10:38, 44, 45, 47. In preaching his first sermon to the Gentiles Peter refers only once to the Holy Spirit in a historical way. "God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power." After speaking of His death and resurrection and His coming judgeship, Peter said, "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins." At this point his address was suddenly ended. "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the Word." Peter and his companions were astonished, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. In order to leave no room for doubt, to convince Peter and his Jewish companions, that the same gift was given to the Gentiles, and that there was no difference, they also spoke in tongues, magnifying God. Peter did not use the word "repentance" once. In Acts ii he told the Jews to repent and be baptized; neither repentance nor water baptism are mentioned here. The assembled company believed the Word and that is sufficient for salvation and the gift of the Spirit. There was no process of seeking, surrendering, examining themselves, giving up, praying for it, to receive the Holy Spirit. It was solely by the hearing of faith, in believing the Gospel message that the Holy Spirit was given to these Gentile believers. It is so still (Gal. 3:2).

Acts 11:15, 16

Chapter 11:15, 16. Peter rehearsed the facts in Jerusalem of what had happened in the house of Cornelius when they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 11:24 and 28

Chapter 11:24 and 28. The first verse speaks of Barnabas as a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; such every believer should be. In verse 28 we have the first mention of Agabus who predicted by the Spirit a great drought throughout the world. Such predictions are possible with the Spirit of God, who knows all things, and when the Word of God was still uncompleted, they were quite in order in connection with the establishment of the church. A second pre- diction, by Agabus, is recorded later.

Acts 13:2, 4, 9

Chapter 13:2, 4, 9. This chapter contains the record of a new beginning, the first great missionary effort to carry the Gospel to the regions beyond. In Antioch, the great Gentile center of the church, a number of prophets and teachers were together ministering to the Lord and fasting. Ministering to the Lord means that they were engaged in prayer. It was at this time when the voice of the Holy Spirit was heard in their midst. "The Holy Spirit said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Here is the order: prayer and fasting, followed by the direction given by the Holy Spirit. Every other true missionary movement in the church has started in the same way. The Holy Spirit, as the administrator in the church, is seen here calling the instruments He desires to use, to the work He has for them. This is the source of all true ministry for Christ. In the fourth verse we read that, when they departed in obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit, they were sent forth by the Holy Spirit, not by the church or by a missionary society. As the Holy Spirit had called them into a special work and sent them forth, He also guided them and used them in the places they visited. Saul, whose name is from now on Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit and with the discernment the Spirit gave to him, pronounced judgment upon Elymas, Bar- Jesus, the instrument of Satan to keep the Gospel away from the Gentile Deputy. Here is the gift of the Holy Spirit in discerning the spirits.

Acts 13:52

Chapter 13:52. In this verse we find another filling with the Spirit. They were persecuted and expelled. They suffered for Christ's sake and as they departed they were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Acts 15:8, 28

Chapter 15:8, 28. These are incidental references to the Holy Spirit; the one in connection with Peter's rehearsal of the gift of the Spirit bestowed upon the Gentiles; the other in connection with the document sent forth from this first General Church council.

We must not overlook the closing verses of the fifteenth chapter, though the Spirit is not mentioned. Bamabas and Paul became separated. Paul had suggested to go forth again and to visit the same places to see how the brethren were getting along. Bamabas wanted to take again John Mark, who had left them in the first part of their journey. Paul refused and a sharp contention resulted. Why this failure? There is no record of any prayer, nor of the Spirit's voice. The guidance by the Holy Spirit is impossible without prayer and true waiting on the Lord.

Acts 16:6, 7

Chapter 16:6, 7. The Holy Spirit is seen here acting in forbidding them to go to certain places, though the intention of the messengers was the very best. He did not allow them to go their own path. He knows when and where to send the servants of the Lord.

Acts 19:2, 6

Chapter 19:2, 6. The disciples whom Paul found at Ephesus were disciples of John the Baptist. The question Paul asked of them has been misused even by good and well meaning teachers of the truth and as a result many have been misled into serious error. These brethren teach that the disciples were Christians, but they had never received the Holy Spirit. From this they reason that one may be saved, born again and not have the Spirit. They preach from this text: "Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?" They tell their hearers their own experience and exhort them to make a similar experience by seeking the gift of the Spirit. At the same time they lay down certain rules how they may receive the Spirit. All this is fundamentally wrong. When we examine the testimony concerning the Holy Spirit in the epistles we shall discover that there is no such thing as a sinner saved by grace, born again and destitute of the Spirit, nor is there a single exhortation anywhere in these epistles that a believer should receive the Spirit in a certain "second blessing" experience.

In the first place there is a little word in the question of Paul which we are obliged to change. The word "since" means in the original "when." The question then is "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" Paul makes the gift of the Holy Spirit the test of true discipleship. If they were true believers they received the Spirit when they believed, in the act of believing. If they did not have the Spirit it was an evidence that they were not true believers. They acknowledged this fact and Paul gave them the full truth. Having believed they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they received the Holy Spirit, spoke with tongues and prophesied. This is the third and last time we read of speaking with tongues in the book of Acts. The disciples numbered twelve. They stand evidently for the tribes of Israel in dispersion, hence the same supernatural evidence followed the reception of the Spirit in their case. Of the many thousands who were saved among the Gentiles and received the Holy Spirit nothing is said that they received the gift of tongues.

Acts 19:21

Chapter 19:21. The word "spirit" occurs in this verse. Did Paul purpose in his own spirit to go to Jerusalem again, or did he purpose in the Holy Spirit? Was lie led to visit again the city of his fathers by the Holy Spirit or did he do it on his own initiative? We shall find that it was not the Holy Spirit who led him to go back to Jerusalem.

Acts 20:22,23,28

Chapter 20:22,23,28. Here is the first evidence that Paul purposed in his own spirit. The Holy Spirit witnessed in every city, probably through others, that bonds and afflictions were in store for him. The Lord had told him "I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles." The order had been, beginning at Jerusalem. Jerusalem had heard and had rejected. Therefore the Holy Spirit did not lead Paul to go back to the city.

In verse 28 the Holy Spirit is again seen as the appointing power in the Church.

Acts21:4,11

Chapter21:4,11. These verses contain two solemn warnings given by the Spirit through others. Disciples said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem, Agabus appears once more as a prophet. He bound himself with Paul's girdle and said that Paul would be bound and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. Why did Paul go? It was his all- consuming love for his brethren and his kinsmen (Rom. 9:3). His strange actions in Jerusalem which resulted in his arrest and other incidents, such as the claim he made of being a Pharisee and his refuge under Roman citizenship, show that he did not act in the Spirit. The lesson is that the warnings of the Holy Spirit must be heeded.

Acts 28:25

Chapter 28:25. This is the last reference in Acts to the Holy Spirit. Paul quotes from the sixth chapter of Isaiah showing that the Holy Spirit had predicted the judicial blindness of the people Israel and their rejection. Then the Holy Spirit spoke through him to the assembled Jews that the salvation of God is to be sent to the Gentiles.

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CHAPTER 5

The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Romans

THE last statement in the Book of Acts, coming from the lips of the Apostle to the Gentiles, is, that the salvation of God is to go forth to the Gentiles. What this salvation of God is and what it includes is the great revelation of the epistle to the Romans. In the first place Romans shows that Jews and Gentiles, with the law and without the law, need salvation, because both are guilty before God and therefore lost and under condemnation. Then we learn if man is to be saved, God must do it for him. After this we read how the salvation man needs is given to man through the blessed sacrificial work of the Son of God. It is in His great sacrificial work that God declares His righteousness in saving guilty and lost sinners. God justifies, that is, acquits, all who believe on Jesus, that He died for our sins and was raised from among the dead. Then we read, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (v:1-2). But we read more than that. The believer who has believed on Christ is not only justified, in possession of peace with God, accepted by Him and having the hope of the glory of God, but he is also identified with Christ, one with Him, who is the head of the new creation, the last Adam. The believer has received a new nature and is saved from the power and dominion of indwelling sin.

It is significant that in the opening chapters of the epistle of our salvation not a word is said about the work of the Spirit. It is true, of course, that the Holy Spirit is active in the sinner's salvation. He quickens because man is dead in his spiritual nature. In the fifth chapter the Holy Spirit is mentioned for the first time.

Romans 5:5

Chapter 5:5. "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us." The first mention of the Spirit is only incidental, but it shows conclusively that the sinner is not saved by the work of the Holy Spirit, but by the work of the Son of God. While the Holy Spirit is absolutely needed in the salvation of a sinner, the Holy Spirit is not the Saviour, but the Lord Jesus Christ is. That the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in these great opening chapters of this epistle illustrates the words of our Lord in John 16:13, 14. "For He shall not speak of Himself. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine. and shall show it unto you." He is the blessed author of this great document, yet He bears the first witness to Christ, and His blessed redemption work. He gives Him the first place.

We notice, then, that Romans 5:5 shows conclusively that the Holy Spirit shedding the love of God abroad in the believer's heart is given by the grace of God in redemption. Each justified believer has received this gift. We shall find in the eighth chapter what this gift includes. According to the twisted teachings of Pentecostalism, Perfectionism and other Holiness "isms," the Holy Spirit and the baptism with the Holy Spirit should occupy the most prominent place in the very foreground of this epistle. Paul, according to their conceptions, should have told them that they were justified, had their sins put away, but what they needed now was to seek the Holy Spirit. Instead of it there is just this passing statement that the Holy Spirit is given to those who are justified by faith. Equally significant is it that no other mention of the Holy Spirit is made till we reach the eighth chapter. In the next two chapters we are told how God has dealt with sin (our old nature) in the sacrificial work of His Son; in the preceding chapters we learn what was done with our sins, the fruits of our fallen nature. The justified believer is both dead with Christ and risen with Christ. He is under grace and the assurance is given him that sin is not to have dominion over him. He is to reckon himself dead unto sin and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. This means the sanctification of the justified believer. In all this, the deliverance of the justified believer from the power and dominion of sin, the Holy Spirit does not mention Himself. We are sanctified by the work of Christ. He is not only our righteousness, but our sanctification. The Holy Spirit is of course needed to make this real in our hearts and lives. He is the power of sanctification, but He is not our sanctification. We now turn to the eighth chapter.

Romans 8:2

Chapter 8:2. "For the law of the Spirit, of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." It is not the question here of our sins, but of being identified with Christ risen from the dead. We have in Him the new life and the power in that new life, risen with Christ, is the Holy Spirit. This law of the Spirit, operating in the new life, delivers, if permitted to operate, from the law of sin and death which before reigned in the old nature, producing its fruit unto death. As in Christ, risen with Him, one with Him, in possession of His life, the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, walking by faith, we walk after the Spirit and as a result the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us. We are, as in Christ, perfect before God without any righteousness of the law whatever. But as we walk according to the Spirit, as risen with Christ, the law is fulfilled in us, though we are not under the law. This is the gracious result of the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts. He has the power, if we let Him, to manifest His energy in our lives in giving us power over in- dwelling sin; in the resurrection of the believer (or the promised change in a moment, when He comes) the energy of the Spirit will deliver from the law of death.

Romans 8:5

Chapter 8:5. "For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." The natural man desires the things which his nature craves; the spiritual man, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, desires the things of the Spirit. The carnal mind is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Therefore the affection of the flesh is enmitv against God, and they that are in the flesh, who live according to the old nature, cannot please God. The Spirit of God dwells in the believer so that he can be spiritually minded.

Romans 8:9

Chapter 8:9. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." God looks upon those who have believed on Christ, who are in Him, as no longer in the flesh. They are a new creation and old things have passed away. The flesh certainly exists for there is as long as we are in the body the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, but in God's sight we are no longer in the flesh, but having received the Holy Spirit, and having life of the Holy Spirit we are before God in the Spirit and no longer in the realm of the old nature, the flesh. The Holy Spirit indwelling the believer is the power to realize this and to act as no longer '-n the flesh. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." The possession of the Spirit of Christ makes a man a Christian. All who believe on Christ become His and immediately the Spirit of God seals them. This verse disposes of the false teaching that a man may be a Christian, belong to Christ, know that he is saved, and yet have not the Spirit. A man is a Christian because He has the Spirit of Christ.

Romans 8:11

Chapter 8:11. "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit who dwelleth in you." This is one of the star-texts of divine healers. They teach that the Holy Spirit dwells in the believer to quicken his body in case of illness. The quickening refers to resurrection. When the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from among the dead the Holy Spirit was active. (see note on 1 Peter 3:18). He is the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from among the dead. C)n account of the Spirit dwelling in the believer the same will also be accomplished for the mortal body of the believer. He will raise up our mortal bodies. Then the question, "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" will be fully answered. The passage does not teach that the Holy Spirit quickens now our bodies, and is in our mortal bodies to give them perfect health and immunity from sickness. Some of the choicest saints, filled with the Spirit, mightily used by Him, have been fr