Is doing something special required for receiving the Holy Spirit?
1. Is the Holy Spirit received on asking the Lord for it? – (Luke 11:13)
(The First Two Related Things)
There
is no such teaching in the Bible that a Christian Believer needs to make any
special efforts, to tarry, or pray, or qualify, or wait for an opportunity to
receive the Holy Spirit. Often on the basis of Luke 11:13 it is claimed that the Lord Jesus Himself has said that
the Holy Spirit is given on asking for it. But saying this is making the same
two mistakes in interpreting this text, as is commonly done in nearly every
misinterpretation and misapplication of the Bible – the
first mistake, taking the text out of its context and
selectively using part of the text for the interpretation; and
the second mistake, without taking into consideration the
other related teachings and texts of the Bible, without
incorporating those teachings into the interpretation, using
only some chosen words, phrases, and verses to support a particular concept.
Let
us look at the statement in Luke 11:13 of having to ask the Lord for the Holy
Spirit, in its context and along with some related teachings, and then draw
conclusions from it:
(1) On reading Luke
11:13 in its context, i.e. on reading Luke 11:1-13, the First Thing that comes before us is, that what the Lord Jesus has said in this passage is a part of
the conversation that the Lord is having with His disciples (Luke 11:1) – the implication is that the Lord has not spoken of the Holy
Spirit being received by everyone, neither has He said it is
for anyone who claims to be a follower of the Lord, or claims
to believe on Him; rather, it is only for them who really
are His disciples. It is very important to understand this fact and its
implications. If we look at it along with John 7:37-39 then
it becomes very clear that the Holy Spirit was to be given only to those who
believed on the Lord Jesus, i.e. to the disciples of the
Lord Jesus, that too at some time in the future; and not at the time the Lord was speaking about it. Later on, before being delivered for crucifixion once again the Lord had
promised the Holy Spirit as their promised Helper only to His disciples; in the days to come, (John chapters 14, 16). And eventually when the Holy Spirit was given, it was
given only to the Believers in the Lord Jesus i.e. His disciples
(Acts 2:1-4), although many “devout men” (Acts 2:5) were present there. (Further
affirmation that this was meant to be only for the disciples of the Lord is
given in the other sections below).
(2) The Second Thing that we
see is, that the Lord is explaining to the disciples that
if human fathers can give good things to their children, then
why can’t the Father God, give the best, even the Holy
Spirit? The Lord is here in Luke 11:5-13 explaining
to His disciples that they need not worry about their physical needs, but always to trust God that as per the needs of the time and
the situation, the Father God will keep on fulfilling
their needs. This He clarifies even further in verses 10-13 in
a special way that just as the earthly fathers give as best as they can to
their children, similarly the Father God will also always
give the best possible to His children. God has no limits on giving good things
to His people, so much so that for those who have the
courage to ask, He can give even the Holy Spirit i.e. even give Himself, to them.
Take note, in this whole
conversation there is not even a suggestion that the Lord is giving an instruction
or commandment to His disciples that “in future those of
my disciples who ask God for it only they will receive the Holy Spirit; or, only those who ask for it will receive the Holy Spirit.” Just before His ascension when the Lord asked these disciples
to wait till they received the Holy Spirit before they went out for their ministries, then at that time none of the disciples expressed any
confusion about it, citing the Lord’s statement in Luke 11:13, nor
on the basis of that statement did they immediately claim receiving the Holy
Spirit, so that they could get on with their ministries. This
makes it clear that what the Lord had said did not have the meaning being given
to it by some preachers today, that the Holy Spirit is
received by asking for it Therefore to give it this form and meaning that “the Lord has said that the Holy Spirit will be given on asking
for it” is a misuse of the Lord’s Word, is giving wrong interpretations
and false teachings from it; it is falsifying God’s Word in the garb of devotion
and reverence.
This verse is an example of the use of a comparative
statement, that like the earthly fathers can give their
best similarly it is natural that the heavenly Father God
will give His best too; He is willing to give even the
Holy Spirit – there is no limit to His love and giving, He is willing to make Himself available to mankind, if somebody is willing to receive Him.
- To Be Continued
Next Topic: The Related Third Thing
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