Receiving the Holy Spirit Part 3 – Special Efforts – Through the help of Apostles and Elders (3)

2. Is the Holy Spirit received through the help of Apostles or Elders of the Church?

(Part 3 – Understanding the three examples)

Now, in the light of the above let us understand the three examples: The First thing, that has already been stated, is that – in none of these examples did anyone ever express any desire, or pray, or ask or do anything special to receive the Holy Spirit; when they received the Holy Spirit, they received it in God’s time and through God’s way. Only one had wanted to have the ability to be able to give the Holy Spirit to others, Simon the sorcerer, and he was not really saved;  he was severely condemned for asking this, and was asked to repent! The Second thing, these three categories, different from the Jews – Samaritans, Gentiles, and followers of John the Baptist, their coming into the Christian Faith and receiving the Holy Spirit is only mentioned in the Book of Acts – which is the historical record of the initial deeds and practices of the first Church. Once, when people had come and become one by faith in the Church of the Lord, joined into His body, then never again in any of the Epistles (which are a record of the instructions given by the Holy Spirit to discard, correct and set right, or take up and apply many teachings, beliefs, practices and rituals etc. in the Churches), has it ever been stated or taught that after having come into the Christian Faith any Believer has to ever do anything else to receive the Holy Spirit, and neither has any significance of the different social backgrounds of any of the believers ever been stated. The Third thing, never ever have these three categories of non-Jewish people used as an example in God’s Word, to give the teaching, that like them, to receive the Holy Spirit the mediation or help of an Apostle or Elder, or any special person is required. In the Epistles the responsibilities of the Church Elders and leaders are stated, but it is never stated that they should help the people to receive the Holy Spirit. The Fourth thing on the basis of these incidents, let alone any doctrine or teachings, not even the slightest of hints has ever been given, that these incidents are examples that to receive the Holy Spirit one has to wait for some time, or to do something special, and that the Holy Spirit is not given spontaneously on its own on coming into the Christian Faith.

In other words, the incidences given in the Book of Acts, were only examples to illustrate the merger of all the non-Jewish background Believers along with the Jewish background into one Church. Once the Church was formed as one through the assimilation of all the various categories of people, there remained no reason to look at them as different from one-another in any way. In the third of these incidences, the question asked by Paul to the followers of John the Baptist is very important, in context of the initial reasoning – that the Holy Spirit, is received immediately on coming into the Christian Faith, and is another of its affirmation. Paul asked, “...Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? So they said to him, We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit ” (Acts 19:2). In other words, it was the natural expectation of Paul that when they had come into the Christian Faith, they would have received the Holy Spirit at that time itself. But it becomes apparent from the rest of the conversation (verses 3-7) that they had not actually come into the Christian Faith, therefore there was no question of their receiving the Holy Spirit. And at the very moment they actually came into the Christian Faith, they received the Holy Spirit as well.

So, to use these examples to say and teach that the Holy Spirit is received separately is to misunderstand and misinterpret the facts related to this matter. Doing this is to draw and teach wrong conclusions that have no support from the Word of God. When these incidences are seen in their proper context and along with other related teachings from the Word of God, the truth becomes apparent.

- To Be Continued

Next: Is the Holy Spirit received by the Laying of Hands by the Apostles or the Church Elders?

Receiving the Holy Spirit Part 3 – Special Efforts – Through the help of Apostles and Elders (2)

2. Is the Holy Spirit received through the help of Apostles or Elders of the Church?

(Part 2 – Some other teachings to be kept in mind here)

 Before looking further at this point in detail, it is necessary to take note of some related things:

The Unity of the whole Church: For this please read Ephesians 2:12-22 attentively, prayerfully, and repeatedly. The summary of this passage from Ephesians is that before the salvation and reconciliation with God made available for the whole world through the Lord Jesus, amongst the people of the world the Law of the Lord, His teachings and instructions, and the methodology of the way to approaching God was available only with the Jews. This was a matter of great pride for the Jews, and because of this they considered themselves over and above every other nation and people of the world. But now, after being brought together into one by the Lord Jesus, all of these things have been made available to every person in the whole world, no longer are they the monopoly of the Jews – now all the Christian Believers on coming into faith in the Lord Jesus have been made one, after becoming one in the Lord Jesus there remains no differentiation between the Jews and gentiles, and all are together being made the one dwelling place of God by the Holy Spirit, by being built on the foundation of the teachings of the Prophets and Apostles (Ephesians 2:20-22) – on one teaching, through one Spirit, for one God, as one kind of people, joined together, made effective, and all being used together (Ephesians 4:4-6), without any distinctions of any kind whatsoever.

The social categorization prior to unification: At the time of the establishment of the first Christian Believer’s Assembly, from the point of view of the Israelites, the society had four broad categories of people – (1) Jews, the chosen people of God; they had with them God’s Law, His rituals, and His Word; they had with them God’s Temple and the responsibility of worshipping Him and praying to Him; therefore they considered themselves to be of the highest order amongst all of mankind, they felt that there is no one like them and neither ever can be. (2) The Samaritans, who were not fully Jews, and not entirely gentiles, but somewhere in between the two. The Jews did not consider them as equivalent to them, but the Samaritans believed themselves to be the descendants of Jacob, and followed the Jewish Law, worship, and rituals (John 4:9, 12, 20, 25), and therefore like the Jews, they felt themselves superior to the gentiles. (3) The gentiles, who were not even considered worthy of being God’s mercy or His favor; the Jews considered it abhorrent and blasphemous to have anything to do with them (Acts 10:28). (4) The disciples of John the Baptist, from whom Peter and Andrew etc. had come to the Lord Jesus (John 1:35-42); the disciples of John the Baptist were Jews, but because of having become his followers, they were seen as somewhat different from the rest of the Jews. To all of these categories of people God sent the Christian Believers who had come from the Jews, i.e. Phillip, Peter, John, and Paul with the Gospel. Through the ministry of those Christian Believers who came from the Jews, all those others too received the Holy Spirit, same as the initial Jewish Christian Believers had received, and this, in the Word of God was stated as an affirmation of the Lord’s teaching and as something according to the will of God  (Acts 11:15-18).

The point to be understood is that God used the Jews, to unite in Him, all the other people considered different or sub-standard to the Jews – which is a practical application of Ephesians 2:20-22 – bringing everyone together into one body, to be the one temple of God. It was essential to do this, so that those who had become the Christian disciples form the Jews would see for themselves and then understand as well as accept that once in the Lord they are not special, and neither are the non-Jews in any way inferior to them (Acts 10:28, 35; 11:1-4, 18). If this had not been done through the Jewish Christian Believers, and had the understanding and concepts of those initial Jewish Believers, Apostles and Elders of the Church, and other Christian Believers not been corrected and changed, then it would have become very difficult for the Jewish Believers to accept and believe that in the Lord Jesus the non-Jews too have become the same as them, and they too have the same Holy Spirit as them, and they too have the honor of being the children of God, just like them. If this had not been done, then in that condition from the very beginning there would have been a great divide and segregation within the Church, which would have been extremely difficult to overcome later on. In this context, it is important to note that despite so many proofs and explanations, this differentiation and divisiveness did not immediately go out from the initial Church, discrimination continued to occur (Acts 6:1); Satan misses no opportunity to sow divisiveness amongst the people of God.

- To Be Continued

Next: Understanding the three examples

Receiving the Holy Spirit Part 3 – Special Efforts – Through the help of Apostles and Elders (1)

2. Is the Holy Spirit received through the help of Apostles or Elders of the Church?

(Part 1 – Three Examples)

Some other examples that are misinterpreted and misused to try to prove that the Holy Spirit is received separately, and not immediately on believing on the Lord Jesus, are:

·         The people of Samaria receiving the Holy Spirit through Peter and John (Acts 8:14-17);

·         Peter going and preaching in the house of Cornelius – a gentile, and those gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts chapters 10, 11);

·         The disciples of John the Baptist receiving the Holy Spirit through Paul (Acts 19:1-7)।

Here too, if we be careful to not fall into the same two errors in interpretation, then it becomes clear that these examples too are not in any manner teaching that the Holy Spirit is received separately, or by some efforts, or by the mediation of some servant of God – do take note that in each of these three situations not even one single person receiving the Holy Spirit had ever made any request or prayer to receive the Holy Spirit, nor did they make any special effort or say some special prayers for it; and neither did any of the Apostles or disciples of the Lord ask them to express any desire to receive the Holy Spirit। They all received the Holy Spirit from God spontaneously; and not because of any pleadings by them.

There was only one person who had asked this special gift of giving the Holy Spirit to people be given to him – Simon the sorcerer of Samaria, although he too had allegedly believed and taken baptism, so to say, (Acts 8:13) but he had not actually received salvation! And Peter severely condemned this desire of his, saying that his heart was not right on this, and asked him to repent and ask God to forgive him (Acts 8:18-23). Other than this one person there is no other person who has ever made a special request to receive the Holy Spirit, and neither has there been any Apostle or disciple who has ever given this teaching or instruction to make some special efforts, or special prayers, or to tarry to receive the Holy Spirit! This simply is not a teaching of the Bible.

- To Be Continued

Next: Some other teachings to be kept in mind here