Gift of the Holy Spirit

Salvational

Miraculous

Others, as the word of God itself

Understanding it as what is saving you, or salvational, carries inconsistencies in doctrine, including what God has taught that is actually necessary for salvation, which will be discussed further in the class as it continues (ie., Acts 10:44, Acts 8:15-16)

The Holy Spirit is not working the same way He once was in the first century

The Spirit was working miraculously, guiding them into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13)

The Spirit was confirming the word with signs (Mark 16:16-20)

The complete revelation given to us by the Spirit has been completed (2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Peter 1:3, Ephesians 4:11-14, Jude 3)

1. Without these miraculous gifts, there would be no Christianity in the first century, as it was through these gifts the truth was being revealed

2. If it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit, we could not be Christians today, nor would we know how we should conduct ourselves as Christians without the word confirmed by the Spirit

It needs to be under a first-century lens

Today, one is far removed from the historical context of the miraculous events that occurred in the first century. Consequently, people can easily read these passages and interpret them in a twenty-first-century context in which no miraculous gifts are possessed. The mistake occurs when reading these passages through twenty-first-century glasses instead of first-century glasses. (Wiggins, S. (n.d.). Receiving the Holy Spirit).

We understand we must read the word of God under a first-century lens when reading books such as Revelation, but we must apply this same hermeneutical principle to all the books given to us by God.

Luke 24:49 is the context of Acts 1:8

1. Acts 2:1-4, the Holy Spirit falls upon the apostles

2. The crowd stood amazed, and then Peter began to preach (Acts 2:5-15)

3. Peter spoke of the miracles of Christ

Using the Bible to determine the gift

1. We need to let the Bible interpret the words we use

2. The gift of the Spirit is seen in

   1. Acts 19:1-7

   2. Acts 8:12-16

   3. Acts 10:44, 11:15-17

   4. Hebrews 2:3-4

   5. 1 Corinthians 12:3-4, 7-11

3. If the gifts of the Spirit always refer to the miraculous, then it would follow that it would be miraculous definitionally, as seen in Acts 2:38

   1. Laying on of hands through apostles in Acts 8:12-16, 19:1-7

   2. This corresponds with Mark 16:16-20

Place yourself in the shoes of someone there in the first century; how would they take this to be?

Original manuscripts did not have chapter and verse breaks

The promise is unto them and their children and all who are afar off

1. Luke 24:49, Christ refers to the promise as the Spirit falling on the apostles

2. Same language used in Acts 1:4-5 to reiterate the promise of the Spirit

Receive (Acts 2:33)

1. It is stated that they have received the promise from the Father of the Holy Spirit

2. 5 verses later (Acts 2:38), Peter uses both terms “receive” and “the promise”

Judas did not send out miracles to help and cast out demons under the limited condition; Jesus said it would be better for him not to have been born (Matthew 26:24)

Caiaphas in John 11:49-52 prophesied that Christ would die for the nation. It is stated that this did not originate with Caiaphas. This is God working through someone who was actively involved in the plot to kill Jesus; just because he performed this does not mean that, at this moment, he was saved because of it. (Matthew 26:57-68)

Judas (limited commission)

Miraculous ability does not prove a right relationship with God (Matthew 7:21-23)

Stating that the gift is salvational

Cornelius and his household

1. Stating that the Holy Spirit fell upon them was salvational

   1. Contextually, it was to prove the Gentiles could be grafted into the one body (Acts 2:39, Ephesians 2:17)

   2. Miraculous gifts were confirming the word, and that word was to demonstrate that Gentiles were going to enter into the body of Christ

2. Peter's orderly account (Acts 11:1-3)

   1. It fell upon them as it did them at the beginning

   2. He states it fell on them like it did to them at the beginning

   3. Peter is referencing the Spirit falling upon them in Acts 2:1-4

3. They had not yet heard the word

   1. Acts 10:44, while Peter was speaking these words

   2. Acts 11:15, as I began to speak

      1. BDAG – to initiate a process

      2. Strong's #806 means to begin, the beginning of a duration

      3. You cannot hear as someone begins to speak; Romans 10:17: faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God

Acts 5:32

1. Used to prove the indwelling

2. Contextually, the apostles were giving a defense of the gospel

   1. Christ anticipated these moments in Luke 12:11-12, Matthew 10:19-20, Mark 13:11)

   2. Acts 5:32 is a partial fulfillment of the words spoken by Christ

   3. If one claims this has applied to them, then they should claim to be inspired like the apostles were because this is the immediate context of this passage

We have the Holy Spirit through obedience

1. 1 Peter 1:23

2. Romans 8:1-5

3. Galatians 5:16-25

The gift, baptism in the Spirit, laying on of hands for the Holy Spirit is not applicable to us today in the way that it was for the first-century audience in the immediate context

Mark 16:16-20: Christ says He who believes and is baptized will be saved, and these signs will follow

Those signs were following in the first century to confirm the word (Mark 16:20)