Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
Versus
Empowered / Baptized of the Holy Spirit.
As noted in John 14:15-18, Jesus promised to send the apostles a “Comforter”;
i.e. Jesus said: “the Holy Spirit, Who is (currently) with you, shall be in you”.
This occurred as written in John 20:22 on Easter Sunday evening, when Jesus "breathed upon" His disciples and
said to them "receive the Holy Spirit". Yet 40 days later in Acts 1:3-5, 8 Jesus
said to his disciples: "Wait for the promise of the Father … and you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not
many days hence … and you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you … and
you shall be witnesses ..".
The Holy Spirit was only "with" or alongside
of the apostles while Jesus was still with them. In other words, they had not yet fully realized
the deity of Jesus. Their recognition of His deity occurred after His resurrection, when Jesus appeared to them on Easter
Sunday evening. Consequently they became a filled with the Holy Spirit and acknowledged
Him as Lord and Savior. This is where the term "born again of the Spirit"
is applied. Jesus stated that: “unless you are born of the water (unto repentance) and of the spirit unto salvation,
you shall not enter the kingdom of God” 1 Jn.3:1-5. In other words, they acknowledged Jesus’
deity and gift of salvation when He appeared to them on Easter Sunday evening.
Being filled with the Holy
Spirit & acknowledging the deity of Jesus on Easter Sunday evening, is different than, being empowered
/ baptized by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to Jesus’ deity and sacrificial death for our sins.
This empowerment gift of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses, is precisely what occurred at Pentecost (Feast of Weeks).
This is significantly different then what occurred on Easter (Feast of First Fruits) Sunday evening:
After Pentecost, according to the book of Acts, when people accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit entered
new believers, and they were both filled with the Spirit of God (En - in) to the knowledge of His
deity, and empowered / baptized (Epi - upon) to be witnesses to this Good News.
Indeed, the apostles
themselves were at first only filled with the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed upon them the Holy Spirit Easter
Sunday evening (Feast of First Fruits). But it was not until Pentecost (Feast of Weeks), that the apostles
received the Holy Spirit, empowering them to be witnesses with the manifestations of God's Spirit working through
them.
This empowerment / baptism of the Holy Spirit is manifested by God
- working through us according to His will, as we are willing servants. That is why Paul often encourages
believers to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” Eph. 5:18, “who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit” Rom. 8:1; in order that we may do the will of God; and willing to let Him work through us, as
we are submitted to His will. Reference Romans one 8:1-4.
God will not manifest Himself through
us, when we choose not to walk according to His will, choosing instead to reject the will of God in our lives. In other words,
by NOT doing the will of God, we are NOT acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Master of our lives, and therefore we are NOT filled
with the Holy Spirit.
This is being filled with the Holy Spirit: doing the will of the Father in
true acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives. Then God can manifest
Himself through us, “empowering” us with gifts of His Spirit to make known His love.
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By NOT doing the will of God, we are NOT acknowledging Jesus as Lord and master. This is why Jesus said: "Not all
who say Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but they who do the will of My Father." (Mth. 7:21).
This means that we still have a free will choice to follow after Jesus, or not, such as Judas Iscariot.
However,
this is NOT to be construed to mean that salvation is lost when we fail. In contrast to, turning
away from God as a matter of choice; in blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
Assurance
of Salvation Clarification: How can we have a secure "assurance of salvation"?
The
apostle John likes to nail things down, to "know" this-or-that, for sure. Some two dozen times in his First Letter
he says we can "know" that we "know" the truth. Half of those times he uses the word ginosko,
which means to be informed, or to gain the knowledge of. The other half he uses the word eido which
means to know by perception of truth, i.e. common sense. He has "written unto you . . . that
ye may know (eido) that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
How can spiritual common sense give us this "assurance"? The answer is in 1 John 5:11: "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." "God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son" (Jn 3:16). Three times in Romans 5, Paul emphasizes that God has given us the "free gift" that has reversed the "condemnation" that came
upon the human race "in Adam,". John says, that gift is "in Christ." The Father gave
Christ to the world, that He might already be "the Saviour of the world," "the Saviour of all men, specially
of those that believe" (Jn 4:42; 1 Tim 4:10).
What it boils down to is this: Salvation is due to God's initiative; damnation can be due only to
our own initiative what we choose not to "believe" the truth. As surely as Esau had the birthright, so surely
you have eternal life in Christ. He gave Himself for you and to you. He not only offered to give you the gift of eternal life
so that your salvation would not depend on your own initiative; He actually gave you the gift so that in eternity you would
never have any reason to "boast" that you took the initiative. It's 100% "by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God [there's that word again!]: not of works, lest any man should
boast" (Eph 2:8, 9). Although Esau had the birthright, he chose to "despise" it and "sold" it for a trifle of worldly pleasure
(Gen 25:34: Heb 12:16). "He that believeth not" takes the initiative of choosing unbelief; in his being lost at the last (Jn 3:18, 19), "despising" what God has given him "in Christ." Cherish your assurance in Christ.
Excerpt from “Gifts of the Spirit Vs. Cessationist Theology”
By Bill Miller email:
wmrmiller@everestkc.net Updated July 26, 2008
Web site: http://www.feastsofthelord.net (Continually updated)
This file is Public Domain.
