The Spirit and the Word / A Treatise on the Holy Spirit in the Light of a Rational Interpretation of the Word of Truth

by Z. T. Sweeney

With these facts before us, let us now appeal to the consciousness of the individual. If we consider numbers, it is safe to say that ninety-five per cent. of those who to-day claim "the gift of the Spirit" have never been baptized for the remission of sins. They have never performed the conditions upon which the gift was bestowed. Are they competent to testify? Of the remaining five per cent., there is not one who can give any definite reason why he is conscious of the personal indwelling of the Spirit within him. To demonstrate my statement I appeal to the consciousness of my readers. Are you conscious of any influence within you except a holy joy that comes from obedience to the will of God? If you are not, what evidence have you that the Spirit personally dwells in you? So much for the argument from consciousness.

Now let us appeal to the Divine Word. When the apostle Peter promised "the gift of the Spirit," he followed it with the words, "For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." He distinctly states that the gift of the Spirit is in fulfillment of "the promise." Now, is there in the Scripture any promise of a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a result of obedience? Let us search the words of the Master. In Luke 11:13 our Lord says: "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 passage may be disposed of by saying that in the original it is a holy spirit and does not refer to the Holy Spirit at all. It represents God's willingness to give a holy disposition. Matthew explains it in the words "good gifts to them that ask him." In John 7:38, 39 we have recorded another promise: "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified." This is evidently a supernatural gift, as he represents the recipient of it as a fountain from which flows rivers of living water. This is obviously not true of us to-day. Our Saviour also dates the bestowal as following his glorification, or on the day of Pentecost. In Mark 16:16-18: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned. And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." These five things that accompanied the believers are all supernatural. Of the three promises of Jesus—which are all that are recorded in the New Testament—only two refer to the Holy Spirit, and both of these to its supernatural manifestation.

If we go back of the Saviour to the Old Testament, we find a distinct promise of the gift of the Spirit: "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 upon the hand-maids in those days will I pour out my Spirit" (Joel 2:28, 29). This promise is the one quoted by Peter to explain the manifestations on the day of Pentecost to the people drawn together by that wonderful event. From it he delivers by the Spirit a sermon on the claims of our Lord. He shows that they had taken the Lord by wicked hands and had crucified and slain him; that God had raised him from the dead and had exalted him to his right hand; had given him the promise of the Holy Spirit; that what they saw and heard was the fulfillment of Joel's promise. This promise was not simply to the apostles, for we read in the preceding chapter that the apostles, and the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brethren to the number of one hundred and twenty all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication. "And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." This shows that the gift of the Spirit came upon all the followers Jesus left behind him. When the multitude were convicted by the apostle's discourse, they "said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins: and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him." What promise! Evidently the promise of God, "I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh." There is no other promise in the mind of Peter and his hearers, and I know of no other promise the reader can have in mind. This position is amply supported by after-developments. "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all them that heard the word. And they of the circumcision that believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?" (Acts 10:44-47). This was in fulfillment of the promise not only to the Jews, but the Gentiles, whom the Jews regarded as "far off." Paul, speaking to Gentiles, says: "But now in Christ Jesus, ye that were once far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13). In this incident "the gift of the Holy Spirit" and "receiving the Spirit" are the same. And when Peter was taken to task for baptizing the Gentiles, he defends himself on the ground that God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit, "the like gift as he did also unto us." In the above instances, Pentecost and the house of Cornelius, the gift of the Spirit was the result of the baptism of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit was an outpouring or falling of the Spirit upon the Jews at Pentecost and the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, to signify his acceptance of both Jew and Gentile into the kingdom of Christ. Paul undoubtedly refers to this when he says: "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks" (1 Cor. 12:13). The baptism of the Spirit ceased when its object—the making of one body out of Jews and Gentiles—was accomplished, but "the gift of the Spirit" did not cease. It was conferred by the laying on of the hands of the apostles through all their lives. A few illustrations may be mentioned from the Scriptures.

The Samaritans. When a bloody persecution arose at Jerusalem, following the death of Stephen, the disciples were scattered and went everywhere preaching the Word. Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. "But when they believed Philip preaching good tidings concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12). "For as yet the Holy Spirit was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 8:16). If the gift of the Spirit is to all baptized believers, why did not the Samaritans receive it? Philip was not an apostle and did not have the power to confer "the gift of the Spirit" by the imposition of hands, and, in order that they might receive this "gift," it was necessary that two apostles, Peter and John, should go to Samaria and lay hands on them, that they might receive the Spirit. Here is a clear case of baptized believers receiving the Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands.

Disciples at Ephesus. In Acts 19 Paul met certain disciples that had received the baptism of John. He showed them that John did not preach a full gospel, which embraced a belief in Christ. "And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them." This is another clear case of the Spirit being given by the imposition of hands.

Timothy. In 2 Tim. 1:6 Paul tells Timothy: "For which cause I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my hands." This is a third instance of the gift of the Spirit by the imposition of hands, and they form just three more instances than can be found of the Spirit taking his personal "abode in men because they have believed and been baptized."

That the Spirit was imparted to many Christians in a similar way is clear. Paul tells the brethren at Borne: "For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may be established." It was not necessary that he see these brethren to the end that he might proclaim the gospel unto them; but it was necessary that he see them that he might lay hands on them and impart the gift of the Spirit.

In Mark 16:17, 18 Jesus concludes the commission as follows: "And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Here is clearly the promise of supernatural power which he calls "signs." Signs of what? There is but one answer that can be given: signs of the indwelling of God's Spirit by which alone they could work these signs. Are these signs in existence to-day? No thoughtful reader will so affirm. If the manifestations of the Spirit have ceased, is it not reasonable that the "gift" has also ceased? If not, we have the remarkable fact of the Spirit dwelling in man and not being able to manifest any signs of his indwelling.

We are now enabled to reach two conclusions of importance: First, the "gift of the Spirit" was a supernatural gift for the purpose of enabling the "believers" in apostolic days to work the "signs" which Christ said should accompany them that believe, and ceased when the signs ceased. Second, many of the exhortations of the New Testament writers were to a church whose members were filled with the supernatural power of the Spirit, and should be interpreted in the light of that fact. We give a few examples that fall under this head: "Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness" (Rom. 1:4). "But ye are ... in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8:9). "Ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit" (Rom. 8:23). "My conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 9:1). "Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit" (Rom. 15:30). "Now he that wrought us for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Cor. 5:5). "Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance" (Eph. 1:13, 14). "Through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father" (Eph. 2:18). "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). "If there is therefore any ... fellowship of the Spirit" (Phil. 2:1). "Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth ... God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you" (1 Thess. 4:8). "For God gave us not a spirit, of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline" (2 Tim. 1:7). "He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (Tit. 3:5). "God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Heb. 2:4). "Doth the spirit which he made to dwell in us long unto envying?" (Jas. 4:5). "Ye have an anointing from the Holy One" (1 John 2: 20). "The anointing which ye received of him abideth in you" (1 John 2:27). "He hath given us of his Spirit" (1 John 4:13).

All the above Scriptures become clear if we understand them to apply to a people through whom God was manifesting his presence by supernatural demonstrations, but many of them lack meaning when applied to people of God who no longer exhibit these supernatural powers.