The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit

by T. M. Hyland | Category: The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit | Sept 1944

The Lord's final word of revelation on the night of the betrayal regarding the Spirit's work was, "He shall glorify Me: for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you."1 Beautiful work of the Paraclete this! With great delight He pursues this sacred function of His office; and happy is the man with experience of the Spirit's work glorifying Christ. What does it mean "to glorify"? Cremer says of the original Greek word, "When doxazo is predicted of Christ it means that His innate glory is brought to light, is made manifest." It has also been defined "to render conspicuous the dignity, station, or character of anyone; to cause that the true state, disposition, dignity and excellence of any person or thing should be known, acknowledged and honoured by others," thus bringing out beautifully the full meaning of " to glorify." And who indeed but the Spirit of God could discover to us the true glory of the Incarnate Redeemer? Thus to learn Christ from the Spirit who glorifies Him, is to love and worship Him; and "No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit."2 And where is it that the Spirit of God will perform these sacred functions of His office as the Paraclete; this teaching, remembrancing, witnessing, guiding, declaring, glorifying work? "He shall be in you" said the Lord, thus announcing the wonderful truth of

THE INDWELLING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN THE BELIEVER.

And what an amazing truth it is that the personal, Divine, eternal Spirit should come, not" to our side "merely, but" into our hearts";

not to sojourn for a time, but to be with us "for ever" ! Here we trace to its source the wellspring of Divine blessing and power available to believers of this dispensation-" the Spirit which He made to dwell in us."3

The Apostles had already experienced the Holy Spirit's presence and operation. He had wrought mightily in them. They and all others reached through the Lord's ministry, had been "born of the Spirit." But the indwelling of the Spirit became possible only upon the Great Effusion at Pentecost when the Spirit was "poured forth."4 Note the futurity implied in the words which follow the mighty utterance of the Lord on the great feast day, when He spake of the

1 John 16.14.2 1 Corinthians 12.8.

3 James 4.5. John 14.17. 2 Timothy 1.14.4 Acts 2.33.

Spirit,-" ... the Spirit which they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified."1

This quotation, together with the Lord's words, " He shall be in you," identifies the" reception "of the Spirit with the" indwelling." It also establishes that those who had believed prior to Pentecost did not receive the Spirit as their Indweller until the Pentecostal Effusion.

It is clear that, whatever we are to understand by the words, "Receive e the Holy Spirit," spoken by the Lord to His apostles on the evening of the

Resurrection day, it was not until "the day of Pentecost was fully come" that the Holy Spirit was given in fulfilment of His promise in John 16.7 and Luke 24.49.

Those together on the day of Pentecost were not only indwelt by the Holy Spirit; they were also "baptized in the Holy Spirit" and "filled with the Holy Spirit." Later we shall consider the Baptism and the Filling: but in order to clear the ground as we proceed we note here that, although simultaneous at Pentecost, "indwelling," "baptism" and "filling" are not synonymous terms. Much confusion and diversity of teaching in regard to the Holy Spirit's work have resulted from failure to distinguish between them. But at present we are concerned with the "indwelling." We have already noted that it took place, so far as the apostles and others who had believed before Pentecost were concerned, at a time subsequent to that when they were" born of the Spirit." And here we must take care to "rightly divide the word of truth." For this very fact has been made a fruitful cause of error; it has been deduced from it that because these two things were separate and distinct in the case of believers before Pentecost, therefore present day believers should expect two distinct crises in their experience ; the one answering to the New Birth, the other, "receiving the Holy Spirit," answering to Pentecost. Let us examine this carefully, using the inspired Word as our sole guide. For many years the present writer has been exercised about this matter. He is convinced, after careful investigation, that the dogmatism with which this teaching is asserted in some circles of believers is unwarranted by Scripture. The question now before us is: In the period after Pentecost, is receiving the Holy Spirit an experience subsequent to the New Birth or simultaneous with it? he New Birth is "the beginning of days " for the believer. In that great and wonderful crisis he is brought by the "Spirit of Life," the Life-giver, into living union with "Christ who is our Life." He is quickened into new life; he is "born of the Spirit." But does the Begettor at once become the Indweller?

For the answer to this question let us go to the apostles' teaching as it is unfolded in the epistles. And what do we find there? Not a shred of evidence to support the teaching that the Holy Spirit is

1 John 7.39.

received by the believer some time after the New Birth. All the evidence points the other way-that the New Birth and Reception of the Holy Spirit are simultaneous.

In the Epistle to the Romans; the apostle Paul says of those who are" justified by faith," and surely his words must apply to all such the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts

through the Holy Spirit which was given us."1 Again,

"Ye are ... in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."2

No child of God could possibly be described as "none of His"; this reference in itself is conclusive. It clearly implies that all believers have received the Holy Spirit.

To the Corinthians, many of whom had sadly forgotten the fact, the apostle says,

"Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you? "3

The Galatians too, into whose hearts "God sent forth the Spirit of His Son," received that Spirit "by the hearing of faith."4 Writing to believers of the twelve tribes of the Dispersion, the apostle James speaks of "the Spirit which He made to dwell in us " ;5 thereby implying this to be the common experience of them all; and similarly the apostle John, writing to "the children of God," speaks of " the Spirit which He gave us "6 as their common possession.

The conclusion, to which an examination of these and other passages of the New Testament leads us, is that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer, promised by the Lord on the night of the betrayal,:" He shall be in you ," became actual in the case of believers after Pentecost as soon as they "believed on the Lord Jesus Christ." That there are some exceptions to this in the early chapters of the Acts is conceded. We note firstly that Jewish and Samaritan converts only are concerned in these exceptional cases, not Gentiles. We have already noted the difference in the case of the apostles and others who were believers before Pentecost arising from their contact with two dispensations.

In regard to those to whom the apostle Peter said on the day of Pentecost, "Repent ... and be baptised ... and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" 7 if these words imply an interval between their belief and reception of the Holy Spirit (and it is not clear to the present writer that they necessarily do), then it was a very short one, for the repentance and baptism of the three thousand converts took place the same day.

In the case of the Samaritan converts (Acts 8.) it is clear that there was an interval between" believing the good tidings "and " receiving

1 Romans 5.5.2 Romans 8.9.3 1 Corinthians 6.19.

4 Galatians 3.2.5 James 4.5.6 John 3.24.

7 Acts 2.38.

the Holy Spirit." In this instance God withheld the latter gift until Peter and John came down from Jerusalem to associate the Apostolic circle with this first outworking of the terms of their Commission, which was eventually to reach unto" the uttermost part of the earth."

But whatever may be said of these events of Acts 2. and 8., when we come to Acts 10. we see clearly, in the case of the Cornelius household, reception of the Holy Spirit coinciding with belief of the Gospel message. And Peter's visit to Cornelius was a great historical and representative occasion. Its effects, like those of Pentecost, were not only immediate, but dispensational; for then the apostle Peter, at the bidding of the Holy Spirit, was led to " open the door of faith unto the Gentiles." It is highly significant that thereafter there is no recorded case, in the Acts of the Apostles, of a reception of the Holy Spirit subsequent to belief of the Gospel message.

The events of Acts 19.1-7, should here receive notice. When the apostle Paul came to Ephesus he found there certain disciples who, like Apollos, were acquainted with the way of the Lord only in so far as it had been made known by John the Baptist. Possibly they knew little or nothing of the death and resurrection of Christ and the results accruing therefrom; certainly they were unaware of the coming of the Paraclete. Their spiritual experience belonged to the period before Pentecost, during which "the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." In order to discover the spiritual standing of these men and its relation to the full Gospel message proclaimed by the apostles after Pentecost, Paul asks the revealing question, "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? " Surely the implication of that question is that coincidence of belief of the Gospel message and reception of the Holy Spirit, was the special feature distinguishing believers after Pentecost from those of the former dispensation, as we see from Ephesians 1. 13 and 2 Corinthians 1.21, 22. The answer of these men is illuminating, it shows that their case was unique "... nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given." This should be noted by those who use this incident as a precedent for asking present-day believers, "Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed ? " Clearly, it cannot apply to those who have believed the Gospel preached by the apostles. So soon as these men at Ephesus complied with that condition and accepted the current message they were baptised into the Name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them the Holy Spirit" came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied."

T. M. Hyland | Sept 1944
The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit