Theology Thursday :: The Holy Spirit

A Theology of the Holy Spirit

We believe the biblical teaching that a Christian receives the Holy Spirit at the moment of their conversion. It is not something that they have to strive for or beg for in any way, but rather the means by which God does his regenerative work in conversion and continued sanctification in the life of a believer is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul expresses his deep and continued struggle with life as a Christian. He continually finds that no matter how hard he tries to live right before God, he fails. His conclusion is found in the very next chapter that the answer to his failure as a believer isn’t in him simply trying harder, as that has proved to fail continually (Rom 7:18), but rather through the Holy Spirit’s work in his life, he is able to live a life of continued growth and sanctification.

In the midst of such a powerful chapter (Rom 8) on the work and role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christ, Paul makes some profoundly important statements that shape how we view the Holy Spirit. Paul makes it clear in the first few verses of chapter 8, that the only means a believer has to “success” as a Christian is through the Spirit and to the extent a believer tries to fulfill the law, he has and will utterly fail (vv. 3-8).

Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (ESV). What Paul is teaching here very clearly is that a person who does not have the Holy Spirit, is not a Christian. The Apostle John affirms this in 1 John 4:13 when he writes, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (ESV).

The Holy Spirit is given to a believer at the moment of their conversion and Paul continues in Romans 8 to warn against living in opposition to the Spirit’s power when he says, “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom 8:12–14). So Paul is showing us that the leading of the Spirit is a defining mark of all true believers, and in fact is the means by which a believer is adopted into the family of God and whereby the work of Christ—in His death, burial and resurrection—takes root in the believer’s heart. - “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15)

And God’s Spirit is continually revealing to us the reality of our acceptance as sons and daughters of the Living God. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16).

What about Acts 2 and the believers at Pentecost?

Jesus made it very clear to his disciples that he would not leave them as orphans on this earth, despite the fact that he was going to physically leave them (John 14:18-19). Be he continually told them that the Helper (the Holy Spirit) was going to come and live within them (John 14:15-17, 25-31). But that would not happen, and didn’t need to happen, as long as he was still with them (John 16:7).

Then in the book of Acts we have the account of Jesus ascending into heaven, as he promised, and sending the Helper to indwell the believers. Acts 2:1-12 records the Holy Spirit descending and indwelling the New Testament Church for the first time. Those who had been Christians for a while, later received the Holy Spirit, because they had to wait until Jesus ascended to Heaven so that he could send the Spirit. This is really the only New Testament instance where believers did not receive the Spirit at the moment of their conversion, because he wasn’t “available” yet. These believers at Pentecost were dwelling in a different period of redemptive history than we are today and at the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we see a shift in redemptive history which will be expressed beginning in Acts 2:37.

After Peter then preached his sermon at Pentecost, the people were “cut to the heart” and wanted to know what they should do (Acts 2:37). Peter’s response was “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Here we see this shift in redemptive history where Peter makes it clear that receiving the Holy Spirit happens at the moment of conversion. This shift becomes a picture of what Baptism of the Spirit looks like in the life of a Christian, and is one indication that the initial account in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit first indwelled believers, was a unique situation in Christian history, as are a few other situations with the early church in Acts.