How does a person receive the Holy Spirit?

[bcbsr]

Paul's question to the Galatians doesn't answer the question of this thread. Of course they didn't receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law. They had been keeping the law all their lives but didn't receive the Spirit until after they believed the gospel. They believed the gospel, they were baptized, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Your other example doesn't answer the question either and I'll show you why.

Act 19:2 - he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

Acts 19:2 poses the same question, and then answers it. "Did you receive...when you believed?" And the answer is no. They hadn't even heard of the Holy Spirit. Certainly they believed, but had not been baptized.

Then there's the case of the men and women of Samaria who believed and were properly baptized but did not receive the Spirit because Philip was unable to do it. He had to send for Peter and John. I had someone else say in this thread that anyone can baptize a person with the Spirit but that is obviously not true.

Now, to your first example. It was Peter who was preaching to the group when they received the Holy Spirit. Just as it was Peter who was called on to chrismate the Samaritans.

You're mistaken. I do speak to the OP. Concerning the Galatians passage it appears you overlooked the phrase, "Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?" Paul gives no other options. If you refuse to accept the people receive the Spirit by believing the message, you're refusing to believe what Paul said.

Concerning Acts 19 he's referring to disciples of John. They hadn't yet believed in Jesus as Paul says to them, "John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus."

Everyone who believes in Jesus has the Holy Spirit, "and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Rom 8:9

 

[NBB]

I don't doubt much of what you've said, but can you give me one or two examples of that from the new testament?

I'm looking to receive the Holy Spirit. What should I do?

Seek, and ask, this is how the majority is going to receive this!, my mother after hearing about being filled with the HS, just asked, God doesn't need a minister to do this, just ask to receive.

 

[NBB]

You're mistaken. I do speak to the OP. Concerning the Galatians passage it appears you overlooked the phrase, "Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?" Paul gives no other options. If you refuse to accept the people receive the Spirit by believing the message, you're refusing to believe what Paul said.

Concerning Acts 19 he's referring to disciples of John. They hadn't yet believed in Jesus as Paul says to them, "John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus."

Everyone who believes in Jesus has the Holy Spirit, "and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." Rom 8:9

Because being filled with the HS is different that when we believe, when we believe we are indwelt with the father, son, and holy spirit, but we are not filled with the HS neccesarily, there is examples of people who converted but they did not had this 'filling', in the bible too.

 

[nolidad]

That's not an example of a person receiving the Holy Spirit.

According to the bible it is! If it is good enough for Gods Word- it is good enough for me.

Off till MOnday!

 

[nolidad]

Act 19:6 - And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Please point out the Cornelius thing.

Sorry it is acts 10: 45-46

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Seek, and ask, this is how the majority is going to receive this!, my mother after hearing about being filled with the HS, just asked, God doesn't need a minister to do this, just ask to receive.

Yay! Just ask!! Amen!

 

[nolidad]

No He didn't

Well if god inspired the New Testament- He did!

John 3:
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Jesus equated being born of the Spirit with being born again! Unless we are born of the Spirit we are still in the flesh and thhose in the flesh CANNOT please God!

 

[renniks]

What is clear from the NT examples is there is no formula for receiving the Holy Spirit.
But the common factor is faith.

 

[nolidad]

In Acts 2 they were all gathered together in one place and the Holy Spirit visited them, including not only those from Jerusalem, but those from foreign nations speaking foreign languages all understanding each other by the efforts of the Holy Spirit. It does not mention them being in an upper room.

The Bible only says that the Spirit descended upon those in the upper room.

The people in the streets heard the Apostles speaking in tongues in their languages! They did no t need the Holy Spirit to understand their own languages.

 

[Eha]

Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for the one more powerful than you the one you called the Counsellor, the one that proceeds from you and the Father and who is worshipped and glorfied. The one that is the giver of life. The one that loves and guides us.
I think that there can be confusion between the spirit and the Holy Spirit and that sometimes is used interchangeably. Perhaps it should mean the same thing. But a spirit descended like a dove when Jesus was Baptized. a spirit floated over the waters when the world was created, but the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and people began speaking in different languages and the Holy Spirit came when Jesus dispatched him as the Holy Spirit is more powerful. At the Church I went to we were told that the Holy Spirit just needs to be asked to give us the wisdom for speaking in tongues. It is the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth and knowledge and it is the Holy Spirit that can convict people of their sin and need for Jesus. When two or more are gathered Jesus is there listening. Waiting for us to avail ourselves to his spirit, open our hearts to faith and let him in.

just be careful with your thoughts. Holy Spirit have several names in the Bible!
When Father was creating everything through Son - Holy Spirit, Spirit was with Them also - They are together and One.
before you say more, dont get me wrong, but blasphemy of Holy Spirit wasnt far from your writings already now...

those, who claimed, that Jesus did use power of satan, to cast out demons - they dont have hope already, even though they didnt say bad words to Holy Spirit directly..
just be careful.

 

[RaymondG]

I'm looking to receive the Holy Spirit. What should I do?

Tarry in the upper room, fully furnished. The spirit will come like as the wind bloweth....

 

[1213]

So you agree that mere belief is insufficient?

I believe, when one is baptized as Jesus taught, he can get Holy Spirit, especially if he asks it.

 

[RaymondG]

i did ask a year, before get it. but i get it,

Why do you believe it took so long after asking? and how do you know you received it after the year and not when you first asked?

 

[RaymondG]

Yay! Just ask!! Amen!

How do we ask? Do we talk to the one who is Spirit just like we do human fathers?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

No

Which Scriptures that I quoted in support of my position don't you agree with?

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Note that they were considered "disciples." They were believers who had not received the HS. One can play with words and say they were not real disciples and not genuinely converted. But the play on words doesn't solve the problem that many believers in church are told from the pulpit that they have the HS, when they might not.

I just used comprehension 101 with the Scriptures I quoted to support my position. I think that many think they don't have the Holy Spirit when they actually have Him. The Scripture says that those who don't have the Spirit of Christ are none of His.

Of course, a large proportion of professing Christians may not be genuinely converted at all, and may have just an external religion with unchanged hearts. These are the ones who have a form of godliness but deny the power of it. Anyone can put on a Christian badge and attend a church and appear godly, but may turned out in time to be a hypocrite. I wouldn't expect that type of pretending believer to have the Holy Spirit, but would have a religious spirit instead.

 

[Michael Garrett Andrews]

Hi, very good question Op,
Holy Spirit (Greek) Pneuma, Appearring ~385 times in the NT.
My personal opinion is I find it strange that we need the bible to tell us about the Holy Spirit. I like to ask myself, what do I know about the Holy Spirit outside of the bible, just like Paul, Peter and John did. I can't accept that I'm supposed to read their words to know for myself the same way they did! You have posed an excellent question, but the sharp disagreement and lack of a universal textbook answer across the board that works for everyone leads me to believe the answer to your question is much, much deeper than we have touched here! I think the question should be posed as : " How do we receive the Holy Spirit without the bible or even from the perspective of an indigenous person or a person living remotely on a mountain somewhere that can only experience HS directly, This would be our answer. Wouldn't the answer to this question put us closer to a universal truth almost like one written in the stars, something that anyone at anytime could look up and see, of course there is still the matter of personal interpretation. That's where my second theory comes into play!! It states that each and every ~156 billion souls (past/present/future) must experience Holy Spirit in a different way, In other words, No 2 People Can Experience God the Same Way.. Just as each of us are unique in our brain chemistry and thoughts, we will have different thoughts/experiences of Creator.
So no need for an answer that is universal to everyone, because we are all different. And perhaps be judged bu our individual motives/understandings.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

At Pentecost all believers received the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you believe in the true sense, you have the Holy Spirit. The fulness of the Spirit comes through repentance.

But only few received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Twice in the outpourings. And other times through the laying on of an Apostle's hands. These spoke in tongues and prophesied. Also worked miracles. These gifts ended with the last apostle.

The RCC has their traditions and papal bulls to add to the Scripture; the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have their experiences to add to the Scripture; and the Evangelicals have their extra-Scriptural doctrines to add to the Scripture as well.

The notion that the gifts ceased with the last Apostle is an extra-Scriptural doctrine in the same manner as the RCC and Pentecostal extra-Scripture tradition and experiences. My view is that if it hasn't been clearly taught in Scripture then it ain't true.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I can see that Calvinistic inclination affects your view. I'm not a Calvinist and believe that salvation is both justification and sanctification. The latter cannot be accomplished without baptism of the HS. Most Pentecostals do not think like Calvinists.

I don't know about the labels. I just go on what I see in the written Scriptures. I think there is a distinction between living in the flesh and living in the Spirit. A person who lives in the flesh is not saved, because the Scripture says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God, and because they walk in the deeds of the flesh, they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So, in order to live in the Spirit, one has to be baptised with the Spirit. There is no middle ground. A person cannot live half in the flesh and half in the Spirit. It has to be one or the other. Therefore if a person does not have the indwelling Spirit, he is not born again, not converted to Christ, and therefore not saved. Therefore being baptised into the body of Christ is the same as being baptised with the Spirit, because it is the indwelling of the Spirit that transforms the heart and spirit. We cannot save or transform ourselves. That is why Paul says that our salvation is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God.

Therefore, if the Holy Spirit comes in to dwell in a believer to transform his heart and baptise him into the body of Christ, then it seems silly to believe that He goes away again and comes back as a subsequent experience.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

This may very well be true. It's the ideal situation. But it's not everyone's experience. I think you conceded there are different experiences in the Bible.

I don't go by experiences. I go by the written Scriptures. I don't care what the experience is, if it ain't in the written Scriptures then it ain't true. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit isn't an experience, because it is at the spiritual level, below emotion and sensory experience. It is all based on faith and dependence on the written promises of God.

But it is one thing to have the indwelling Holy Spirit, but quite another to allow the Spirit to flow out in power for the salvation of others through the gospel. In fact, all this talk among Pentecostals about the power of the Holy Spirit is just nonsense. The real power is through the preaching of the gospel of Christ to the unsaved. That power is seen through the unsaved getting converted. If souls are not getting saved in a church or organisation, then there is no evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit active in it.