“While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions until he reached Ephesus, on the coast, where he found several believers. ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ he asked them.” (Acts 19:2 NLT)
Too often in our indoctrination into the Christian Faith we assume that everything we’re taught is Biblical and correct, but that may not be true. There are non-Christian sects that teach things that sound true and Biblical when in fact they are not. In Seminary one of my professors was fond of saying: “A text taken out of context becomes a pretext.” That basically means you can make the Bible say most anything as long as you’re not concerned with using accurate measures to assure the intended meaning of a verse or verses.
For example, the Bible says in Matthew 27:5: “Then Judas…went out and hanged himself.” The Bible also says in Luke 10:37: “Then Jesus said, ‘Yes, now go and do the same.’” The Bible says those things, but no one should ever draw the conclusion that we should take those texts out of their context to make them say something that the words were never intended to say. We too often do that same kind of “proof texting” in other contexts.
For example, in Acts 19:2 (above) there were those who had heard and followed the teaching of John the Baptist to repent and be baptized, but that was before the Spirit had been given, so it makes perfect sense that Paul would ask such a question. But in Acts 10:44ff while Peter is sharing with Gentiles (non-Jews) about the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out on them even before they made a profession of faith, not to mention before they were baptized.
So, what’s my point? I believe we too often make assumptions about things that aren’t necessarily as “cut and dried” as they seem.Depending on your “brand” of the Christian Faith you may have been taught that the Holy Spirit always accompanies salvation. In other words, to be saved is to be filled with the Spirit, but is that always the case? My personal belief is that we get all of Jesus, thus His holy presence in the Person of His Spirit the moment we yield our lives to Him.
However, I have a significant measure of certainty that Jesus doesn’t get all of us at conversion. What am I saying? My sense is that in a high percentage of those who find salvation in Christ alone by faith alone, our initial efforts to learn how to walk by faith are governed by self-effort and not Spirit-directed. The bottom line for me is that like salvation, sanctification isn’t a “one and done” proposition. Just as there is a sense in which I am saved, I am being saved, and I will one day forever be saved, there is a similar process in sanctification.
In my mind they’re like two parallel tracks, like train tracks, that work hand in hand with one another. We can’t be saved without the Spirit’s drawing and opening our hearts to the Lord, but neither can we grow in sanctification (holiness – being set apart for sacred usage/purpose) without being saved. On some levels it’s like asking, not if I’m filled with the Holy Spirit, or, in other words, do we have all of the Holy Spirit, but does the Holy Spirit have all of us?
That process begins on the day we’re saved and continues until we close our eyes in death. So, the critical issue becomes: are we saved? Have our sins been forgiven? Have we begun the life-long journey of new birth in Jesus that can’t be completed without the Spirit’s empowering and enabling presence?
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 