 WHAT DOES THE CHURCH OF CHRIST BELIEVE ABOUT RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Dear Tralon:
You ask what the Church of Christ believes about receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit? A better way to word your question is, "What does the Bible say about receiving the Holy Spirit?"
Churches of Christ, here on earth, have no elected head to pronounce our beliefs. We have no general councils or synods to deliberate and determine what our faith shall be. We have no creed book or official statement of what we believe. We only have the New Testament of Christ. There we find recorded what we believe. In his wisdom, God elected to allow each of us to use our minds and intelligence to read that book and learn what to believe and do as we practice the religion of his Son, Jesus.
The fact of receiving the Holy Spirit is clearly stated that at our baptism we "receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). This fact you will not likely find a single member of the Church to question. You will find some difference of understanding in "how" the Spirit of God dwells in us?" or "just what are the implications of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us?"
My understanding of the New Testament teaching on this subject is briefly this: We do in fact receive the Holy Spirit as a gift when we are saved (at the point of our baptism). This is a non-miraculous gift. It does not enable me to perform miracles, speak in foreign languages or to speak by divine inspiration. Nor did it do so in the first century. Only a select few received the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. That is another, longer subject.
Among the things the gift of the Spirit does for us are the following:
- Because of the Spirit I bear the fruit of the Spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22-23).
- The Spirit comforts me (John 15:26).
- In some way the Spirit leads me (Romans 8:14).
- The Spirit bears witness with my Spirit that I am a child of God (Romans 8:16).
- The Spirit strengthens me (Ephesians 3:16).
- The Spirit helps me in my prayer life and intercedes for me (Romans 8:26).
- The Spirit is the seal of my salvation, identifying my as one of God's own (Ephesians 1:13).
- The Spirit is the earnest of my heavenly inheritance (Ephesians 1:14).
- If I do not have the Holy Spirit, that is evidence that I am not saved (Romans 8:9).
This, in brief, is a collage of what the New Testament teaches about the Holy Spirit and the Christian. Large numbers of the teachers and preachers I know share this understanding. I hope this is helpful to you. John Waddey |
