11,141
edits
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit: Difference between revisions
→What message ministers teach
| (5 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
| Line 10: | Line 10: | ||
However, starting in 1964, William Branham began teaching that the evidence of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life was that they received the Word for the age in which they lived. This was his way of saying that '''if you didn't believe what William Branham taught and believed him to be a prophet of God, you did not have the Holy Spirit.''' | However, starting in 1964, William Branham began teaching that the evidence of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life was that they received the Word for the age in which they lived. This was his way of saying that '''if you didn't believe what William Branham taught and believed him to be a prophet of God, you did not have the Holy Spirit.''' | ||
==What message ministers teach== | |||
When asked whether people needed William Branham's message to be saved, one message pastor responded: | |||
:''“You can be saved without believing Brother Branham. You need Christ to be saved. In Acts 19, the Ephesians needed Paul and his teaching to be filled with the Holy Ghost. That’s the way I believe it for today. You need Bro Branham’s message to be filled with the Holy Ghost.” | |||
But the Ephesians did not need Paul. The Holy Spirit had already been poured out and was available to ALL who believed. | |||
Acts 8:14-17 | |||
:''When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted God’s message, they sent Peter and John there. 15 As soon as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them, for they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they received the Holy Spirit.<ref>Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ac 8:14–17.</ref> | |||
Acts 10:44–46 | |||
:''Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. 45 The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too. 46 For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. <ref>Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ac 10:44–46.</ref> | |||
Acts 11:15–18 | |||
:''15 “As I began to speak,” Peter continued, “the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord’s words when he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?”<ref>Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ac 11:15–17.</ref> | |||
It's funny how Acts 2:38, is a much-quoted, passage by message ministers. But they don't really believe it. | |||
:''Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”<ref>Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ac 2:38–39.</ref> | |||
It says you will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I don't see a P.S. after the verse that has any further requirements, such as you must believe that William Branham was a prophet. | |||
=The traditional Pentecostal understanding= | =The traditional Pentecostal understanding= | ||
| Line 40: | Line 63: | ||
:''Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Jn 3:24.</ref> | :''Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 1 Jn 3:24.</ref> | ||
=What the Bible teaches= | |||
Pauls states in Roman 8:9-11: | |||
:''You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And '''if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ'''. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of '''his Spirit who lives in you'''. <ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Ro 8:9–11.</ref> | |||
All, therefore, who belong to Christ have the Spirit of God. There are not 3 classes of Christians as William Branham taught: | |||
#those who have been born again; | |||
#those who have been sanctified: and | |||
#those who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. | |||
The contrast between being “in the flesh” and “in the Spirit” is a contrast between belonging to the old age of sin and death and belonging to the new age of righteousness and life. So characteristic of these respective “ages” or “realms” are flesh and Spirit that the person belonging to one or the other can be said to be “in” them. In this sense, then, no Christian can be “in the flesh”; and all Christians are, by definition, “in the Spirit.” We miss Paul’s intention if we think of being “in the flesh” here as the condition of mortality that continues to characterize even believers (Nygren), or as the moral weakness and proneness to sin that, more lamentably, we still possess (Dunn). For the rest of the verse makes absolutely clear that (1) to be a Christian is to be indwelt by God’s Spirit; and (2) to be indwelt by God’s Spirit means to be “in the Spirit” and not “in the flesh.” Paul’s language is “positional”: he is depicting the believer’s status in Christ, secured for him or her at conversion. | |||
To be sure, a condition is placed on this being “in the Spirit”: having the Spirit of God dwelling in the person. But, as 1 Cor. 3:16 shows—addressed to the “carnal” (1 Cor. 3:1–3) Corinthian Christians, no less!—Paul believes that every Christian is indwelt by the Spirit of God. Indeed, this is just what Paul affirms in the last part of the verse, where he denies that the person who does not have the “Spirit of Christ” can make any claim to being a Christian at all. In other words, for Paul, possession of the Spirit goes hand-in-hand with being a Christian. However much we may need to grow in our relationship to the Spirit; however much we may be graciously given fresh and invigorating experiences of God’s Spirit, from the moment of conversion on, the Holy Spirit is a settled resident within. That Paul in the same verse can speak of the believer as “in the Spirit” and the Spirit as being “in” the believer reveals the metaphorical nature of his language. In the one case, the Spirit is pictured as entering into and taking control of the person’s life; in the other, the believer is pictured as living in that realm in which the Spirit rules, guides, and determines one’s destiny.<ref>Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), 489–490.</ref> | |||
This is reiterated by Paul in Ephesians 1:13-14: | |||
:''And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.<ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Eph 1:13–14.</ref> | |||
F.F. Bruce comments on this passage thusly: | |||
:The seal of the Spirit was received by the Gentiles here addressed as it had been received earlier by Jewish Christians—'''when they believed'''. The verbal form used here is identical with that found in Acts 19:2, where Paul at Ephesus asks a group of “disciples” if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed; it is a participial form meaning “having believed” or “on believing.<ref>F. F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984), 265.</ref> | |||
And Peter O'Brien is clearly in agreement with this interpretation: | |||
:'''When the Gentiles believed the gospel, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.''' The aorist participle ‘believed’ is best interpreted in this context as being coincident with the main verb ‘you were sealed’. The participle does not here express antecedent action,125 as though the Gentiles believed and then subsequently were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Rather, the believing and being sealed were two sides of the one event. A similar conjunction with the same verb form is found in Acts 19:2, where Paul asks a group of ‘disciples’ at Ephesus if they received the Holy Spirit when they believed.<ref>Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 119.</ref> | |||
=Details of William Branham's teaching= | =Details of William Branham's teaching= | ||
| Line 62: | Line 113: | ||
:''The Bible said, in First John 5:7, or 7:5, I believe it is, that said, "There are three that bear record in Heaven; the Father, the Word," which was the Son, "and the Holy Ghost; these three are One. There are three that bear witness in the earth;" the Word, "the water, blood, and Spirit. Water, blood, and Spirit; these three agree in one."<ref>THE.SEED.IS.NOT.HEIR.WITH.THE.SHUCK_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-4 THURSDAY_ 65-0218</ref> | :''The Bible said, in First John 5:7, or 7:5, I believe it is, that said, "There are three that bear record in Heaven; the Father, the Word," which was the Son, "and the Holy Ghost; these three are One. There are three that bear witness in the earth;" the Word, "the water, blood, and Spirit. Water, blood, and Spirit; these three agree in one."<ref>THE.SEED.IS.NOT.HEIR.WITH.THE.SHUCK_ JEFF.IN V-6 N-4 THURSDAY_ 65-0218</ref> | ||
:''See, He makes three Comings. He come in three sons' names. He come in a trinity; Father, Son, Holy Ghost. See, all of it the same Christ, the same God, all the time. Now, we know '''He come to bring three works of grace; justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost.''' Everything, in God, is completed in three's.<ref>William Branham, 64-0726E - Broken Cisterns, para. 14</ref> | |||
However, this teaching is in direct opposition to what the Bible says: | However, this teaching is in direct opposition to what the Bible says: | ||
| Line 115: | Line 169: | ||
Indeed, the apostles claimed this revelatory power (John 20:31; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess. 4:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 1 John 2:19; 4:6), claiming the church was “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). The early church recognized this authority and “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). The apostles were the eyewitnesses of Christ (Acts 1:22), even Paul (1 Cor. 9:1; 15:5–9). Since these divinely authorized channels of “all truth” died in the first century, it follows that divine revelation ceased with them. If revelation ceased, there was no longer a need for miracle signs of a new revelation.<ref>Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 471.</ref> | Indeed, the apostles claimed this revelatory power (John 20:31; 1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Thess. 4:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 1 John 2:19; 4:6), claiming the church was “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). The early church recognized this authority and “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). The apostles were the eyewitnesses of Christ (Acts 1:22), even Paul (1 Cor. 9:1; 15:5–9). Since these divinely authorized channels of “all truth” died in the first century, it follows that divine revelation ceased with them. If revelation ceased, there was no longer a need for miracle signs of a new revelation.<ref>Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 471.</ref> | ||
{{Bottom of Page}} | {{Bottom of Page}} | ||