In addition, to genuinely
understand God's redemptive plan in Jesus Christ and our need to respond to the
call for salvation, everyone must believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior, repent
of his sins, and receive the "one baptism" for the remission of
sins. In order to meet with the divine
requirements for the salvation, one must take two more steps: be filled with
the Holy Spirit and constantly do the will of the Heavenly Father.
Receiving the Holy Spirit
Receiving the Holy Spirit, like
baptism, is absolutely related to salvation.
Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is
born anew, he cannot see the kingdom
of God." (Jn 3:5) "To be born of water" means to be
baptized, and "to be born of the Spirit" means to receive the Holy
Spirit. These two are necessary
conditions to enter the kingdom
of God. On the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit
was poured down, the Jews heard Peter's testimony in which he had accused that
they had killed Christ. They asked, what they should do to be saved. Peter's answer was: "Be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:37-38)
It is written in the book of
Ezekiel 37:11 that the Spirit of God was upon Ezekiel and sent him down in the
midst of the valley. He saw it was full
of bones. Then Ezekiel did what he was
commanded to do by God - to cause breath to enter the bones, make them alive,
and become a strong army.
Those bones are the whole house
of Israel. Although their flesh was upon them, there was
no spirit in them. They would be alive
only if breath came into them. The
breath is the same as the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, it is written in Ezekiel 37:14 that God put His Spirit within
them and they gained life. When one has
God's Spirit, one has His life. The life
of God is Eternal Life. Therefore, to
have Eternal life, one has to have the Holy Spirit.
Paul said, "But you are not
in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in
you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit
of Christ does not belong to Him. "
(Rom 8:9) A person who has believed in Jesus and hopes to enter the Kingdom of
God yet does not have the Holy Spirit cannot enter, for the Holy Spirit is the
spirit of Christ. Unless one receives
the Holy Spirit he does not belong to Him.
"Does not belong to Christ " means
that one has no part in Christ, hence not being able to enter the Kingdom of God.
But, since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God
dwells in the believer, he belongs to the Spirit, and not the flesh. The Kingdom of God
is spiritual. Therefore, one who does
not have the Holy Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
The resurrection of Christ is the
evidence and example of the resurrection of Christians. Because Christians have the hope of
resurrection. they can enter the Kingdom of God
-and not perish (I Cor 15: 12-20). since
the Kingdom of God is spiritual. the
flesh will not be able to endure (I Cor 15:50). Therefore. to enter
the Kingdom of God, one has to be resurrected and
transformed into the imperishable Spirit (I Cor
15:42: 44:51-53). How are we
resurrected? Paul said that, if a
Christian has the Holy Spirit in him. he can be
resurrected and be raised up from death as Jesus was (Rom 8:11). Reversibly, if one does not receive the Holy
Spirit, even though one has believed in Christ for many years. he cannot be resurrected like Jesus. Our flesh is like a tent on earth (2 Cor 5:1 -4. 11 Pet 1: 13, 14). Tents are temporary and will be torn down one
day. Similarly our flesh, which is temporary will die.
When the flesh is alive, the spirit dwells in it. However, when the flesh dies the spirit can
dwell only in our spiritual body. The
spiritual body or the "resurrected body" will dwell eternally in
Heaven. It is for this reason that God
not only gives us the Truth, but also gives us the Holy Spirit is the
"guarantee" of our resurrection. Thus we need not be afraid of that
day when we must depart from this Earth (2 Cor
5:1-8).
What is most precious for
Christian is to be called a child of God (I Jn 3:1),
for God is the King of Kings (Rev 19:16) and the Lord of Heaven and Earth (Acts
17:24). How can we be qualified to be a
child of God? The Bible teaches that
when Jesus was baptized and received the Holy Spirit. he
was recognized by the Heavenly Father as His Son (Mt 3:16-17). John the Baptist also testified that he did
not know Jesus until the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove which proved that
Jesus was the Son of God (Jn 1:32-34). Paul said that the Holy Spirit dwells in our
hearts and proves that we, ire the children of God so that we can call God
"Abba! Fatherl"
Paul also states that when we become the children of God. we
are the descendants of God, and that we will be glorified with Him (Rom
8:15-17; Gal 4:4-7). We can conclude
that those who believe in Jesus yet do not have the Holy Spirit are not the
children of God, who alone will be glorified with Christ.
The final reason for believing in
the Truth is the hope of entering Heaven which has been prepared by the
Heavenly father for His heirs since the beginning of the world. (Mt
25:34). This inheritance is
imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and is kept in Heaven for us (I Pet
1:4). It is worth more than anything in
this world (Mt 6:26; Phil 3:8) and is the most wonderful (Ps 17:15; Phil
1:23). What is our “guarantee” to
inherit this wonderful kingdom? We know
that a son needs to have proof of the father-son relationship in order to claim
and inherit a portion of the father's estate.
This is also true of believers in order to claim and inherit the HeavenlyKingdom.
It is written in the Bible that God gives us the Holy Spirit in order to
make us His descendants. He wants us to
possess this evidence so that we may one day claim the Heavenly inheritance
(Eph 1:14). If one believes in truth but
does not receive the Holy Spirit, he is not entitled to claim the Heavenly
inheritance.
For the reasons discussed above,
it is quite obvious that there is an absolute relation between receiving the
Holy Spirit and personal salvation.
Lacking the experience of receiving the Holy Spirit, most churches
believe that no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit
(I Cor 12:3).
They also believe that " speaking in
tongues" is one of the gifts given by the Spirit (I Cor
12:10,30) rather than the evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit. The Bible is very clear on these two
points. Let us study them.
I Cor
12:3 describes how one would recognize Jesus as the
Savior through the movement of the Holy Spirit.
The scripture does not say "receiving of the Holy Spirit." Why
does one have to be moved by the Holy Spirit to call Jesus the Lord? First, Jesus did not have any desirable
beauty (Is 52:14, 53:1-31; 2 Cor 5:16; Mt
13:53-58). Unless one was moved by the
Holy Spirit, he could not recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Eternal
God (Mt 16:13-17). Second, the Pharisees
believed Jesus was a sinner. If anyone
confessed Him (Jesus) to be Christ, he was put out of the synagogue (Jn 9:1 6, 22).
Therefore, unless a person was moved by the Holy Spirit, he dared not
recognize Jesus as Lord (Jn 16:2). Last, at the time when the Jews were ruled by
the Roman empire and were not permitted to have any king other than Caesar (Jn 19:12, 15- Acts 17:5-8).
Without the movement of the Holy Spirit, no one dared risk his life in
order to recognize Jesus as the Lord.
If we don't explain the
"spirit" in I Cor 12:3 as moved by the Holy
Spirit, and if we say that whoever recognizes Jesus as the Lord has already
received the Holy Spirit, then we face two problems. First, why was it that none of the Samarian
believers receive the Holy Spirit even when they had received the Word of
God? Why was it that no one received the
Holy Spirit after they had been baptized into Christ? Was it because they still could not recognize
Jesus as Lord, even after they had received the Word of God or been baptized? Didn't they bravely seek baptism into Christ
at a time of heavy persecution? Why
didn't the Holy Spirit fall upon them prior to the disciples laying their hands
on them? (Acts 19:1-6).
The "various kinds of
tongues" mentioned in I Cor 12:10, 30 refers to
a special gift for preaching rather than tongues used in a prayer. Why?
First of all, the nine different gifts mentioned in I Cor 12:8-10 are the gifts that were used to edify the
churches, including "speaking in tongues." Just as the body is one
and the members are many, and all the members of the body are to function to
benefit the body (I Cor 12:12-27; Eph 4:16), speaking
in tongues mentioned in this context should be interpreted as "to preach
in tongues" rather than "to pray in tongues." One who prays it
tongues speaks not to men but to God. He
who prays in tongues edifies himself (I Cor 14:2,
4). He who preaches in tongues speaks to
men for their edification, encouragement, and consultation. It is to edify the church just as the
prophets did (I Cor
14:4). Furthermore, "speaking in
tongues" mentioned in I Cor 14:10, 26, 27, 30,
is mentioned together with other gifts.
This implies that the tongues mentioned in these verses are all gifts
for "preaching in tongues." To pray in tongues, on the other hand, is
to speak to God. Even though men cannot
understand (I Cor 14:2), God understands. There is no need for translation. "Speaking in Tongues" is an
evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit, To preach in tongues is to speak to
people and the tongues must be interpreted in order to edify the Church (I Cor 14:12-13, 23, 26).
"Preaching in tongues" is also limited to certain members who
are to take turns in speaking to keep order in the Church (I Cor 14:27, 33, 40).
This is a special gift from God; it is different from speaking in
tongues as used in prayer. Third, why is
preaching in tongues a special gift? All
believers can pray with their minds- However, not everyone can preach in their
minds as the prophets did. Similarly,
all who receive the Holy Spirit can pray in tongues yet cannot preach in
tongues. We know that the prayers spoken
are usually praise, thankfulness, supplications, and repentance which are
private and only spoken to God.
It is clear in the Bible that
Peter and the other disciples could tell that the family and friends of
Cornelius had received the Holy Spirit.
"For they heard them speaking in tongues," (Acts 10:44-46)
"Speaking in tongues" is a standard by which one can judge if someone
has received the Holy Spirit. Peter said
these people have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." (Acts 10:47)
Peter states these people (the Gentiles) had received the same Holy Spirit as
the disciples (Jews). Later when Peter
went back to Jerusalem
to report this, he said, "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on
them just as on us at the beginning." (Acts 11:15) Therefore, it is
obvious that the disciples put a great deal of emphasis on their experience of
speaking in tongues. If we use this same
standard, we are able to tell who has the Holy Spirit and who does not (Acts
19:6-7).
Dear friends, do you believe
there is an absolute relation between receiving the Holy Spirit and
salvation? Have you received the Holy
Spirit? Is your experience of receiving
the Holy Spirit the same as that of the disciples, namely, to speak in
tongues? Do you desire to have the Holy
Spirit descend on you, so you can enter the Kingdom of God? Come and study the Word of God with us and
find the TrueChurch in order to receive the one
faith, one Spirit and one body in the Lord.
