When one obeys the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit. Paul asked the Galatian brethren (3:2): "This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit from the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?" The Spirit was not received through their observing the Law of Moses but, instead, through the Gospel. They heard it with faith that caused them to obey it. This would be in harmony with Peter’s words in Acts 5:32, "And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, Whom God has given to those who obey Him."
It was Peter who had announced earlier, on that day of the founding of the Church, in Acts 2:38-39, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself."
What does it mean to receive “the gift of the Holy Spirit?” Some believe that the “gift” is something that the Spirit gives, such as salvation. In other words, the phrase means ‘gift FROM the Holy Spirit’.
However, the Greek grammar of this clause demands us to interpret the ‘gift’ as being the Holy Spirit Himself. In this clause, the noun “gift” is a genitive that is appositional. It is the same thing as the noun it modifies, “the Holy Spirit.” In the jargon of Greek grammar, this is also called an epexegetical genitive. When a clause has a epexegetical genitive, the “of” does not mean FROM but CONSISTING OF. It can be rendered CONSISTING OF or WHICH IS or WHO IS or THAT IS. Thus, we would read the clause of Acts 2:38 as saying, “the gift, CONSISTING OF the Holy Spirit” or “the gift, WHICH IS the Holy Spirit” or “the gift, WHO IS the Holy Spirit” or “the gift, THAT IS the Holy Spirit.”
The most respected Greek grammarians and lexicographers unanimously state that Greek grammar demands that the “gift” (Greek word: dorea) of Acts 2:38 is the Holy Spirit Himself. Consider:
Thayer:
“Dorea…with an epexegetical gen. of the thing given, viz. tou hagiou pneumatos, Acts 2:38; 10:45” Therefore, the Spirit is the thing given.
Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich:
“W. gen. d. tou pneumatos receive the Spirit as a gift Ac 2:38”
W.E. Vine:
“Dorea, denotes a free gift, stressing its gratuitous character; it is always used in the N.T. of a spiritual or supernatural gift in Acts 2:38, ‘the gift of the Holy Spirit,’ the clause is epexegetical, the gift being the Holy Ghost Himself; cp. 10:45; 11:17, and the phrase, ‘the gift of righteousness,’ Romans 5:17.”
Zerwick & Grosvenor:
“dorea gift; d. tou…pneumatos epexeg. Gen., gift of (consisting in) the Spirit.”
Kittel:
“dorea, ‘gift,’…in the NT it is always used of the gift of God or Christ to men, though it never occurs in the Synopt. (but cf. Jn 4:10). In Acts the Spirit is called the dorea of God in 2:38.”
Balz & Schneider:
Dorea…. Unique to Acts is dorea tou hagiou pneumatos (Acts 2:38; 10:45), but here the gen. is epexegetical: the gracious gift is the Holy Spirit.”
Lenski:
“’And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ means in and by repenting and being baptized. The genitive is appositional; as in v. 33 the promise is the Holy Spirit, so here the gift is the Holy Spirit.”
When it comes to such language authorities, I could also quote Howard, Moulton, A.T. Robertson, Robinson and Turner. The above should suffice to make the point that Greek language authorities and grammarians consistently agree that the “gift of the Holy Spirit” of Acts 2:38 cannot mean a gift given BY or FROM the Spirit but must mean that the Holy Spirit IS the gift.
As for scholars who have taught such, we have many. I could quote several theological scholars affiliated with various denominations. Rather than do that, I will quote exceptional men of recognized scholarship within the Restoration Movement -
Alexander Campbell:
“We also have believed all this, repented of our sins, and been immersed into Christ…. He now proposes to put His Holy Spirit within us, to furnish us for the good fight of faith, and to anoint us as the sons and heirs of God.”
J.W. McGarvey:
“The second blessing promised on condition of repentance and baptism, is the ‘gift of the Holy Spirit.’ By this is not meant that miraculous gift which had just been bestowed upon the apostles; for we know from the subsequent history that this gift was not bestowed on all who repented and were baptized. The expression means the Holy Spirit as a gift; and the reference is to that indwelling of the Holy Spirit…without which we are not of Christ.”
Moses Lard:
“Certainly the gift of the Spirit is the Spirit itself given.”
David Lipscomb:
“(Acts 2:38-39) means that every soul, Jew or Gentile, that accepts the call of God shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; and this means the Holy Spirit as a gift.” “The gift of the Holy Spirit promised in Acts 2:38 was the Spirit itself….there is the presence of the Spirit with and in all Christians.”
Benjamin Franklin:
On the day when the keys of the kingdom of God were first used and the kingdom opened, in answer to the penitent seekers, who inquired, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ the Holy Spirit of God answered, through Peter, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Here is the plain teaching how these came to the point where they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. They heard the word preached by Peter, believed in Him revealed through the word, were pierced through their hearts, and inquired the way of salvation. The answer opened to them the way to pardon and the impartation of the Holy Spirit.”
James Burton Coffman:
“Forgiveness of sins and the gift of God’s Spirit are promised after repentance and baptism… Not merely here (Romans 8:9), but throughout the NT, the fact of the indwelling Spirit of God is emphasized. The first promise of the Gospel is that believers in Christ who repent and are baptized for the remission of sins shall ’receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38), and for this reason He is called ‘the Holy Spirit of promise’ (Ephesians 1:13).”
Everett Ferguson:
“Continuing with Acts 2:38, we learn that the person who repents and is baptized in Jesus’ name for the forgiveness of sins is promised, ’and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ The promise is made to the penitent who is baptized. The gift is not a gift given by the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit Himself as a gift (cf. Acts 5:32).”
James D. Bales:
“The Scriptures teach that the Spirit dwells in Christians (Acts 2:38; Romans 8:9,11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)… How do we know that God forgave us when we came into Christ? We know because God has promised forgiveness of sins to the believing penitent who is baptized into Christ. We have God’s word for it (Acts 2:38). God will act according to His word….How do we know we have the Holy Spirit? We have God’s word for it. On the same condition that He promised remission of sins, He also promised the gift of the Spirit. How do we know the Spirit dwells in us? God said so. That is sufficient for us.”
Again, the views given represent just a sampling of the scholarly brethren that could be cited. We could list many more eminently educated brethren of the Restoration Movement, dead and living. Moreover, we could add the testimony of writers from the first three centuries of the Church (I.e., Ignatius, Barnabas, Ireneaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Origen, Cyprian, etc.) and many denominational scholars who have written commentaries touching on Acts 2:38. The vast majority of which affirm that the promised dorea is the person of the Holy Spirit.
We now ask, exactly how is it that the Holy Spirit becomes a gift for the baptized believer?
The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, personally comes to dwell within the Christian. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:19, "do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" When Paul spoke of our physical body being a “temple,” he chose the Greek word “naos.” Naos was the word used by the Jews to refer to the ’Holy of Holies’ of the Jewish Temple. Just as God dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the temple in Jerusalem under the Old Covenant, the Spirit of God dwells in our bodies under the New Covenant. Our bodies are a ‘holy of holies’ for the Holy Spirit.
Why does the Holy Spirit come to dwell in us? What is His purpose? Let us briefly consider a half dozen points that are found in the Scriptures –
1. The Spirit’s Indwelling Is A Mark of God’s Ownership.
Romans 8:9, "the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." 1 John 4:13, "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." See further 1 John 3:24. Paul states that the Spirit is God’s official ‘seal’ of ownership: Ephesians 1:13, "In Him [Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise."
2. The Spirit is God’s pledge or ‘Down Payment’ on What We Have Been Promised in Heaven. God has granted to us many precious promises concerning our eternal inheritance in Heaven. We look forward to our immortal glorified bodies, mansion, our robe and crown. We are told that the Spirit is granted to us as a pledge, surety, or down payment of what we will one day take possession of.
Ephesians 1:13-14, "the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession to the praise of His glory."
2 Corinthians 5:4-5, "For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, Who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge."
3. The Indwelling Holy Spirit Provides the Means To Overcome Our Fleshly Nature.
Beginning with the ‘new birth’, when the Spirit is given to one, there is the encounter of the Holy Spirit with our "flesh" or carnal nature. Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.”
The Spirit is called the ‘Holy’ Spirit because He, like the Father and Son, is perfectly righteous. His desires are not the same as our fleshly, sinful desires. This is discovered by the commandments that the Spirit delivered to the Church in the New Testament Scriptures. God’s commandments are in opposition to our fleshly desires.
We learn in Galatians 5 and Romans 8 that, in our struggle against our carnal nature, the spirit of man is helped by the Spirit of God so as to enable our spirit to overcome the carnal nature and obey God‘s Word.
Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as an aggressive power in alliance with the Christian’s spirit against the flesh in Galatians 5:16 and Romans 8:13: "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh; if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
We need God’s Divine spiritual strength to overpower our fleshly nature, to put to death the deeds of our fleshly body. We cannot do it alone. We need to be, says Ephesians 3:16, “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”
We should be thankful that the Spirit reveals God’s will in the Scriptures and then, as we strive to obey, the Spirit gives us Divine strength in our inner man to be obedient.
4. The Indwelling Spirit Intercedes For Us.
It is hard for us to know all that we need in order to be victorious over the flesh and to know all that is available to us to gain the victory. Thankfully, the indwelling Spirit knows our needs and, as our Advocate, intercedes on our behalf. Romans 8:26-27, "And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."
To make intercession for us is to plead our cause or plead for us. An intercessor is an advocate; and as our Advocate, the Holy Spirit helps in our weakness.
5. The Indwelling Spirit of God Renews Us and Bears Fruits in Our Lives.
In Titus 3:5-6, Paul speaks of the "renewing of the Holy Spirit" in the Christian. The Greek word, here, translated "renewing" is anakainosis which has as its meaning - according to Thayer: ‘renovation; a complete change for the better.’ 2 Corinthians 3:18 informs us that the ‘change for the better’ is a change to the "same image" of the Lord, Himself, "by the Spirit." Certainly, says Romans 8:29, God wants us all to be "conformed to the image of His Son."
The qualities or traits that so characterized our Lord’s life can, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, be produced in our lives as well. Galatians 5:22-23 says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control."
6. The Indwelling Spirit Will Be The Agent of Our Resurrection.
We read Romans 8:11 these wonderful words, "But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you."
Here, we are instructed that Jesus was resurrected by the Spirit of God. Paul says that the Spirit that resurrected Jesus from the dead dwells in us. That same Spirit of God that indwells us will, one day, resurrect our bodies as He did Jesus.
That the Indwelling Spirit of God is a precious gift is obvious. As Alexander Campbell said, “"I could not, indeed, esteem as of any value the religion of any man, as respects the grand affair of eternal life, whose religion is not begun, carried on, and completed by the personal agency of the Holy Spirit. Nay, I esteem it the peculiar excellence and glory of our religion, that it is spiritual; that the soul of man is quickened, enlightened, sanctified and consoled by the indwelling presence of the Spirit of the eternal God."
