Jesus wants man to receive the Holy Spirit. He said, “… If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”[1] John 20:21-22 records that after his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples that he was sending them as the Father had sent him, and commanded them: “Receive the Holy Spirit“. In Acts 1.4-8, Jesus repeated this command just before his ascension: And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Why receive the Holy Spirit? What is the sign of receiving the Holy Spirit?
Why Receive The Holy Spirit?
When you receive the Holy Spirit, you belong to Jesus and will have life: You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive 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 through his Spirit, who lives in you.[2] When you are given life by the Holy Spirit, you are born again and enter the kingdom of heaven: Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Titus 3.5 says that when you receive the Holy Spirit, you have salvation: “… he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”.
God’s plan for man is for him to be with God in a loving relationship. Man belonging to God is man being in a loving relationship with God. God is eternal but man dies. For God and man to be together, man must be given life or be born again. So, man having life or being born again is man being with God is terms of time. The kingdom of heaven is where God is. Man entering the kingdom of heaven is man being with God in terms of space. Salvation means being saved from sins.[3] Sin leads to death[4]. When man is saved from sin, he is saved from death.[5] Salvation also means being saved from the wrath of God.[6] The wrath of God results the destruction of man.[7] Hence, man having salvation, which is being saved from death and destruction, also is also man being with God in terms of time.
What Is The Sign Of Receiving The Holy Spirit?
The Bible records five instances of people receiving the Holy Spirit. The first was in Jerusalem. The moment the believers received the Holy Spirit, they spoke in tongues: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.[8]
The second was in Caesarea. Acts 10.44-45 records:While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. What was the sign to Peter and his co-workers that Cornelius and his relatives and friends had received the Holy Spirit? Acts 10.46 reveals: For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.
The third was in Ephesus. Acts 19.1-5 records: And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism. And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. To Paul, the receiving of the Holy Spirit had a sign i.e. people would know whether one had received the Holy Spirit or else he would not have asked: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Acts 19.6 continues with this sign: And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.
The fourth was in Samaria: Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”[9] This passage was not explicit that the newly baptised believers spoke in tongues but without doubt their receiving of the Holy Spirit had a sign because it was instantaneously perceptible to Simon. Consistent with the other explicit passages, what Simon perceived could only have been the speaking in tongues.
The fifth was in Damascus: So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”[10] This passage does not say that Paul spoke in tongues but he himself has declared that he did: I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.[11]
Hence, speaking in tongues is the sign of receiving the Holy Spirit.
What Is Speaking In Tongues?
Speaking in tongues is speaking to God in a non-human language: For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.[12]
Further, Mark 16:18 describes tongues-speaking as “new tongues”. A human language must, by definition, have been in use by a community, and so can hardly be new. A new tongue must, by definition, be a language that has never been used before, and so cannot be a human language.
Also, the thirteenth chapter of Corinthians compares works with love, and the first verse mentions the works: “speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels”. Where in the Bible is there a record of a man speaking in the tongues of angels? The only possible referent is the speaking in tongues. This suggests that speaking in tongues is speaking in a non-human language.
Human language is limited and the ordinary man’s grasp of language is more limited. Hence, using human language, man cannot adequately express his deepest feelings in prayer to God. The speaking in tongues bridges this communication gap. The Holy Spirit translates the innermost feelings directly into speech, bypassing the processes of the brain: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.[13]
How To Receive The Holy Spirit?
Contrary to a popular but mistaken notion, one does not receive the Holy Spirit automatically upon believing or even baptising. Acts 8:14-16 records that the Samaritans whom Philip preached to had believed and had even been baptized but they still did not receive the Holy Spirit: When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 19:1-6 records Paul meeting some disciples at Ephesus who had believed. Paul even baptized them. The Holy Spirit only came upon them later when Paul laid hands on them: While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
Jesus himself taught that a believer must ask for the Holy Spirit: “… If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”[1]
Misconceptions About Receiving The Holy Spirit
- Does Matthew 3:17 show that one receives the Holy Spirit upon baptism?
- Does 1 Corinthians 12.3 teach that anyone who can say that Jesus is Lord has received the Holy Spirit?
- Does the question “Do all speak in tongues?” in 1 Corinthians 12.28-30 mean that speaking in tongues is not the sign of receiving the Holy Spirit but merely one of the many gifts of the Holy Spirit?
- Does 1 Corinthians 13.8-12 say that speaking in tongues ceases when the perfect comes and the perfect which is the Bible has come?
- In Acts 2:5-11 was the speaking in tongues speaking in human languages?
What’s Next?
Read on about another command of Jesus to enable man to choose whether to love God and be with him: Footwashing – What Is It? Why Do It?
[1] Lk 11.13.
[2] Rom 8.9-11.
[3] Mt 1.21: “She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
[4] Rom 6.23: “For the wages of sin is death.”
[5] Jas 5.20: “Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins.”
[6] Rom 5.9: “Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.”
[7] Is 13.9: “See, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to destroy its sinners from it.”
[8] Acts 2.1-4.
[9] Acts 8.14–19.
[10] Acts 9.17.
[11] 1 Cor 14.18.
[12] 1 Cor 14.2.
[13] Rom 8.26-27.
Thanks to Gordon Koh for photo