Spirit Baptism and the Gospels, part 4: Luke 11:13
NOTE: Pastor Brandenburg has posted today "My Field Trip to the Evangelical Theological Society Meeting" here. Friday is my normal day to post, so I have, but make sure you read his post below, as it is very good--as usual. ("Hi. Kent Brandenburg here. Thomas is correct. It's his day, so I apologize for writing today, but it was hot on the griddle and I didn't see anything posted by him in the draft folder yet, as is normal for him, so I thought he might not be writing. I'll be moving my post up on Sunday night, but it is there to read already. Then at least Monday will be an all new, fresh addition to the story. I'll also likely be writing every day--Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, like a journal.").
Luke 11:13, although not employing the words
“Spirit baptism,” likewise refers to the once-for-all coming of the Spirit
recorded in Acts 2; no reference
to any post-regeneration crisis, along the lines of the PCP position, are in
view. Luke-Acts indicates that
Christ personally had spoken to the disciples about Spirit baptism while on
earth (Acts 1:4), but Luke 11:13 constitutes the only previous reference in
Luke’s inspired record to which Acts 1:4 can refer. During Christ’s earthly ministry and before Pentecost, as
recorded in the gospels, the potential existed for the Spirit to be asked for,
to come for a particular purpose as He did in the Old Testament, and then leave
(cf. Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29).
Before Pentecost, the Spirit was promised (Luke 11:13; John 14-16),
temporarily given so that in the period of Christ’s bodily absence, but before
the permanent arrival of the Spirit in Acts 2, a member of the Godhead would be
with the church (John 20:22; cf. 16:7; 14:16-18), [i] and prayed for in the period between the promise of His
permanent coming and its fulfillment (Acts 1:14). Then, finally, the Holy Ghost permanently came to indwell
the saints when Spirit baptism took place in Acts 2.[ii] No record
exists in Acts of any post-Pentecost prayers along the lines of Luke 11:13 for
the benefit of those who already possessed the indwelling Spirit, because with
the onset of His permanent abode in the saints the dispensationally
transitional action of praying for the Holy Spirit was no longer necessary or
appropriate.
Indeed, since Christ
Himself prayed for the Spirit to come to permanently indwell the saints (John
14:16-17), the Father has certainly heard His Son’s prayer as Mediator and,
along the lines of Luke 11:13, has given the Spirit to the saints. The Spirit was “the promise of the
Father” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4), which Christ received from Him when He asked
(Acts 2:33), and which the Father consequently gave to the saints for Christ’s
sake at Pentecost. If the Father
would give the Spirit, before His permanent indwelling, to the saints in the
gospels who asked, how much more would He give the Holy Ghost permanently to
the saints when the Son asked for Him on their behalf? To affirm that one must still ask for
the Spirit today, based on a misunderstanding of Luke 11:13, actually denies
the efficacy of the prayers of that blessed Savior and Mediator who said, “thou
[Father] hearest me always” (John 11:42), for He has already asked for and
received the Spirit and given Him to His own.
Thus, Luke 11:13 refers
to the receipt of the Spirit Himself[iii] by those who, in the time period when Christ spoke those
words, asked for Him.[iv] No reference
to greater ability to exercise spiritual gifts, or any other ministries or
blessings from the Holy Ghost that abide throughout the age of grace, is
indicated by the verse. Christ
promised that the Father would give, not blessings by the Spirit, or gifts from
the Spirit, but, in response to urgent and continued prayer as recorded in Acts
1:14 (cf. Acts 8:15),[v] would “give the Holy Spirit” Himself. Luke 11:13 contrasts human parents, who
repeatedly give good gifts to their children,[vi] and God the Father, who in Spirit baptism, as a one time
event, which was yet future event when the words of Luke 11:13 were spoken,[vii] would give the Person of the Holy Spirit.[viii] While, at the
time of the Lord’s discourse in Luke 11, parents were providing good gifts to
their children, the Father’s permanent giving of the Holy Spirit had not yet
taken place, and it would not until the record of Spirit baptism in Acts, when
Christ, having asked the Father for the Holy Ghost, gave the indwelling Spirit
to His people.
As an examination of
the grammar of Luke 11:13 itself supports a reference to Spirit baptism and the
initial receipt of the Spirit, so the fulfillment of the verse in Acts also
demonstrates that the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit is not a repeated event,
but the one-time action of the initial receipt of the Spirit, first by Spirit
baptism during the transitional period in Acts, and then in regeneration
throughout the dispensation of grace.
One-time, non-continuous action, expressed by the Greek aorist, is the
consistent language of Acts (Acts 5:32; 15:8), and the rest of the Bible
(Romans 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; 2 Timothy 1:7; 1
John 3:24)[ix] for the giving of the Spirit. The only time God’s gift of the Spirit to an individual is
not expressed with the aorist is 1 John 4:13, where the perfect tense indicates
that the Spirit was given in the past at a moment in time, and He continues to
dwell within His saints. There are
no instances in the New Testament where continuing action tenses are employed
for a particular individual’s being given the Holy Ghost.[x] In striking
contrast, spiritual gifts from the Holy Ghost are expressed consistently with
continuing action tenses.[xi] The recorded
Scriptural fulfillment of the prayers indicated in Luke 11:13 demonstrate that,
as the Lord intended, the saints prayed in the book of Acts for the coming of
the Spirit (Acts 1:14; 8:15), and their prayers were answered in Spirit baptism
(Acts 2:33; cf. Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4).
Just as no Spirit-indwelt person in Acts ever prays that he would
receive the Spirit, as mentioned in Luke 11:13, so the prayer specified in the
verse is not appropriate for the universally Spirit-indwelt Christians (Romans
8:9) of today.[xii] Those who are
already indwelt by the Holy Ghost have no need to ask for He whom they already
have.[xiii]
Endnotes to part 7
part 6
Note that this complete study, with all it parts and with additional material not reproduced on this blog in this series, is available by clicking here.
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