[Church_of_Christ] Re: Holy Spirit 3
Greetings Ray & Kent, ED replying
Kent: One of the key issues that bothers me is Acts 2. Peter says that the speaking in tongues witnessed by the Passover attendees was a fulfillment of Joel 2. . . . then shouldn't God still be pouring out His Spirit on all humanity?
Ray: Kent, an excellent question. Like all other things God offers to His people, it's available for the asking.
ED: Joel 2 > Acts 2 > Yes, God is still pouring out his Spirit on all who are baptized (Ac 2:38). It is the seal of our redemption. The HS is given to all those who obey the gospel, Ac 5:32.
But not every manifestation of the HS is manifested by everyone. "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, for to one is given . . .", 1 Cor 12:7-11. They didn't all speak in tongues, they didn't all have a revelation of knowledge . . . The HS "distributing to each one individually as He wills." Moreover, there were plenty who didn't manifest any "spiritual gifts" of this nature at all. They manifested "fruit of the Spirit", such as gentleness, love, kindness, . . .. The apostles' and Cornelius manifested the HS in another way. So that Peter in describing it told his fellow apostles that what happened to Cornelius was just like what happened in the Ac 2 beginning, Ac 11:15. Just as the apostles were baptized in the HS, Ac 1:2-8 & 2:1-4, this same thing is said of Cornelius in Ac 11:16, 17. Peter said it was "the same gift as He gave us", 11:17. Since Peter went all the way back to Pentecost to explain what had happened in the Cornelius case and described it as "the same gift", as "the baptism with the HS", as "the HS fell on them as on us at the beginning"; it is clear that there is a direct connection between the two and that the manifestations of the HS in between the apostles of Ac 2 and Cornelius of Ac 10 were different.
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