The Bible is full of references to the Holy Spirit. From Genesis to Revelation, the Holy Spirit is prominent and important. But, for the believer, some of the most telling mentions of the Holy Spirit are found in the book of Acts. The Holy Spirit plays a huge role in the lives of individual believers and in the establishment and continuation of the church. He is a guarantee to believers of their salvation and a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that He would send a Helper to them after He left them. By studying the book of Acts, we see the Holy Spirit filling believers to confirm their salvation, give them boldness in the face of persecution, and speak and work wonders through them for the edification and increase of the church.
Before we jump into studying the Holy Spirit, I want to begin where Luke began this account—at the ascension of Christ to heaven. Before He ascended, Jesus left the disciples with a final word: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) Based on the Holy Spirit’s preeminence both in Jesus’ finals words and Luke’s text, it is clear that the Holy Spirit will be the sole driving force behind the acts of the Apostles that Luke records. The word used in the book of Acts to refer to the Holy Spirit is the Greek word πνεῦμα, or pneuma. It means “the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, coeternal with the Father and the Son,” according to Blue Letter Bible.
The main way the Spirit evidences Himself in the believer’s life is through His filling the believer. Luke, it seems, is the only writer to use the phrase “filled with the Holy Spirit,” because it only occurs in his gospel and in the book of Acts. As I read through Acts, I found myself wondering, “What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? What are the evidences of being filled with the Holy Spirit or what kinds of things are possible for those filled with the Holy Spirit? How are we filled with the Holy Spirit? Is there a difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit and having the Holy Spirit come upon you?” The first time the phrase “filled with the Holy Spirit” appears in Acts is in chapter 2, verse 4: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” In this verse, the Greek word translated “filled” is πίμπλημι, or pimplēmi, which means “to be fulfilled, to be filled.” This is an interesting play on words, for though they were filled with the Spirit, the filling of the Spirit was also a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that He would send the Holy Spirit to them. Based on the context of this passage and the other passages in Acts that use this phrase, we can gather that being filled with the Holy Spirit can have any number of effects on the believer. In this circumstance, the filling of the Spirit was accompanied by speaking in tongues; in other circumstances, it is accompanied with boldness to face persecution (Acts 4:31), with the ability to powerfully wield the Scriptures (Acts 4:9), with the removal of scales from eyes (Acts 9:18-19), or, oppositely, with blindness (Acts 13:9). In other situations, individuals are said to be full of the Spirit: specifically, Stephen, who is twice described as being full of the Spirit; and Barnabas (Acts 6:5, 7:55; Acts 11:24). For these men, being full of the Spirit meant for one, surrender to martyrdom, and for the other, pouring out that Spirit in encouragement on other believers. Or, the Spirit is described in relation to men as coming and falling upon them, as is the case with the first Gentile believers, Cornelius and those in his household. Whatever the terminology may be, however, the common denominator is the Holy Spirit is now working in the lives of these believers (though I think He abides in all believers as a seal and guarantee from the moment of salvation; in these instances of being filled with the Spirit, His life in them becomes action in them). I think this is what is meant when Jesus talks in Acts 1:5 of being “baptized with the Holy Spirit.” The word used for baptized here is the Greek word is the word βαπτίζω, or baptizō. Three appropriate definitions are given: 1) to dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge (of vessels sunk) 2) to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe 3) to overwhelm. Baptism with the Spirit, then, represents an overwhelming of the self with the Spirit, or a submerging of the self into the Spirit. According to the example Shaun gave in class, the word is used of a cucumber that has been “baptized” in vinegar—it is permanently submerged, and ultimately permanently changed. Thus, we see that when someone is baptized in the Spirit, it is an eternal change.
In Acts, we see that the Holy Spirit fills people with or without the laying on of hands, and both before and after physical water baptism. Thus, it is evident that the Holy Spirit is not limited by human constraints, but moves in whatever way He pleases. In fact, this very thing is evidenced in His first appearance to the church in Acts in chapter 2: it is described as, “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing might wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). This text can be evaluated in light of Jesus’ words in John 3:8 about the movement of the Spirit, where He said, “The wind blows where it wishes, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Thus, the Holy Spirit establishes from His arrival that He is going to do great things that men cannot and do not expect of Him according to God’s good pleasure. Another cool issue addressed by this passage that we see fulfilled in Acts is the fact that ‘you cannot tell where…it goes.” Nicodemus (to whom Jesus is speaking in John 3) and other Jews would never have expected the Spirit to fill Gentiles, and when it happened with Cornelius and his family in Acts 10, they were, indeed, shocked. But the Spirit goes where it pleases according to the will of the Father and Son.
The Holy Spirit’s work in the church is vital. As the guarantee of God’s Word, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is seen working in the church to send out believers (Acts 13:4), speak to and through believers (Acts 1:16, 2:4, 4:8, 13:2, 19:6, 21:11, 28:25) forbid believers from going to certain places (Acts 16:6), testify to the will of God (Acts 20:23), and appoint overseers of the Church (Acts 20:28). Luke emphasizes the importance of the Holy Spirit in the church in one particular story where the Holy Spirit is disrespected: that is, by Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. When Ananias and Sapphira lie to the apostles about the money they gave to the church, they both fall dead because they had “lie[d] to the Holy Spirit” and “test[ed] the Spirit of the Lord” (Acts 5:3, 9). Unity was one of the key characteristics of the early church that made it so successful; and unity was upheld by the Holy Spirit. Thus, not only do Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit, but, furthermore, they hinder His work in the church to bring unity by their sin. It’s cool to me, however, that though the Holy Spirit is necessary for the proper functioning of the whole church body, it is first necessary that He be present and actively working in each believer. I think we can see that both in this story and in the means by which the Holy Spirit came. Ananias and Sapphira’s personal sin would have affected the whole body; the tongues of fire that came when the Spirit first filled the believers were over each individual believer’s head; it wasn’t one large tongue over the group, but each believer was personally filled—“one [tongue] sat on each of them” (Acts 2:4).
There have been so many things I have learned from studying about the Holy Spirit. First of all, I think I didn’t ever realize just how much the Holy Spirit does—I mean, I knew vaguely He is involved in a lot of the Christian walk, but to see the specifics in Acts was super awesome. As far as application, I would really like to be able to hear the voice of the Spirit and learn how to pray in the Spirit more consistently. There are times I am praying that I know the Spirit has put it on my heart to say those things, and it is always so sweet to see how the prayers that I pray by His power are the ones that I really evidently, clearly, quickly see Him answer. I think it’s kind of hard to know how to apply the things I’ve learned though, because I’ve seen that the Holy Spirit works and moves on His own initiative according to the will of God. He sometimes fills believers before physical baptism, sometimes after; sometimes He comes by the laying on of hands, sometimes He doesn’t; sometimes He brings tongues and prophecies when He fills people; other times He doesn’t. But I think the common theme in the attitude of those in whom He worked greatly was submission to His voice and spirit and humility to do His work. I think another point of application for me is to make sure that I don’t disregard the Holy Spirit. I am embarrassed to say it, but I oftentimes find myself not even really considering the Holy Spirit God! Even when I started writing this paper, I found myself referring to Him as an ‘it.’ Reading through Acts and seeing everything He did, and the reality of His work and presence in these believers, really reminded me that He is God and I should be in awe of the fact that as a believer, He is in me. I think another application, looking through the different effects the filling with the Spirit had on believers, is that any small right thing is something down by the power of the Spirit. For example, we see in Acts 4 that Peter is filled with the Spirit… to preach. It seems somewhat anticlimactic, but God’s purpose for the Spirit is for His name to be preached and glorified. Sometimes that means you sacrifice your life to death like Stephen; other times that means you sacrifice your life to death daily by putting the flesh to death. Sometimes it means healing people of blindness and other diseases; sometimes it means being bold in the face of persecution. As Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (my emphasis added). Our job is not to determine how the Spirit will work in our lives; but whether or not we will submit to His voice when it has spoken and shown the way.
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