This is about the varied operations of the Holy Ghost in relation to man (the individual).
1. CONVICTION Jn 16:7-11
The Holy Ghost will convince men of the following truths:
a) The Sin of Unbelief - Conscience may convince a man of ordinary sins, but never of the sin of unbelief. Of the enormity of this sin no man was ever convinced but by the Holy Ghost Himself.
b) The Righteousness of Christ - Jesus Christ was crucified as a malefactor and deceiver of the people. But after the day of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Spirit and the performing of miracles in His name convinced thousands of Jews that He was not only righteous but the only heavenly source and way of righteousness (Acts 2:36-38).
c) The Judgement of Satan - Satan has been judged in the sense that the great cause has gone against him so that he has no more right to hold men in bondage as his subjects. By His death Christ has delivered all men from Satan's dominion, and it remains for them to accept their deliverance. Heb 2:14-15; 1 Jn 3:8; Col 2:15; Rom 16:20.
2. REGENERATION
The creative work of the Spirit upon the soul may be illustrated by the creative work of God's Spirit upon man's body in the beginning (Gen 2:7). God takes the dust of the earth and forms a body. There it lies, inanimate and still. Though in the world and surrounded by its beauties, it does not react because it has no life. It neither sees nor hears nor understands. Then "God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." At once he reacted to the world, saw its beauties and heard its sounds. As with the body, so with the soul. Man is surrounded by the spirit world and by God who is not far from any of us (Acts 17:27). Yet he lives and acts as if that world did not exist because he is spiritually dead and therefore cannot react to it. But when the same Lord who quickened the body quickens the soul, the man awakens to the spiritual world and begins to live the spiritual life. Anyone who has witnessed the reactions of a real convert following the radical experience known as the new birth [being born again] knows that regeneration is not merely a doctrine but a practical reality.
3. INDWELLING
God is always and necessarily present everywhere; in Him all men live, move and have their being. But indwelling means that He is present in a new way, sustaining a personal relation to the individual. This union with God, which is called indwelling, is produce in reality by the presence of the whole Trinity, as will be seen by an examination of the following texts (Jn 14:17; Rom8:9; 1 Cor 6:19; 2 Tim 1:14; 1 Jn 2:27; Col 1:27; 1 Jn3:24; Rev 3:20). But since it is the special ministry of the Holy Ghost to indwell the hearts of men, the experience is commonly known as the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. By faith and repentance man turns to God, and becomes regenerated. Regeneration by the Spirit involves a union with God and Christ (1 Cor 6:17) which is known as indwelling 1 Cor 6:19. This indwelling of the Spirit or man's possession of the Spirit is the mark of the New Testament Christian (Rom 8:9; compare Jude 19). One of the most comprehensive definitions of a Christian is that he is a man in whom the Holy Ghost dwells. His body is a temple of the Holy Ghost.
4. SANCTIFICATION
In regeneration the Holy Ghost effects a radical change in the soul by imparting a new principle of life. But this does not imply that the child of God is at once perfect, there are still the world, the flesh and the devil to overcome. Since the Spirit does not work magically but in a vital and progressive manner, it is by degrees that the soul is renewed. Faith must be strengthened through many tests; love must be fortified to survive hardship and temptation. Allurements of sin must be overcome; tendencies and habits must be corrected. (1 Pet 1:23, 1 Pet 2:2; Gal 5:22-23). The operation of the Spirit is progressive, going "from the heart to the surface, from the interior to the exterior, to the actions and to the words; at first allowing many things which are incompatible with His holy nature, then, little by little, attacking them one after another, going into all the details so thoroughly that, nothing being able to escape His influence, one day the entire man, will be resplendent with the life of God."
5. ENDUEMENT OF POWER
a) Its General Nature.
The previous sections have dealt with the regenerative and sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost; in this section we shall deal with another mode of operation. His energizing work. This last phase of the Spirit's work is set forth in Christ's promise: "But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses." Acts 1:8.
(1) The main feature of this promise is power for service and not regeneration for eternal life. Whenever we read of the Spirit coming upon, resting upon, falling upon, or filling people, the reference is never to the saving work of the Spirit but always to power for service.
(2) The words were addressed to men already in intimate relationship with Christ [ie disciples] (Matt 10:1). It may be objected that this relates to the disciple before Pentecost but in Acts 8:12-16 we have a instance of people baptised in water [saved] yet receiving the Holy Ghost some days later.
This shows that one may be in touch with Christ and be a disciple of Christ and yet lack the special enduement of power mentioned in Acts 1:8.
(3) Accompanying the fulfilment of this promise (Acts 1:8) were supernatural manifestations (Acts 2:1-4) the most important and common of which was the miraculous utterance in other languages. That this supernatural utterance was an accompaniment of the receiving of spiritual power is stated in two other instances (Acts 10:44-46; 19:1-6).
(4) This impartation is described as a baptism (Acts 1:5). When Paul declares that there is but one baptism (Eph 4:5) he refers to literal or water baptism. When the word 'baptism' is applied to spiritual experience, it is used figuratively to describe immersion in the energizing power of the Holy Ghost. The word was used figuratively by Christ to describe His immersion in suffering (Mt 20:22).
(5) This impartation of power is also described as a filling with the Spirit. Those who were baptised with the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost were also filled with the Spirit.
b) Its Special Characteristic
The above facts lead us to the conclusion that in additionand subsequent to conversion, a believer may experience an enduement of power whose initial oncoming is signalised by a miraculous utterance in a language never heard by the speaker.
The above conclusion has been challenged. It is claimed that there are many Christians who know the Holy Ghost in regenerating and sanctifying power, and yet have not spoken in other tongues. It is true one cannot be a Christian without having the Holy Ghost (Rom8:9; Rom5:5; 8:14-16; 1 Cor 6:19; Gal 4:6; 1 Jn 3:24, 4:13). It is also affirmed that many Christian workers have experienced anointings of the Spirit by which they have been enabled to win people to Christ and to do other Christian work, and yet these have not spoken in other tongues.
So all born again believers have the Holy Ghost but the question naturally follows: What is there different and additional in the experience described as the Baptism of the Holy Ghost?
We answer as follows: There is one holy Spirit, but many operations of that Spirit, just as there is one electricity, but many operations of that electricity.
Paul refers to this outward expression as "the manifestation of the Spirit" 1 Cor 12:7, perhaps in contrast to the quiet and secret operations of the Spirit.
The point we desire to emphasise is the following: the Baptism with the Holy Ghost, which is a baptism of power, is "charismatic" in character, judging from the descriptions of the results of the impartation.
c) Its Initial Evidence
How do we know when a man receives the impartation of the Holy Ghost? We grant that in every case mentioned in the book of Acts, the results of the impartation are not recorded; but where the results are described there is always an immediate, supernatural, outward expression, convincing not only the receiver, but the people listening to him, that a divine power is controlling the man; and in every case recorded there is an ecstatic speaking in a language that the man has never learned.
[Here ...it has a number of Doctors etc agreeing on this - one stated that speaking in tongues "appears to have been the most arresting and at first the most characteristic of the manifestations of the Spirit"].
Is there any place in the NT where a distinction is made between those who have received the enduement of power and those who haven't? 1 Cor 14:16,23 denotes people who are differentiated from unbelievers by the fact that they take part in worship to the extent of saying 'Amen'; they also are distinguished from believers by the fact that they are unable to take active part in Spirit-manifestations. It seems that a certian section in the meeting-house was reserved for the "uninformed ones" (1 Cor 14:16).
d) Its Continuous Aspect
The experience described as being "filled with the Spirit" is connected with the thought of power for service. 3 phases of this experience are to be distinguished.
(1) The initial filling when a person is for the first time baptised with the Holy Ghost.
(2) A habitual condition is referred to in the words, "full of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 6:3; 7:55; 11:24) which words describe the daily life of a spiritual man, or one whose character reveals "the fruit of the Spirit." The habitual condition is referred to in the exhortation "Be filled with the Spirit." Eph 5:8.
(3) Fillings or anointings for special occasions. Paul was filled with the Holy Ghost after his conversion, but in Acts 13:9 we learn that God gave him a special enduement to resist the evil power of a sorcerer with. (read Acts 4:8; 4:31 also).
e)The Manner of its Reception
(1) The right attitude is essential (Acts 1:14)
(2) The receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost subsequent to conversion is connected with the prayers of Christian workers (Acts 8:15,17).
(3) The receiving of spiritual power is connected with the united prayers of the church (Acts 4:31).
(4) A spontaneous outpouring may in some cases make prayer or effort unnecessary as was the case with those in the house of Cornelius whose hearts had already been "purified by faith" (Acts 10:44; 15:9).
(5) Since the baptism of power is described as a gift (Acts 10:45) the believer may ask for this promise of Jesus (Luke 11:13). A certain school of interpreters teach that one should not ask for the Spirit, for the following reason. At Pentecost the Holy Ghost came to dwell permanently in the church; since then, everyone who is added to the church by the Lord, and baptised unto Christ, by that very fact becomes a partaker of the Spirit 1 Cor 12:13.
It is true that the Spirit abides in the church, yet that should not deter the believer from asking and seeking. Though the Spirit was given once and for all to the church on the day of Pentecost, it does not follow that every believer has received the Baptism. God's gift requires appropriation. As there is faith toward Christ for salvation, so there is a faith toward the Spirit for power and consecration.
(6) Individual prayer (Acts 9:9-17)
(7) Obedience. The Holy Ghost is He "whom God hath given to them that obey him." Acts 5:32.
