74
The Fundamentals that Peter had said enough, for from Peter’s report to the church in Jerusalem we learn that he intended to say more, and not only say more but probably do more, so making an interval even as in the case of the Samaritans through baptism, prayer and laying on of his hands that they might receive the Holy Ghost. (Acts 8:14-17; 10:43-44; 11:15, 16.) I t is especially to be noted in this connection that the text of Eph. 1:13, so often quoted as proving a long interval between faith in Christ and “the sealing of the Spirit,” “In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,” lends no authority for such long interval of time, for the word “after” implies more than the Greek participle warrants, and accordingly the Revision reads, “In whom having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise;” but the very same participle, “having believed,” used by Paul in Ephesians, is used by Peter in the Acts in rehearsing the interview with Cornelius, who received the Spirit immediately. (Acts 2:17.) Neither does the remaining instance of the twelve disciples of John the Baptist whom Paul found in Ephesus, prove that such an interval is necessary or inevitable today; for they had not even heard that Jesus had come, and that redemption had been accomplished, and the Spirit given; but as soon as remission of sins in the name of Jesus was preached to them, they believed, were baptized, and through prayer and the laying on of Paul’s hands, received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 19:1-6.) The question Paul addressed to them, “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (or in the Revision, “Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?”) has been most strangely applied in these days to Christians, whereas it was pertinent to these disciples of John only. To address it to Christians now is to deny a finished redemption, the sonship o f believers and the once-for-all out-pouring of the Holy Spirit.
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker