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NASB | John 14:16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 14:16 "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor--Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), to be with you forever-- |
Bible Question: I am a new Christian and I have A LOT of questions as you can imagine. One question is What is the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit and how can I know if this has happened to me? Can you give me some verses to look at as well please? |
Bible Answer: Hi Jessyka, E.W. Bullinger wrote a book called "Word Studies on the Holy Spirit". It is a complete concordance and concise commentary on every occurance of pneuma (Spirit) in the New Testament. I recommend this book to you. In your full question you wrote "What is the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit and how can I know that this has happened to me?" In your short question you wrote "Filled with the holy spirit?" You may have unknowingly brought up the crux of the question. That is, should holy spirit be capitalized? Is every occurance of Holy Spirit in the Scriptures speaking of a Person of Deity? The book I spoke of would help you decide. In the Appendix of his book, Bullinger writes: "14. Pneuma Hagion. This expression (which occurs fifty times) without articles, is never used of the Giver (the Holy Spirit), but always of His Gift. What this gift is may be seen by comparing Acts. i. 4,5 with Luke xxiv.49, where "the promise of the Father) is (in Acts) called pneuma hagion (holy spirit), and (in Luke) it is called "power from on high." This "power" includes whatever spiritul gifts the Holy Spirit may be pleased to bestow. This will be found the case in every one of the fifty occurances. In Acts ii.4 we read "they were all filled with pneuma hagion, and began to speak with other tongues as The Spirit gave:" pneuma hagion is here, and always, what is given, not the Giver. Pneuma Hagion is usually translated "the Holy Spirit," the article being inserted, and capital letters used. But then we have no stronger expression by which to translate "to pneuma, to hagion," (the Spirit, the holy [Spirit]). We must be careful to distinguish that which is so clearly marked in the Original. Whenever spirt is said to fall, or to be given, or to fill, or be baptized with, it is always pneuma without the article, or pneuma hagion." End of quote. I hope that helps. 1) In all the verses in Acts that have been referenced in your thread so far, I would put holy spirit in the lower case. I would agree with Bullinger that being filled with the holy spirit, being full of the holy spirit, and being baptized with the holy spirit would be the correct interpretation using capitalization choices. 2) I would disagree with him, so far, on his view of the holy spirit "to fall" on someone. For instance, I would say for Acts 10:44 that "the Holy Spirit [sic] fell upon all those who were listening to the message." In this verse the article is present with pneuma hagion. 3) In the first paragraph that I quoted from Bullinger's Appendix, he said if pneuma hagion is used without articles it is speaking "of His Gift." He goes on and speaks of what this gift is; so I would say that he should have said "His gift" thus distinguishing as he does in the rest of his book between the Giver and the gift. He distinguishes between the Spirit and the spirit. His book is not a matter of translation but of interpretation using capitalization choices of lower or upper case. My views also are not so much a matter of translation but of interpretation as to whether the verses speak of the Person or His spiritual gifts given. 4) If you are studying the Scriptures, thinking of the things of the Spirit as per Romans 8, then you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. What is important for you is to be filled with the holy spirit. Have your mind saturated with the word of God, the Psalms, spirititual songs, spiritual thoughts. When you put your faith in the God of the Scriptures, know the Savior and put your trust in Him for salvation; then you can be assured that He dwells in you, and you have the hope for glory, for you belong to Him and are a child of God. From the heart, Ray |