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NASB | Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ephesians 1:13 In Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as owned and protected [by God]. [John 7:39; Acts 2:33] |
Subject: Automatic Holy Spirit? |
Bible Note: Greetings charis! Thank you for reciting that hymn! That was exactly what I was thinking when I wrote my former post! :-) As for your original question, I would cite Acts chapter 2, which is heralded by the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.. Verse 37 states that they were "pierced to the heart".. Now just what did "pierced to the heart" mean? I believe that this reflects a regret over their former rejection of Jesus and it reflects a new belief in Jesus! In other words, when they were "pierced to the heart", the people were "pierced" by the presence of the Holy Spirit.. And what other "agent" or 'force' could cause the people to be "pierced to the heart" other than the Holy Spirit? Of course, Peter did preach a good sermon that day.. :-) But it was the power and influence of the Holy Spirit behind that sermon that had such a great effect on the people! And when those people where truly brought to repentence because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, then they were saved! And they willingly repented of all their sins, and then underwent water baptism, (v. 41) after they had received this awesome presence of the Holy Spirit, convicting them of their sins and leading them into repentence and salvation. When the Holy Spirit came, He was able to lead others to salvation through power and conviction! And by seeing the Holy Spirit work all throughout the book of Acts and the NT, we can see that the Holy Spirit is the "persuader" that God uses to draw men to Himself, by "piercing" people to the heart through another Christian, a sermon that is preached, a Bible tract, etc, etc, and "breaking" people, making them willing to come to repentance by His presence, and thus planting a seed in an unsaved person forever that they now make the choice to be truly saved and follow Him! So, in short, I would use Acts 2 and the coming of the Holy Spirit as "evidence" of the Bible making it clear that the indwelling or baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at salvation. Blessings to you, Nolan |