Subject: Is baptism a work? |
Bible Note: Greetings Don! Good morning and welcome to the forum! You made the statement in your post that: "I too believe that the Holy Spirit enters you upon Baptism." How then would you explain the fact that believers in Acts 10:47 received the Holy Spirit prior to their water baptism? Here we have a clear cut example spelled out in chronological order. They heard Peter's preaching, responded, received the Holy Spirit, and were then baptized. Paul also makes it clear in Gal. 2:5 that the Holy Spirit is received when one believes the Gospel message: "Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?" John even proposes a test in 1 John 3:24 of how one can if one is a Christian or not: "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." Again, Paul says of believers in Eph. 1:13 that they receive the Holy Spirit after believing in Christ, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit," Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |