Jerry
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
Francisco,
Even you admit that one is baptized into Christ BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
But you also say that "the Holy Spirit doesn´t perform baptism...I say that we receive the Hoy Spirit in water baptism..."
Well,if we receive the Holy Spirit in baptism,we would say that someone is baptized WITH the Holy Spirit,and not BY the Holy Spirit.
When you say that someone is baptized into Christ BY the Holy Spirit,you are saying that it is the Holy Spirit Who is doing the baptism.
Actually, the same Greek word, 'en', that is translated here as 'by', is a primary preoposition denoting place and instrumentality and is defined as 'in, by, with etc.' according to Strong's. So in this sentence, 'en' is indicating that the Holy Spirit is an instrument with which we are baptized. For your claim to be true, the word you would be looking for is (I believe) 'ek' which would denote the Holy Spirit as the originator of the baptism.
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
And you also say that the sinner receives the gift of the Holy Spirit when they submit to the rite of water baptism.Howevr,the following proves that you are in error.
First of all,we see that those who received the Holy Spirit received it before they were baptized with water (Acts2:3,4).
We also see that Cornelius and his household received it before they were baptized with water.
This does not prove any error, as I said before that baptism isn't the only way in which one receives the Holy Spirit. I hope that I receive the Spirit's assistance when I ask Him to open my mind and heart to the Word before I read scripture. Surely you do to?
So, if we can receive the Holy Spirit by means other than baptism, Cornelius receiving the Spirit before he was baptized served another purpose and doesn't have anything to do with baptism. The purpose in Cornelius' case was to make Peter understand that salvation was for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Remember, the visions of the unclean animals was shown to Peter 3 times just prior to Cornelius sending his messengers to summon Peter. And after Peter saw the Spirit descend on Cornelius and realized God intended salvation for the Gentiles as well as Jews, Peter immediately called for Cornelius to be baptized so he too could be grafted into the Body of Christ.
And by the way, your statement that 'those who received the Holy Spirit received it before thay were baptized' is accurate ONLY in the case of Cornelius. In all other cases in scripture, the Holy Spirit is only received AFTER baptism.
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
The gift of the Holy Spirit comes as a result of repenting (having a change of mind),and not a result of being bptized with water.Peter said:
"Repent (and be baptized every on of you in the name of Jesus Christ) for the remission of your sins,and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"(Acts2:38).
Here,the verb makes a distinction between singular and plural verbs and nouns.The verb "repent" is plural and so is the pronoun "your" in the clause "for the remission of your sins"(eis aphesin ton hamartion hymon),Therefore,the verb "repent" must go with the purpose of "forgivness of sins".
On the other hand,the words "be baptized" is singular,setting it off from the rest of the sentence.Therefore,the sentence should read:
Repent for the remission of your sins,and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
I don't know what translation you're using, but the KJV reads 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' I believe your translation is adding the plural pronoun 'your' to the text, as this word is not found in the KJV or any of the literal translations. So your argument is invalid based on the fact 'your' is added for clarity to the original text. See how dangerous adding and subtracting words can be, no matter how good the intention?
So if we look at the KJV translation, the key becomes the meaning of the word 'and' which is translated from the Greek word 'kai' and indicates a cumulative coupling between the verbs 'repent' and 'be baptized'. That renders this sentence to mean that we must do both, repent and be baptized, for the remission of sins.
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
And that matches the words of Peter later on that same day.He said:
"Repent,therefore,and be converted,that your sins may be blotted out..."(Acts3:19).
And this agrees with my theology because the main 'ingredient' in baptism is repentance.
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
That is why we see those who had already repented receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit before they were baptized on the day of Pentecost:
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come,they were all with one accord in one place.And suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind,and it filled all the house where they were sitting.And there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire,and it sat upon all of them.And they were all filled ith the Holy Spirit..."(Acts2:1-4).
You make the wild assumption that those who received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost were not already baptized. You have no basis for making this claim, as we've seen before.
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
And we can also see that Cornlius and his household also received the Holy Spirit in the same manner that Peter did,and this was as a result of "repentance" and not because of a "water baptism".Peter said:
"Can anyone forbid water,that these should not be baptized,WHO HAVE RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT AS WELL AS WE?"(Acts10:47).
This doesn't mean Peter received the Holy Spirit before he was baptized. You're reading that into the text Jerry. It only means that Cornelius had received the Holy Spirit as well, too, or also. And notice the importance Peter put on water baptism even after the Holy Spirit had been received by Cornelius. It obviously wasn't 'symbolically' important as everyone had already seen the Spirit come to Cornelius. It was important because this is how a Christian is grafted into the Body of Christ.
Originally posted by Jerry Shugart:
So an examination of the events in the Acts narrative proves that it was by "repentance" that the sinner had his sins removed and received the gift of the Holy Spirit:
"Repent (and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ) for the remission of your sins,and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"(Acts2:38).
"Repent,therefore,and be converted,that your sins may be blotted out..."(Acts3:19).
As I said above, repentance IS the 'main ingredient' to baptism, so I agree that repentance is necessary. But I also believe that our obedience of faith, in this case following Jesus' wish that we are all baptized making a public confession of our faith, is also as important as our repentance. And just as for Abraham, who had faith in God before he made the outward showing of his faith by offering God his only son, our reward comes when we make our outward showing of our faith in baptism.
I hope you have a great Thanksgiving Jerry, and may God bless you always.
Francisco