|
|
Post by richard on Apr 26, 2014 4:22:52 GMT
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The disciples went around healing before Jesus died , one man they could not heal , Jesus had to do it ,
Mark 9v28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? 29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
so did they have the Holy Spirit at this time? Prayer and fasting seem really help with the use of the Holy Spirit.
|
|
|
|
Post by jwolfe on Apr 26, 2014 4:29:24 GMT
i thought the guy they were trying to heal didnt have faith, however after some discussion some believe the disciples didnt have enough faith.
|
|
Lee
Administrator 
Posts: 1,047
|
Post by Lee on Apr 26, 2014 14:05:52 GMT
My understanding is that they did have the Holy Spirit prior to pentecost, but not to the degree they had it at pentecost, at which time they were even able to transfer it to others. (Did Elijah and Elisha have the Holy Spirit?)
If this isnt true, how else would they have been able to heal, etc. prior to pentecost?
And if the Holy Spirit was manifested before pentecost (although in less degree), is it possible it existed afterwards, ie today?
"The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Rom. 5:5).
"By the Holy Spirit which is given unto us." To what extent are we entitled—to what entent are we expected and required— to appropriate that promise to ourselves, and to adjust ourselves to the staggering magnitude of that promise? Is the apostle just speaking of the miraculous Spirit-powers of the first century—the especial and specific external Spirit-gifts of miracles, prophecy, tongues, etc., which ceased with that generation— or is he speaking of something far deeper and more marvellous and of vital concern to us individually today?
But the thought is even clearer still in Rom. 8, There, in several verses, this indwelling of the Holy Spirit is described as the deciding factor as to whether the individual is in the way of life or death, as in vs. 8-9—
"They that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit—IF so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."
V. 11—"IF the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
This cannot just mean "spirit" as disposition and frame of mind; there is manifestly more to it than that for it is the power by which God shall "quicken your mortal bodies" Rene
|
|
