The Spirit, the Gospel, and How to Respond

Restoring the Foundations · Article 11 of 14

Article 10 ended at Pentecost. Peter told a crowd in Jerusalem, “God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36). Luke goes on: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”” (Acts 2:37).

Many still ask it, some in fear. Here Scripture answers in its own words.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), current eBible.org edition, checked word for word. The WEB prints God’s name as Yahweh. Notes on the Hebrew and Greek are at the end. Each claim is marked as what the text says explicitly, a canonical connection Scripture itself makes, or our conclusion. Please check every verse for yourself.

A Fair Question

So here is the question for this article: What is the promised Spirit, what is the Good News, and how do we answer it?

Part 1: The Spirit God Promised

Promised to Israel

Long before Pentecost, Moses said, “I wish that all Yahweh’s people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29). The prophets turned that wish into a promise. Through Ezekiel God told the house of Israel, “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and do them.” (Ezekiel 36:27). And again: “I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land” (Ezekiel 37:14). Through Joel: “It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28).

All explicit. The Spirit is God’s own, my Spirit; the promise is joined to obedience; and the named recipients are Israel, in Israel’s land. Those promises are not taken from Israel; Article 12 takes up how the nations come to share them.

Poured out at Pentecost

John explains a saying of Jesus: “For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.” (John 7:39). After rising, Jesus told the disciples to “wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). At Pentecost “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other languages” (Acts 2:4). Peter said, “But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16), and quoted it. His wording differs from Joel’s: “afterward” (Joel 2:28) becomes “in the last days, says God” (Acts 2:17). Peter’s quotation stops at “whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21), and the end of that same verse, “those whom Yahweh calls” (Joel 2:32), returns at the close of his sermon in “as many as the Lord our God will call to himself” (Acts 2:39). We take that echo as Peter’s own connection.

Of the exalted Jesus Peter says, “having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you now see and hear.” (Acts 2:33). Paul joins both: God our Savior (Titus 3:4) saved us by the Holy Spirit, “whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:6).

Our conclusion: the wait of John 7:39 ended at Pentecost. The gift comes from God the Father through the man he exalted, who had himself first been anointed: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38).

Part 2: What Scripture Calls the Spirit

Whose Spirit

The Spirit is called “God’s Spirit” from the second verse of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). David asked, “Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). Paul writes “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ” in one verse (Romans 8:9), and “the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead” (Romans 8:11). He compares God’s Spirit to a person’s own spirit: “no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:11), as only “the spirit of the man which is in him” knows a man’s things (1 Corinthians 2:11). At the conception of Jesus the angel set two lines side by side: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” (Luke 1:35).

All explicit. The Hebrew ruach and the Greek pneuma both mean wind, breath and spirit, and Jesus uses both senses: “The wind blows where it wants to… So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8), where wind and Spirit are one Greek word.

How the Spirit is given, and what the Spirit does

The Spirit is poured out (Acts 2:33), given (Romans 5:5), received (Acts 8:17) and drunk (1 Corinthians 12:13). Scripture also uses the language of speaking and feeling. At Antioch, “the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”” (Acts 13:2). “Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30), as Israel once “rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit” (Isaiah 63:10). Paul writes that “the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.” (Romans 8:26). The one and the same Spirit gives gifts, “distributing to each one separately as he desires.” (1 Corinthians 12:11). The Counselor “will teach you all things” (John 14:26).

All explicit. Both sets of words are Scripture’s.

The Trinitarian reading, at full strength

Most churches confess the Spirit as the third Person of one God, and their case from the text is serious. Jesus commanded “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), and the Greek has one name, not three. Paul blesses with “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14). In John 14-16 the Counselor is another like Jesus (John 14:16), sent “from the Father” (John 15:26), and the Greek uses the masculine pronoun ekeinos, he, of the Spirit (see the Notes). The Spirit speaks in the first person, “for me” (Acts 13:2). And Peter asked Ananias why Satan had filled his heart “to lie to the Holy Spirit” (Acts 5:3), then said, “You haven’t lied to men, but to God.” (Acts 5:4). Holders conclude: the Spirit is a person, and the Spirit is God.

The Jehovah’s Witness reading, at full strength

Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that the holy spirit is God’s active force, not a person. Their case also rests on the text: the Spirit is poured, drunk and filled like water or wine (Acts 2:17; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 5:18), and set beside “the power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35). Greek pneuma is neuter. We state this view in our own words.

What the text says in answer

To the Trinitarian reading: Acts 5 does make lying to the Holy Spirit lying to God. We take that to fit Paul’s comparison, that God’s Spirit is to God as a man’s spirit is to a man (1 Corinthians 2:11); that step is our conclusion. The Spirit “proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26) and is sent by the Father in Jesus’ name (John 14:26). The Greek pronoun is not uniform: in John 14:17 it is the neuter auto, it, where the WEB prints him, and Romans 8:16 opens auto to pneuma, the Spirit itself (WEB The Spirit himself). Masculine ekeinos in John 14:26 agrees with the masculine noun parakletos, Counselor; in 16:13 that noun last appears at 16:7, so readers weigh it differently. The same title is given to Jesus in 1 John 2:1.

In the blessings the Spirit is named beside God, but Scripture does not call the Spirit a person beside God, nor the three one God. We found no verse in which prayer or worship is addressed to the Spirit. Believers “worship God in the Spirit” (Philippians 3:3). Trinity, Godhead and third Person are not in the WEB.

To the Jehovah’s Witness reading: Scripture does not use the words active force, and it does not say the Spirit is impersonal. The gift-words and the personal words stand side by side in the same letters (Ephesians 4:30; 5:18).

Our conclusion: we call the Spirit what Scripture calls it: God’s own Holy Spirit, his presence and power at work, the Spirit of God and of the risen Christ, who teaches, speaks, can be grieved, and dwells in believers. Scripture does not define the Spirit’s being, and we do not. The personal language is rich, and Scripture itself names what the Spirit is: the Spirit is “the power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35), “power from on high” (Luke 24:49), and God says, “I will pour out my Spirit” (Acts 2:17). God’s Spirit is to God what “the spirit of the man which is in him” is to a man (1 Corinthians 2:11); our conclusion is that it speaks and teaches because God speaks and teaches through it. Jesus says the same of the Spirit of truth: “he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak.” (John 16:13). The one name of Matthew 28:19 is not a sign of three Persons: the apostles baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38), and Israel was “baptized into Moses” (1 Corinthians 10:2) without Moses being God. What no text does is call the Spirit a second or third God, a Person of a Godhead, or a mere force.

Part 3: The Good News

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and God’s Kingdom is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”” (Mark 1:14-15). After the resurrection, the Kingdom (Articles 6-8) and a name stood together: in Samaria the people “believed Philip preaching good news concerning God’s Kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12). Paul delivered “first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Our conclusion: the Good News is God’s Kingdom drawing near in Jesus the Messiah: he died for our sins, was buried, was raised, was exalted, and will judge and reign. Each part is explicit somewhere (Acts 17:31 for judgment); joining them is our summary.

Part 4: How to Respond

Two askers, two answers

“Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”” (Acts 2:38-39).

“Then those who gladly received his word were baptized.” (Acts 2:41).

Years later a jailer in Philippi asked almost the same question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). “They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”” (Acts 16:31). They spoke the word of the Lord to all in his house (Acts 16:32), and he “was immediately baptized, he and all his household.” (Acts 16:33).

Our conclusion: the crowd had already heard and been cut to the heart, so they were told to repent and be baptized; the jailer had not yet heard, so he was told to believe, and that night he was baptized.

Acts 2:38 up close

Three details in the Greek matter (see the Notes). Repent is plural; be baptized is singular with every one of you, each person. And for the forgiveness of sins uses the same words (eis aphesin hamartion) as Jesus’ blood “poured out for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28) and John’s “baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4).

The objection most often raised: eis can mean because of, so Peter meant be baptized because your sins are forgiven. Holders point to John’s baptism “for repentance” (Matthew 3:11), which they read as following repentance, not producing it. They add a grammatical point: your in your sins is plural, matching plural repent, not singular be baptized, so they read forgiveness as tied to repentance, with baptism set between. And in his next sermon Peter promised forgiveness with no baptism named: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).

What the text says: Thayer lists both purpose and reference to what prompts an act (Matthew 12:41); the word has a range (see the Notes). In Acts 2:38 the phrase stands right after the baptism clause, and the promise of the Spirit follows both commands. The plural your does match repent; whether it also takes in the singular be baptized is a real dispute of grammar (see the Notes). Ananias later told Saul, “Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16).

Our conclusion: Peter gave repentance and baptism in Jesus’ name together, as the way the crowd was to come to forgiveness and the promised gift, not as a sign that they already had both. We read Matthew 26:28 and Acts 22:16 the same way. The word eis reaches its sense from the sentence it sits in, and the grammar of your is debated (see the Notes); our conclusion rests on Peter’s whole answer, not on one word. When Acts 3:19 and 10:43 join forgiveness to repenting and believing, they name the same response more briefly, and at Cornelius’s house the believers were baptized at once (Acts 10:48). Scripture does not say baptism is a cause of forgiveness apart from repentance and faith, and neither do we.

All the parts, as Scripture names them

The response has several parts, each explicit:

• Hearing: “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).
• Believing: “through his name everyone who believes in him will receive remission of sins.” (Acts 10:43).
• Repenting: God “commands that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30).
• Confessing: “if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9).
• Calling on his name: “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13).
• Being baptized: Acts 2:38.
• Walking on: “doing works worthy of repentance.” (Acts 26:20).

Paul summed it up as “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus.” (Acts 20:21). Even repentance is God’s gift: “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life!” (Acts 11:18).

Our conclusion: these are not rival plans. No verse lists them all, and none sets one against another; we take them together as Scripture’s one answer.

Part 5: Baptism

What Acts records

In Samaria the people believed and were baptized (Acts 8:12). The Spirit came later, when Peter and John prayed and “laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:17). Simon “also believed” and was baptized (Acts 8:13), yet Peter later told him, “your heart isn’t right before God. Repent therefore of this, your wickedness” (Acts 8:21-22).

At Cornelius’s house the Holy Spirit fell on the hearers while Peter was still speaking (Acts 10:44). Peter answered, “Can anyone forbid these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just like us.” (Acts 10:47), and “He commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Acts 10:48).

At Ephesus, disciples who knew only John’s baptism “were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:5), and the Holy Spirit came on them when Paul laid his hands on them (Acts 19:6).

All explicit. Where Luke gives the timing, baptism came quickly: “that day” (Acts 2:41), “the same hour of the night” (Acts 16:33). He records no believer whose baptism was put off. Luke also records Apollos, who “taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25); Priscilla and Aquila “explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26), and no baptism in Jesus’ name is recorded for him or for the twelve apostles. What varied was when the Spirit came: after baptism in Samaria and Ephesus, before it at Cornelius’s house.

What the letters say baptism means

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:3-4).

“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27). Believers were “buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Colossians 2:12).

Peter recalls Noah, when “eight souls, were saved through water.” (1 Peter 3:20): “This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21), “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God” (1 Peter 3:21), “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).

Our conclusion: in baptism a believer is joined to the Messiah’s death and resurrection, through faith in what God does, and begins a new walk; the power is God’s. Its hope is bodily: “we will also be part of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5).

Objection 1: “Baptism is a work; we are saved by faith alone”

At full strength: “by grace you have been saved through faith… not of works, that no one would boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). “We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:28). Romans 10:9 and Acts 16:31 promise salvation without naming baptism. At Cornelius’s house the Spirit came before the water (Acts 10:44-47). Paul wrote, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News” (1 Corinthians 1:17). And Jesus promised the criminal beside him, “today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43), with no baptism recorded.

What the text says: Paul treats baptism not as our work but as burial and raising “through faith in the working of God” (Colossians 2:12). Titus 3:5 says “not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves” and, in the same sentence, “through the washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5); reading that washing as baptism is our conclusion. At Cornelius’s house, the Spirit’s coming first was the reason Peter commanded baptism, not a reason to skip it (Acts 10:47-48). In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul is rebuking factions, “were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:13), and the same Corinthians had all been baptized (1 Corinthians 12:13). The criminal died before the resurrection and before Pentecost, before Acts 2:38 was spoken.

Our conclusion: baptism is not a payment and not a work that earns; it is part of the response the Good News calls for, received by faith. Acts 10 shows God is not bound to an order, and even there Peter “commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:48). Paul’s not sent to baptize (1 Corinthians 1:17) sets his task beside others who baptized, and Romans 10:9 names confession and faith; our conclusion is that baptism is where that faith is first expressed (Acts 8:36, 38). We judge no one’s standing beyond what Scripture says. But we cannot call baptism optional: Peter commanded it (Acts 2:38; 10:48), and Luke records no believer refusing it or waiting.

Objection 2: “The water itself saves”

At full strength: baptism “now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21), and “unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.” (John 3:5). What the text says: Peter excludes the outward washing and names a good conscience and the resurrection (1 Peter 3:21). John 3:5 does not say baptism, and John does not explain water; we rest no argument on it.

Objection 3: Infant baptism, and households

Acts records households baptized (Acts 16:15, 33). Holders of infant baptism reason that households included children (compare Acts 2:39). What the text says: the jailer’s household first heard the word (Acts 16:32); at Corinth, “Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.” (Acts 18:8). No text names an infant baptized or forbids it. Our conclusion: every baptism Acts describes in detail follows hearing and believing; beyond that we stay silent.

The name at baptism

Jesus commanded baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Acts records baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:48), of Christ Jesus (Acts 8:16) and of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5). No text records the words spoken or relates Matthew to Acts. Our conclusion: Scripture does not make the exact words a test, and neither do we.

Part 6: Grace, Faith and Works

As Article 4 promised, Paul and James both quote Genesis 15:6 (Romans 4:3; James 2:23). Paul writes, “Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as something owed.” (Romans 4:4). James writes, “You see then that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.” (James 2:24).

Each answers his own question. Paul asks about wages and boasting; James about faith that does nothing for a brother in need: “Can faith save him?” (James 2:14). His answer: “faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26). Paul agrees: believers are “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

Paul asks the Galatians, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing of faith?” (Galatians 3:2). Peter told the council the Holy Spirit is the one “whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:32).

Our conclusion: Paul rules out a salvation that is earned; James rules out a faith that does nothing. So repentance, faith, confession and baptism are never a payment, and never optional (Acts 2:38; 17:30). Obedience is the gift’s fruit, not its price. We read Acts 5:32 beside Galatians 3:2, not against it: the obedience in view is the obedience that trusts.

Part 7: Led by the Spirit

Every believer, now

To all the believers in Rome Paul writes, “But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.” (Romans 8:9). “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.” (Romans 8:14). Then he answers fear:

“For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”” (Romans 8:15).

“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). The cry is to the Father.

The walk Ezekiel promised

In Ezekiel, God promised to put his Spirit within Israel and “cause you to walk in my statutes” (Ezekiel 36:27). Paul speaks of “the ordinance of the law” being “fulfilled in us who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4). That link is our conclusion; Paul does not cite Ezekiel there.

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). Paul names the deeds of the flesh and warns soberly “that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.” (Galatians 5:21). His next words:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23).

“If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25).

The down payment of what is coming

The Spirit is also a beginning. Believers “have the first fruits of the Spirit” and wait for “the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:23). God “will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11), and “gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 1:22).

Our conclusion: the Spirit-led life rests on the gift, not on fear, and it points forward to the resurrection of the body (Article 13) and the new creation (Article 14).

“Only an anointed few have the Spirit’s witness”

Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that only the 144,000 are born again and have the Spirit’s witness (our wording). At full strength: Jesus spoke to a “little flock” (Luke 12:32), and John “heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand” (Revelation 7:4).

What the text says: Luke 12:32 speaks of the Kingdom, not the Spirit’s witness. Next, John saw “a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation” (Revelation 7:9). The promise was to “every one of you” (Acts 2:38). Paul writes “as many as” (Romans 8:14). John wrote, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” (1 John 2:20). No text divides believers into those who have the Spirit and those who do not. Who the 144,000 are belongs to Article 14.

What Scripture Leaves Open

• The moment of forgiveness within the response (Acts 2:38; 10:43; 22:16).
• Why the Spirit came at different points (Acts 8:15-17; 10:44-47; 19:5-6).
• Those who die before they could be baptized.
• What the Spirit is in itself.
• Whether Joel’s signs in the sky are past or ahead (Acts 2:19-20).

“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Where We Stand

What Scripture says explicitly: God promised his Spirit to Israel (Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28); the exalted Jesus, having received the promise from the Father, poured it out (Acts 2:33). The Spirit is the Spirit of God and of Christ (Romans 8:9), poured out, and also teaching, speaking and grieved (John 14:26; Acts 13:2; Ephesians 4:30). The Good News is God’s Kingdom and the Messiah who died, was buried and was raised (Mark 1:15; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Peter said, “Repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38); Paul, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31; Romans 10:9). Baptism joins believers to Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). Salvation is “not of works” (Ephesians 2:9), and “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26).

Canonical connections: Joel 2 in Acts 2; Genesis 15:6 in Romans 4 and James 2; Noah in 1 Peter 3:20-21.

Our conclusions: we call the Spirit only what Scripture calls it, God’s own Holy Spirit, and add no formula. The response to the Good News is one answer with several parts: hearing, believing, repenting, confessing, being baptized in Jesus’ name, and walking by the Spirit. Acts 2:38 sets baptism toward forgiveness, not after it. Baptism is never a payment and never optional.

Counter-texts, answered: The personal language for the Spirit: the Spirit is “the power of the Most High” (Luke 1:35), poured out by God (Acts 2:17). Matthew 28:19’s one name: Israel was “baptized into Moses” (1 Corinthians 10:2). Acts 5:3-4: to lie to God’s Spirit is to lie to God, “You haven’t lied to men, but to God” (Acts 5:4). Acts 10:44-48: the Spirit came first, and Peter still commanded baptism (Acts 10:48). 1 Corinthians 1:17: Paul’s task, not baptism’s worth. Romans 10:9 and Acts 16:31: the jailer believed and was baptized “the same hour of the night” (Acts 16:33). The criminal in Luke 23:43: he died before Jesus gave the command of Matthew 28:19, our conclusion. Acts 3:19: the same call to turn, given more briefly. Eis and your in Acts 2:38: our conclusion rests on Peter’s whole answer, not one word.

What Scripture does not say: that the Spirit is a third Person of a Godhead, or an impersonal force; that water itself saves; that baptism earns anything; that only a few believers have the Spirit.

Living It Out

“He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.” (John 6:37). Our applications, offered as invitations:

• Ask the Father. You could simply ask, as Luke 11:13 invites.
• Read where baptism is told. If you have questions about baptism, read Acts 8:35-39 and Romans 6:3-4 with someone you trust.
• Let Romans 8:15 answer an old fear. When fear returns, read Romans 8:14-16 slowly.

For Study

• Acts 8, 10 and 19 side by side: when the Spirit came, and what stayed the same.

Notes on the Text

• Spirit: Hebrew ruach (Strong’s 7307), tagged in the OSHB as a noun of either gender, as in Genesis 1:2, Ezekiel 36:27 and Joel 2:28 (Hebrew 3:1, ruchi, my Spirit). Greek pneuma is neuter; John 3:8 uses to pneuma for both the wind and the Spirit.
• John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:13: parakletos (Thayer, Strong’s 3875), one called to another’s side to help, an advocate. John 14:17 has the neuter auto (it), where the WEB prints him. John 14:26, 15:26 and 16:13 use masculine ekeinos; it agrees with parakletos (14:26; 15:26; and 16:7 for 16:13). In 16:13 to pneuma tes aletheias stands beside it, so readers differ on how much the masculine shows.
• Romans 8:16, 26: auto to pneuma, literally the Spirit itself; the WEB has The Spirit himself.
• Acts 2:38: metanoesate (plural imperative), baptistheto hekastos hymon (singular, let each of you be baptized), eis aphesin ton hamartion hymon (hymon, your, plural). Matthew 26:28 and Mark 1:4 have eis aphesin hamartion. On eis (Thayer, Strong’s 1519): its uses include the end in view, purpose, and reference to what prompts an act (Matthew 12:41, metenoesan eis to kerygma, repented at the preaching).
• Acts 8:16: the WEB reads “Christ Jesus”; the SBLGNT reads tou kyriou Iesou, the Lord Jesus. Acts 8:16 and 19:5 have eis to onoma (as Matthew 28:19, singular); 2:38 epi to onomati; 10:48 en to onomati.
• 1 Peter 3:21: antitypon, WEB symbol; eperotema, WEB answer, also rendered appeal or pledge.
• Acts 22:16: baptisai kai apolousai tas hamartias sou, middle imperatives: get yourself baptized and get your sins washed away.

Looking Ahead

Peter said the promise was “to all who are far off” (Acts 2:39), and at Cornelius’s house “the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles.” (Acts 10:45). The next article, One People: the Assembly, Israel, and the Nations, asks: Do believers from the nations replace Israel, become Israel, or join what still belongs to Israel?

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© 2026 Elvis Lucas, Open the Text. Original: https://openthetext.com/series/restoring-the-foundations/11-the-spirit-the-gospel-and-how-to-respond/
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