Question about receiving Holy Spirit in Acts 8

[Donald Sexton]

In Acts Chapter 8, when Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ, many of them believed, but did not receive the Holy Spirit until Peter and John came down and laid hands on them. Why did they not receive the Holy Spirit right away? Why did it take two apostles to lay their hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit?

[gregoryfl]

In Acts Chapter 8, when Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ, many of them believed, but did not receive the Holy Spirit until Peter and John came down and laid hands on them. Why did they not receive the Holy Spirit right away? Why did it take two apostles to lay their hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit?

Peter was given the keys by Jesus to unlock the progression of the gospel. This is recorded here:

Mat 16:17-19 Jesus answered him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.'

It was Peter who gave the first gospel message which released it to the Jews, then when the gospel spread outside of the Jerusalem area for the first time, he had to come down to Samaria so that the gospel would be released there. Then finally, we see that in Acts 10 it was Peter who was granted to release the gospel to the gentiles.

The laying on of hands by the apostles was not a pattern that had to be followed, but rather the point was that Peter had to be there to release the gospel progressively. John did come with him on the occasion in Act 8, but it was Peter that needed to be there.

From what I understand, it was not a pattern to be followed, for if it were, then no one after the apostles died could receive the Holy Spirit. No, I believe it was a fulfillment of what Jesus said to Peter.

Ron

[joel]

Donald, your question appearing at this time is a very interesting one in that we are discussing on a different thread the "fullness of the Gentiles". Your question is not directly related to that thread, but, it is of interest, at least to me, in that it shows the difference between the administration of Peter's apostleship and that of Paul.

Specifically, the Holy Spirit indwells the believe during this current era. At that time, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers..........in a miraculous demonstration of spiritual gifts at the time of Pentecost, and upon the laying on of hands such as in the verse that you cited.

Joel

[seeking_one]

Donald, your question appearing at this time is a very interesting one in that we are discussing on a different thread the "fullness of the Gentiles". Your question is not directly related to that thread, but, it is of interest, at least to me, in that it shows the difference between the administration of Peter's apostleship and that of Paul.

Specifically, the Holy Spirit indwells the believe during this current era. At that time, the Holy Spirit came upon the believers..........in a miraculous demonstration of spiritual gifts at the time of Pentecost, and upon the laying on of hands such as in the verse that you cited.

Joel

Hi Joel,
This is one aspect that I have hard time accepting is that the Spiritual Gifts of Acts are not for today. Although, i believe in dispensations, i believe the Spiritual Gifts are not bound by a specific dispensation or time-period, but it is a tool to spread the Gospel.

What are your thoughts?

Peace and Blessings,
DB

[Rose]

Hi Joel,
This is one aspect that I have hard time accepting is that the Spiritual Gifts of Acts are not for today. Although, i believe in dispensations, i believe the Spiritual Gifts are not bound by a specific dispensation or time-period, but it is a tool to spread the Gospel.

What are your thoughts?

Peace and Blessings,
DB

Hi DB,

I think Spiritual gifts can absolutely be manifest today as a tool to spread the Gospel, but their pouring out in Acts was for a special time when the Church was being born and its very existence depended upon those Gifts.

In our time I see so much abuse, and fakery surrounding the whole area of Spiritual gifts that I have grown very skeptical. I have been in churches where one is not considered filled with the Holy Spirit unless the manifestation of tongues is given, and everyone in the congregation is exhorted to step out in Gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge and Prophecy by just speaking whatever random words enter your mind and calling them "God given".

Everywhere I look I see people who call themselves Christians making predictions, giving words of Wisdom, and Knowledge and none of them ever coming to pass. I see Preachers and Teachers claiming to heal sick folk, and pushing them over declaring it to be the power of God upon them....after awhile it all becomes a farce. Of all the people I have heard speaking in Tongues, I can't honestly say that I've felt any of them were receiving their words from God....it always felt phony and made up.

So I guess I would have to say that while I believe that Spiritual Gifts can be manifest today, I think they rarely are.

God Bless

Rose

[CWH]

Hi all,

I agree with Rose about the speaking of tongues in the churches. I once came from a church that speaks in tongues and they declared it's from the Lord. To me it's nonsense babbling and not what I know about speaking in tongues from the Bible. Speaking in tongues to me means speaking in foreign languages understandable by the foreigners in their native language of which the speakers themselves have no knowledge of but were inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so. Acts 2 gives a better idea of speaking in tongues:
4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
*5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

I do believe that some of us have spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit and the numbers will increase as we progress towards "the end of days" as stated by Joel 2 : 28 -

The Day of the LORD
*28 "And afterward,
****** I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
****** Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
****** your old men will dream dreams,
****** your young men will see visions.

Peace
God Blessed
Brother Cheow.

[seeking_one]

Hi DB,

I think Spiritual gifts can absolutely be manifest today as a tool to spread the Gospel, but their pouring out in Acts was for a special time when the Church was being born and its very existence depended upon those Gifts.

In our time I see so much abuse, and fakery surrounding the whole area of Spiritual gifts that I have grown very skeptical. I have been in churches where one is not considered filled with the Holy Spirit unless the manifestation of tongues is given, and everyone in the congregation is exhorted to step out in Gifts of Wisdom, Knowledge and Prophecy by just speaking whatever random words enter your mind and calling them "God given".

Everywhere I look I see people who call themselves Christians making predictions, giving words of Wisdom, and Knowledge and none of them ever coming to pass. I see Preachers and Teachers claiming to heal sick folk, and pushing them over declaring it to be the power of God upon them....after awhile it all becomes a farce. Of all the people I have heard speaking in Tongues, I can't honestly say that I've felt any of them were receiving their words from God....it always felt phony and made up.

So I guess I would have to say that while I believe that Spiritual Gifts can be manifest today, I think they rarely are.

God Bless

Rose

Hi Rose,
I belong to church that believes in speaking in tongues, but they don't emphasize it. I believe the gifts can be imitated and people do mistakenly use "tongues" as litmus test for salvation or being "born-again". But, I can tell you that I have witnessed with my own eyes and though there may be many that fake the gift, when encountered in its "true form" among "true believers", it is sight to behold. It's hard to explain, but it is feeling of "pure" joy.

God Bless,
DB

[seeking_one]

Hi all,

I agree with Rose about the speaking of tongues in the churches. I once came from a church that speaks in tongues and they declared it's from the Lord. To me it's nonsense babbling and not what I know about speaking in tongues from the Bible. Speaking in tongues to me means speaking in foreign languages understandable by the foreigners in their native language of which the speakers themselves have no knowledge of but were inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so. Acts 2 gives a better idea of speaking in tongues:
4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
*5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

I do believe that some of us have spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit and the numbers will increase as we progress towards "the end of days" as stated by Joel 2 : 28 -

The Day of the LORD
*28 "And afterward,
****** I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
****** Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
****** your old men will dream dreams,
****** your young men will see visions.

Peace
God Blessed
Brother Cheow.

Peace Brother Cheow,
I would be very careful labeling something as "babble". There are two types of tongues spoken of in the Scripture. One is "foreign languages" that are spoken of by MEN. To those that do understand the language it is clear, but those that do not it would be "babble". Right? Unless you recognize the language it will be gibberish to your ears . Right? 1 Cor 14:14 For if I pray in a unknown tongue(language), my spirit prayeth, BUT my understanding is unfruitful. NOTE: The "unknown language" is UNKNOWN to the speaker, not to the recipients.

The second type language spoken is that of the "angels".

1 Cor 13:1 Though I speak with tongues(languages) OF MEN and OF ANGELS.... NOTE: two types of tongues(languages) mentioned.

Peace.
DB

[CWH]

Hi DB,

I have no intention to challenge speaking of tongues in churches but just trying to understand the meaning of it in my own Bible Study. You did raised an interesting topic, "speaking in angel's tongue". I understand the logic of speaking in a foreign tongues so that foreigners will be able to understand God's words in their own native languages but... angelic tongues?
The apostles spoke to the angels in their native language, I believe it is in Aramaic and the angels responded in Aramaic, so why was there a need to speak in the tongues of angels? In fact, I believe even if the apostles were to speak in Hebrew, Greek or Latin or whatever language, the angels would respond likewise. The second question, is there an angelic language? Even if there is an angelic language, it will most probably be a common language in which all angels would be able to communicate among themselves.


The second type language spoken is that of the "angels".

1 Cor 13:1 Though I speak with tongues(languages) OF MEN and OF ANGELS.... NOTE: two types of tongues(languages) mentioned.

Peace
God Blessed.