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UNION GROVE CHURCH OF CHRIST, CLEVELAND TN. |
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FALSE STATEMENTS THAT ARE SOMETIMES MADE ABOUT THE CHURCH OF CHRIST (5)
Have you ever had someone say to you, "You people in the church of Christ don’t really believe in the Holy Spirit?" This is yet another false statement that some make about the church. God’s people accept the fact that all scripture is inspired by Him (2 Timothy 3:16). In view of this, how can we believe in the Bible and not believe in the Holy Spirit? He is mentioned in the Bible from cover to cover. The second verse in the Bible declares that the Holy Spirit ("Spirit of God") moved upon ("was hovering over," NKJV) the face of the waters. Then, in the Bible’s last chapter we read, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come" (Revelation 22:17). Yes, we do believe in the Holy Spirit. The Bible declares that prophecy "came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). A clear example of this is seen in 2 Samuel 23:2, where it is written that David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." The Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets of old. Yes, we do believe in the Holy Spirit. Further, Jesus promised the apostles that after His ascension to heaven He would send the Holy Spirit to them. Now what would be the purpose in sending Him? The Holy Spirit was to teach the apostles all things, cause them to remember all that Jesus had spoken to them, and guide them into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13). Because Jesus’ words were always fulfilled, we know that the Holy Spirit came and did exactly what Jesus promised. Yes, we do believe in the Holy Spirit. We could multiply many times over such biblical statements about the Holy Spirit. In each case our firm affirmation would be, "Yes, we do believe in the Holy Spirit." Why, then, would people possibly conclude that members of the church of Christ do not believe in the Holy Spirit? In order to understand where such a false idea might be coming from, there are some crucial matters that we need to consider regarding the work of the Spirit. First, the Bible affirms that the Holy Spirit gave first century disciples the power to perform miracles (Hebrews 2:4). Such power was granted in order that such miracles might confirm the word that God’s messengers preached (Mark 16:20). In addition, special spiritual or miraculous gifts were given by the Spirit to members of the church (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) in order to help edify or build up the body of the Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Corinthians 14:3,5,23,26;) It is equally plain that these miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were passed on from the apostles of the Lord to other disciples by the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:14-20; 19:5,6; 2 Timothy 1:6). Today there are no genuine apostles living on the earth, thus no one living today can truthfully claim that an apostle of the Christ laid hands on him. Therefore, in God’s scheme of things there is no way for the miraculous gifts of the Spirit to be passed on in our time. We also note that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were never intended to be permanent, but only temporary. They were planned by Jehovah to be in use only for a limited period of time (1 Corinthians 13:8,9). They were to come to an end when "that which is perfect" would come (13:10). In the context of this passage, "that which is perfect" has reference to the complete revelation of God. In brief, when the complete revelation or truth of God was revealed in the New Testament, then the miraculous gifts were no longer needed. After the death of the last apostle, not one miraculous gift of the Spirit was ever conferred on any human being in history. Why? Such gifts were no longer needed, and, as we already noted, there were no longer any apostles who possessed the power to pass on such gifts to others. Therefore, there are no real miracles taking place in our day. Does that mean that we do not believe in miracles? If we believe the Bible, then we believe and accept every miracle that is recorded in the Bible. But, there is absolutely no foundation for believing in modern-day miracles. When we make it known to our friends that we do not believe in modern-day miracles, this may cause some of them to conclude that we do not believe in the Holy Spirit at all. But please note this important fact: it is one thing to declare that we believe in the Holy Spirit. It is another matter entirely to say that we believe that He is still doing miracles. The Holy Spirit is God. He is eternal. He had no beginning and will have no end. He lives today. He still possesses the power to grant miraculous gifts. However, it is not a matter of power, rather it is a question of whether or not such is His will to do so. Friends, the "miraculous age" has passed. We would hasten to add that even some in the church might falsely charge faithful saints with not believing in the Holy Spirit. How is that, you ask? The Bible teaches that in His work to convert sinners and keep Christians sanctified or holy, the Spirit does His work through the word of God. When we uphold this truth, some Christians think that we are doubting the Spirit’s work. Such could not be further from the truth. The Spirit acts, He moves people, He draws people, He convicts people’s hearts to do God’s will. The question is: "How does He do that?" The correct answer is that He does so through the word, His instrument or sword (Ephesians 6:17). "Then, you believe that the Bible is the Holy Spirit, right?" No, we don’t. Why don’t we? The Bible is not the Holy Spirit, but rather it is the word that He gave us. To say that the Spirit works through the word does not make Him and the Bible to be one and the same. Consider this: God worked through the prophets, but that does not mean that He and the prophets are one and the same. God was not the prophets, but rather He worked through them. In the same way the Holy Spirit is not the Bible, and vice versa. Rather the Spirit does His work of convicting men’s hearts through that word. I cannot speak for every member of the church, because I do not know the heart and beliefs of each one. I do know this: every faithful member of the church does believe in the Holy Spirit. Please do not back away from the biblical truth about the Spirit and His work. People may misunderstand you if you tell them that you do not believe in modern-day miracles or a direct operation of the Spirit to move the hearts of men. They may think that you are saying that you do not believe in the Holy Spirit at all. Politely correct their misunderstanding and use the Scriptures to show them God’s truth on the matter. -- Roger D. Campbell |
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