Every chapter from Professor Williams’ book, The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today, about the greatest reality of our time.

Spring 2002: Author’s Preface

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Preface

Spring 2002: Introduction

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Introduction

Spring 2002: Chapter One: Background

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Background (Chapter 1)

Summer 2002: Chapter Two: Dimensions

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Dimensions (Chapter 2)

Fall 2002: Chapter Three: Response

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Response (Chapter 3)

Winter 2003: Chapter Four: Purpose, Part 1

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Purpose (Chapter 4, Part 1)

Spring 2003: Chapter Four: Purpose, Part 2

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Purpose (Chapter 4, Part 2)

Summer 2003: Chapter Five: Reception

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Reception (Chapter 5)

Fall 2003: Chapter Six: Means

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Means (Chapter 6)

Winter 2004: Chapter Seven: Context

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Context (Chapter 7)

Spring 2004: Chapter Eight: Effects, Part 1

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Effects, Part 1 (Chapter 8)

Summer 2004: Chapter Eight: Effects, Part 2

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Effects, Part 2 (Chapter 8)

Fall 2004: Epilogue & Bibliography

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Epilogue & Bibliography

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today by J. Rodman Williams, was published in 1980 by Logos International. Used by permission of the author. Reprinted in Pneuma Review with minor updates from the author.

This index was later included in the Winter 2025 issue.

Elbert approaches Luke-Acts with two questions: (1) How does Luke expect Theophilus, the reader, to read his two-volume work (Luke-Acts)? and (2) How does Luke expect him to respond to it? As Robert Menzies summarizes, in the forward, first, Luke gives Theophilus “a coherent pneumatological picture.” Second, Luke thinks that “if Theophilus prays to receive gift of the Holy Spirit as Jesus taught, then it will be given to him” (Lk 11.13) and third, that Jesus’s command to ask for the good gift of the Holy Spirit must be understood in light of Pentecost and subsequent pneumatological events in Acts (vii). Significantly, Elbert sees the inchoate state of Theophilus who has received some initial instruction in the faith (Lk 1.4) like Apollos, whose knowledge of Jesus was rudimentary but deficient and was given a fuller picture (5, Acts 18.24–28).

For Elbert, Theophilus was probably a sincere disciple who needed further instruction which included more information about the Holy Spirit that his second treatise more extensively provides (1, 6). Having given Theophilus further teaching and examples of historical precedent, Luke expects him to seek this gift of the Holy Spirit (11). Elbert cites Hellenistic rhetorical parallels that demonstrate a pedagogical and mentoring relationship with the reader (20:n35, n61).

Moreover, the Lukan version of “the Holy Spirit” in contrast to Matthew’s “good gifts” shows that Luke is stressing Spirit reception either by his redactional emendation or by preferring one version of the dominical saying over another retained in the earlier Gospel tradition (11.13 cp. Matt 7.11). Elbert links the good gift-Holy Spirit saying to Acts 1.5, 8; 2.2. Luke’s rhetoric is intended to be didactic for his reader, Theophilus, and later in Luke-Acts, Luke shows him what to pray for and the effects of the gift of the Holy Spirit (34–35). Luke then, views history and narrative as paradigmatic for Christian practice (43–44).

In the third chapter, Elbert focuses on Acts 2.38: “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (NRSV). Repentance and baptism are mandated in the final instructions of Jesus (Lk 24.47–49) and found throughout the Third Gospel. The repeated promise of the Holy Spirit in Lk 24.49 and in Acts 1.4, 8, 14 puts Theophilus in “an expectant transition” and is followed with templates for his own petition to receive God’s gift of the Holy Spirit (45). But first, Elbert makes it clear that those who were about the receive the promise of the Holy Spirit “had already entered into genuine Christian discipleship and commitment to Jesus, i.e., that they have entered into that nexus of experiential concepts: repentance, forgiveness, belief, and salvation which Luke associates with experiencing Jesus” (46). He gives ample examples from the Gospel that folk already had experienced salvation before Pentecost. In the text and in the footnotes, he takes issue with those who say that believers only experience salvation after Pentecost, especially James Dunn (46–50). It appears that Dunn and company are interpreting Luke’s pneumatology through the lens of Paul’s understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit in conversion. Luke must be allowed to speak on his own terms, for the pneumatological agendas of both Luke and Paul are not quite the same.

Using a Graeco-Roman historiographical method, Luke presents in Peter’s Pentecost sermon “three narrative functions”: (1) to summarize events with a view of how the reader should respond, (2) to provide precedents that guide the disciples in mission, and (3) “to draw all the threads together into a timely tutorial re the Lukan gift of the Spirit, from both the preceding prophetic xenolalic event as well as from the previous narrative” (50–51). Peter’s initial speech/sermon is programmatic for all of Acts (54). “This emphasis on the individualistic extension of prophetic vocation to all repentant, forgiven, callers upon the Lord’s name who would prayerfully seek the gift of the Spirit, as I shall argue, for 2.38c, is distinctively Lukan” (55).

Elbert notes that the promise of the Spirit is not merely for prophecy: “Luke neither says nor implies that Joel has promised the ‘Spirit of prophecy’ (contra Turner). Rather, Luke’s insertion ‘and they will prophesy’ in 2.18 simply highlights the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy and extends the promise of it to everyone (cf. 1.4; 2.39), thus making Luke’s understanding of prophecy one component of the Lukan gift of the Spirit” (57–58). Luke understands that other aspects of the Spirit’s gift are included, such as dreams and visions and, later, other wonders. Nor is it evident that Spirit-reception happens immediately upon obeying the imperatives of “repent” and “be baptized”; the reception of the Spirit is in the future tense. Elbert demonstrates several passages where the future following the imperative is not immediate (64–73). To insist that the gift of the Spirit must appear immediately at baptism appears “to be non-Lukan importations no matter what their source” (72). Luke has set his narrative up to this programmatic point in the Pentecost sermon to instruct Theophilus, who already knows about repentance and forgiveness of sins, to ask the good Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Elbert makes the case for Apollos receiving fuller pneumatic instruction and experience, for he had the same instructional deficiency as the Ephesian twelve, who knew only the baptism of John. He suggests that Theophilus, though somewhat informed in the faith (Lk 1.4), knows only of a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins and needs further instruction on how to receive the Holy Spirit as Jesus promised. Luke does this by his frequent emphasis on prayer, especially regarding reception of the Holy Spirit. These promises and examples provide a paradigm for Theophilus to pray to receive the Holy Spirit (94–95).

Luke does not invent Theophilus to be a mere foil for him to present a theological treatise wrapped in a narrative; rather he gives instruction to Theophilus on what to pray for, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and what to expect in the breath of prayer for his future ministry. The primal mode of biblical revelation subsists in the telling of a story and expecting the readers to respond to the salvation-history event. The story cannot be divorced from the didache.

Elbert’s lengthy essay, presented in 2000 as a Society for Pentecostal Studies conference paper, should have been published much earlier; his argument is persuasive, and he maintains a detailed and frank interaction with other scholars in his footnotes. We have Robert Graves of the Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship to thank for making this seminal essay available to the Church and the academy.

Reviewed by James B. Shelton

Christ healing the blind man, by Andrei N. Mironov (2009).

When Jesus was on Earth, he spent much of his time in ministry healing the body and souls of those around him. There are several instances in scriptures where we see this. In John 4:43–54, Jesus healed an official’s son in Galilee. He drove spirits out of a man in Luke 4:31–36. In Matthew 8:14, He healed Peter’s mother-in-law. In Mark 1:40–45, He healed a man with leprosy. These are only a few of the dozens of healing miracles Jesus performed.

When Jesus called His disciples to continue His ministry, He, through the Holy Spirit, gave His followers the power to heal. Take, for example, Peter. In Acts 3:1–11, Peter healed a beggar who was unable to walk. In Acts 8:5–7, Philip healed several sick believers. Paul also healed the sick on several occasions.

As Charismatics, we believe wholeheartedly that the gift of healing still remains, 2000 years later. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ still gives some the power to heal in His name. This can, of course, still happen through one who is given the gift. Believers have also been known to come together and storm Heaven with prayers over a loved one, resulting in their healing.

While in biblical times, we saw true miracles and instantaneous full healing of those with physical, mental, and spiritual disabilities and health issues, what does the gift of healing look like today?

A brief look at the controversial gift of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, by Pastor John Lathrop.

The twentieth century has witnessed the rapid growth of two remarkable religious movements, the Pentecostal Movement and the Charismatic Movement. The Pentecostal Movement, which appeared first, attracted widespread attention in the early 1900’s. This was due largely to the revival services that took place at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles beginning in 1906.[1] A little more than fifty years later the Charismatic Movement burst on the scene claiming the same spiritual manifestations that had previously appeared in the Pentecostal Movement. The charismatic renewal, sometimes called neo-pentecostalism, began to make its way into the mainline Protestant churches in the late 1950’s and by 1967 had infiltrated the Roman Catholic Church as well.[2] The impact of these movements has been profound. The sheer number of people involved indicates that. In 1995 the number of adherents to the Pentecostal Movement was said to be 410 million.[3] These movements have touched the world. While there are differences between the two movements, the one thing that they hold in common is the claim to fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit, complete with healings and the other gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of tongues.

The gift of tongues, referred to by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14, is perhaps the most controversial of the gifts of the Spirit. The reported reappearance of this gift in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements has produced responses ranging from joy to horror. The purpose of this paper is to consider the controversy regarding this gift, examine the contribution that the gift can make to the church and to contend for the restoration of this gift to its rightful place in the life of the church.

The major controversy regarding the gift of tongues concerns it’s existence. The Christian Church today is divided on the issue of whether this gift exists in our day or not. Christians who believe that the gift of tongues still exists are called charismatics or Pentecostals. Christians who do not believe that the gift exists today are called cessationists.

Regardless of one’s theological or denominational persuasion one thing that must be admitted about the gift is that it did exist in the first century church. The apostle Paul makes repeated reference to it in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 14. No other New Testament epistle makes any direct reference to this gift. However, this is not to suggest that the gift was something unique to the church at Corinth. The cessationist, Benjamin B. Warfield believed that the gift existed in the apostolic church and that it was not limited to Corinth.[5] In fact he goes so far as to say that an apostolic church without the gifts would be an exception.[6] The gifts, including tongues, were a regular part of church life in the first century.

Pastor-scholar Tony Richie takes on a cessationist critic of glossolalia.

Ronald E. Baxter, Charismatic Gift of Tongues (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1981), 149 pages.

I can think of only two reasons why anyone would want to read this book: as an unavoidable assignment for a book review or to shore up shallow prejudice against Pentecostals and Charismatics. As a blatant example of pseudo-scholarship Baxter’s Charismatic Gift of Tongues indulges in eisegesis rather than engaging in exegesis. Although a show of studying original biblical languages and surveying historical and theological material is made, no serious grappling with the subject of speaking in tongues or its proponents is honestly attempted. The author admits his “longing” that “we shall be saved from the chaos, confusion and myths spread abroad in the [Pentecostal/Charismatic] movement.” He begins with this bias and repeatedly presses it home hard. My problem with Baxter is not just that I disagree with his worn-out repetitions of all the old cessationist tirades that have been debunked and refuted time and time again not only by P/Cs but even by other honest-hearted scholars (e.g., Chad Owen Brand, Perspectives on Spirit Baptism, Broadman and Holman, 2004), but with his totally one-sided and uneven treatment of the entire topic.

Baxter displays appreciation for alliteration with chapters titled “The Recurrence of Tongues in the Bible,” “The Relation of Tongues to Spirit Baptism,” “The Regulation of Tongues at Corinth,” “The Reason for Tongues was a Sign,” “The Removal of Tongues by Maturity,” “The Return of Tongues: Its Source,” “The Relation of Tongues to Interpretation,” “The Record of Tongues is Perilous History,” and “The Result of Tongues is Counterfeit Unity.” The titles are pretty well indicative of content too. For example, Baxter argues that Pentecost was a non-repeatable event never intended to reoccur. That, of course, raises the problem of biblical repetitions of Pentecostal experience after Acts 2. But for Baxter, in a decidedly circular argument, since Pentecost is by definition non-repeatable, then these are considered exceptions that prove the rule, so to speak, rather than patterns for reproducible behavior. Contemporary tongues are therefore, again by advance definition, counterfeit.

Ricky Roberts, The Gift of Tongues Examined (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 2003), 132 pages.

Roberts intends with this book to defend the practice of speaking in tongues. This in turn necessitates an exposition of its purpose and nature in the apostolic and post-apostolic church. He usually argues for traditional classical Pentecostal views on baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues (subsequence, initial evidence), though his exegesis sometimes leads into odd avenues (such as claiming God covered up the true meaning of Isaiah 28:11-13; p. 5). He aggressively opposes cessationism or anti-supernaturalism leading to denial of the continuing validity of speaking in tongues. One is sympathetic to his motive even if not always to his method.

The awkward, disjointed structure of this book may be explained by the author’s confession he tried to combine two different writing projects, a study manual and a simpler introduction and overview. Frequently the book just does not “flow.” Although Roberts was apparently healed of learning disorder and has seven doctorates (no institutions are identified), he does not offer substantiation from other scholars. Consequently, scholars, except perhaps exegetes, will find little of use. His extensive use of Greek and Hebrew (not to mention occasional use of Jewish Apocrypha and Greek poets and philosophers), however, goes beyond most laity and is perhaps aimed at clergy. Probably those who will most benefit from this book are preachers.

A glaring weakness of the work is that it utterly fails to engage the research of others. Roberts not only suggests we should avoid all works by anyone not affirming speaking in tongues (p. x), but he even ignores those that are Pentecostal and Charismatic. He does, however, do quite a bit of original exegesis and word studies, the main strength of this study. But a lot of “prooftexting” occurs with this, though. Often Roberts assumes he only has to make a statement and then list a long line of biblical quotes and his point is proven. For example, the entire eighth chapter, “Purposes for the Gift of Tongues,” is literally a numbered list of twenty-four short, single sentence statements and multiple scripture references. Roberts’s familiarity with and fondness for patristic writers, however, is refreshing. Sometimes he argues from silence but often he backs up his beliefs with appeals to explicit quotes from solid patristic sources.

Roberts is perhaps overly polemical in this book, always on the attack. He throws terms like “blasphemous” and “heresy” around entirely too freely for my taste—and I am on his side. He lumps together all those that are not likeminded on the subject of tongues into a spiritual category “void of any true substance” (p. ix). Better to hold out the benefits of Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues than to blast those who have not yet been so blessed. My preacher father taught me to “disagree without being disagreeable.” Roberts also tends to overstate his case. For just one example, he says, “Without correctly understanding Mark 16:17, it is impossible to correctly understand the gift of tongues and the phenomenon of speaking in tongues” (pp. 20-21). He thus makes one passage carry far too much weight. This forces him into a distracting defense of the authenticity of the “longer ending” of Mark. He would have been better served to put less pressure on a single passage. Perhaps he just tends toward hyperbole, but he ends up with an exegetical “house of cards”: pull one text out and everything falls apart. Critics can attack at one point and possibly defeat his entire argument. They do not even have to prove him outright wrong, but only that the passage will not carry the weight he places on it. And even some Pentecostal scholars do not think the content of Mark 16:17 can carry so much (see Jerry Camery-Hoggatt, “Mark,” Full Life Bible Commentary to the New Testament: An International Commentary for Spirit-Filled Christians (eds. French L. Arrington & Roger Stronstad, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999,pp. 255-74, esp. pp. 372-73). Better to deliver more than one promises than to promise more than one delivers.

Craig S. Keener, Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 224 pages.

Craig Keener, a New Testament professor at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has already made a name for himself in the world of biblical studies. The present work on the Holy Spirit will undoubtedly introduce his name also to the field of pneumatology. Gift & Giver is a concise and well-written book on the Holy Spirit. Its outline may as well be called exemplary, its goal and informative value priceless. Published by an academic publishing house, the book speaks well to a much wider audience than the academic world. From the perspective of the latter, one could also entitle the book “Discerning the Holy Spirit.” The framework of the book is formed by a discussion of the discernment and recognition of the Spirit and spiritual gifts. However, the decisive question for Keener is, “How do we discern the Spirit’s work today?” It is this question of applicability to our lives today that elevates the book beyond many of its academic contemporaries.

Keener admits that much of the material of the book is based on his earlier work 3 Crucial Questions about the Holy Spirit. However, the reorganization of that material and the application of biblical principles to daily life through personal stories of the author make Gift & Giver a more accessible book for a wider Christian audience than its predecessor. The sharing of personal stories is no longer limited to authors of the charismatic and Pentecostal movements but has long found entrance into theology as a valuable tool of teaching, confirmation and illustration. Difficult biblical and theological issues are dealt with in a scholarly and pastorally sensitive manner that offers a refreshing perspective on the work of the Holy Spirit. Even if one disagrees with Keener’s conclusions and personal insights at some points, the reader will remain challenged by the presentation of the biblical texts and their application to contemporary life.

The final installment from Professor Williams’ book, The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today, about the greatest reality of our time.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Effects, Part 1 (Chapter 8)

Epilogue & Bibliography

This book has been written with excitement and hope. If it is true that many people today are freshly experiencing the gift of the Holy Spirit, there is much to be excited about. For in this gift there is fullness of God’s presence and power—and entrance into a whole new dimension of praise, witness and action. Also there is much to be hoped for: that people everywhere will become alert to the possibility of this gift, respond to God’s offer of its availability and thereby receive it from the exalted Lord.

Perhaps these pages will have come as a surprise to some readers. For it is a fact that despite the high significance of the gift of the Holy Spirit, many persons have little knowledge or understanding of it. Such a question as Paul’s, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2), may seem totally irrelevant and meaningless to many. They may never really have thought about the matter, and perhaps they have not so much as heard about it.

Others in reading may have felt disturbed. First, there may be some who have long thought of the gift of the Holy Spirit in terms of a kind of divine immanence experienced in a mystical moment. With or without the mediation of Jesus Christ it is assumed that the spirit of a person may enter into union with the divine Spirit. Accordingly, there is already a given—hence gift-like—unity of the divine and human spirit which only needs to be realized through meditation and stripping away artificial barriers. Thus to read all this about the work of Jesus Christ in redemption and forgiveness of sins as necessary to the reception of the Spirit may seem strange and unwarranted. Second, there may be other readers who have long viewed this gift as so inseparably attached to the sacramental life of the church that all persons who receive the proper sacramental action (baptism, confirmation) invariably become recipients of this gift. Accord­ingly, there is no point in getting excited about or looking forward to the gift. For if one has been properly baptized (or confirmed, as the case may be), the gift presumably has been received. Third, there may be still other readers who view the gift of the Holy Spirit as identical with the gift of salvation; thus there is no gift to be considered beyond the new life in Christ. Indeed, some might say, does not the very idea of an additional gift detract from the all-sufficiency of Christ?

The first part of chapter eight from Professor Williams’ book, The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today, about the greatest reality of our time.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Effects, Part 1 (Chapter 8)

Chapter Eight: Effects, Part 2

Third, still another effect of the gift of the Holy Spirit is that of providing an assurance of God’s act of salvation. The Holy Spirit bears witness to what has been done, confirms the status of sonship and God’s abiding presence and affords an earnest or pledge of what is yet to come.

It is significant that on two occasions (Acts 11 and 15) after the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Caesareans, or the Gentiles, Peter appears before the Jerusalem council of apostles and brethren to argue the Gentile cause. On each occasion Peter refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit which the Gentiles had likewise received as a kind of confirmation or witness. In the first instance the question basically was whether the Gentiles really were included in God’s purpose of salvation, and Peter’s argument was simply that “the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15). Further, “If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us [believing]¹⁴ in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17). This silenced the audience; then “they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance unto life'” (Acts 11:18). The fact that God had given the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles was certification to the apostles and brethren that the Gentiles had indeed been granted salvation. On the second occasion, Peter stands again before the council to argue against the obligation of Gentiles to be circumcised in order to be saved. In the context of this argument Peter speaks of how it was God’s choice that “by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe” (Acts 15:7). Then Peter immediately adds: “And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith”¹⁵ (Acts 15:8-9). Here the gift of the Holy Spirit is described as a witness to the Gentiles themselves that they had indeed been granted cleansing and salvation. Thus to summarize the two accounts: the gift of the Holy Spirit was viewed as both a testimony to others, an external witness, and an internal testimony that “repentance unto life,” cleansing, salvation, had unmistakably occurred.

On the matter of the testimony to others, or external witness, one of the interesting features of the contemporary outpouring of God’s Spirit is the way in which it has caused many people in churches or denominations that have been long separated from and even antagonistic to one another to change their attitude. For example, many Protestants who received the gift of the Spirit in the early to mid 1960s were ill prepared to accept the movement of the Spirit among Roman Catholics that began in 1967¹⁶ for the reason that they (the Protestants) were not at all sure any Catholics had experienced salvation. Then it began to happen among Catholics—exactly as among Protestants—and all the Protestants could do, like the apostles and brethren, was to glorify God and say, “Then to the Roman Catholics also God has granted repentance unto life!”

One other Scripture passage related to external witness is Hebrews 2:3-4: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will.” Here again God Himself bears witness to the “great salvation” through the operation and activity of the Holy Spirit. Salvation which belongs to the inward and invisible realm is attested by the outward and visible—signs, wonders, miracles, various gifts of the Holy Spirit. This passage in Hebrews is somewhat different from Acts 11 and Acts 15: the gift (or gifts) of the Holy Spirit is not spoken of as testimony to other Christians that God has granted salvation, but it is rather a testimony to those who have not experienced salvation that behind such divine work stands a living God who brings salvation.

Again, to return to the contemporary scene, it is striking that in many places the proclamation of the gospel of salvation is being given visible certification through “signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” The word is preached, God “bears witness,” for example, through miracles of healing taking place, and the message of salvation comes through with powerful effectiveness.¹⁷  Indeed, in a day when people are bombarded by countless words and voices (in television, radio, printed page, etc.) and made innumerable offers, it is increasingly hard to hear the word about salvation and believe without some demonstration of power and reality. Is it really so? Is the message of an internal transformation valid? Does it actually happen? But when that message about invisible things is certified by visible demonstrations of the power of God, then credibility is vastly increased. The gospel truly must be, as is claimed, the power of God also unto salvation.

The first part of chapter eight from Professor Williams’ book, The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today, about the greatest reality of our time.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit Today: Context (Chapter 7)

Chapter Eight: Effects, Part 1

We come finally to a consideration of the effects or results of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Our concern is not so much with long-range effects, though they are certainly not excluded, as with the immediate results of the Spirit being given. A number of these may be noted.

First of all, there is an extraordinary sense of the reality of God. As has been observed, the gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s own presence. It is not something the Holy Spirit grants—such as life, power, wisdom—but it is the Spirit Himself who is given. Since the Holy Spirit is God in His essential being, the reception of this gift means the reception of God Himself. This then signifies the stupendous fact of the coming of God, the Holy Spirit, in fullness to lay claim to His creature, and to pervade the totality of human existence. In the action, God without ceasing to be wholly transcendent is also wholly immanent as He possesses the heights and depths of creaturely life. This extraordinary event of the divine self-giving is at the same time a divine self-disclosure, a revelation of the divine reality. The reality of God, His divine presence, is made known to man with compelling force.

Further, the God who comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit is the triune God. Hence, though it is the Spirit who is given—and thus not the same personally as Father or Son—nonetheless His very presence also makes real other persons of the Godhead. He constantly points to, glorifies, makes real the Son, the exalted Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Spirit the exalted Lord constantly makes Himself known to His believing people. Jesus Christ, though now at the “right hand” of the Father and not bodily present, becomes spiritually present among those who believe in Him. Likewise, the Holy Spirit makes real God as Father, for it is through the Spirit’s indwelling and moving presence that the fatherhood of God takes on more intimate and personal meaning. By the Spirit we say “Abba! Father!” not as address to a distant deity but as the cry of the heart to one near at hand.¹  To summarize: the reality of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is vividly disclosed through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

As we turn again to the books of Acts, it is apparent that the reality of God is the paramount fact in everything that occurs. When the Spirit is given at Pentecost, the company immediately begins to declare the marvelous works of God and thus to exult in His wonderful presence. It matters not that thousands are gathered around them, for so full are they of God’s Spirit that they go right on praising Him. The reality of God’s presence has gripped them as a community, as individuals, and in such fashion that in all that follows they sense God moving in their midst.