Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffrey
It's as if it was overlooked in Paul's (non-exhaustive) listings of spiritual gifts in 1 Cor 12. It missed a worthwhile mention in Ephesians 4. But it's one of those supreme giftings in the church today. "Bro so-and-so can pray a fence post through." And then there he goes, laying hands on people turbo style while keeping tally ("number 5, he got it, number 5")!
I've yet to find a Scripture to show this special gifting to the church today -the exception being Acts 8:
14When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into[c] the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Was this a special gifting that Simon wanted to purchase or are we jumping the gun and asking a question already deep into AssumptionVille? And what about the shoulder massages, tongues-encouraging (ironically, this passage is one of those that doesn't even mention tongues), jaw shaking, head rattling, screaming-in-the-ear tactic? The Apostles need a praying through class!
Was this normative? Or is this all in the flow of the Lukan account of His continued Gospel saying "when this thing broke out, everywhere we went, there was supernatural happening, the Spirit's affirming, declaring Jesus as the Way. Do we have a tendency to zone in on the supernatural, which was a following sign, and instead chase the supernatural?
Random thoughts for AFF this morning. |
There are several instances in the Book of Acts where people received a post salvation experience we usually call the HGB or Holy Ghost Baptism.
In Acts chapter 2, about one fourth of the early church were gathered together praying and the Holy Spirit came upon them. This would be 30 AD.
In Acts chapter 8, after a group of people got saved in Samaria, Peter and John laid hands upon them and the Holy Spirit came upon them. This was some time in the winter of 31/32 AD.
In Acts chapter 8 after the conversion of the Ethiopian Eunuch, after his baptism while he was still in the water the Spirit came upon him. This was some time after the Samaritan revival mentioned above.
In Acts chapter 9, three days after Paul's conversion, a disciple named Ananias came in and laid hands on him so that he might be filled with the Spirit. Saul's conversion date is traditionally set at January 25, AD 32 so his Holy Spirit Baptism would have been on January 28th.
In Acts chapter 10, while Peter preached to a group of Gentiles, when they heard the Gospel they believed it and suddenly the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. This is thought to have happened in AD 38
In
Acts 19 after the conversion and water baptism of about 12 men, Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them. This is usually dated as October AD 53.
There are other stories of conversions in the Book of Acts but the Holy Ghost Baptism experience is not mentioned.
So, it seems that ordinarily some time after conversion there was a HGB experience and it was often ministered by the laying on of hands.
As far as speaking with tongues in Acts chapter 8, it does not mention the speaking with tongues and/or prophecy as it does in some other instances like
Acts 2, 10, and 19. It seems (my opinion) that speaking with tongues did happen in
Acts 8 at Samaria. Something happened that cause Simon to want to purchase the gift of laying on of hands. He had seen miracles and healings and great joy and didn't try to purchase that so we
assume what he saw with the HGB was speaking with tongues. Something else in that chapter can also lead to that conclusion. In verses 20 and 21 Peter rebukes Simon and say "to hell with you and your money (literally "may your silver go to destruction with you") because you thought that you could purchase the gift of God with money." He then goes on to say, "You have no part in this matter." The word "matter" there is translated "utterance" in
1 Corinthians 1:5, so Peter may have said to him, "you have no part in this utterance." Based on these two points, it seems as though speaking with tongues did happen at Samaria.
However, the shaking, chin grabbing and repeating of nonsense syllables to "loosen the tongue" or "prime the pump" as practiced by some altar workers today is not the same as the laying on of hands in the Book of Acts.
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