Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple
Protestant Theology fails to understand this very major reference point.
The very same Ephesians Paul wrote these scriptures to had been brought to receiving the Holy Spirit BY PAUL HIMSELF. We have their testimony recorded in Acts 19.
Please compare their testimony here as to receiving the Holy Spirit with Pauls statement about being sealed with the Holy Spirit when they believed.
Acts 19:1-6
1 And it came to pass , that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2 He said unto them , Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ? And they said unto him , We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized ? And they said , Unto John's baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is , on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
So when Paul said they were sealed with the Spirit after they believed we can see EXACTLY what he was talking about. Since they experienced it ( Acts 19) that was their point of reference.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Their testimony includes BOTH the water and the Spirit. Just what Jesus said. John 3:5
Protestant theology blinds people from making this connection. |
We just have different opinions on this.
In my opinion when Paul encountered those Baptists in
Acts 19, he proclaimed the Gospel to them. Then, after they received his message and were converted he baptized them in water and laid hands upon them and ministered the Holy Ghost Baptism to them. In my opinion, at the moment of their salvation or regeneration or justification experience they were saved from sin and cleansed by the blood of Jesus; born into the family of God; passed from death unto life; were baptized/placed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit; went from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God. Then they were baptized in water which quickly followed conversion in some of the accounts in the Book of Acts. Through the laying on of hands they Holy Spirit came upon them, or fell upon them, or filled them, or empowered them.
It is my understanding that
Acts 19:1-7 happened around October AD 53 and the book of Ephesians was written while Paul was under house arrest in Rome during the years 60 and 61 AD as recorded in
Acts 28. Some of the original group of those whose experience was recorded in
Acts 19:1-7 may have still been part of the assembly in Ephesus which received Paul's letter known to us today as the NT book of Ephesians. It is my opinion that the "sealing" by the Holy Spirit referenced in
Ephesians 1:13 and the "one baptism" referenced in
Ephesians 4:5 refers to their salvation experience which would have been followed by their baptism in water and their baptism in the Spirit.
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