Quote:
Originally Posted by Pressing-On
They are all preaching the same message and do not stand on their own. It doesn't matter when any of it was written. It matters when it happened and it matters that they are all on the same page with their message. They are. The canon of the Bible was chosen for it's intertwining truths and message. Nothing stands on it's own.
You are right about what they preached. That is why I don't buy the "We only need the HG for empowerment", but it's not salvific." John does indeed refer to the Spirit in function AND it's role in salvation. We need the HG for both. It is the earnest of our inheritance.
Galatians speaks of receiving the Spirit by faith or by the law? And that we cannot be made perfect by the flesh, but by the Spirit. That allows me to know that it is not some "measure of the spirit" that some say they receive at repentance. The Bible doesn't ever bear it out that way. It does not say they received the HG any other way than how the Apostles identified their reception of the HG - speaking in tongues. But that issue has been discussed ad nauseam.
I believe, wholeheartedly, in Acts 2:38. I have never studied the Epistles where it did not take me back to Acts. |
The Epistles SHOULDN'T take you "back" to Acts, since they were first written. They should all point you to Jesus.
You are incorrect when you say the canon was "chosen for its intertwining truths and message." The canon was selected on a multiple-point inspection test of validity, authenticity, etc. When I say they "stand on their own," I don't mean they are their own witness. Luke doesn't need Paul to explain what he means. They are each their own witness.
I don't think ANYONE on this forum believes the function of the Spirit is empowerment only. On the contrary, most see the Spirit active in even the "drawing men unto Christ." At the very beginning. It's what you see as the "Spirit" that begins controversy. When "Spirit" always means "glossolalia" and a crisis experience, emotional frenzy, etc... Luke's function of the Spirit is no less true than Paul's or John's. But in each testimony, the Spirit is unique. The Johannine perspective, for example, shows us that the believer is drawn to Christ, and indwelled by Christ by faith and believing, the theme of his Gospel. Luke is not intent on showing the role of the Spirit in salvation, or in any way does he even show it as a regenerative process. They are "on their own" here as a witness to the function of the Spirit. It both saves and empowers. But the experiences are not identical.
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