Before I get the chance to read more of the thread, let me say this. The cross was required for the offering of a sinless sacrifice to atone for sins. Like the high priest offered the sacrifice on the altar, Jesus died on the cross. The high priest took that blood into the most holy place to sprinkle it on the mercyseat of the ark. Then the people were deemed atoned for. Sins were removed, FOR ONE YEAR ALONE. We all know Jesus died ONCE to atone for us forever.
Anyway, my point is that Jesus went to glory and sat on the right hand throne having made atonement. And on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out and people spoke in tongues, Peter said the reason it was shed forth, or poured out, was because Jesus made atonement and is at the right hand.
So, the baptism of the Holy Ghost as seen in
Acts 2 is the RESULT of the cross! To say we are saved by the cross is to say the RESULTS OF THE CROSS are our salvation. But the results INCLUDE Spirit Baptism!
Saying the cross is all we need in order to imply Spirit Baptism is not necessary, is like saying the Spirit outpouring was not the result of the cross' preparation to cause Christ to provide atonement for us and shed forth the Spirit as a result.
If Christ only DIED, and that was all -- no burial and resurrection -- then there would be no atonement. And saying the cross is all that is needful in the sense that it seems the original poster of the thread implies it, appears to me to be saying there is no burial and resurrection required.
The work of the cross includes the burial and resurrection, as well as the presentation of the blood in the true tabernacle of Heaven itself. And all of that entails his seating on the throne as well as the shedding forth of the river of Life that is the Holy Ghost baptism.
Jesus spoke many times of the Holy Ghost baptism to come due to His ascension to the Father. It is the promise of the Father He noted in
Acts 1! It is the power to be witnesses!
Luke 24 talks about the same thing. The REAL message of the work of the cross includes the atonement and right hand seating for the purpose of the promise of the Father, Spirit Baptism, being shed forth.
If the work of the cross is understood by all to include the burial and resurrection and atonement, then it is contradictory to say it does not include Spirit baptism, for Spirit baptism with tongues is as much a part of the work of the Cross as is burial and resurrection and right hand seating!
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