The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised came on the day of Pentecost to the apostles in miraculous form. Luke recorded in Acts 2:1-4: And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. While some suppose that the pronoun they refers to all that were assembled on the day of Pentecost, the antecedent of the pronoun they is apostles located in the immediate remote context found in Acts 1:26 (confer with Matthew 28:16 and John 2).

In the previous article, it was discussed that God exercised strict control over the Holy Spirit. Jesus chose the men who would deliver the message (minus Judas) and thus they were the ones (including those chosen later by the apostles) who would receive the Spirit. There is no greater evidence that the giving of the Spirit was under the strict control of the apostles than what Simon the Sorcerer saw recorded in Acts 8:18-19. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, 19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. As stated before, God didn’t relinquish control of the Holy Spirit no matter what people want to believe and teach about it.

As the apostles continued in their ministry, they did lay hands on others to show that they were indeed from God and that God had power to cause things to happen that couldn’t be otherwise done by them. For example, Paul laid his hands on Timothy to confer the gift of the Spirit, II Timothy 1:6: Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. What powers did Timothy have? He had the power to do the ministry of an evangelist II Timothy 4:5: But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. The message in the two letters of Timothy aren’t about what powers he had or didn’t have; it is about his preaching Jesus Christ and that is the message Paul gave him.  

Some will point to the I Timothy 4:14: Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, which seems to indicate that elders laid hands on Timothy and gave him some power. Neither the context nor the teaching on the Spirit will allow that meaning. First, he said not to neglect the gift that came by prophecy. That is the teaching of the Old Testament that told of that which was to come, Jesus Christ.  The laying on of hands, in the time that the words were written, meant to convey approval for someone and was given by those able to give such approval. When the apostles laid hands on those to receive the spirit, it was a sign that those were approved to receive some measure of the Spirit in addition to the indwelling Spirit. In this case, it was the elders approving of Timothy to do the ministry of the gospel with no indication of any power being conferred.

The message of God is referred to as gift: Rom 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul says salvation is a gift in that verse. Then in II Corinthians 9:15, salvation is spoken of thusly: Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Then in Ephesians 2:8 Paul wrote, For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Salvation again is spoken of as a gift and that is the gift that prophecy instilled in Timothy.

© 02-06-2003 DEC

Revised 03-15-2008

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