“He has not breathed into me…He has not come upon me.”
What most Christians don’t take account of is what came into existence at that time. What came into existence was the Body of Christ, the New Man consisting of all believers. They’re neither Jew nor Greek etc. They are a new creation. In Acts 2:41 it says that about 3K souls received the apostles’ words and were added. Added to what? Acts 5:14 and 11:24 say that they were “added to the Lord.” That is what produced the Body of Christ. We, who are many, are one Body in Christ (Rom. 12:5). The Lord breathed the Spirit into the apostles, and the apostles breathed Him into 3K, then 5k, and they breathed Him into others, and on, and on, down through the ages to you and me. In Jn. 17:20, the Lord prayed concerning those who would believe into Him through their word. That’s us.
Also, the Spirit wasn’t just poured upon the Apostles individually, it was poured upon the Body corporately, once for all. The Apostles stood for the whole Body of Christ. It’s the oil upon the head of the priest, in Ps. 133, that runs down upon the beard and reaches to the hem of his garment. My guess is that we are at the level of the hem.
Re: Acts 2:38, First, “saved” doesn’t imply just being saved from eternal perdition. There are other things to be saved from. For instance, Paul said, “for me, this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:19). Surely, he was already saved from perdition. He wanted to be saved from being put to shame, and from not magnifying Christ. So, what did they need to be saved from here? Consider their situation. Jesus had said that because of their actions the wrath of God for all the righteous blood shed on the earth from Abel to Zechariah, was coming upon that generation (Matt. 23:35). Now Peter says, the righteous One they had murdered, was made Lord and Christ by God. They were horrified and begged to know how they could be saved from God’s wrath. Peter exhorted them saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation (v.40).” Verse 38 says, “Repent…” And v. 41 says,“those then who received his word….” Remember, the word of the gospel, that the “grass” receives abides forever, and this is the word that they received (1 Pet. 1:25). This is what regenerated them. THEN those who received the word were baptized (v. 41). Their baptism, a type of the cross, put a separation between them and those under the righteous judgement of God. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for those who believe (Gal. 3:14) and they had believed. THAT’S WHY they were baptized.
I didn’t say that being called “brother” is a substitute for salvation. It is not a substitute, it is a recognition of the salvation/regeneration which has occurred.
Demas, Hymenaeus, and Philetus were still brothers even though they had backslidden. You cannot be “unregenerated.” We’re born of God (Jn. 1:13; 1 Jn. 5:1), and we cannot be unborn. Nothing can take us out of God’s hand (Rom. 8:38-39).
“Calling on the name of the Lord is not separate from being baptized.” Sure it is. There can be some time between calling and baptism. Also, hearing is not inextricably linked with believing. Some hear the gospel and reject it. Believing, repenting and confessing do go together. Baptism can be sometime later. When I was regenerated, I believed, repented, confessed, and “heaven came down and glory filled my soul. I dynamically received the Spirit. However, I wasn’t baptized until much later when I had the opportunity.
*“You're using the term figuratively and I'm using it literally when I say ‘Breathed in’ yes.”
No, I’m using the term literally. But it was a spiritual transfer. Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life (Jn. 6:63).” Then He is in us, and when we speak His words to others, spirit and life are transferred into them.
*“The spirit that day was poured upon them individually first...” I disagree. In Acts 1 it says “These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer (v. 14).” Then in Acts 2 it says that “they were all together in the same place” when the Spirit filled the whole house. They were all filled individually as members of the Body, not as separate individuals. They were a priesthood.
*Re: baptism, I don’t say it is not important. I just say it is a sign of a spiritual reality. It is the spiritual reality that is important. The spiritual reality of baptism involves being one with Christ in His death (through faith), and being raised with Him in resurrection (through faith) (Col. 2:11-12).
*“As for ‘brother,’ Paul called the Jews ‘brethren’ or brothers in Romans 9:3 and they very clearly have had no part in Christ.”
They were all sons of Abraham in the flesh, therefore, brothers.
*“Once Saved Always Saved is a False Teaching.”
This is according to Arminian doctrine. I’m not Arminian. Neither am I a Calvinist. Both sides have part of the truth, and oppose the Scripture that doesn’t agree with their theology. We should keep all God’s words (Rev. 3:8), even if it seems contradictory or we don’t understand how it can be. That’s a failure on our part, not on God’s.
*“You think these false teachers destroying the faith of Christians have a reward still?” Ah yes, the reward. You should look into what the difference is between those who receive eternal life, which is free and a gift, and those who receive a reward, which is based on what we do. Surely, Paul had received eternal life, but he was stretching forward to gain the reward in Phil. 3:14. Those who conflate the two find the verses confusing.
*“Hebrews 6:4-6 It is impossible to renew them again to repentance”
The context of this in chapter 5, where he says, “For when because of the time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you what the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God are and have become those who have need of milk and not solid food (v. 12). Then in chp. 6, he says, “leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from death works and of faith in God, etc. We need to go on to maturity. He’s telling us, “GROW UP!’ Quit playing with the toys in the sandbox. Once we have laid the foundation, we don’t need to keep laying foundations every time we fall away and turn back. Christ doesn’t have to be crucified over and over. Once is enough. Verse 1 says, there is no need to lay the foundation again, Verse 4 says that it is not possible; and vv. 7-8 show that it is not right. We need to just go on to maturity.
“He has not breathed into me…He has not come upon me.” What most Christians don’t take account of is what came into existence at that time. What came into existence was the Body of Christ, the New Man consisting of all believers. They’re neither Jew nor Greek etc. They are a new creation. In Acts 2:41 it says that about 3K souls received the apostles’ words and were added. Added to what? Acts 5:14 and 11:24 say that they were “added to the Lord.” That is what produced the Body of Christ. We, who are many, are one Body in Christ (Rom. 12:5). The Lord breathed the Spirit into the apostles, and the apostles breathed Him into 3K, then 5k, and they breathed Him into others, and on, and on, down through the ages to you and me. In Jn. 17:20, the Lord prayed concerning those who would believe into Him through their word. That’s us.
Also, the Spirit wasn’t just poured upon the Apostles individually, it was poured upon the Body corporately, once for all. The Apostles stood for the whole Body of Christ. It’s the oil upon the head of the priest, in Ps. 133, that runs down upon the beard and reaches to the hem of his garment. My guess is that we are at the level of the hem.
Re: Acts 2:38, First, “saved” doesn’t imply just being saved from eternal perdition. There are other things to be saved from. For instance, Paul said, “for me, this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:19). Surely, he was already saved from perdition. He wanted to be saved from being put to shame, and from not magnifying Christ. So, what did they need to be saved from here? Consider their situation. Jesus had said that because of their actions the wrath of God for all the righteous blood shed on the earth from Abel to Zechariah, was coming upon that generation (Matt. 23:35). Now Peter says, the righteous One they had murdered, was made Lord and Christ by God. They were horrified and begged to know how they could be saved from God’s wrath. Peter exhorted them saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation (v.40).” Verse 38 says, “Repent…” And v. 41 says,“those then who received his word….” Remember, the word of the gospel, that the “grass” receives abides forever, and this is the word that they received (1 Pet. 1:25). This is what regenerated them. THEN those who received the word were baptized (v. 41). Their baptism, a type of the cross, put a separation between them and those under the righteous judgement of God. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for those who believe (Gal. 3:14) and they had believed. THAT’S WHY they were baptized.
I didn’t say that being called “brother” is a substitute for salvation. It is not a substitute, it is a recognition of the salvation/regeneration which has occurred.
Demas, Hymenaeus, and Philetus were still brothers even though they had backslidden. You cannot be “unregenerated.” We’re born of God (Jn. 1:13; 1 Jn. 5:1), and we cannot be unborn. Nothing can take us out of God’s hand (Rom. 8:38-39).
“Calling on the name of the Lord is not separate from being baptized.” Sure it is. There can be some time between calling and baptism. Also, hearing is not inextricably linked with believing. Some hear the gospel and reject it. Believing, repenting and confessing do go together. Baptism can be sometime later. When I was regenerated, I believed, repented, confessed, and “heaven came down and glory filled my soul. I dynamically received the Spirit. However, I wasn’t baptized until much later when I had the opportunity.
*“You're using the term figuratively and I'm using it literally when I say ‘Breathed in’ yes.” No, I’m using the term literally. But it was a spiritual transfer. Jesus said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life (Jn. 6:63).” Then He is in us, and when we speak His words to others, spirit and life are transferred into them.
*“The spirit that day was poured upon them individually first...” I disagree. In Acts 1 it says “These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer (v. 14).” Then in Acts 2 it says that “they were all together in the same place” when the Spirit filled the whole house. They were all filled individually as members of the Body, not as separate individuals. They were a priesthood.
*Re: baptism, I don’t say it is not important. I just say it is a sign of a spiritual reality. It is the spiritual reality that is important. The spiritual reality of baptism involves being one with Christ in His death (through faith), and being raised with Him in resurrection (through faith) (Col. 2:11-12).
*“As for ‘brother,’ Paul called the Jews ‘brethren’ or brothers in Romans 9:3 and they very clearly have had no part in Christ.” They were all sons of Abraham in the flesh, therefore, brothers.
*“Once Saved Always Saved is a False Teaching.” This is according to Arminian doctrine. I’m not Arminian. Neither am I a Calvinist. Both sides have part of the truth, and oppose the Scripture that doesn’t agree with their theology. We should keep all God’s words (Rev. 3:8), even if it seems contradictory or we don’t understand how it can be. That’s a failure on our part, not on God’s.
*“You think these false teachers destroying the faith of Christians have a reward still?” Ah yes, the reward. You should look into what the difference is between those who receive eternal life, which is free and a gift, and those who receive a reward, which is based on what we do. Surely, Paul had received eternal life, but he was stretching forward to gain the reward in Phil. 3:14. Those who conflate the two find the verses confusing.
*“Hebrews 6:4-6 It is impossible to renew them again to repentance” The context of this in chapter 5, where he says, “For when because of the time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you what the rudiments of the beginning of the oracles of God are and have become those who have need of milk and not solid food (v. 12). Then in chp. 6, he says, “leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from death works and of faith in God, etc. We need to go on to maturity. He’s telling us, “GROW UP!’ Quit playing with the toys in the sandbox. Once we have laid the foundation, we don’t need to keep laying foundations every time we fall away and turn back. Christ doesn’t have to be crucified over and over. Once is enough. Verse 1 says, there is no need to lay the foundation again, Verse 4 says that it is not possible; and vv. 7-8 show that it is not right. We need to just go on to maturity.