What the Bible Says About the Holy Spirit

M. Horton Stanley

Description

Goes through the Bible book by book to provide a complete look at what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit and His work. Includes subject and Scripture indexes.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology
• Pentecostalism

Informations

• Publié par: Gospel Publishing House
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 1976
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781607311140
• Langue: English

Extrait

W HAT T HE B IBLE S AYS A BOUT T HE

HOLY SPIRIT

STANLEY M. HORTON
REVISED EDITION
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scriptures marked KJV are from the King James Version.
©2005, 1976 by Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, Missouri 65802-1894. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the copyright owner, except brief quotations used in connection with reviews in magazines or newspapers.
First edition 1976
Revised edition 2005. 5th printing 2016.
The text revision of What the Bible Says about the Holy Spirit was undertaken to include the New International Version of the Holy Bible. Corresponding adjustments were made to the author’s text.
ISBN: 978-0-88243-359-2 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-43154
Cover design by Prodigy Pixel ( www.prodigypixel.com )
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Foreword
1. The Spirit in the World Today
2. The Spirit in the Pentateuch
3. The Spirit in the History of Israel
4. The Spirit in the Writing Prophets
5. The Spirit in the Life and Ministry of Jesus
6. The Spirit in the Teaching of Jesus
7. The Spirit in the Book of Acts
8. The Spirit in Everyday Living
9. The Spirit in the Ministry of Believers
10. The Spirit in the Ministry of the Church
11. The Spirit in Supernatural Demonstrations
Appendix: Is Mark 16:9–20 Inspired?
Notes
Subject Index
Scripture Index
In-Depth, Spiritually Satisfying Bible Study without Hours of Research

F rom highly respected Pentecostal author and theologian Stanley M. Horton comes this digital treasury of outstanding systematic theology and biblical commentary. Combining extensive research with practical experience, each book in this collection offers solid teaching that will bring a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit and His ministry to every believer.
Powerful and easy-to-use for study, research, and sermon preparation, The Pentecostal Library interfaces with the PC Study Bible®. These Pentecostal reference materials are searchable and can be easily cut and pasted into text documents or slide presentations. The content is also hyperlinked to other search tools within the PC Study Bible® library, such as dictionaries, lexicons, and encyclopedias for in-depth searches and results in seconds.

The following Pentecostal works are included in this library:
• Acts
• 1 & 2 Corinthians
• Systematic Theology
• Bible Doctrines: A Pentecostal Perspective
• What the Bible Says about the Holy Spirit
REQUIREMENTS: This add-on module is only compatible with PC Study Bible® Version 4 or higher. It will not operate as a stand-alone unit or as an add-on for any previous version of PC Study Bible®.
Available at
www.GospelPublishing.com/PCStudyBible
Foreword
The book you hold in your hands is a classic of Pentecostal theology.
Stanley M. Horton’s parents participated in the Azusa Street Revival (1906–1909). Dr. Horton’s own life (1916–2014) spanned almost the entirety of the Assemblies of God’s first one hundred years. Through his teaching ministry at Central Bible College and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri, he trained thousands of Pentecostal ministers, who in turn pastored tens of thousands of Pentecostal believers.
Dr. Horton embodied two traits that do not always sit well together: academic knowledge and Pentecostal fire. He had degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and Central Baptist Theological Seminary. He wrote or edited scores of books and articles. Intellectually speaking, he was the “real deal.” And yet, he was also a man of intense prayer, heartfelt worship, biblical wisdom, and simple faith. The motto of AGTS, where Dr. Horton served as a professor for many years, is “Knowledge on fire.” That is a good description of his life too.
What the Bible Says About the Holy Spirit reflects both sides of Dr. Horton’s personality. It is a biblical theology of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. More than that, however, it is a pastoral meditation on how that biblical theology should come to life in the day-in, day-out ministries of the local church and the lives of its members.
I am happy to recommend this Pentecostal classic, and I hope that it continues to have a wide readership both within the Assemblies of God and in the broader Christian community. More than that, however, I pray that the biblical knowledge it conveys lights a fire of holiness and mission in the heart of readers, so that, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they become witnesses to Jesus Christ “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
—George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God (USA) and chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship
1
The Spirit in the World Today
“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28). How clearly this indicates the reality of the Holy Spirit and the personal relation the first-century believers enjoyed with Him!
The scene was the Jerusalem Council, the first council of the Early Church. The question had arisen: How could the Jewish believers maintain fellowship with Gentile Christians who were not circumcised, who ate nonkosher food, and who came out of the highly immoral Greek culture of the day? Apostles, elders, and a whole multitude of believers had gathered together to resolve the question. Some converted Pharisees insisted that the Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. Peter reminded them how God gave the Holy Spirit to the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius before they had any opportunity to do good works, to say nothing of keeping the Law! Paul and Barnabas told of the miracles God had performed through them among the Gentiles.
James, the brother of Jesus, finally gave a message of wisdom that pleased the whole church. Then they wrote letters telling of their decision. But they did not say, “It seemed good to James, as the chief elder of the Jerusalem church,” nor did they say, “It seemed good to Peter and the apostles,” nor even, “It was the consensus of the brethren as indicated by a majority vote.” In all their “discussion” (investigation, debate; Acts 15:7), they were conscious of the presence of a divine Person among them, leading them, guiding them into truth. Thus, it was not mere pious language when they said, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”
This consciousness of the reality of the Holy Spirit pervades the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Many Old Testament writers refer to the Spirit, and only three of the New Testament books do not allude to Him (and these are all very short—Philemon and 2 and 3 John).
It is true that Jesus Christ is the key figure in all God’s plan. The Holy Spirit himself focuses attention on Christ and seeks to glorify Him (John 15:26; 16:14). But this does not mean that the Holy Spirit is ever ignored in the Bible or that He is ever treated as some vague influence or imperceptible energy. He is recognized as a real person with intelligence, feeling, and will.
Both explicitly and implicitly the Bible treats the Holy Spirit as a distinct Person. “He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:27). “The Spirit searches all things” (1 Corinthians 2:10). He thus acts with intelligence and wisdom. (See Ephesians 1:17; Isaiah 11:2.) He has emotions and can be grieved or vexed (pained, hurt; Ephesians 4:30; Isaiah 63:10). He distributes gifts “to each one, just as he determines” (1 Corinthians 12:11). He guided the Early Church and directed the key missionary movements in definite, specific, personal ways. (See Acts 13:2; 16:6.) John even uses masculine personal pronouns to draw attention to the Spirit’s personality. (The word spirit in Greek is neuter and grammatically calls for a neuter pronoun.)
More importantly, it is evident from the Bible that men and women who were moved by the Spirit knew Him in a definite, personal way. If you were to ask the judges or prophets of the Old Testament if the Holy Spirit had come upon them, they would never say, “I think so,” or, “I hope so.” We read that “the Spirit of the L ORD came upon [clothed himself with] Gideon, and he blew a trumpet” (Judges 6:34). This was no mild, secret touch. When a young lion roared against Samson, “the Spirit of the L ORD came [rushed] upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat” (Judges 14:6).
When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul, he prophesied and was “changed into a different person” (1 Samuel 10:6,10). Amos, after a series of cause-and-effect illustrations, said, “The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign L ORD hath spoken—who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:8). There was an inner compulsion moving him that was as strong as the fear a lion puts in a man when it chases him. Micah knew he was “filled with power, [even] with the Spirit of the L ORD ” to deal with Israel’s sins (Micah 3:8).
There is no guesswork concerning the reality and definiteness of action of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament either. For the sake of John the Baptist, the Spirit came upon Jesus in visible form as a dove. The sound of a wind and tongues of fire heralded His presence on the Day of Pentecost.
Though His other manifestations to the Church were invisible, they were just as definite. On three occasions it is specifically recorded that the believers spoke with other tongues (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6). Once the place was shaken (Acts 4:3