Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 22
March 11, 1971
NUMBER 41, PAGE 7b

What Is The Gift Of The Holy Spirit

Guthrie D. Dean

The gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38 is the Spirit Himself. I believe this with all my heart. Some don't. Some claim that this is the modernist's position. It is true that the following "modern" translation teaches this:

1. The New Testament in Basic English: "Let your hearts be changed, every one of you, and have baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will have the Holy Spirit given to you."

2. Good News For Modern Man: "Turn away from your sins, each one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven; and you will receive God's gift, the Holy Spirit.- 3. An American Translation: The New Testament in the Language of Today: "Peter answered them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins will be forgiven, and you will be given the Holy Spirit.-

4. The Living New Testament Pharaphrased:"Each one of you must turn from sin; return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; then you also shall receive this gift, the Holy Spirit.''

But few men would claim that McGarvey and Lipscomb were modernists. In his Commentary on Acts of Apostles, McGarvey holds to the view that the gift of the Holy Spit in Acts 2:38 is the Spirit Himself. David Lipscomb took that view in Queries and Answers. Rowe and Kling-man take that position in their Questions and Answers book. B. W. Johnson, in his People's New Testament with Notes, says that this refers to the Holy Spirit as the promised comforter. Adam Clarke wrote: "Receive the baptism, in reference to the removal of sins, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, by whose agency alone the efficacy of the blood of the covenant is applied, and by whose refining power the heart is purified. It was by being baptized in the name of Christ that men took upon themselves the profession of Christianity; and it was in consequence of this that the disciples of Christ were called Christians." - Volume V, page 699, Clarke's Commentary. In his Commentary on Romans, Moses E. Lard states: "The Holy Spirit dwells in the regenerate heart. This I set down as a fact too clearly taught in holy Writ to be questioned.- -- Page 257.

Vine and Thayer were not modernists. They both hold to the view that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit Himself. In Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon, page 161, he states (in discussing the word gift ... dorea): "With an epexetetical gen. of the thing given, the holy Ghost, Acts 2:38.- Vine's Expository Dictionary, Volume II, page 147, in defining "gift,- states that "in Acts 2:38, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the clause is epexegetical, the gift being the Holy Ghost Himself."

Though there are some erroneous positions being taken regarding the Holy Spirit today, we need not give up the so-called "traditional position- regarding Acts 2:38; namely, that the gift of the Holy Spirit is the Spirit Himself, the indwelling Spirit. (I Cor. 3:16; 6:19).

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