The Gift Of The Holy Spirit
One of the most misunderstood passages in the New Testament in my opinion is the latter part of Acts 2:38. In this verse "the gift of the Holy Spirit" is promised as part of the reward for being baptized for the remission of sins. Verse 39 indicates that everyone who obeys the command given in verse 38 will be a recipient of this reward. Many writers and preachers claim that this passage teaches that the Spirit himself will be given in some way and measure apart from the word as a reward for their obedience. This I deny.
The Bible being its own best interpreter, I shall let it speak for itself as to the meaning of this passage. In John 3:16 we read "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." In this passage believers are promised "eternal life." In Mark 16:16 we read again: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." Here again salvation is promised to those who believe and are baptized. This passage is parallel to Acts 2:38. The difference is in the wording of the promise. In this passage it is "will be saved." In Acts it is "For the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Since the command is the same the promise must be the same, therefore "For the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" means the same thing as "Will be saved." Then "The gift of the Holy Spirit" is simply salvation.
To show that this interpretation is not forced, we shall examine some more scriptures. In John 6:63 we read "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." Here we are told that the spirit gives something; it is life. Now if the spirit gives life, then life is a gift of the spirit. In 2 Cor. 3:6 we read "for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life." In this passage Paul is contrasting the law of the Spirit with the law of Moses, and in doing he says "The Spirit gives life." Therefore the gift of the Spirit is eternal life.
We shall now show how the Spirit does this work and close this essay. Referring again to John 6:63, "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." In this passage John not only tells us that the Spirit gives life but also how he does; he gives life through the words of Christ. This is in harmony with Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also the Greek."
All quotations were taken from the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament.