"Receive" Or "Take"
Many times, both in private and public discussions, gospel preachers are confronted with an argument based on John 14:17 and the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10-11) which runs like this: (1) The Lord said that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. (John 14:17) (2) Cornelius received the Holy Spirit before his baptism. (Acts 10-11) (3) Therefore, Cornelius was not of the world (i.e., he was saved) before his baptism.
Gospel preachers as a whole have become fairly adept at pointing out the inconsistencies of those who make such an argument, and the dilemma in which they find themselves. I think, though, that the study of one word in John 14:17 will help a great deal in knowing the truth of the verse. Getting sectarians to accept it is another thing, The setting of this verse is the discourse of Jesus unto his apostles immediately previous to his being taken captive by his enemies. Jesus knew that his time to depart from this world was at hand (John 13:1) and was speaking his loving words of comfort to his disciples. In John 14:12 he says, "I go unto the Father." But in verse 16 he says, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter." And this Comforter, unlike Jesus, who was soon to depart, would "be with you for ever."
Now to the word study: The word translated "receive" in our English testaments is, in the original language, the word "Iabein," the infinitive of "lambano."
In checking the word "lambano" in the lexicons of Mr. Thayer, Mr. Abbot-Smith, and Mr. Pickering, we find that a translation equally as good as, and perhaps better than, "receive" is "take" or "lay hold of" or "grasp."
Using this translation of the word we have Jesus saying in verse 16 that the Father would send the Comforter, "that he may be with you for ever." Why would it be with them for ever? Verse 17: because it is "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot take." Jesus was soon to depart, because the world could "take" him. Why could not the world "take" the Holy Spirit? Verse 17: because "it beholdeth him not." The world could "behold" Jesus, for he was in the flesh, whereas the Spirit would not be. And the world could not "take" the Holy Spirit because it could not "know" him, whereas the world could see and hear Jesus and know where to "lay hold of" him.
Jesus is, in this passage, merely contrasting the Spirit with himself. He was soon to depart, because the world could behold him and know where to lay hold of him. The Spirit would remain for ever because the world could not know him or behold him, thus it could not take him. The passage has no reference at all to the Holy Spirit falling or not falling upon sinners of the world.