“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory<\/em>” (Ephesians 1:13-14).<\/p>\n“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”<\/em>” (Acts 2:38).<\/p>\n“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee<\/em>” (II Corinthians 1:21-22).<\/p>\n“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:30).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAt baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The gift is expressed as is singular, so it is a single gift of significance. However, the wording in Acts 2:38 is a bit vague.<\/p>\n
\n- You can read this as the Spirit itself being the gift — in the sense that Paul said it in II Corinthians 1:21-22.<\/li>\n
- Or you can read it as a gift that comes from the Spirit — the promise of salvation at judgment day if we are found to have remained faithful — in the sense that Paul used it in Ephesians 1:13-14.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Actually the giving of the Spirit itself is a metonymy. A metonymy is where the name of one object is used as a synonym for a closely related object. For example, “He gave him a bottle to drink” means that the contents of the bottle was consumed and not the bottle itself.\u00a0 Here the Spirit is used as a metonymy for the gift the Spirit gives to each baptized believer — the promise of salvation. It is a promise found in the word of God, delivered by the Spirit through the apostles and prophets. “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (II Peter 1:19-21). We carry that word around with us in our hearts and since those words came from the Spirit, we carry the Spirit and His promise with us in a figurative sense.<\/p>\nWe know that it is figurative because a literal reading doesn’t make sense. If the Holy Spirit is given literally to the believer, then it makes it sound as if the believer has control of the Holy Spirit. If it is claimed that a piece of the Spirit is given to each believer, then how is that different from the fact that God’s presence is everywhere? Would not the Spirit already be there? “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You<\/em>” (Psalms 139:7-12). But as a metonymy the phrasing makes sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: Jeffrey, Thank you for your wonderful work in teaching the Bible and for your web site. I have become much stronger in the faith as a result of your help. I have come upon a statement that I am not sure is correct: “At baptism God sends His Spirit to dwell in us. He…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,252,86,47],"class_list":["post-16738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-gift-of-the-holy-spirit","tag-holy-spirit","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18653,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-does-the-gift-of-the-holy-spirit-come-after-repentance-or-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":16738,"position":0},"title":"When does the gift of the Holy Spirit come, after repentance or baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does the gift of the Holy Spirit come to dwell within us after we repent of our sins, or does it take up home within us after the act of baptism? Answer: \"Then Peter said to them, \"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-receiving-the-holy-spirit-mean-baptism-in-water-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":16738,"position":1},"title":"Does receiving the Holy Spirit mean baptism in water is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have another friend that believes you don't need water baptism because once you believe that's when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and that's when you're baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. She gave me theses Scriptures: Acts 11:14-16, Acts 11:47-48, Matthew 3:11-15, Acts 10:44-48, Titus 3:5,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-paul-really-receive-the-holy-spirit-before-his-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":16738,"position":2},"title":"Did Paul really receive the Holy Spirit before his baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I was just reading your answer to\u00a01\/24\/2008's question\u00a0about Paul receiving the spirit before he was baptized. I could be mistaken, but I have never gotten from that passage that Paul received the Spirit before baptism.\u00a0 Ananias told Paul that he would receive his sight and then be filled with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22011,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-one-receive-the-holy-spirit-without-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":16738,"position":3},"title":"Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can one receive the Holy Spirit without baptism? Answer: The clear answer to this is \"yes.\" Baptism is a command found in the New Testament, yet people had received the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. In addition: \"While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25348,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-baptism-of-the-holy-spirit-give-you-the-power-to-fight-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":16738,"position":4},"title":"Does the baptism of the Holy Spirit give you the power to fight sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! Does the baptism of the Holy Spirit give you the power to fight sin? Does the baptism of the Holy Spirit give you the power to overcome sin? Answer: Peter was baptized with the Holy Spirit: \"Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, 'John\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34536,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-baptisms-in-the-new-testament-spirit-baptisms-or-water-baptisms\/","url_meta":{"origin":16738,"position":5},"title":"Are the baptisms in the New Testament Spirit baptisms or water baptisms?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been studying with a co-worker of mine and apparently, we are getting nowhere fast. Our discussions consist of mostly the importance of baptism. He knows the Gospel and believes that it is vital to believe in it for salvation's sake, but he doesn't believe that baptism is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}