Understanding the Passive Reception of the Holy Spirit

 

Summary

In our exploration of Romans 8:15, we delve into the profound concept of receiving the Spirit of adoption, contrasting it with the spirit of bondage and fear. The key focus is on the word "received," which is often misunderstood as an active process on our part. However, the scriptural evidence suggests that receiving the Holy Spirit is a passive experience, a gift given by God rather than something we actively take. This distinction is crucial because it emphasizes the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit as a person, not merely an atmosphere or force we can control or manipulate.

The teaching that suggests we can receive the Spirit as we breathe air or take breakfast is misleading. The Holy Spirit is not something we can take at will; rather, He is given to us by God. This is evident in the scriptural accounts of the Holy Spirit's coming upon believers, such as at Pentecost, where the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, transforming them and making them conscious of His presence. This transformation was not a result of their own actions but a divine act of God.

Furthermore, the notion of "taking it by faith" is challenged. True faith is not merely intellectual assent but involves the whole being, including feelings and works. Faith is a channel through which we receive God's gifts, not something that justifies us by itself. The New Testament consistently shows that when people receive the Holy Spirit, it is accompanied by a profound awareness and transformation, both in themselves and observable by others.

The emphasis on the passive reception of the Holy Spirit underscores the importance of acknowledging God's sovereignty and the Spirit's role as a divine person. It calls us to a deeper understanding of faith, one that is not devoid of feeling or action but is a holistic response to God's initiative.

Key Takeaways:

- The concept of receiving the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:15 is passive, emphasizing that the Spirit is a gift from God, not something we actively take. This understanding respects the Holy Spirit's sovereignty as a divine person, not merely an atmosphere or force. [06:35]

- The scriptural accounts of the Holy Spirit's coming, such as at Pentecost, highlight the passive nature of receiving the Spirit. The apostles did not take the Spirit; He was poured out upon them, transforming them and making them aware of His presence. [13:06]

- The teaching of "taking it by faith" is challenged by the New Testament, which shows that true faith involves the whole being, including feelings and works. Faith is a channel through which we receive God's gifts, not something that justifies us by itself. [45:15]

- The passive reception of the Holy Spirit underscores the importance of acknowledging God's sovereignty and the Spirit's role as a divine person. It calls us to a deeper understanding of faith, one that is not devoid of feeling or action but is a holistic response to God's initiative. [42:12]

- The New Testament consistently shows that when people receive the Holy Spirit, it is accompanied by a profound awareness and transformation, both in themselves and observable by others. This challenges the notion that one can receive the Spirit without any accompanying experience or change. [48:19]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:11] - Introduction to Romans 8:15
- [00:30] - Misunderstanding of "Receiving"
- [01:19] - The Spirit as a Gift
- [02:14] - Active vs. Passive Reception
- [03:10] - Scriptural Examples of Passive Reception
- [04:18] - John's Gospel Illustration
- [05:11] - The Role of the Holy Spirit
- [06:35] - The Passive Nature of Receiving
- [07:43] - The Spirit of Adoption
- [09:08] - John the Baptist's Teaching
- [10:59] - Acts of the Apostles
- [13:06] - Pentecost and the Holy Spirit
- [17:04] - Peter's Explanation
- [24:54] - Cornelius and the Holy Spirit
- [30:59] - Ephesus and the Holy Spirit
- [35:11] - Conclusion and Prayer

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide

Bible Reading:
- Romans 8:15
- Acts 2:1-4
- Galatians 4:6

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Observation Questions:

1. In Romans 8:15, what are the two contrasting spirits mentioned, and what do they signify in the context of the believer's relationship with God? [00:11]

2. How does the account of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-4 illustrate the passive reception of the Holy Spirit by the apostles? [13:06]

3. According to Galatians 4:6, what is the role of the Holy Spirit in affirming our identity as children of God?

4. What examples from the sermon illustrate the misunderstanding of "receiving" the Holy Spirit as an active process? [01:19]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the concept of receiving the Holy Spirit as a passive experience challenge common teachings about faith and spiritual gifts? [06:35]

2. In what ways does the sermon suggest that the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood or misrepresented in modern teachings? [41:18]

3. How does the transformation of the apostles at Pentecost serve as evidence of the Holy Spirit's active role in the believer's life? [13:06]

4. What implications does the passive reception of the Holy Spirit have for our understanding of faith as a holistic response to God's initiative? [42:12]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on a time when you felt pressured to "take" the Holy Spirit or a spiritual gift actively. How does this sermon change your perspective on that experience? [01:19]

2. How can you cultivate a deeper awareness of the Holy Spirit's presence in your life, acknowledging His sovereignty and role as a divine person? [41:18]

3. Consider the idea that true faith involves the whole being, including feelings and works. How can you ensure that your faith is not just intellectual assent but a holistic response to God? [45:15]

4. In what ways can you be more open to the transformative work of the Holy Spirit in your life, similar to the apostles' experience at Pentecost? [13:06]

5. How can you encourage others in your community to understand the passive nature of receiving the Holy Spirit, emphasizing God's sovereignty in the process? [06:35]

6. Identify an area in your life where you might be trying to control or manipulate spiritual experiences. How can you surrender this to the Holy Spirit's guidance? [42:12]

7. Reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit in affirming your identity as a child of God. How does this assurance impact your daily life and interactions with others?

Devotional

Day 1: The Gift of the Spirit is Received, Not Taken
Receiving the Holy Spirit is a passive experience, a divine gift from God rather than something we actively take. This understanding emphasizes the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit as a person, not merely an atmosphere or force we can control. The scriptural accounts, such as at Pentecost, illustrate that the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, transforming them and making them aware of His presence. This transformation was not a result of their own actions but a divine act of God. Recognizing this passive reception underscores the importance of acknowledging God's sovereignty and the Spirit's role as a divine person. [06:35]

Ephesians 1:13-14 (ESV): "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory."

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you find yourself trying to control or manipulate spiritual experiences? How can you practice surrendering to the Holy Spirit's sovereignty today?


Day 2: The Spirit's Coming is a Divine Act
The scriptural accounts of the Holy Spirit's coming, such as at Pentecost, highlight the passive nature of receiving the Spirit. The apostles did not take the Spirit; He was poured out upon them, transforming them and making them aware of His presence. This transformation was not a result of their own actions but a divine act of God. This understanding calls us to a deeper appreciation of the Holy Spirit's role as a divine person and the transformative power of His presence in our lives. [13:06]

Acts 2:2-4 (ESV): "And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance."

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you experienced a profound change or awareness of God's presence. How did this experience shape your understanding of the Holy Spirit's work in your life?


Day 3: Faith as a Channel, Not a Justification
The teaching of "taking it by faith" is challenged by the New Testament, which shows that true faith involves the whole being, including feelings and works. Faith is a channel through which we receive God's gifts, not something that justifies us by itself. This understanding calls us to a deeper, more holistic response to God's initiative, one that is not devoid of feeling or action. [45:15]

James 2:17-18 (ESV): "So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith and I have works.' Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Reflection: How can you actively demonstrate your faith through actions today? What specific steps can you take to ensure your faith is not just an intellectual assent but a lived experience?


Day 4: Acknowledging God's Sovereignty in Receiving the Spirit
The passive reception of the Holy Spirit underscores the importance of acknowledging God's sovereignty and the Spirit's role as a divine person. It calls us to a deeper understanding of faith, one that is not devoid of feeling or action but is a holistic response to God's initiative. This understanding challenges us to recognize the Spirit's transformative power and our dependence on God's grace. [42:12]

Romans 11:33-34 (ESV): "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?'"

Reflection: In what ways can you acknowledge and submit to God's sovereignty in your daily life? How does recognizing the Holy Spirit as a divine person change your approach to spiritual growth?


Day 5: Transformation Accompanies the Reception of the Spirit
The New Testament consistently shows that when people receive the Holy Spirit, it is accompanied by a profound awareness and transformation, both in themselves and observable by others. This challenges the notion that one can receive the Spirit without any accompanying experience or change. Recognizing this transformation calls us to be open to the Spirit's work in our lives and to seek His presence actively. [48:19]

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (ESV): "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

Reflection: How have you experienced transformation through the Holy Spirit in your life? What areas of your life do you feel the Spirit is calling you to change or grow in today?

Quotes

"Now we are trying to show that that is a wrong teaching and I'll give you later some reasons for taking such time with this subject one reason we saw it once was this for rejecting it that it really does seem to do violence to the world notion which is thought in the scripture that the Holy Spirit is a person the Holy Spirit is not an atmosphere is not a force he is and they're teaching seems to me that revive at that whole idea." [00:01:44]

"Now receiving the risk early an active since but then in verse 16 you have and of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace there the sins according to the authorities is the passive one and that's a very good illustration to carry in your mind very well the word we've got here then may have an active since or it may have a passive sense when it is the passive sense it means receiving something that is given." [00:04:31]

"Surely this verse alone answers the problem the first half the first use of the word receipt surely settles the matter once and for all listen further ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear that ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father now it is quite inconceivable isn't it that in the first usage there it can have any active sense at all can you imagine anybody taking or breathing in a spirit of bondage and of fear of course not it's something that happens to us and it's a very miserable and unhappy state to be in." [00:06:42]

"Now I'm saying that deliberately every single one let me put than before you now the basic statement with regard to this whole matter of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is clearly the statement in Luke 3:16 and the parallels in the other gospel where John the Baptist's do you remember when he realized that some of the people to whom he was speaking we're coming to the conclusion that he was the Christ you remember how its put and as all men mused in their hearts concerning John whether he were the Christ or not John answered and said unto them all I indeed baptize you with water he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with power." [00:08:49]

"Now what our Lord is doing here clearly is this he is not making a prophecy that these people were going to take the Holy Spirit afterwards that isn't what he's saying at all what he is telling them is this that the effect of my sending the Holy Ghost upon you not many days hence is this that you will find that you've got power you haven't got it now but I am going to send the Holy Ghost upon you and after the Holy Ghost is come upon you you will be finding and will be conscious of the fact that you've got power now in both instances you see he is emphasizing the giving he's going to send the Holy Ghost upon them and with the sending of the Holy Ghost he's going to send this power upon them without which they can do nothing." [00:11:41]

"Now you see this is crucial again according to the other teaching what would have happened would be this Paul would have said well now then you've been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but wait a minute you can receive the gift of the Spirit you've only got to believe what I'm telling you when taking by faith don't worry about your feelings just take him by faith and you'll have him he will fill him but that isn't what happened at all again he doesn't teach he does exactly what Peter and John had done in Samaria he laid his hands upon them and then they the Holy Ghost came upon them and they skate with tongues and prophesied." [00:32:41]

"Now you notice there's our word the word used twice in Romans 8:15 translated received now what is Peter saying well Peters argument is this you see and it's obvious he was in a dilemma I didn't know what to do he was in trouble about this old question of the Gentiles that's why he did have that vision but now here he is he says I'm quite clever the holy ghost has fallen on these people as he did on us they have received the Holy Ghost exactly as we received him at the beginning on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem he says in the light of death I have no hesitation at all Enterprise in these people." [00:25:39]

"Peter baptized them not because they said that they believed or that they said that they taking this gift by faith he baptized them for one reason and because of what God had done to them it was God sending the spirit on them that convinced Peter and his party finally so the whole emphasis you see is on the activity of God in the giving and on the passivity of these people in the receiving now I regard that as a an utterly conclusive argument against which nothing whatsoever can be sent who can be said Peter makes it abundantly clear Peters problem would not have been solved in this matter of the prising these Gentiles if it had been the take it by faith teaching these people saying that there though they felt nothing at all they believed the word and have decided to take the gift that is offered that would never have satisfied them but when God has given it and the people of the passive recipients and are proving that the Spirit has entered them and that they're filled with the spirit Peter is absolutely convinced there's no other conceivable interpretation at that part." [00:29:47]

"Now you see the coming of the Holy Spirit is something that falls upon us we don't take he falls upon us he was not yet fallen upon any of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus but go back again to verse 50 who when they were come down fade father prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost surely if this is something that a man does voluntarily there was no need for the Apostles to pray for them what they would have done would have been this they'd have said now look here the Holy Spirit was given once and for all in this great way on the day of Pentecost all you've got to do is to realize that he's been given and you can receive him whenever you like whenever you have faith to do so he's all around you take him in as you breathe the air into your Constitution they would have taught them if it's something that you and I've gotten they would have not only have taught them they would have exhorted them to receive him but they didn't what they did was to pray for them they prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost and remember that is to be considered in the context of his falling upon them." [00:21:04]

"Now that people misinterpret that in this way they say you know if a man said yes I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he died for my sins they say to in quarrels are you prepared to say that being quarter said yes very well they say you say but you know the scripture doesn't say that if thou will confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that's to say with the totality of your being the heart is the center of the personality this isn't feelings this is the center this is the whole man believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead a man who believes that in the heart his whole life is governed by it thou shall be saved now that faith I say is never bare in that sense faith is not true faith unless there is an element of feeling in it if there is no element of feeling in it it may be nothing but intellectual assent it may be nothing but a kind of historical faith there's nothing to stop any men say I believe that yes I believe that evidence that doesn't make him a Christian the devil's believe that they know that but they tremble we must be very careful lest we substitute a mere intellectual assent to a number of propositions for real faith faith is a deep thing and a man really doesn't have true faith without having rest in yourself being therefore justified by faith we see in Romans 5:1 we have peace with God we are enjoying it and you really mustn't say you've got faith until you know something about that rest so we must be very careful about this their faith it isn't true faith faith always is accompanied by a certain amount of feeling and of works faith without works is dead merely to say things doesn't prove we are Christians faith is deeper than it it goes beyond intellectual assent the propositions." [00:44:41]

"Now you see this is crucial again according to the other teaching what would have happened would be this Paul would have said well now then you've been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ but wait a minute you can receive the gift of the Spirit you've only got to believe what I'm telling you when taking by faith don't worry about your feelings just take him by faith and you'll have him he will fill him but that isn't what happened at all again he doesn't teach he does exactly what Peter and John had done in Samaria he laid his hands upon them and then they the Holy Ghost came upon them and they skate with tongues and prophesied well now there it is there's the main evidence in a sense you've got a bit of parallel evidence in this epistle to the Romans we've already considered it some time ago chapter 5 verse 5 where we read and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts we don't take it it shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us isn't it interesting that the terms are poured forth shed the broad hell upon these are the terms Oliver's none of them suggesting that it's something that we actively voluntary take in and of course as we've already seen in a sense in Galatians 4:6 you've got precisely the same kind of emphasis where we read and because ye are sons god sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father it goes out of its way to tell us that it is God who sent it forth yes and right into our hearts the same notion every time without exception." [00:33:38]

"Now you see the coming of the Holy Spirit is something that falls upon us we don't take he falls upon us he was not yet fallen upon any of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus but go back again to verse 50 who when they were come down fade father prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost surely if this is something that a man does voluntarily there was no need for the Apostles to pray for them what they would have done would have been this they'd have said now look here the Holy Spirit was given once and for all in this great way on the day of Pentecost all you've got to do is to realize that he's been given and you can receive him whenever you like whenever you have faith to do so he's all around you take him in as you breathe the air into your Constitution they would have taught them if it's something that you and I've gotten they would have not only have taught them they would have exhorted them to receive him but they didn't what they did was to pray for them they prayed that they might receive the Holy Ghost and remember that is to be considered in the context of his falling upon them." [00:21:04]

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Transcript
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