Holy Spirit in the Books of Acts - Research Paper Example

? # HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BOOKS OF ACTS A RESEARCH PAPER PRESENTED TO DR: # BY, # MAY 7, OUTLINE Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………3 Pentecost……………………………………………………………………………………………………3-5 The Holy Spirit Strengthens the disciples to preach the Gospel……………………5 The Disciples perform miracles……………………………………………………………………5-7 Conferring of the Holy Spirit upon Believers……………………………………………….7-9 The Holy Spirit Speaks to the Apostles……………………………………………………………9 The Holy Spirit Guides the Decisions and Actions of Christians………………………10 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………10-11 Annotated Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………12 INTRODUCTION The book of the Acts of Apostles gives us a chronological account of events in the early church, from the death of Jesus Christ and His subsequent ascension to heaven, up to the end of St. Paul’s missionary journey in Rome. For better interpretation of the Acts of Apostles, it is important to note that the Acts of Apostles is the manifestation of the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise to His disciples that He wouldn’t leave them as Orphans, but that He would send them the Holy Spirit who would act as their guide in their mandate to preach the good news (Turner, 2003)1. The book of the Acts of the Apostles, therefore, is an account of how the Holy Spirit led the disciples in establishing the early Church: the Spirit inspired, strengthened, gave directions, gave the power to perform miracles, and guided the apostles in their mandate, given by Jesus Christ, to spread the Gospel to the whole world. That is why the book of the Act of the Apostles is often times aptly referred to as the book of the Holy Spirit (Bruce, 1973)2. This paper investigates the roles of the Holy Spirit, as the main character, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. At the end of the paper, a conclusion is made based on the salient points elaborated and discussed in the body of the paper. THE PENTECOST The book of the Acts of the Apostles begins with Jesus’ instructing His disciples not to depart from Jerusalem, but to remain there and wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Acts, 1: 4-5. The disciples in obedience to their master, Jesus Christ, remained in Jerusalem, in the upper room, patiently waiting and praying for the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in the upper room in form of tongues of fire, Acts, 2:3. The Holy Spirit strengthened the apostles and gave them the power to preach the Good News boldly. Prior to the event of the Pentecost, following the death of Jesus Christ, the apostles had gone into hiding for fear that the persecutors of Jesus may decide to look for them and kill them. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, therefore, marks the beginning of the Work of the Holy in the Acts of the Apostles (Drumwright, 1944)3. Following this outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus Christ on Pentecost day, the work of the Holy Spirit was manifest in many of disciples’’ future works as the missionaries of the Good News. THE HOLY SPIRIT STRENGTHENS THE APOSTLES TO PREACH THE GOSPEL (Acts, 2.) Following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on Pentecost day, the disciples led by Peter stood to preach the Good News to the People. The Holy Spirit gave them the courage and the boldness to preach without fear. In the preaching, Peter emphasised that Jesus Christ is, indeed, the promised Messiah, and that Jesus Christ, actually, died, was buried, and on the third day He arose again in accordance with the writings of the Old Testament. Following this preaching, the people to whom the disciples were preaching to were also filled with the Holy Spirit and they requested the disciples to baptise them. There were many converts following this bold public preaching by the disciples of Jesus Christ and the disciples managed to baptise around three thousands converts on a single day. This episode following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples on the Pentecost day shows that the Holy Spirit is, actually, the one who made the preaching mission of the disciples of Jesus Christ successful. The Holy Spirit gave the disciples the courage to preach, and at the same time opened the hearts of the non-believers to understand and to accept the message that the disciples preached to them. THE APOSTLES PERFORM MIRACLES In the Acts of the Apostles, there are many miracles that were performed by the disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit. The main intention of performing the miracles was to make the non-believers believe that, Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah, and that Jesus Christ is God (Turner, 2003)4. The performing of miracles by the disciples, therefore, played a significant role in making the missionary work of the disciples successful. The following were some of the miracles that were performed by the disciples through the help of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 3 of the Acts of the Apostles, two of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and John, were going into the temple at around noon. And on reaching at the gate of the temple, the beautiful gate, they met a crippled beggar who had been placed there begging for food. But Peter and John did not have any material thing to give them. So Peter decided to heal the beggar in the name of Jesus Christ. Peter, therefore, ordered the crippled beggar in the name of Jesus Christ, to rise and walk. The beggar immediately rose up and walked. This miracle astonished all the people who were in the temple and made more people to believe in the Good News preached by the disciples. In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied to the disciples about the proceeds of their land. Following this fraud, both of the couple fell and died instantly. The couple died because of lying to the Hoy Spirit. The death of Ananias and his wife Sapphira is a miracle because, ordinarily, one cannot die because of lying. This shows that the Holy Spirit was the one who was acting through the apostles. This miracle also made more and more people to believe the authenticity of the message of the disciple. In this chapter, also, the disciples performed many other signs and wonders: the sick were healed and those who were possessed by the evil Spirits were also healed. All these miracles added to the credibility of the mission of Jesus’ disciples. In chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles, Philip, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ performed many signs and wonders. He healed many people and exorcised demons from those who were possessed by evil spirits. In the same chapter, there is a dramatic miracle that Philip performed, that led to the conversion of a sorcerer known as Simon. Simon had been a magician and the people in his neighbourhood revered him for practicing magic. But through the preaching of the disciples, Simon accepted the message of the disciples and he became a Christian convert. Apart from the miracles that the disciples of Jesus Christ performed as a manifestation of the authenticity of their mission as having proceed from Messiah, the promised Messiah, the other aspect of the disciples lives that clearly demonstrate the work of the Holy Spirit in them is the courage and the perseverance that they had in face of trials and hardships. After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost day, the disciples of Jesus Christ no longer feared death and they persevered boldly even to the point of death . The apostles of Jesus Christ suffered severely, just like their master, but they persevered through the help of the Holy Spirit. There are a number of incidents in the lives and missions of the apostles that demonstrates the strengthening character of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 4 of the Acts of Apostles, the rulers were disturbed by the message that the disciples were preaching and the many converts that the disciples were quickly winning. Following this, the rulers arrested the two disciples. But to their surprise, the disciples spoke with a remarkable courage and conviction, without any fear of the consequences of their actions. The rulers were particularly amazed by the courage and the conviction with which the disciples spoke given the fact that the disciples were ordinary people, and not people of high learning. The Sanhedrin later released the two disciples after realising that they couldn’t convince them to stop preaching the good news. When the disciples were later seized and flogged (Acts, 5:41), they rejoiced in the sufferings because suffering is one of the marks of true discipleship (Mathews, 1999)5. During his martyrdom, St. Stephen looked radiantly at heaven and he beheld the son of man looking back at him from the right hand of God (Acts, 7: 56). Stephen rejoiced in his sufferings and he did not complain about the cruel sufferings, stoning, that he was subjected to. Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit and it was the Holy Spirit who enabled him to endure the severe punishment calmly. When later, St. Paul and Silas were also beaten and thrown into prison, they started singing hymns in praise of God. St. Paul also underwent severe sufferings and pains in his missionary journeys to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles (2 Corinthians, 11: 26). The disciple’s courage and perseverance in sufferings was, purely, the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acted as the comforter and the consoler of the apostles in times of sufferings. This enabled the apostles to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ without fear. Conferring of the Holy Spirit upon the Believers The apostles of Jesus Christ were given the power to impart the Holy Spirit upon the non-believers, so as to convert them. And, through the laying of hands upon the believers or no-believers, the apostles of Jesus Christ had the power to confer the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon them (Roberts, 1960)6. We find apostles laying hands, in the Acts of Apostles, on the believers in the following verses. When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the Gospel, the apostles sent Peter and Pauls to go and lay hands on the people of Samaria so that they may receive the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts, 14-15). The two disciples then went and laid hands on the people of Samaria and they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts: 8: 17-19). Among the people of Samaria was Simon, who was fascinated by the ability of the apostles to confer Holy Spirit upon the believers and he requested the apostles to sell him the power to lay hands on people and to confer the power of the Holy Spirit upon them (Acts, 8: 18-22). But the apostles objected to his request and informed him that the power of the Holy Spirit is not meant for commercial purposes. Another example of the gift of the apostles to lay hands on the believers and to impart upon them the power of the Holy Spirit is found in Acts, 9: 17-18. After Saul became blind following the vision of Jesus Christ that he had, God instructed Ananias to go into the house where Saul was and lay hands on him. Acting on God’s order, Ananias went into the house where Saul was and laid hands upon him. Then, Saul immediately regained his sight. Also, in Acts, 19: 1-7, Paul prayed and laid hands on the disciples and they received the power of the Holy Spirit. The believers upon whom Paul laid hands on were the disciples who had not yet received the baptism of Jesus Christ. Paul baptised them in the name of Jesus Christ and laid hands upon them so that they would receive the power of the Holy Spirit. On laying hands upon them, the disciples immediately received the power of the Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues and prophesying. THE HOLY SPRIT SPEAK TO THE APOSTLES The apostles are chosen and anointed by the Holy Spirit, and as such, the Holy Spirit regularly communicates with the apostles (Russel, 1986)7. The Holy Spirit communicates with the apostles to give them directions and guidance on issues pertaining to the apostle’s mandate of spreading the Good News. There are a number of examples in the Acts of the Apostles, of the Holy Spirit speaking with the apostles. In Acts, 8:26-31, the Holy Spirit directs the apostle Philip to get up and head south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. On the way, Philip met the Ethiopian Eunuch reading the book of Isaiah in a chariot. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to Philip and directed him to go and join the Eunuch. Philip then joined the Eunuch and on the request of the Eunuch, Philip helped the Eunuch to interpret the book of Isaiah. Philip then after preaching the Good News to the Eunuch he asked the Eunuch whether he would like to be baptised with the water and the Holy Spirit. The Eunuch accepted to be baptised and Philip baptised him. Another Example of the Holy Spirit speaking to the apostles is found in, Acts, 10: 17-23. Peter was just pondering about the earlier vision that he had had, whereby in the vision he saw a sheet with all kinds of animals and he was told that he may eat any of animals because whatever God has created is clean. As he was pondering about this vision, the Holy Spirit spoke with him and he was told to go out of the house, where he was, to go and meet three men who were waiting for him outside. Peter immediately went out, met the three men and attended them. THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDES THE DECISIONS AND ACTIONS OF THE APOSTLES The early church was faced with a myriad of challenges, especially on cultural issues (Bruce, 1973)8. In the early church there were two conflicting factions: the Hellenistic faction, and the Hebrew faction. The Hellenist faction of the early Church consisted of the Jews with Greek cultural background, whereas the Hebrew faction consisted of the Jews with the Hebrew cultural background. The Hebrew faction had a kind of superiority complex and they felt that the Gospel should not be taught to the members of the Hellenistic faction. This brought about a lot of cultural tensions in the early church, but the Holy Spirit provided the necessary guidance. There are a number of examples to show how the Holy Spirit provided guidance and directions on some controversial issues in the early Church. By the time Judas, also known as Barsabbas, and Silas were sent to the Church in Antioch, there were many controversial, culturally related issues in the Church at Antioch. The apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit, wrote a letter to the Church at Antioch. The letter was delivered to the Church at Antioch by Judas and Silas. In the letter, the apostles tersely described what the wish of the Holy Spirit was: to abstain from meat sacrificed for idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage (Acts, 15: 28-29). Other examples of Holy Spirit directions on the apostles include, Acts, 16: 6-7, whereby the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from preaching the Good News in Asia. In Acts, 20: 22-23, Paul says that he is compelled by the Holy Spirit. CONCLUSION From the analysis of the works of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was the main driving force behind all the activities of the apostles in the early church. The Holy Spirit filled the apostles, and through His power, they were able to perform miracles, to confer the Holy Spirit upon the new coverts, to boldly preach the Gospel, and to persevere in all the challenges that came their way. The Holy Spirit, also, spoke with the apostles and guided them in all their activities. From these analyses, we can rightly say that all the events in the Acts of apostles were guided and led by the power of the Holy Spirit. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Bruce, F. F. 1973. “Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles.” Interpretation 27, no. 2:166– 183. In this Journal, Bruce looks at the works o the Holy Spirit in the whole of the book of the Acts of Apostles. Bruce sees the Holy Spirit as the main driving force in all the works of the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles. Drumwright, Huber L. 1974 “Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts.” Southwestern Journal of Theology 17, no. 1: 3–17. In this journal, Huber Drumwright cites various examples of the works of Holy Spirit in the Acts of the apostles. Drumwright emphasizes the point that the Holy Spirit was the fulfilment of Jesus’ promise to His disciples that He would send them the Holy Spirit when he ascends to heaven. Mathews, Danny. 1999. “The Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts: A Critique of Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Power of the Spirit.” Restoration Quarterly 41, no. 2: 71–86. In this article, Mathews critically looks at the works of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of Apostles, and concludes that, indeed, the apostles were guided by the Holy Spirit in all their activities. Roberts, R. L. 1960 “‘The Gift of the Holy Spirit’--Acts 2:38.” Restoration Quarterly 4, no. 4 : 234–238. Roberts in this journal delves into the gifts that the Holy Spirit gave the believers when He ascended upon them. Roberts argues that if it were not for the gifts of the Holy Spirti, the apostles could not have accomplished what they accomplished. Russell, Walt. 1986. “The Anointing with the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts.” Trinity Journal 7, no. 1: 47–63. In this Journal, Russell looks at the issue of how the Holy Spirit anointed certain individuals, the apostles, and through the anointment, the apostles received the Holy Spirit who aided them in all their mission to preach the Good News. Turner, Max. 2003. “The Work of the Holy Spirit in Luke-Acts.” Word & World 23, no. 2 : 146–153. In this article, Turner looks at the works of the Holy Spirit in both the books of Luke and Acts of the Apostles, in both of these two books, Turner sees the Hoy Spirit as the one who helped the apostles to accomplish all they were able to accomplish. Read More