Commentary on Acts 13:1

By Bob Myhan

¹Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

While most of the Old Testament prophets were men from within the nation of Israel, the New Testament prophets were not all Jews or even men. As Joel had prophesied,

“'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.

The above is Peter’s quotation from Joel 2:28-29 (as recorded in Acts 2:17-18). In no English translation available to this writer at this time does the phrase, “last days,” appear in Joel 2:28. But readers should be mindful of the fact that Jesus and the inspired writers of the New Testament quoted almost exclusively from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. In so doing, they endorsed the use of translations in preaching and teaching. Peter, in particular, endorses the phrase, “last days,” as being the equivalent expression of “afterward.” And, if Joel 2:28-29 began to be fulfilled on Pentecost, so did Isaiah 2:1-3 and Micah 4:1-2, because both predicted what “shall come to pass in the latter days” (NKJV).

By “all flesh” Joel simply means, “without regard to nationality, race or ethnicity.” That is, both Jews and Gentiles would receive the Holy Spirit. Joel also implies that the Spirit would be poured out without regard to sex, age or social standing. “Sons,” “daughters,” “young,” “old,” “menservants” and “maid-servants” would receive the Holy Spirit. Individuals from all walks of life would prophesy as a result of the Holy Spirit being poured out.

The pouring out of the Holy Spirit prophesied by Joel was to enable certain ones to perform miracles to confirm the Kingdom of God had been established (see Mark 16:17-20). Of course, all of the apostles were male Jews. Therefore, the prophecy of Joel was not completely fulfilled at this point. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit had taken place but not all of the results had followed. Attention will be brought back to this passage when Luke mentions some of the things that were more or less indirect results of this pouring out of God’s Spirit.

The first clear recorded instance of individuals receiving the Holy Spirit so as to perform miraculous spiritual gifts took place in Samaria. (See Acts 8:13-19)

Even Simon the former magician could see the difference between his ability to amaze and the power to heal and cast out demons exhibited by Philip. Simon was convinced that such power could only have come from God.

Again, Simon had no power to heal or cast out demons. He was a mere pretender, a charlatan, as were Jannes and Jambres who “resisted Moses” “by their secret arts,” until they admitted reluctantly, “This is the finger of God.” (Ex. 7:10-25; 8:1-19; 2 Tim. 3:8) 

Simon “also believed” and “was baptized.” Therefore, according to the promise of Jesus (Mark 16:15-16), he was saved. After he was saved, he “continued with Philip;” that is, he became a true worshiper, worshiping God “in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) From Acts 2:42, we know this involved continuing “steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” He continued to be “amazed” at the things Philip was able to do by the power of God. Simon had truly been converted.  

Though the disciples, generally, had scattered, the apostles had remained at Jerusalem. (Acts 8:1-4) We are not told how long Philip had been in Samaria before the apostles heard about his fruitful efforts there. Those in Samaria “had received the word of God,” in that they had believed the facts of the gospel, obeyed the commands of the gospel and then received the promise of the gospel—the forgiveness of their sins. But the Holy Spirit “had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” To be “baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,” then, is the same as being “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38) and the same as being baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19), else the Great Commission was never carried out by the apostles and other disciples.

It should be noted that Peter had no more authority than the other apostles, as is seen in the fact that the apostles, plural, sent him and John to Samara. It is doubtful whether anyone sends the Pope anywhere.

 That these did not “receive the Holy Spirit” when they were baptized is proof that the Holy Spirit is not automatically received when one is baptized, for “God shows no partiality.” (Acts 10:34)

This is the first of two times the Holy Spirit is said to have been received. In both cases, He is said to have been received by individuals upon whom an apostle’s hands were laid. The other is Acts 19:1-6.

Paul asked about twelve disciples, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said they had not heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul immediately asked about their baptism and discovered that they had not been baptized in accordance with the Great Commission. After he baptized them, he laid hands on them and they, then, received the Holy Spirit when he “came upon them,” and were able to speak in tongues and prophesy.

The reception of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the apostles’ hands was perceived by Simon. What did he see? Did he see the reception of a non-miraculous, invisible indwelling? Or did he see the reception of miraculous power, such as would be received by the twelve disciples in Ephesus on the occasion described above? If what Simon saw was non-miraculous, why did he want to purchase the power to bestow it? There is no indication that he wanted to buy the power Philip had. Therefore, the power manifested by Peter and John must have been greater than that exhibited by Philip. And why would it be necessary to send Peter and John if Philip could convey to others the power that he had?

Indeed, receiving the Holy Spirit seems to have always been miraculous, unless Acts 2:38 is an exception. Some argue that one receives the Holy Spirit, literally, when baptized. These would maintain, further, that the Samaritans “received the Holy Spirit,” literally and non-miraculously, when they were baptized and received Him figuratively and miraculously when the apostles laid their hands on them.

But, if the Holy Spirit was in them, literally, from the time they were baptized, why did they need to have the apostles’ hands laid on them to receive the Holy Spirit figuratively and manifest this figurative reception via the miraculous spiritual gifts?

A list of nine such gifts is given in 1 Cor. 12:4-11. They are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, miraculous faith, gifts of healings, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues These seem to fall into three basic categories: gifts of inspiration—wisdom, knowledge and discerning of spirits; gifts of confirmation—faith, healing and miracles; and gifts of proclamation—prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues.

(To be continued)

A Study of the Holy Spirit (Part 5)

By Bob Myhan 

The Bible teaches that there is but one God (Dt. 6:4; Isa. 43:10; 44:6; 1 Cor. 8:4). But this is a collective “one,” not an absolute “one” (compare Gen. 1:26, 27; 3:22; 11:5-9). A collective one is a unity of individuals not a single individual. Specifically, the Godhead is a unity of three individuals. This is clearly seen at the scene of the baptism of Jesus by John.

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."  (Matthew 3:16-17)

Here, we have the Son of God (one individual) on the earth, the Holy Spirit (a second individual) between heaven and earth, and the Father (a third individual) speaking from heaven. Thus, they are three separate and distinct individuals.

While a collective “one” can be divided, an absolute “one” cannot be. As an individual having identity, the Holy Spirit is an indivisible entity, as are the other two members of the Godhead. He is an absolute “one” and cannot be divided up and parceled out. It is therefore impossible for the totality of His person to literally personally and directly indwell the body of every Christian. This would result in an individual personal Holy Spirit entity and personality for each Christian but the Holy Spirit is not a unity of multiple individuals; He is a single individual. And an individual, by definition, is indivisible.

“A person, then, is the indivisible self which is and acts as a self-conscious being and free moral agent; his personality is that which makes him a person rather than a brute or a thing; his nature is the sum total of the traits of mind and heart which the self possesses and expresses more or less perfectly, consciously and unconsciously. Personality in God is the sum total of the infinite attributes resident in the inmost depth of his one divine nature; the three persons in the Godhead are the three individualities, the three personal centers of consciousness, the three separate self-conscious and self-determining persons or selves” (H. Leo Boles, The Holy Spirit: His Personality, Nature, Works, p. 33).

Those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells do not have His literal infinite self in their bodies, as this would require a separate literal, infinite divine self (Holy Spirit) for each Christian’s body. Therefore, it must be the case that He indwells Christians indirectly, that is, through a medium. And that medium is God’s word. We will have more on the indwelling in a later article.

(To be continued)