A brother asks, "Now, is there in the Scripture any promise of a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a result of obedience?"

Jesus, in anticipation of his being "glorified" as "Lord of lords and King of kings" on Pentecost Day of A.D. 30, promised that "whoever believes in me" would receive "the Spirit" (John 7:37-39; Revelation 17:14). Since the Holy Spirit is a person (he has a "mind," he "speaks," he "knows," and his feelings can be hurt, Romans 8:27; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 4:30), and since the Bible equates believing with obeying (John 3:36), it follows that there is "in the Scripture" the "promise of a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a result of obedience."

Our erring brother holds that the reception of the Holy Spirit of John 7:39 was a "supernatural manifestation." Apparently he means a miraculous display comparable to the apostles talking in tongues on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:4).

But such a supernatural manifestation was not promised to all "those who believe in him" (John 7:39). The miraculous powers were limited to a few people, and ended in the first century (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:8-10; Revelation 22:18-19), but those who would receive the Spirit were all believers with no time limitation.

Today, as in the first century, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). Today, as in the first century, the presence of the Spirit in a Christian’s physical body is an intangible and invisible testimony that he is a child of God (Romans 8:16; Galatians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 6:19). Moreover, his presence is a mute, non-sensory guarantee that the child of God, if he behaves himself, will have a heavenly inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30).

The fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that all believers would receive the Holy Spirit began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost with Peter’s announcement that every one who repented and was baptized would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Since repentance and baptism are acts of obedience, and since the Holy Spirit is a person, it follows that there is "in the Scripture" a "promise of a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a result of obedience."

The fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that all believers would receive the Holy Spirit continued to be fulfilled after the day of Pentecost when Peter proclaimed that God gives the Holy Spirit "to those who obey him" (Acts 5:32). Since the Holy Spirit is a person, it follows that there is "in the Scripture" a "promise of a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a result of obedience."

In reference to Jesus’ statement that the Father gives "the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" (Luke 11:13), our brother’s beginning words carry a bad implication: "This passage may be disposed of by saying" so and so. Anyone who disposes of any passage of Scripture needs to repent.

After our brother’s beginning words, he attempts to dispose of the gift of the Holy Spirit to every believer by asserting that "in the original it is a holy spirit and does not refer to the Holy Spirit at all," only to "a holy disposition."

If "the original" pneuma hagion, "holy spirit," is not to be capitalized in English, and refers only to a "holy disposition," this is what we would find in Scripture:

Forty-one times pneuma hagion is in the New Testament, and forty-one times it is rendered "the Holy Spirit" by major translations (KJV, ASV, NASV, NIV, NRSV). No translation known to me ever renders "the original" words as a "holy disposition."

Moreover, to cause Jesus to say that "your Father in heaven" will "give a holy disposition to those who ask him" makes Jesus utter an untruth. To ask God to give one a holy disposition is idle talk, for he has never promised such, and he has never done so.

A disposition is an attitude of mind. God teaches people to think on holy things, but it is up to them whether or not they follow instructions (Philippians 4:8-9). Not a gift from heaven, but a command from heaven is "Follow ... holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord," and "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16; Hebrews 12:14, KJV).

But did Luke write pneuma hagion, "the Holy Spirit"? There is good reason to think that he did if one lets the major Greek manuscripts be his guide. In the first three editions of my translation of the New Testament, I let those manuscripts be my guide, saying, "... how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to the ones who ask him" (Luke 11:13).

I was uncomfortable with the idea that people are to ask, to pray, for the Holy Spirit, for other passages show that we do not ask for, we do not pray for, the gift of the Holy Spirit. His coming to baptized believers, according to Acts 2:38, is automatic, yes, while they are still wet, with no asking involved. The Scripture is clear that the Holy Spirit is "given" not to those who pray for him, but "to those who obey him" (Acts 5:32). So I had an unsolved problem.

As time went on, I checked Jesus’ parallel words in Matthew 7:11, where the gift received by asking is not the "Holy Spirit" but "good things." Certainly we do pray for good things, including our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Then I rechecked the Greek manuscripts back of Luke 11:13 and of Matthew 7:11.

I found that a few manuscripts and ancient versions do not have us asking for "the Holy Spirit." A variety of renderings includes "the good Spirit," "a good gift," "good gifts," while two ancient versions (the Syriac Sinaitic and the Armenian) have in Luke 11:13 the precise words that all manuscripts have in Matthew 7:11, "good things."

Since what Jesus said in Matthew 7:11 cannot be wrong, and since its inclusion in Luke 11:13 does away with a Bible contradiction, and since it is supported by two ancient versions, the 4th edition of my translation will say in Luke 11:13: