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THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION SHED FORTH
III. QUARTER, LESSON II., JULY 10, ACTS 2:1-12.
Golden Text--"When he, the Spirit of truth, is come,
he will guide you into all truth,...and he will
show you things to come."--John 16:13.
VERSES 1-4. The most notable day in the
history of the Church is the day of Pentecostal
blessing which followed our Lord's ascension.
It marks definitely the beginning of Church
history by marking the beginning of the
Church. For although the disciples were
called, and followed the great Teacher during
the three and a half years of his ministry and
sacrifice, they were not recognized by God as
his sons until Pentecost, when the spirit of adoption
was given.
True, they had consecrated themselves; they
had even left all to follow Christ; but yet they
were under condemnation as sinners and could
not be recognized or treated as sons until their
sins had been atoned for by the great sin-offering
of "the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world." For this they must
wait. And even after the Redeemer had
"poured out his soul unto death" as our sin-offering,
and after he had been raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father, they must still
wait until by the gift of the spirit of adoption
God should recognize them as sons and empower
them to teach in his name the forgiveness
of sins: they must wait until he who gave our
redemption price should ascend on high and
there appear in the presence of God and offer to
justice that sin-offering on our behalf--making
it applicable to all those who believe in and obey
him. The Pentecostal blessing was of the Father,
but by the Son (Acts 2:33). It was the Father's
recognition of the merit of the sin-offering.
True, the Master had sent them out to declare
the Kingdom at hand, etc., and they returned
rejoicing, saying, "Lord, even the devils
are subject unto us in thy name;" but the
power by which they did their miracles then,
while it was holy spirit or holy power, was not
their own, but the Lord's. He sent them forth
in his name and gave them power over all manner
of diseases, etc., but they received no
power, no other recognition, direct from God,
until Pentecost. Our Lord Jesus had the holy
spirit or holy power, and that without limit,
because he was a holy, harmless, undefiled son
(John 3:34), but all others were debarred
from this, because they were sinners until he
had made reconciliation for iniquity. The
disciples, then, had merely imputed or delegated
holy power or holy spirit until the sacrifice was
made and offered and until the Pentecostal
blessing gave evidence to them and to us and
to all that God accepted of Christ's sacrifice--
"the just for the unjust."--1 Pet. 3:18.
To this agrees the statement that "the holy
spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not
yet glorified" (John 7:39); and that other
statement that to "as many [of the house of
servants] as received him, to them gave he
liberty [ability, power, privilege] to become SONS OF GOD."--John 1:12.
VERSES 4-12. Concerning the gifts of the
spirit which followed the begetting by the spirit
in the early Church, for the purpose of attesting
God's favor to the newly begotten "sons," as
well as for manifesting them as teachers to
those without, and the distinction between those gifts and the fruit-gifts of the spirit which
now give evidence of divine favor and begetting,
the student is referred to the leading
article of this issue of this journal.
