Page 118 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT

“All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect spiritual footing when they believed in Christ, and God
and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the also demonstrated to the Samaritans that salvation is of
baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire, according to the the Jews. By waiting to impart the Holy Spirit until the
command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the apostles from Jerusalem laid hands on them, God was
normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. showing the Samaritans that they must accept the
With it comes the enduement of power for life and Jewish apostles as His representatives. The fact that
service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in
the work of the ministry. … This experience is distinct there was an interval of time between when they
from and subsequent to the experience of the new believed and when they received the Holy Spirit was not
birth.” accidental and was not an example for the entire church
Michael Harper concurs: age. It had to do with the special situation that existed
“I believe we can see this distinction as two operations then.
of the one Holy Spirit [i.e., regeneration and the “There were religious, racial and cultural barriers
empowering by the Spirit]. In the first, the Holy Spirit between them. They hated each other. When the
comes to give new life and the new birth. ... While in shortest route in a journey would mean passing
the other the Spirit anoints or empowers Christians for through Samaria, the Jews, unlike the Lord Jesus,
their witness and ministry. ... It is baptism in the Spirit would not hesitate to lengthen their trip by going the
which has initiated millions of Christians into the life long way around. The Samaritans, make no mistake
of renewal. ... Royal power, once we have received it, about it, gave as good as they got. One evening, when
leads us into a new dimension of Christian Jesus and His disciples stopped in a little Samaritan
living” (These Wonderful Gifts, pp. 28, 29, 33). village with the intention of spending the night there,
The baptism of the Holy Spirit was a historic event that no one would take them in because they were heading
for Jerusalem! (Luke 9:52, 56). The [Jewish] disciples
was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. saw red. Wanting to emulate Elijah (2 Kings 1:10, 12),
It was prophesied by Jesus Christ during His earthly they asked, ‘Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to
ministry (John 14:16, 26; 16:7-17). And after His come down from heaven, and consume them, even as
resurrection, Jesus told the disciples that the time for its Elias did?’ Wow! They were certainly the last ones who
fulfillment was near (Acts 1:4-5). would have laid hands on the Samaritans for them to
Though Pentecost was never repeated, the reception of receive the Holy Spirit ... And no Samaritan would ever
have let a despised Jew put a hand on him. ...
the Holy Spirit was in three parts in the book of Acts: for
the Jews (Acts 2), for the Samaritans (Acts 8:14-17), “So, had the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit at the
moment of conversion, in that state of mind, the
and for the Gentiles (Acts 10:44-47). terrible abyss that separated them would have
The special coming of the Holy Spirit beyond the day continued into the Christian Church. It would have
of Pentecost upon the Samaritans and the Gentiles was been a negation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit of
to demonstrate to the Jews that God was doing a new which it is written, ‘For by one Spirit are we all
thing and was creating a spiritual entity composed of baptized into one body’! The Samaritans had to be
Jews and Gentiles. brought to admit that what was happening with them
In Acts 8 the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit was not a ‘Samaritan Pentecost’ and that there was
only one birth of the Church. The Pentecost in
The Samaritans were despised by the Jews because Jerusalem was the beginning of a new era, whereas the
their religion was a mixture, partly Jewish and partly evangelization in Samaria was only their entering into
pagan. Samaria had been the center of idolatry in the the blessings of that era and not the inauguration of it.
northern tribes of Israel (1 Ki. 13:32; 16:32). When THE EPISODE IN SAMARIA WAS PART OF THE
Samaria was taken captive by the king of Assyria, CHURCH’S GROWTH, AND NOT ITS BIRTH. IT WAS
pagans from other lands were brought in to populate it VITAL THAT ALL THOSE PRESENT IN SAMARIA
and the Old Testament Jewish religion became SHOULD KNOW THAT THERE WERE NOT TWO
BODIES, TWO CHURCHES, BUT ONLY ONE. ...
intertwined with paganism (2 Ki. 17:5-6, 24-29). “It was crucial that the Samaritans acknowledge what
Thus the Jews hated the Samaritans and the Jesus had said to the Samaritan woman, ‘Salvation is
Samaritans hated the Jews. When Jesus conversed with of the Jews’ (John 4:22), as well as recognise the
the woman at the well in Samaria, she said, “How is it authority of His apostles, the depositories of the Truth.
that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a THE INTERVAL, THEREFORE, BETWEEN THE
woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with MOMENT THE SAMARITANS RECEIVED CHRIST AND
the Samaritans?” (Jn. 4:29). WHEN THEY RECEIVED THE HOLY SPIRIT, IS NOT
By treating the Samaritans in a special manner in ACCIDENTAL. It was deliberate because, just as the
Samaritans had to see that they were dependant on the
Acts 8 God demonstrated to the Jews that He loved the authority of the Jewish apostles, it was equally
Samaritans, too, and was putting them on the same necessary for the apostles (those same apostles who

118 Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity