okay
there is a very well worn path around that mulberry bush enow and I think most of the footprints are yours
how you can state that no one received an infilling of the Holy Spirit after salvation, when the Bible plainly states otherwise, may be a contributor to your stance
I really do not wish to keep this going as it has been hashed out ad infinitum and I have a low boredom threshold
14 Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15 who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: 16 for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8
these people were saved and even baptized but had NOT received the Holy Spirit so the Apostles prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. it is stated very plainly that the Holy Spirit had NOT fallen on any of the saved people in Samaria.
there is a very well worn path around that mulberry bush enow and I think most of the footprints are yours
how you can state that no one received an infilling of the Holy Spirit after salvation, when the Bible plainly states otherwise, may be a contributor to your stance
I really do not wish to keep this going as it has been hashed out ad infinitum and I have a low boredom threshold
14 Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: 15 who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: 16 for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8
these people were saved and even baptized but had NOT received the Holy Spirit so the Apostles prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. it is stated very plainly that the Holy Spirit had NOT fallen on any of the saved people in Samaria.
Let's remember your point of contention.
how you can state that no one received an infilling of the Holy Spirit after salvation
It is hard to know where you stand right now since I had been contending that there is no more infilling after salvation. To wit, are you contending that a saved believer can receive another infilling of the Holy Spirit or that you believe that the infilling of the Holy Spirit can happen apart from salvation?
Let's assume the former; your reference to Acts 8 cites clearly that they had not received the Holy Spirit yet, and so it cannot be used a proof text that a saved believer can receive another infilling of the Holy Spirit apart from salvation.
Then assuming the latter, they cannot be considered born again of the Spirit, as in saved, until they had received the promise of the Holy Spirit. Why the delay? God only knows for sure, but we know that there was a switch in the fanfare from Simon the sorcerer to Philip performing miracles, even casting out unclean spirits that Simon was responsible for in afflicting the people of that region.
You have to ask yourself why didn't the Holy Spirit come by way of Philip? Why the laying on of hands by Peter & John? I say as the Lord leads me, they believed in the "things" that Philip preached about; that they were receiving the Word of God in that way, BUT their sights were on Philip; not Jesus Christ in receiving the promise. Proof of that was by how Simon was in a gall of bitterness still, as he must have blamed Philip for his loss of infamy, and still saw Philip as undoing all his work when it was really Jesus Christ. Simon's sights on Peter & John only confirms the suspicion as he had thought he could buy that power from them... that he had thought Peter & John were giving the Holy Ghost.
So I believe God is patient and longsuffering towards those new believers, but they were being fans of Philip and following him to see the signs and miracles rather than having their sights lifted higher. That is why no one can tell when one is born again of the Spirit. When someone is being delivered out of the supernatural, their sights have to be on God, not man; the same has to be true for being saved.
Now one can take that as all conjecture, but His words says they were not saved until they had received the promise of the Holy Spirit in order to say they have been born again of the Spirit and thus saved.
Romans 8:[SUP]9 [/SUP]But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
I also point out that those new believers were not testified as speaking in tongues when they had received the Holy Spirit at their salvation. There was no need to speak another language to other unbelievers as a sign when they all spoke the same thing.