*****This simply isn’t true. Here is what Peter was saying before the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius and his family, demonstrating that he knew that the Gentiles also should be converted.*****
Peter comes to the revelation that he cannot withhold baptism from Cornelius after the Holy Spirit comes upon him. The fact that Scripture records this reveals that Peter was in fact skeptical and still working out within himself what the vision he had said meant.
As the leader of the Church, the Holy Spirit revealed to him that Gentiles were included in the new covenant. When he is called to Cornelius he goes because he is told to do so without doubt. But, Peter is not sure why and has not yet fully understood the vision he was given.
He asks Cornelius why am I here, why have you sent for me?
Cornelius says that he and his household want to hear what Peter has to tell them of Jesus.
It is then that Peter understands the vision and when Peter knows this truth, the Holy Spirit comes upon those present and Peter then says, who am I to withhold baptism from those who have received the Holy Spirit just as I have.
Immediately after this, the whole household is baptized.
Your argument does not hold in light of the entire story.
*****Unless you hold that the Holy Spirit comes and goes, and that there is no difference between New Testament infillings and Old Testament infillings, then you are in quite a theological conundrum.*****
I never said the Holy Spirit comes and goes, those are your words. Answer my question regarding the difference between the day of the resurrection when Jesus breathes upon them and says receive the Holy Spirit and the event on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes upon them for the second time.
Also, answer why they were changed men at Pentecost but not when He breathed the Holy Spirit into them just after His resurrection.
****Is Paul in and out of abiding with Christ? He certainly is not perfect, as Christ commanded.****
Again you did not answer the question. Or perhaps you didn’t understand what I was asking. There is a difference between the Christian that sins, knows he sins and knows that forgiveness comes through God’s grace and one who does not believe he has sinned and does not believe in the need of God’s grace for salvation.
If one was a believer and the Holy Spirit came upon him and dwelt with him, what happens when/if that believer no longer believes?
****When God gives a command, it does not imply that we have the moral ability to perform it of ourselves.****
I did not say that we did. I said God commands and man obeys. When man does not obey that is sin and when man sins he needs the grace of forgiveness and prays that same grace will help him not to sin again.
In the issue of baptism, Jesus commanded it, therefore in obedience, the Church baptizes. We are bound by the command, but God is not. We cannot choose whether to baptize or not, but if God chooses to save one who has not been baptized, that is His alone, bound by no rule.
*****Christ, instead, teaches that salvation depends entirely on God. He declares, for example, that it is impossible to come to Him unless it is given to us by the Father:
We are told that it is not the Christian who chooses Christ, but rather it is Christ who chooses us and ordains us for good (and abiding!) works:*****
Agreed.
*****Therefore, no man can claim to abide in Christ by His own obedience, power or merits, but must ascribe all of it to the power and glory of God alone.*****
Not exactly. We do choose to abide in Him, though He calls us first, we can choose not to obey and not to love. The fruit we bear is His fruit, but we may choose not to do the work for which God made us. We can choose to reject God’s grace, even after we have accepted it.
The parable of the vine tells us what happens to the one who does not bear fruit. Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches and if we do not bear fruit, we are cast off to whither. That means we were once part of the vine and live only by bearing fruit.
Jesus also tells us, John 6:56
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
True, without God one can do nothing to bear fruit for the kingdom, but we most certainly can choose whether we abide in Him through obedience or disobedience.
God longs for us to be perfect, knows that we cannot be without Him, yet asks that we try out of love, albeit an imperfect love.
“It is then that Peter understands the vision and when Peter knows this truth, the Holy Spirit comes upon those present and Peter then says, who am I to withhold baptism from those who have received the Holy Spirit just as I have.
Immediately after this, the whole household is baptized.
Your argument does not hold in light of the entire story.”
I’m not sure if you’re aware of your own argument. Your argument is that the Holy Spirit coming upon Cornelius and his family was necessary for Peter to “figure out” why he was there. Yet, you admit that Peter already “figured out” why he was there, per the scriptures I posted, which occurred before the Holy Spirit baptism/infilling.
“Also, answer why they were changed men at Pentecost but not when He breathed the Holy Spirit into them just after His resurrection.”
Originally, I thought you were referencing their performance of Miracles during the Gospels, casting out devils, etc. I see now where your real error is.
In John 20:22, Christ breaths on the disciples and says “receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Though Thomas was not amongst them, and no signs or spiritual wonders followed the statement.
According to Barnes’ commentary: “His breathing on them was a certain sign or pledge that they would be endowed with the influences of the Holy Spirit. Compare Act_1:4; John 2.”
This is the correct view, that this is a sign or a promise of what would come later, since 4 chapters earlier Jesus declares that the Comforter will not come until He has ascended:
Joh 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
Christ must “go away” first before the Holy Spirit will be sent. We read roughly the same in chapter 7:
Joh 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
In Acts it confirms that the Holy Spirit would come when Christ is fully ascended to the Father, standing on His right hand:
Act 2:33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
More confirmation:
Act 1:6-8 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (7) And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. (8) But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
This was before Christ ascended to heaven, and after Christ breathed on them. The reference is to Pentecost.
When the Holy Spirit does come, He comes with signs and wonders which are the same signs and wonders received by Cornelius, and to which Peter testifies that they received the Spirit “the same as we.”
Therefore, your argument that Cornelius did not receive the Holy Spirit fully until water baptism could fix it is false.
“If one was a believer and the Holy Spirit came upon him and dwelt with him, what happens when/if that believer no longer believes?”
Those who fall away are never regarded as ever having been one of the Elect, as all true believers are incapable of falling away. For example:
Mat 7:22-23 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Here Christ tells those who even produced “many wonderful works,” and even prophecy in the name of Christ and cast out devils, that He “never knew” them. Not that He knew them until they fell away, but that they were completely unknown to Him all along. (Though, technically, they may enjoy the benefits of the Holy Spirit to some extent, as the “rain” falls on the just and the unjust. However, the Elect, who are the true believers, cannot experience this, as will be seen). In contrast, Christ tells us that He knows all that are His:
Joh_10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
All those that are His did not come to Him by their own will, but were chosen by Christ directly:
Joh_15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
None of those who belong to Christ can be lost or fail to come:
Joh 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (29) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. (30) I and my Father are one.
This is confirmed again when John, speaking of Apostates, declares that they were never of us:
1Jn_2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
Jesus also declares that it is impossible for the Elect to be lost even during the most powerful delusions:
Mar_13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
Therefore, the power to “abide in Christ” must remain with God who gives to the elect “both to will and to do.”
“In the issue of baptism, Jesus commanded it, therefore in obedience, the Church baptizes. We are bound by the command, but God is not. We cannot choose whether to baptize or not, but if God chooses to save one who has not been baptized, that is His alone, bound by no rule.”
What you should take away from the doctrine of grace and predestination isn’t that we are bound to works for our salvation, except on those few occasions where it is not, but rather that on every occasion we are not bound to works but by the will of God.
Eph 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation is “not of works,” and cannot lead to any ability for a man to “boast.” Again:
Rom_3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Rom_4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
To attempt to cooperate with God for the purpose of salvation, to maintain your “meritorious” deeds is the same as working, but Paul tells us that the reward for such deeds is not salvation, but always debt. The Law is simply not capable of bringing salvation, as through it is only the knowledge of sin.
This is not to say that God does not work in us to do good works or to keep a faith that abides in Him, or that doing good and obeying the moral law is important for the Christian life (after all, a living faith shows its faith by its works), but salvation cannot be attributed in any way to the working of the law, but only to God who has mercy on us who simply are incapable of keeping the law.
So, how does this apply to water baptism? Since we know that salvation is entirely the work of God, then we cannot conclude that water baptism is capable of conveying the Holy Spirit to an infant (He is totally sovereign), nor can we regard that there is any necessity of “abiding” for that infant, even in the event that He was one of the elect, since it is by faith that righteousness is imputed upon us in the first place, and not our inability to follow the law (as seen with Paul).