In studying the Bible we become highly interested in The Holy Spirit also referred to as The Holy Ghost and the gifts of The Holy Spirit. But few people recognize that the words “holy spirit” and “The Holy Spirit” which appear in our Bibles are references to two different things. This Bible study will explain that difference and apply that information to what the apostles actually received at Pentecost.

Today I want to begin a study on the gifts of the holy spirit, or "power from on high," which is received from THE Holy Spirit. I must confess that this subject has bothered me for years. I don't know about you but everything I know has come to me the hard way. By that I mean it has come through much reading, much studying, and in my opinion far, far too much time.

For example, I worked on the Devil series for over four years before I felt comfortable enough with it to put it on tape. I can positively tell you that I just did not wake up one morning and say, Oh today I am going to do a study on the Devil. It just doesn't work that way for me, and that is just one example.

Then as I read and reread the story of Pentecost, of how the apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost and received instant knowledge and power, and then look around our Christian community, I fail to see anyone who can do what the apostles did.

I was once told by a Kingdom Identity minister, whose name I will not mention, that he had studied the Kingdom Identity message for 12 years before he ever preached his first sermon on the subject. So it seems quite evident that this man had to study and work very hard to obtain this message and I think we can safely conclude that he never received any direct instantaneous revelation from above on the subject, as evidenced by the twelve years of study.

You see, it seems to me that if Peter and the boys received instant knowledge, then if we have been given the gift of knowledge by the Holy Spirit, we should have received some instant knowledge. But it doesn't seem to work that way, at least for me.

Certainly there have been occasions when something just flashed into my mind and I had the answer to something that had been eluding me in the past. But even those flashes usually come from hearing or reading something. For example, I have worked with Ephesians 6:12 for years but never really felt comfortable with my ability to explain it. I understood it but I lacked the key of understanding to explain it properly. Then one day Pastor Weaver sent me a tape entitled "warrior priests" and near the end of the tape he read Luke 22:52-53.

He was mainly interested in verse 52 where it talks about being armed with swords and staves, but what got my attention was the verse 53 where it says "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." When I heard that verse bells went off in my head and I knew I had the answer to presenting Ephesians 6:12.

But I want you to know something: I still did not have the instant knowledge to present the subject. I still had to get back the Scriptures and other books, study some more, and finally we have the tape on the "Powers of Darkness" which you received a couple of months back. But the point I want to make is that even when I knew what the key was to presenting the subject, I still did not have all of the material finalized in my brain.

Going back a few years, it was also a big step for me when we decided to step out in faith and start this tape ministry. I mean, who am I Lord? Who am I that I should be accounted worthy to impart the Scriptures to others? I have always said it would be simple if God would just take His finger and lift the roof off the house and say: "Bob, I have a mission for you." I want you to start a tape ministry. Did you get that, Bob, or do I have to make it more clear to you?" You see, that would have solved all of my fears and apprehensions. But again things just do not happen that way, at least not to me.

Then after the ministry was started came more fear and apprehension. Am I saying all the right things. Do I really know what I am talking about. "Lord won't you please lift the roof a few inches and give me the answer?" No, it simply never happened. Anyhow, because of my own fears and apprehensions about my lack of knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures, I began studying the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" and I have finally received peace of mind on the matter and feel I can now share my understanding with you.

I am going to digress for a moment. One of the problems all ministers or teachers have is that they have this hesitancy to expound on doctrine that is not popular or that will cause a riff or dissension within the body of Christ. And I must admit this hesitancy has come to me from time to time. You see, this hesitancy comes from fear. Fear that we will offend someone, and especially those who support the ministry. For without your tithes and offerings no ministry can survive, and therefore I would suggest that all, or at least most ministers and teachers have this fear, from time to time.

While we suffer from these fears, I, for one, cannot, in all good conscience, learn something I firmly believe to be a truth and withhold it from the brethren. I fully realized that my series on the Devil and the Kingdom of God would cause some to leave the ministry, and I only thank God that we lost very few of the brethren after each of those series. And I would hope that the response would be as minimal after this one on "Power from on high."

So now, today, we are starting another subject which I am sure will offend some. But, if I do not tell you what I perceive as a truth, then I feel I will be judged by God for not speaking out. And that fear overrides any fear that I might have of offending some of the brethren.

Well is wasn't my intention to wear my feelings on my shirt sleeve but I am no different from any of you. I have feelings. I have fears, and I am concerned about the materials which come from this ministry, and I guess it doesn't hurt for me to share some of those concerns, thoughts, and feelings with you. You demonstrate your confidence in this ministry by your tithes and offerings, and I can only demonstrate my confidence in you but telling it as I see it.

So, today we are going to take up the topic of "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" or the "Power from on high." To begin with, God has borne witness of himself from Genesis to Revelation in the form of signs, miracles, mighty works, and through the gifts of the Holy Ghost or Spirit. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told:

"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? (Hebrews 2:3-4)

The actual translation in the Textus Receptus shows that the first part of verse 4 should read "God also bearing witness with them..." That is, God bore witness with "the Lord" Jesus Christ and by "them that heard him" as verse 3 tells us.

So God bore witness with: 1) signs, 2) wonders, 3) miracles, and 4) gifts of the Holy Ghost.

This witnessing has been borne by God all through the ages. When He spoke by the prophets their words were also attested to by miracles and mighty works, as well as by the immediate fulfillment of certain prophecies which were attested by "signs." One of the best known and certainly most understood signs was to the future coming of the Lord spoken of in Isaiah:

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

This, of course, was the Lord Christ Jesus of whom the epistle of Hebrews tells us God:

"Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.." (Hebrews 1:2)

And when God "spoke unto us by His Son," the miracles He wrought were exactly those that had been foretold by God through the prophets.

It was the same when God spake "by them that heard Him" -- that is, by those who heard the Son, and through those who "heard him," God performed signs, wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. We will not concern ourselves with signs, wonders, and miracles at this time, as in this study we are interested only in the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

The expression "GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST" only appears in Hebrews 2:4 as quoted above. The word "gifts" is Strong's 3311 and comes from 3307 meaning "to apportion." Strong's 3311 actually means "a distribution" of something -- in this case "distributions of holy ghost," and I noticed in my copy of the Textus Receptus the word "distributions" appears rather than gifts.

The next word to be considered is the article "the." Unfortunately this word was added by the translators and is so indicated by italics in the King James version and by brackets in the Textus Receptus. Thus we are now talking about "distributions of holy ghost" not distributions of the Holy Ghost." Let me repeat that: "distributions of holy ghost" -- not distributions of the Holy Ghost." This leads us to the last words in this phrase, "holy ghost," without the word "the."

The word "holy" in the Greek is "hagion" (hag-ee-on) and presents no problem, but the word "ghost" does. The Greek word for "ghost" was translated from the Greek word "pneuma" (pnyoo-mah) which is Strong's 4151. The word literally means "a current of air, i.e. breath, or a breeze."

It was translated 257 times as spirit, 32 times as spirits, and 92 times as ghost. These numbers reveal to us some degree of inconsistency in translation but as long as the words are understood to mean the same thing, then there is no problem.

The next problem to be considered is that the Greek words "pneuma hagion" (Pew-mah hag-ee-on) appear in the Greek in two different ways, with the article or articles and without articles (the article I am referring to is the word "the."). The expression appears as "pneuma hagion" and as "to pneuma to hagion."

The expression "pneuma hagion," appears fifty-four times in Scripture, and every time it appears erroneously in the English with the article "the" preceding "Holy Ghost" or "the" preceding "Holy Spirit." What this means is that we have two totally different expressions, and both are rendered in exactly the same way. From what is printed in our Bibles, there is simply no way to distinguish between holy spirit, with the article, and holy spirit, without articles, and as we shall later see, this creates confusion in understanding Scripture.

There is no doubt that when the articles are present it denotes "the Holy Spirit," and the words are appropriately capitalized. However, when the words appear without the articles it is simply pneuma hagion; (pew-mah hag-ee-on) which, if translated as "holy spirit," should be without the articles and without capital letters.

Perhaps, if the importance of this is not clearly understood I should point out the problem another way.

Let us assume for a minute that there is an entity called "the anti-Christ." Nowhere in Scripture do we find the words in the English with the article "the," but again, let us assume that it does. When we say "the anti-Christ" we have visions of a single entity. But John tells us:

"And every spirit [person] that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:3)

In this verse there is no article "the" preceding the word "spirit," and we see that it doesn't matter if there is specifically such a thing as "the anti-christ," because if anyone confesseth not Jesus, "this is the spirit of anti-Christ." The prefix "anti" meaning "opposite of" or "opposed to" and in the case of Christ, anyone who is not for Christ has a spirit or a nature about them which is opposed to the spirit or the nature of Christ.

The anti-Christ with the article "the" and just plain anti-Christ, should bring to mind different things, and that is what we need to understand about "The Holy Spirit" with the article and just plain "holy spirit' without the article.

So now let's go back to the full expression given in Hebrews 2:4 which we will render as "distributions of holy spirit" without with the article "the" preceding "holy spirit," and capitals, and also using the word "spirit" rather than "ghost."

All this is well and good, nice to know, but it still does not explain what is meant by "distributions of holy spirit." Now I want you to ask yourself, just what was it that was distributed during the Dispensation of the Acts of the Apostles? Was it "the" Holy Spirit or was it something else. Let us turn to Luke, chapter 24, to assist us in solving this problem. In Luke 24:49 the Lord told the apostles:

"Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high." Luke 24:49

What was the promise? In Acts, chapter 1, Christ commanded the apostles or "them that heard Him:

"... that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. "For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost [spirit] not many days hence." (Acts 1:4-5)

That promise which the Father had made was confirmed in verse 5 by Christ after His resurrection, and it was the baptism with "pneuma hagion" (pew-mah hag-ee-on) -- that is baptism of holy spirit, without the article. Not "the holy spirit" with the article, mind you, just plain old "holy spirit."

But now I want you to specifically notice the difference between Acts 1:5 and Luke 24:49. In both verses Christ tells the apostles to go to Jerusalem and await the "promise of the Father," and that promise in Acts is being baptized with "holy spirit" (with no article and no capitals) and in Luke the promise is that they shall be endued or clothed with "power from on high."

So obviously, the apostles were waiting for the promise which was the baptism of the "holy spirit" or as recorded by Luke, for "power from on high." There is a law or an axiom in writing that goes something like this: "Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another." Let me give you an example: If we say that God is Jesus Christ and if we say God is the Holy Spirit, then Jesus Christ and The Holy Spirit are equal to the same thing and are equal to one another. Thus Jesus Christ is equal to the Holy Spirit. It doesn't matter whether or not you believe this, I am simply pointing out a law or an axiom of writing in understandable terms.

In the case before us, by axiom, "holy spirit" without the article is equal to "power from on high," and therefore equal to one another. Then it follows that references to holy spirit without the article is a reference to "power from on high."

I want to make sure that this distinction is clear in your minds. The Holy Spirit, with the article "the," is the GIVER of GIFTS or the disperser of Gifts. And the gifts with which the apostles were filled is described as "holy spirit" without the article "the," and that gift they received was not "THE HOLY SPIRIT" but "power from on high" distributed by THE HOLY SPIRIT.

What was the power from on high? It was the power to perform the "signs, wonders, and mighty works" mentioned in Hebrews 2:4. We are told that the dispensing of this power was to take place "not many days hence," and it happened on the Day of Pentecost; and the manner in which it was fulfilled we will address next.

The happenings at Pentecost are recorded in the second chapter of Acts and the apostles were gathered on that day:

"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. POWER FROM ON HIGH "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. POWER FROM ON HIGH "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2:3-4)

From verse 2 we know there was a sound "of a rushing mighty wind." Does this bring to mind the definition of spirit being "a current of air i.e. breath, or a breeze?" We don't know but this wind may have been accompanied by "thunders and lightnings" like at Mount Sinai, since verse 6 tells us the noise was great. But we do know that it was not a wind that filled the house but "there came a sound" such as a rushing mighty wind.

Going back to the days of Moses, we know that God appeared unto Moses as a "flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" and again as "thunders and lightings" when He delivered the law on Mount Sinai. Therefore, it would not be unusual for God to manifest Himself as flame at Pentecost for the purpose of baptizing the apostles with the Holy Ghost.

However, any attempt to describe this happening would be pure speculation, but it was obviously a physical happening that was witnessed by sight of those present. We do know from this account that there appeared unto them a fire as cloven tongues. That is, it was not one flame but a flame broken up into many parts (probably twelve parts) as it rested upon the head of each one of the apostles.

This could probably have been accomplished without such a descriptive visual happening, but there would be no doubt on the part of the apostles that with this happening, with this visual descent of flame upon them, that there was a remarkable interposition of God and that it was directed to them personally.

There is no evidence that each one could speak in all foreign languages, but I think it is safe to assume that among them they could speak in the languages of the people mentioned in the verses that follow. I would also speculate that each apostle received the tongue appropriate to his particular ministry. What better way for them to know which countries to go to than by the "new tongue" they spoke.

But the plain truth of Acts 2:4 is that the apostles were filled with pneuma hagion, (pew-mah hag-ee-on), that is with "holy spirit" without the article "the," which was "power from on high," and having received power, they began to talk different tongues according as "the Spirit," with the article "the," GAVE to them to utter forth." Let's look at that verse again:

"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost [no articles], and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4)

As I have mentioned, the article "the" in the first phrase "filled with the Holy Spirit" should not be there, nor should the words Holy Ghost be capitalized. They were filled with holy ghost or power from on high. However, the last phrase, "as the Spirit gave them utterance," correctly contains the article "the."

Thus, in this verse, we have an absolute clear distinction between "the Spirit" with the article "the," who is the GIVER of GIFTS or the disperser of "power from on high" and just plain "holy spirit" without the article "the," which is descriptive of the gift or the "power from on high."

Now let me reword Acts 2:4 in accordance with what I have just told you:

And the apostles were all filled with "power from on high," and began to speak with other tongues, as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.

This baptism of the Holy Ghost was not a strange concept or happening to the apostles as it was previously known to them, for Luke recorded:

"John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." (Luke 3:16)

If you have already figured out that the phrase "Holy Ghost" in this verse is "pneuma hagion" (pew-mah hag-ee-on) without the article, and means "power from on high," you are correct. So John came and baptized with water those who repented. But Christ came to baptize "with .. Holy Ghost and with fire," and that baptism of holy ghost was one of "power from on high," and the first manifestation or evidence of that power was the miraculous power to speak in tongues. Not unknown tongues mind you -- but understandable tongues.

This is probably as good a place as any to point out that in Hebrews 2:4, since the phrase "gifts of ... Holy Ghost" or more properly "distributions of holy spirit," does not contain the article "the" -- the phrase cannot be construed to mean a "distributing of the Holy Ghost." There can be no distribution of God; there can be no distribution of Christ; and there can be no distribution of "The Holy Spirit;" and likewise, there can be no distribution of either you or me. A person cannot be distributed, but "gifts" can; and these "gifts of holy spirit" -- that is "power from on high" were distributed by "the Holy Spirit" to the apostles.

Continuing with the verses in the second chapter of Acts:

"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven."
"Now when this was noised abroad [sound was heard], the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
"And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
"And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
"Parthians (Par-the-uns), and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
"Phrygia (Frij'-ee-ah), and Pamphylia (Pam-fil-e-ah), in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
"Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God." (Acts 2:5-11)

Historically, we know that Jerusalem was the center of Jewish learning and people traveled there from all nations to learn. For example, Paul traveled, as a boy, from Turkey to Jerusalem to study under Gamaliel (Gam-a-le-el). Many of these persons were of the "diaspora" (Dee-as-por-ah) and some may even have decided to stay in Jerusalem. In addition this was the time immediately after the Passover and people would have been in Jerusalem from all nations wherein the Israelites had been dispersed. A list of places from which the people had gathered is located in verses 9 through 11 (and previously quoted).

Going back to verse 4, please notice that the apostles spoke in "OTHER TONGUES," and that must be understood to mean in other languages -- not in some "unknown" tongue, because in verse 6 it states that every man in the multitude "heard them speaking in his own language" and his own language would have been the language of the nations listed in verses 9 through 11.

Being from all different nations they would have spoken a variety of tongues. For example, a Grecian spoke Greek, a Roman spoke Latin, an Arab spoke Arabic, etc. It would be amazing for such a diverse multitude to hear these unschooled Galilaeans speak in a tongue other than their own native tongue. Obviously, Galilaeans were not noted for being scholars and we know that the apostles were simple men -- not men of letters.

But we are told they spoke of the "wonderful works of God." From the speech of Peter which is yet to follow we can see that they were speaking about the redemption of the nation of Israel, the remission of sin, and a regeneration by and through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were not speaking about any church.

It should be noted that in verse 8 it states: "And how hear we, every man in his own language." From this it has been concluded by some that the miracle of the tongues is that "each heard in his own language." It should be obvious that if the apostles spoke in numerous dialects, then each person in the multitude would hear in their own language. However, if the apostles spoke in only one language and each person heard in his own language, then this would be a miracle of hearing -- not of speaking.

While this is entirely possible with God, I do not think this was a miracle of hearing, but rather one of speaking. The first reason is because the apostles received "Power from on high," not the listeners. If the miracle was the hearing in one's own tongue, then the listeners would have received the "power from on high" rather than the apostles. In addition, 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, and other verses lay down rules for speaking in tongues, but nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, are there any rules for hearing in their own language. Therefore, I conclude that the miracle was the speaking in tongues (i.e. a language) foreign to the apostles' native Galilaean tongue.

One thing is for certain: this was a very significant happening. The apostles were commissioned to go into all nations and preach the gospel, and yet they were simple men from Galilee. They must have wondered how such a thing could be possible, not knowing any language other than their native Galilaean tongue. But at Pentecost came the answer in the form of "power from on high" and the gift of tongues.

While we hear from the Pentacostals about the ability to speak in an "unknown" tongue, we fail to hear of the gift to speak in a foreign tongue as given the apostles. Today missionaries spend a great deal of their preparation years in just mastering a foreign tongue. And it is not obtained by miracle but long and careful study in schools ran by men -- not the Holy Spirit.

What a blessing it would be if all missionaries received the baptism of "power from on high" and the gift to speak in the tongue of the country where they were going. But it just doesn't seem to work that way -- does it!

What you have read is only the first message of 6 messages on this subject. The entire study on "The holy spirit vs. Holy Spirit or Power From On High" is only available on audio tapes. It consists of six 45 minute messages recorded on four 90-minute audio tapes and is packaged in a convenient and attractive cassette album.

To obtain the series "The holy spirit vs. holy spirit or Power From On High" enter Tape Album A002 on the order form.

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