WHO RECEIVED WHO

WHO RECEIVED WHO

“Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?”  Acts 19:2

Too many people are in the same boat as these that Paul questioned in this Acts passage. The one states a second blessing while the proper asks the nature of the first blessing. "Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you believed?" not, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" There is no warrant for the introduction of that word "since" into the Authorized Version. The tense is the same in both the verbs. "The Holy Ghost Received You When You Believed?" The only difference is that the one is a question and the other an affirmation. Received you? You believed. This is a distinction rendered necessary by a difference. The introduction of the word "since" makes the Apostle's question mean, "Subsequently to believing, have you received the Holy Ghost?" The inquiry which he raised really was, "Coincidentally with believing, did you receive the Holy Ghost?" The Apostle's question was not whether these people had received a second blessing. It was rather an inquiry into the nature of the first blessing. An examination of the context will, I think, throw light upon the meaning of this question and enable us to make that personal and present application of it which is important to us. We see too many claiming salvation with no fruits from the activity of the Master and Lord in the life and the Holy Spirit Who produces that fruit.