Now, the first point to notice here is that the Revised Version
presents the meaning of our text more accurately than the Authorised
Version, because, instead of reading 'is given,' it correctly reads
'was given.' And any of you that can consult the original will see
that the form of the language implies that the Apostle is thinking,
not so much of a continuous bestowment, as of a definite moment when
this great gift was bestowed upon the man to whom he is speaking.
So the first question is, when was that Spirit given to these Roman
Christians? The Christian Church has been split in two by its answers
to that question. One influential part, which has taken a new lease
of life amongst us to-day, says 'in baptism,' and the other says 'at
the moment of faith.' I am not going to be tempted into controversial
paths now, for my purpose is a very different one, but I cannot help
just a word about the former of these two answers. 'Given in
baptism,' say our friends, and I venture to think that they thereby
degrade Christianity into a system of magic, bringing together two
entirely disparate things, an external physical act and a spiritual
change. I do not say anything about the disastrous effects that have
followed from such a conception of the medium by which this greatest
of all Christian gifts is effected upon men. Since the Spirit who is
given is life, the result of the gift of that Spirit is a new life,
and we all know what disastrous and debasing consequences have
followed from that dogma of regeneration by baptism. No doubt it is
perfectly true that normally, in the early Church, the Divine Spirit
was given at baptism; but for one thing, that general rule had
exceptions, as in the case of Cornelius, and, for another thing,
though it was given _at_ baptism, it was not given _in_
baptism, but it was given through faith, of which in those days
baptism was the sequel and the sign.
But I pass altogether from this, and fall back on the great words
which, to me at least, if there were no other, would determine the
whole answer to this question as to when the Spirit was given: 'This
spake He of the Holy Ghost, which they that _believe_ on Him
should receive'; and I would ask the modern upholders of the other
theory the indignant question which the Apostle Paul fired off out of
his heavy artillery at their ancient analogues, the circumcisers in
the Galatian Church: 'This only would I know of you: Received ye the
Holy Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?'
The answer which the evangelical Christian gives to this ancient
question suggested by my text, 'When was that Divine Spirit
bestowed?' is congruous with the spirituality of the Christian faith,
and is eminently reasonable. For the condition required is the
opening of the whole nature in willing welcome to the entrance of the
Divine Spirit, and as surely as, wherever there is an indentation of
the land, and a concavity of a receptive bay, the ocean will pour
into it and fill it, so surely where a heart is open for God, God in
His Divine Spirit will enter into that heart, and there will shed His
blessed influences.
So, dear brethren, and this is the main point to which I wish to
direct your attention, the Apostle here takes it for granted that all
these Roman Christians knew in themselves the truth of what he was
saying, and had an experience which confirmed his assertion that the
Divine Spirit of God was given to them when they believed. Ah! I
wonder if that is true about us professing Christians; if we are
aware in any measure of a higher life than our own having been
breathed into us; if we are aware in any measure of a Divine Spirit
dwelling in our spirits, moulding, lifting, enlightening, guiding,
constraining, and yet not coercing? We ought to be, 'Know ye not that
the Spirit dwelleth in you, except ye be rejected?' Brethren, it
seems to me to be of the very last importance, in this period of the
Church's history, that the proportion between the Church's teaching
as to the work of Christ on the Cross, and as to the consequent work
of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts and spirits, should be changed.
We must become more mystical if we are not to become less Christian.
And the fact that so many of us seem to imagine that the whole Gospel
lies in this, that 'He died for our sins according to the
Scriptures,' and have relegated the teaching that He, by His Spirit,
lives in us, if we are His disciples, to a less prominent place, has
done enormous harm, not only to the type of Christian life, but to
the conception of what Christianity is, both amongst those who
receive it, and amongst those who do not accept it, making it out to
be nothing more than a means of escape from the consequences of our
transgression, instead of recognising it for what it is, the
impartation of a new life which will flower into all beauty, and bear
fruit in all goodness.
There was a question put once to a group of disciples, in
astonishment and incredulity, by this Apostle, when he said to the
twelve disciples in Ephesus, 'Did you receive the Holy Ghost when you
believed?' The question might well be put to a multitude of
professing Christians amongst us, and I am afraid a great many of
them, if they answered truly, would answer as those disciples did,
'We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.'