The Holy Spirit & the Apostles

“It’s déjà vu all over again…” (Yogi Berra)

The study of the relationship between the apostles and the Holy Spirit produces biblical déjà vu, or the phenomenon of feeling like one has lived (or read) through the present situation in the past. The reason is simple: The more one examines the Spirit’s interactions with the apostles, the more familiar it sounds, when compared to the larger context of scripture. The Spirit operated in the lives of the apostles in much the same fashion as He did in the lives of the O.T. prophets, and (albeit to a lesser degree) the life of Jesus.

The Spirit Revealed God’s Word to the Apostles

Like the prophets who revealed God’s will according to the Spirit given them (Neh. 9.30), Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 4.1) and spoke the words of God. (John 3.34-35) A critically important portion of Jesus’ inspired words concerned the role of His apostles after His departure. John 14-16 records Jesus informing His apostles that they too would receive God’s will through the Spirit. This is of great significance to us today: The authority of the apostles to speak on God’s behalf is based on Jesus’ authority to speak on God’s behalf. If we accept that Jesus’ words were from God and therefore true, then we must accept the message of His apostles as authoritative! These stand or fall together.

Specifically, Jesus promised that the “Helper”, the “Spirit of Truth” would be with the apostles forever (John 14.16-17), teaching them “all things” and bringing to their remembrance all that Jesus had spoken. (vv.25-26) The apostles would bear witness concerning Jesus alongside the Spirit (John 15.26-27), and the Spirit would guide the apostles into “all the truth” (John 16.12), even declaring to them future events (v.13). Following His resurrection Jesus reiterated these promises, declaring that the apostles would receive the Holy Spirit and stand as His witnesses throughout the world. (Luke 24.49; Acts 1.8)

As promised, Jesus’ promises concerning the Spirit’s bestowal came to pass. Acts 2.4 describes the apostles on the Day of Pentecost as being “filled with the Holy Spirit” and speaking in tongues “as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Beginning in Jerusalem, the apostles of Christ boldly declared His gospel message with power and authority that confounded the religious leaders of the time. (Acts 4.14) Much later in Peter’s ministry, Peter confirms the Spirit’s role in his message of salvation: “It was announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look”. (1 Peter 1.12)

Paul provides us the clearest picture of the Spirit’s role in revelation to the apostles. Paul received his message directly from Jesus Christ through the agency of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:6-16, esp. vv. 12-13; Gal. 1:11-12). In Galatians 1:11-12, he declares that he "did not receive it from any man" but through a revelation of Christ Himself. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, Paul explains that he received the Spirit of God so he could understand and communicate inspired truths freely given by God, using words taught by the Spirit rather than human wisdom. This shows a divine process: Christ as the source, the Holy Spirit as the revealer, and Paul as the inspired messenger. We see this again in Ephesians 3.4: “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” The words of the inspired apostles carry the authority of God and are therefore indispensable to Christian belief and practice.

The Spirit Bestowed God’s Power to the Apostles

In the O.T. we also see prophets performing signs to confirm their message, and this too found its greatest fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Jesus credited the Spirit with His ability to perform signs such as casting out demons: “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you”. (Matt. 12.28) The signs, wonders, and miracles of Jesus served, among other purposes, to confirm the validity of His message, and the Spirit-empowered apostolic signs would do likewise. Jesus promised His apostles that they would be “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.49) via the Holy Spirit (Acts 1.8), through whom they would perform signs such as casting out demons, speaking in tongues, handling deadly serpents, and miraculous healings (cf. Mark 16.17-18). These signs would verify the apostle’s message as genuine (Mark 16.20), much as they did during their limited commission among the Jews (Matt. 10.1-8).

In Acts 2 the apostles are filled with the Spirit and “began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance” (v.4). This was no mindless gibberish masquerading as revelation: All those assembled, no matter their country of origin (and the accompanying language), described the experience as hearing the apostles “telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2.11). Peter confirms that this was in keeping with Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2.28-32) and proceeds to preach the gospel of Christ to the assembled Jews. In the days that followed Peter and John healed a lame man in Jesus’ name (Acts 3.1-10), and Luke records that “many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles”. (Acts 5.12) In Acts 8 Philip goes to Samaria bearing the gospel message, and “the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did”. (Acts 8.6)

Paul also performed miraculous signs by the Spirit’s power. In his encounter with the Jewish false prophet Elymas, Paul, “filled with the Holy Spirit” struck him with temporary blindness for attempting to “turn the proconsul away from the faith” (Acts 13.4-12). The proconsul believed “when he saw what had occurred” and was astonished at the gospel message of Barnabas and Paul. Later in Iconium (Acts 14), Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly for the Lord, “who bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.” (v.3). Like the miracles done by other apostles, the signs Paul performed through the Spirit proved the divine inspiration of his message.

The Spirit Directed the Apostles According to God’s Will
The apostles followed suit with many in the O.T who compelled or restrained by the Spirit through miraculous means, such as the Spirit’s control of Balaam’s words (Num. 24.2), Saul’s being overwhelmed and driven to prophesying (1 Sam. 10.6-10), and the Spirit’s controlling influence on Ezekiel (Ezek. 2.2; 3.12-14; 11.5). As an example, note Obadiah’s statement to Elijah in 1 Kings 18: “And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’’ And as soon as I have gone from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where. And so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the LORD from my youth”. (vv.11-12). Either Obadiah was incredibly lucky to guess that this could happen, or miraculous relocation of prophets was known to happen!

This sort of “miraculous direction” also happened during the life of Christ. Matthew 4.1 describes Jesus being “led by the Spirit into the wilderness” while Mark 1.12 gives the direction more force: “The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.” Following Jesus’ threefold trial, Jesus is described in Luke 4 as returning “in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” (v.14). Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, was likewise subject to the Spirit’s direction.

The apostles also exhibited this same sort of “miraculous direction”, the most dramatic of which is Philip’s departure from the Ethiopian Eunuch. After baptizing the Eunuch, “…the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus…” (Acts 8.39b-40a). Later in Acts 10, after receiving a three-peat vision from God (which was involuntary), Peter received instructions to depart for Joppa: “And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them’” (Acts 10.19-20). The apostles, having received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, were also subject to miraculous direction by the Spirit.

Paul’s recorded experience with the Spirit in Acts 16 demonstrates this. In Acts 16.6 Paul is “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” Next, after coming to Mysia Paul attempts to go into Bithynia, “but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” (v.7). Finally, after coming to Troas, Paul sees a vision of a Macedonian man, “urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Once Paul sees the vision, he immediately seeks to go to Macedonia, “concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (vv.9b-10). Later, Paul “resolved in the Spirit” to pass through Macedonia & Achaia and go to Jerusalem (Acts 19.21). It is important to note that Paul’s directions weren’t derived from intuition, funny feelings, or a form of apostolic “Spidey Sense”: The Spirit explicitly and directly exercised miraculous means to ensure that Paul and the other apostles went where God wanted them to go.

Conclusion: Where does this leave us?

When we compare the teaching of scripture concerning the Spirit’s relationship with the apostles with the assertions made by the religiously misguided (and misguiding) that miraculous revelations, signs, and directions occur today, the biblical déjà vu does not persist. That which is called “revelation” today is nothing more than fabrications spurred by prideful discontentment with the words of inspired scripture. To call modern faith healing “healing” is to do injustice to the term, and attributing such powerless pretending to the Spirit is to slander Him and dilute that which was verifiably done by Him through the apostles. (cf. Acts 4.14) Many since the apostles have claimed Holy Spirit direction, but all who claim such fail to recognize an obvious truth: They are not apostles!

The truth is none of us are prophets, apostles, or the Messiah. None of us have been tasked with revealing new information from God (In fact, we’re specifically forbidden from attempting to do so: Proverbs 30.6). Therefore, none of us require or possess miraculous abilities to verify revelations. None of us experiences Spirit-given visions or are compelled by Him to meet lone chariots in the wilderness, for example. The reason is simple: Our relationship with the Spirit is different from that experienced by the apostles.

But you know what? That’s ok. Not every Israelite was a prophet, and that was ok. Not every Jew was the Messiah, and that was ok. Not every believer in Acts 2 was an apostle, and it was ok. It’s ok to be just a Christian. We have the Spirit too (Acts 2.38; 2 Cor. 1.22; 5.5), just with a different sort of relationship than the apostles, and that’s ok. Let us celebrate our relationship with the Spirit, which Paul puts beautifully in Ephesians: “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory”. (Eph. 1.13-14)