“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” … “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:1, 9-13 NIV
A friend of mine, years ago, arbitrarily decided that the Holy Spirit should be known as, “Holy Spirit” without the definite article , “the”, in Greek, “ho”. My question was, “Is this true to Scripture?”
When we examine the New Testament, we will find that the definite article always precedes His name, that is , “the Holy Spirit”. How significant is this? Can there be another holy spirit that does not refer to the third person of the Trinity?
There is a variation of between Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew 7…
“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Matthew 7:11 NIV
…and Luke 11,
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give (the – not in the original text) holy spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:13 NIV
Matthew says, “Good things…”
Luke says, “Holy Spirit…” or “holy spirit…” since there are no uppercase letters in the original Greek text. One word is not in Luke’s text…the definite article “ho” meaning “the”.
If Jesus’s words do not refer to the Holy Spirit, what did He mean? Was He contradicting Scripture by telling us that we need to ask God for the Holy Spirit before He will come to indwell us? However, nowhere in Scripture are we taught that the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us at our request. The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to us when we believe in Jesus. He is Christ’s representative, His “other self” whom He promised would come when He, Jesus, went away.
“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
John 16:7 NIV
“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
John 14:15-17 NIV
On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came, Peter declared, in response to the question…
“When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Acts 2:37-39 NIV
It is clear, then, that the indwelling of God’s Spirit is part of the salvation “package”. It’s a done deal.
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
1 Corinthians 12:13 NIV
To be continued…