Dr. Ted Jungkuntz
"Promise" is the hook on which "faith" hangs. If there is no promise of God, the Reformers argued, there can be no real faith. Melanchthon cites Paul in Rom. 4:16 ("That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may be guaranteed") and then writes: "(Paul) says that only faith can accept the promise. He therefore correlates and connects promise and faith." (Apol. IV, 50)
Because of this correlation of promise and faith the LCMS challenges RIM by saying (October 1999 dialogue): "...not so much as one passage of Scripture has been cited that reveals by its words or by its implications God's will regarding the possession of one or more of the distributed spiritual gifts by a specific person in the world today. Are there any?"
To which RIM answers that, of course, there is no promise that a "specific person" (for example, insert YOUR NAME) has been named in Scripture as the one to whom the "distributed spiritual gifts" (1Cor. 12:4-11) have been promised [we are told the above passage is not a "prescription" but a "description," so it doesn't count], but there are instances of such "promises" being given to the "church of God." However, we are not only being challenged to cite a passage which does not merely "describe" a phenomenon occurring in the church of God until the "day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Cor. 1:2-8), but a passage which actually uses the word "promise" in that context. I now will point out such a passage.
In Acts 1:4-5, 8, Luke reports the following: "And while staying with them (Jesus) charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the PROMISE of the Father, which, he said, 'you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit....you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.'"
Two questions must now be answered:
1. Does this PROMISE which here was given to the "eleven," apply to the en- tire New Testament church?
2. Does the reference here to the "Holy Spirit" refer only to his universal presen- ce in each Christian as such or does it include the manifestations of the Spirit in the so-called "distributed spiritual gifts?"
We can answer these questions only by following the story of this promise as it is unfolded for us in the New Testament.
In his Pentecost sermon Peter clearly identifies the very event which suggested to some that the apostles were manifestly "drunk" (Acts 2:12-13, 15) as in fact being the fulfillment of what was spoken by Joel, who seems to be speaking prophetically of the "distributed spiritual gifts" as something intended for "all flesh" (Acts 2:16-18). This is also precisely what John the Baptist "promised," when he distinguished his baptism with water from the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire of the "mightier" one to follow - a baptism not limited to the "eleven" (Lk. 3:15-17). So aren't we all of the New Testament church included in this Pentecostal baptism promised by Jesus?
Another indication that the Apostle Peter understood Jesus' promise about being "baptized with the Holy Spirit" as something applying not only to the "eleven" but to any and all New Testament believers as such is what he said to his critics in Jerusalem after his encounter with the Gentile Cornelius and his household, namely (Acts 11:15-17): "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"
Whatever else one may say about this passage, one has to admit that Peter did not limit Jesus' "promises" originally spoken to the "eleven" as something applying only to them. It included even Gentile believers. As we have already noted, for the Apostle Paul it included the church of God in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2-8). And would he exhort us to pray for ("eagerly desire") something that the Lord has not promised to his church (1 Cor. 14:1, 13)?
As for our second question, whether reference to the "Holy Spirit" in these passages refers only to his universal presence in each Christian as such or whether it includes the manifestations of the Spirit in the so-called "distributed spiritual gifts," we offer the following references to the unfolding of the story of the "promise" Jesus made to his disciples regarding the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Once again in his Pentecost sermon Peter expounds on that "promise" as follows (Acts 2:33): "Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the PROMISE of the Holy Spirit, (Jesus) has poured out this which you see and hear."
It is clear that Peter does not drive a wedge between the universal presence of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's distributed manifestations. Jesus' "promise" that the disciples would be "baptized with the Holy Spirit" was not limited to some universal presence of the Holy Spirit within them, but included a specifically manifested presence which one could "see and hear." Remember, the apostles were not converted and water-baptized on Pentecost. As believers who already confessed that "Jesus is Lord," they had previously experienced this general life-changing presence of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 20:22, 27-28; 1 Cor. 12:3). On Pentecost, however, they were "baptized with the Holy Spirit" and thus manifested the "distributed spiritual gifts" of the Holy Spirit within them. It was a "power" driving them into the streets to be "witnesses" (Acts 1:8).
This "manifested" presence of the Holy Spirit is the story unfolded in the remaining chapters of Acts. It is the story of what Jesus meant when he promised to "baptize with the Holy Spirit" those who would prayerfully "wait for the PROMISE of the Father" (Acts 1:4-5, 14; 2:1-4).
It is the story of the profuse manifestation of the "distributed spiritual gifts" for the purpose of "growing" the church.
Melanchthon in the Apology of the Augsburg Confession challenges his opponents to make their case by citing a command, a promise, or an example from Scripture (XXI, 10, 21). RIM believes it is able to do that in response to the demands of its LCMS challengers.
So, do I as a New Testament believer, as a member of the body of Christ - the church, have a promise on which I can hang my faith and prayers regarding God's will relative to the "distributed spiritual gifts?" Indeed I do. The burden of proof that there is no such promise lies with those who would rob the church of the very promise he gave it in order that it might be a "witnessing church" rather than a "debate club."
Thank you, Jesus, for your PROMISE: "Ask, and it will be given you...If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Lk. 11:9-13).
Dr. Ted Jungkuntz
2614 Page Ct.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104