Paul or William Branham - Acts 19
Paul or William Branham?
Paul: Acts 19:2 ASV and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given.
William Branham: 1962-0124 - Have Not I Sent Thee? “Not when you believe, but after you believe you receive the…the Holy Ghost of promise, says the Scripture: after you believe.”
The account of Acts 19:1-5 is a special instance where Paul was speaking to “disciples” (not ‘borderline Baptist’–WMB) who had not been instructed that the Holy Spirit was being given (that is, to those that obey Acts 2:38, 41, 5:32, 6:7). This isn’t applicable to believers in the Gospel today.
They were believers that had believed the word as far as they had known—that was “into John’s baptism” (v.19:3), but they were short of having heard and thus received the immediate blessing of the Spirit that obedience to the faith (the Gospel) had now conferred.
The baptism of John was one of repentance, but Christian baptism declared that Christ had died and risen, and the work of redemption accomplished, with the life of the age to come and forgiveness of sins proclaimed in His name.
William Branham repeatedly misconstrued this passage and made it, not the exception but the standard to support the teaching that receiving the Holy Spirit is different from believing. His idea is not collaborated in the NT. It is fundamentally false and contrary to the context of Acts. 19:1-5.
Paul: Acts 19:2 ASV and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given.
William Branham: 1962-0124 - Have Not I Sent Thee? “Not when you believe, but after you believe you receive the…the Holy Ghost of promise, says the Scripture: after you believe.”
The account of Acts 19:1-5 is a special instance where Paul was speaking to “disciples” (not ‘borderline Baptist’–WMB) who had not been instructed that the Holy Spirit was being given (that is, to those that obey Acts 2:38, 41, 5:32, 6:7). This isn’t applicable to believers in the Gospel today.
They were believers that had believed the word as far as they had known—that was “into John’s baptism” (v.19:3), but they were short of having heard and thus received the immediate blessing of the Spirit that obedience to the faith (the Gospel) had now conferred.
The baptism of John was one of repentance, but Christian baptism declared that Christ had died and risen, and the work of redemption accomplished, with the life of the age to come and forgiveness of sins proclaimed in His name.
William Branham repeatedly misconstrued this passage and made it, not the exception but the standard to support the teaching that receiving the Holy Spirit is different from believing. His idea is not collaborated in the NT. It is fundamentally false and contrary to the context of Acts. 19:1-5.