ANSWER: It is not, because it necessarily implies that the apostles were not regenerated till Pentecost. Who can think that Christ is addressing persons strangers to the new birth when he said to the eleven apostles, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence"? No one can read the high-priestly prayer of Christ in John 17th, in which his apostles are described as "Not of the world, even as I am not of this world," without believing that they had been regenerated? Then again the condition on which the Paraclete was to be received was this: "If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter." This implies spiritual life already inspired at the first blessing preparatory to the second. It is surprising that a writer so strong and inspiring as Mr. Morgan, educated as a follower of Wesley, should fall into an error which implies that Jesus commissioned unregenerate men to preach his Gospel.
— From Steele's Answers pp. 36, 37.
In our day, James D. G. Dunn has argued Morgan's thesis with great force in Baptism in the Holy Spirit: A Re-examination of the New Testament on the Gift of the Spirit. The book is already considered a classic.
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