Regeneration & Baptism with the Holy Spirit

QUESTION: G. Campbell Morgan teaches that "the baptism with the Spirit is always used in the New Testament with reference to regeneration and never with what is often spoken of to-day as the second blessing."  Is this correct?

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.

On Sin in Believers

What is the difference then, between sin in a sinner, and sin in a believer? The same difference that there is between poison in a rattlesnake and the virus of that serpent injected into a healthy man. The venom is natural to the reptile. He delights in it, secretes and cherishes it with pleasure. But all the vital forces of the man resist the injected poison, and rally to thrust it out of the system.

Who Led Jesus Into Temptation?

QUESTION: In Matt. 4:1, what is the meaning of being led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil? Does it refer to the Spirit of God or the evil spirit?

ANSWER: To the Holy Spirit — in order that Jesus may pass through temptation and victory as the condition of spiritual greatness. Thus were tested Abraham and Moses and all the heroes of faith recorded in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, that Westminster Abbey of the Bible. Jesus never followed the devil as a leader.

— From Steele's Answers p. 36.

Why Did God Harden Pharaoh's Heart?

QUESTION: In Exodus 9:16 is it true that God created Pharaoh, and hardened his heart for the purpose to show his power?

ANSWER: The Am. Revision is, ''For this cause have I made thee to stand," after, as the context shows, he had been "smitten with pestilence." There is no reference here to his birth. There are three forms in which the hardening of his heart is expressed. In verses 34, 35, Pharaoh "Hardened his heart" and "the heart of Pharaoh was hardened." This explains verse 12, "and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" as the result of his resistance to the Divine chastisements. In no other sense did God harden his heart than to let him rush forward in such a course of rebellion as issued in his hardening his own heart.

— From Steele's Answers pp. 35, 36.

The New Birth and It's Aftermath

Regeneration, or the New Birth, is a change wrought within the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost, creating within the soul a new spiritual life, a life of loyalty and love.

By nature men are the children of wrath. They are spiritually dead. The faith faculty exists, but is in a paralysis so far as spiritual objects are concerned. The divine life begins with the seed of God implanted in the soul. This is the new principle of love. "For the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost." [Romans 5:5] The phrase "love of God" may signify either God's love to me or my love to God. In this quotation it has the former meaning. The Scriptures teach us that God is love. But this is not enough to give me assurance of his favor so long as I read that he is angry with the wicked every day. Therefore, so long as I have a tormenting sense of guilt, I must be filled with painful forebodings till I have a positive and personal assurance that I am taken out of the class of the condemned, and am reconciled to God, who loves me, even me.

How Could Jesus Be Tempted?

QUESTION: Could Jesus be tempted in all points like as we are tempted without a sinful nature?

ANSWER: Exegetes disagree about the limitation of the phrase "without sin." Some say the temptation left Christ without sin; others say it found him without any inclination to sin and left him sinless. They say this phrase "without sin" is an expressed exception to the words "all points." Jesus was tempted, as we are in all points save one, having inherited no evil inclination. Yet his temptation was real because he was human, possessing those susceptibilities, which pure in themselves, may without the resistance of the free will, be incited to sin.  If this is objected to because it implies the possibility that the Son of God might have sinned, we reply that it was certain that he would not sin, just as certain that God will never sin. There is a great difference between certainty and necessity. God is a free agent. He has a conscience which discerns the distinctions between right and wrong, and he invariably cleaves to the right. This brings us to the ground of moral obligation. He who says God does a thing because it is right stands on the foundation of James Arminius. He who says that a thing is right because God does it, that his will is the ground of right, and that he is a law unto himself, and that he can reverse the ten commandments, if he pleases, takes his stand with John Calvin.

— From Steele's Answers pp. 34, 35.

The Spirit Can Qualify You to Preach

QUESTION: Being filled with the Spirit and entirely sanctified, though without education, except the ability to read, I feel called to preach. Cannot the Holy Ghost qualify me for this work?

ANSWER: Yes, he can bless your attempts at a thorough mastery of the Word of God and the art of speaking. God sometimes takes "the weak things of the world to confound the mighty," as in the cases of Benjamin Abbott and Bud Robinson, whose experiences you should read. God helps those who help themselves. A knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and a heart experience of  Christ's saving power are two cardinal elements of success. In this age of brain-worship and excessive leaning on education God likes to skip the universities and endow an ungrammatical Moody with the power to reach and save the multitudes. Such an act shows the church that her power lies not in the dead languages but in the living Christ. If the whole world is to be speedily evangelized the whole church must become preachers by precept and example. Our streets are becoming full of people whose only Gospel is the Sunday newspaper. The harvest is truly great and the laborers — wholly consecrated — are few. Hence I feel like encouraging every saved person to consecrate his or her gift of speech to the salvation of all for whom Christ died. Don't wait for a license, but begin now from the tail of a plow or cart and from the side of the washtub or sewing machine. Tell everybody of Christ's great salvation, backing up the message with your own experience. This was the way in which Christianity triumphed over all its persecutors and mounted the throne of the Caesars in 300 years.

— From Steele's Answers pp. 33, 34.

Forbidden to Speak

QUESTION: My pastor has forbidden my speaking in the social meetings. What am I to do?

ANSWER: Perhaps you have unconsciously fallen into a censorious, fault-finding style. This is neither agreeable not edifying. If this is your habit, try to change by striking the key-note of praise and thanksgiving to God in your heart experiences. It is more safe to do this than to exhort.

— From Steele's Answers p. 33.

No Confidence in the Preacher?

QUESTION: I have no confidence in the piety of my preacher. What do you advise me to do?

ANSWER: Pray for him. Do not pray at him in public by asking the Lord to convert him. Pray for him in your closet. do not abandon the house of God because the preacher is not as pious as you wish he was. Attentively listen to his sermons and appropriate all the truth he utters. Do not imitate his example if you think his conduct is not right. This is the sum of Christ's advice in Matt. 23:2, 3, "All things whatsoever they bid you, these do and observe; but do not after their works; for they say and do not." John Wesley always attended the Church of England and attentively listened to men who excited mobs against him and his people.

— From Steele's Answers pp. 32, 33.

Conditional Immortality in Scripture?

QUESTION: Do these texts prove the doctrine of conditional immortality: (a) I Tim. 6:16, "Who only hath immortality" and (b) I Cor. 15:53-4, "And this mortal shall have put on immortality."

ANSWER:  (a) "God is said alone to have immortality, because he has it not from another's will, as other immortals have, but from his own essence" (Justin Martyr), "underived, independent immortality" (Wesley's note). (b) This is quoted from a chapter in which the future destiny of the righteous only is described. Paul believed in the resurrection of the unjust (Acts 24:15), as did Daniel in 12:2, and as Christ asserted in John 5:29. But Paul had no occasion to discuss the future of the unjust in this passage. Hence this omission does not disprove their endless existence. Study "eternal punishment" in Matt. 25:46 and Rev. 20:10, where two men "shall be tormented day and night forever and ever."

— From Steele's Answers pp. 31, 32.