Originally Posted by mercy
Okay, just to keep this discussion going because it is very interesting, here is my understanding... The OT saints were not sealed with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit did not indwell people until Pentecost. The OT saints were kept in paradise until Jesus was resurrected and then they were released from paradise and rose with Him. The Holy Spirit "came upon and at times filled the old testament saints for a specific purpose of God but were not indwelt. Until Pentecost, the Holy Spirit resided in heaven. The promised Holy Spirit was not able to come until Jesus completed the work of redemption and went to heaven. There are many scriptures that support this and I can give them if you need them. I think we all agree they were regenerated in the same way by a work of the Spirit in their heart.


Mercy- your views stated here cannot be sustained from Scripture. Since no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again, and since no one can be born again without a work of the Spirit........there can be no difference in the way OT believers received the Spirit as far as regeneration and indwelling is concerned.

You suggest that no one was continually indwelt by the Spirit before Pentecost. The promise given concerning John the Baptist (quite apart from the remarkable inference it has concerning God's sovereignty in regeneration) doesn't suggest temporary or transient indwelling of the Spirit.

Luk 1:15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
Luk 1:16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,
Luk 1:17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."


The giving of the Spirit at Pentecost was not for the purposes of regeneration but for empowerment for witness. The disciples were already regenerate and had specifically received the Spirit on a ptrevious occasion in Joh 20:21

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Joh 20:22 And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

Since the tense is aorist imperative, it doesn't have a future meaning but is a NOW instruction.

People use Joh 7:39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

to suggest that the Spirit was only given after Christ's ascension at pentecost. However if you read John's gospel carefully over the next few chapters you will see when Jesus began to be glorified.

Hopefully there is some food for thought.


Nick Mudge


Rom 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?