The
first chapter of all four canonical Gospels mention the Holy Spirit. In each
case, there is no descriptive information to introduce the reader to the Holy Spirit.
This provides an important insight to the Gospels and their intended audience. Each
of the authors of the four gospels assumed their audience had an intimate
knowledge of the Holy Spirit and needed no introduction. Thus, the Gospels were
written for people who had already received the Holy Spirit. It’s important to
remember that people who haven’t received the Holy Spirit will not comprehend
some of the information that is written in the Gospels. For instance, they will
not fully understand the portions of the first chapters of the Gospels that
mention the Holy Spirit. If you can’t fully understand all of the first chapter
of a book, then how much of the rest of the book can you truly understand?
Jesus built a church and the Holy Spirit came to the people in that church to bring
understanding – “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit who is from God, that we may understand the things freely given to us by
God.” 1Corinthians 2:12
Dr. J. Clontz – Editor, The Comprehensive New Testament
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way: when his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:8 I have baptized you with water. But he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
Luke 1:15 For he will be great before [the] Lord, and shall never drink wine or strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
John 1:32 And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. 33 I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
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