Can Someone Be
Saved And Not Have The Fruit Of The Spirit?
In
the chapter about True Joy in Sarah Young's Jesus Always
Devotion EXPOSED! it states that all believers have the Holy Spirit,
thus all believers have the fruit of the Spirit. Is this a true statement. Yes.
It is based on the following scripture.
1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us
there is one Holy Spirit and all believers were baptized into one body, and all
have the same Holy Spirit.
For by one Spirit we were all
baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we
were all made to drink of one Spirit.
In Romans 8:9
scripture tells us that, if someone does not have the Holy Spirit, they are
not saved. In other words, all true Christians have the Holy Spirit.
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to
Him.
And Ephesians 1:13-14 states that the Holy Spirit
is given as a pledge of our inheritance in that we are sealed
in Him. He could not promise to be the seal of our salvation, meaning
the guarantee of our salvation, if we do not receive the Holy Spirit the moment
we are saved.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message
of truth, the gospel of your salvationhaving also believed, you were sealed
in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance,
with a view to the redemption of Gods own possession, to the praise of His
glory.
These, as well as other scripture, teach that
all believers possess the Spirit the moment they are saved.
Since joy
is one of the fruits of the Spirit, if you have saved, you have that fruit of
the Spirit. So, if you do not have joy, then there is the possibility that you
have no foundation... you are not saved. The book Should You RUN From Jesus
Always recommends doing as scripture commands... test yourself to see if
you are in the faith. Several ways to test yourself are provided in the book.
However,
some believers say there is another option: you are saved , but do not have the
Holy Spirit. This belief is based on scripture they feel shows that believers
do not receive the Holy Spirit the moment they become a Christian. Receiving the
Holy Spirit comes later and may require actions such as the laying on of hands.
This comes from Acts 8:12 & 15-17:
But when they believed
Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus
Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.
Now when
the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they
sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive
the Holy Spirit. For He
had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply
been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands
on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
However,
there are a number of problems with this interpretation of scripture.
- The purpose of the text in Acts is not to teach how a believer receives the
Holy Spirit or even to teach about the Holy Spirit. It's purpose is to teach that
all people, Jew, Gentile, and even Samaritans can be saved. On the other hand,
the verses quoted above (from 1 Corinthians, Ephesians and Romans), that make
it clear we receive the Holy Spirit the moment we are saved, are teaching about
the Holy Spirit.
- The time period recorded in the book of Acts was a unique
time of transition from Old Testament times (God working through Israel) to New
Testament times (the church age). Part of this transition involved getting rid
of erroneous Jewish beliefs and traditions, one of which was that only Jews were
saved.
What is seen in Acts are people from each of the three major people
groups; Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans, becoming Christians and receiving the
same signs of the Holy Spirit. This is a one-time occurrence for each people group.
The Samaritans in particular were hated by the Jews, and every Jew knew that God
also hated the Samaritans. But, just as the Jews (at Pentecost) and the Gentiles
(Cornelius and his household) were saved and received the Holy Spirit with physical
manifestations, so do the Samaritans in Acts chapter 8. These physical signs were
necessary so that doubters (and there were many) would have no reason to exclude
anybody from the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These signs of
the Holy Spirit appeared only once for each people group, and were not repeated.
God had demonstrated that all people... every tongue and tribe... could become
one of His children.
Scripture plainly states that all believers receive
the Holy Spirit as soon as they become a believer. God had a specific reason for
delaying the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in three cases (actually four, there
was a fourth people group that encompassed all others not in the first three groups)
as a special case at the beginning of the church age. Thus, all believers have
the fruit of the Spirit from the moment they are saved.
What
about Acts 8:12?