God is not the author of confusion but of peace. Still, many people are led astray because of a lack of knowledge concerning Who God is and how He differs from His gift of holy spirit, which He gave for all who desire to become born again. God wants for all people to know and truly understand spiritual matters.
We will go over one aspect of what God wants His people to understand correctly, and that is the difference between God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the gift of holy spirit He gave for all people who desire to become born again. Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, let his followers know that they would receive power after he left. He told them that the promise of the Father would come and give them the ability to walk with the power of God in the world.
Acts 1:4,5:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost [gift of holy spirit] not many days hence.
God is Spirit and therefore intangible. He gave believers this spiritual power to be able to show, in the five senses, evidence of God by doing what was impossible for ordinary men. This was the power of God, the gift of holy spirit, lowercase.
Luke 24:49:
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
“Baptized with the Holy Ghost” in Acts 1:5 is to be endued (clothed) with spiritual power (holy spirit) from God, THE Creator, THE Holy Spirit. The apostles would wait in Jerusalem until God would send them this power on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:4:
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost [holy spirit, the gift, power from on high], and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit [God the Giver] gave them utterance.
So why is there confusion in the world regarding the difference between God, the Giver, and His gift of holy spirit? One major reason for the confusion about the difference between the Holy Spirit (God, uppercase) and His gift of holy spirit (lowercase) is that the Greek texts do not differentiate between the Giver and His gift. In Greek manuscripts, the noun pneuma, translated “spirit,” is never capitalized. Therefore, when the word pneuma is translated with a capital S, it is an interpretation and, as such, is of no higher authority than the person translating it. Some nouns do not affect the sense of a passage of scripture whether they are capitalized or not, but this is not true of the word “spirit.” Failure to recognize the difference between the Giver and His gift has caused no end of confusion in the holy spirit field of study as well as in the understanding of the new birth. After the day of Pentecost when holy spirit power was outpoured to the apostles, it would be clearer what the gift of holy spirit was, which was given by God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit (God, uppercase) was not what they were filled with but by Whom they were filled. Being filled with holy spirit (the gift, lowercase) made it possible for them to speak in tongues. The Spirit, the Giver, is God, and His gift is power from on high, holy spirit.
James 1:17:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Our God never changes, and His gifts are always good. Being Holy and Spirit, He made available a connection to Himself, which is the gift of holy spirit. This gift is available to anyone and everyone who confesses and believes a simple passage: Romans, chapter 10, verse 9. Simply to claim Jesus as your lord and to believe God raised him from the dead are the only requirements to gaining eternal life and receiving the gift of holy spirit from the Giver, God. God wants us to understand Who He is, His gift of holy spirit, and the accuracy of His Word regarding spiritual matters. Let’s stop the confusion by declaring the truth of God’s gift to everyone we know!
If you would like to look further into this topic of holy spirit, you can delve into the book Receiving the Holy Spirit Today by Victor Paul Wierwille. Appendix III of this work gives detailed information on each of the 385 uses of the word pneuma in the New Testament.