01.00. How the Holy Spirit Works in Believers’ Lives Today
How the Holy Spirit Works in Believers’ Lives Today
Timothy Lin, Ph.D.
Member of the Translation Committee of the NASB
Foreword by Eugene Merrill, Distinguished Professor of Old Testament, Dallas Theological Seminary TABLE OF CONTENTS A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF DR. TIMOTHY LIN Chapter I. BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
What Baptism with the Holy Spirit Really Is
A. The Meaning of the Word “Baptism.”
B. The Historical Development of Baptism with the Spirit.
C. The Differences Between “Baptism with the Spirit” and “Filled with the Spirit.”
Chapter II. THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Power of God Available for Effective Ministry and Life
A. The Importance of Spirit-filling.
B. Some Misunderstandings Concerning Spirit-filling.
C. The Purpose of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit.
D. The Conditions for Being Filled with the Spirit.
E. God Commands Us to “Be Filled with the Spirit.”
F. More Help Concerning the Filling of the Holy Spirit
Chapter III. THE FULLNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
God’s Life Producing Daily the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in Our Lives
A. The Distinction Between the Gifts of the Spirit and the Fruit of the Spirit.
B. Obtaining the Fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Conclusion
Appendix-How Our God-given Conscience Enables Us to Know and Obey God’s Will for Us
The Working of Conscience
The Need to Listen to Conscience
Deadening the Voice of Conscience
The Unbeliever’s Conscience
Repentance, Conscience and Spiritual Understanding
NOTES Made available by Biblical Studies Ministries International, Inc. www.bsmi.org 2 Copyright © 1997, 2001, 2002 Biblical Studies Ministries International, Inc.
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission. The Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The Scripture references marked retranslated are the author’s own translations. For emphasis some words or phrases in certain quotations have been made bolder than ordinary.
Other translations of this book:
Chinese
Spanish Revised edition, October, 2002 Other books by Dr. Lin Genesis A Biblical Theology
The Kingdom and What It Means to the Life of the Believer
The Secret of Church Growth
EUGENE H. MERRILL: “In this delightful treatise Dr. Lin makes a powerful argument for the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of modern believers and the need for them to be open to what He would do in and through them. He clearly articulates the differences among baptism, filling and fullness of the Spirit and shows how each is essential to the Christian who would enjoy a life of victory and effectiveness.”
Eugene Merrill, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary
LESLIE M. FRAZIER: “This book is characterized by thoroughness, clarity and simplicity. Dr. Lin, with his language expertise, spiritual insight and many years of experience in Christian ministry, has given the Christian public a very useful tool to understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. The baptism, filling and fullness of the Holy Spirit are clearly presented. The filling and fullness of the Holy Spirit are so necessary to accomplish the Great Commission. May the Lord give this book a wide reading.”
Leslie Frazier, Ph.D., is Far East Director, Baptist International Missions, Inc.
EUGENE KIMBLE: In his preface to the Chinese edition, Dr. Lin wrote, “May the Lord give mercy through this book so that on the eve of His return…it [may] supplement the weaknesses and delete the excessive in the understanding of the Holy Spirit. As a result we can all walk the straight and narrow and do what is right in the sight of the Lord, so that we shall be blameless in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Further, may it shore up that which is weak in the church identified by Warren Wiersbe when he said, “An evil idea is abroad in the land that spiritual life is not important to spiritual leadership. So long as the leader projects a ‘successful image’ and manifests ‘dynamic,’ he will be successful. Holiness of life, spiritual growth, and obedience to the Word of God have been replaced by promotion, public relations, and obedience to the latest conclusion of the Madison Avenue geniuses,” Living with the Giants (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 237-238.
Eugene Kimble, Ph.D., is one of several pastor/elders at College Park Church, Indianapolis. Dr. Lin asked him to edit and rewrite this and several other of his works for the English-speaking Church. 4 A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF DR. TIMOTHY LIN
Dr. Timothy Lin was born to a minister’s family in Chekiang, China. He was taught to read the Bible when he was 6, began to preach when he was 15, but was not born again until age 19. Having left Central Theological Seminary of Nanking in 1934 due to its modernistic teaching, he served as the pastor of Jubilee Church in Shanghai until 1937. In 1938-39 he was principal of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Bible Institute of Kwangsi. In 1940 he came to the United States for the first time to study Hebrew and Greek at Concordia Theological Seminary and Washington University.
During World War II, Dr. Lin was in charge of Bethel Orphanage as well as being the principal of Bethel High School. He was also the dean of Shanghai Bible College. After the war, Dr. Lin was invited to be the president of the East China Theological College of Hangchow, which was cosponsored by the China Inland Mission. Then in 1948 he came again to the United States for advanced study, receiving a B.D. and S.T.M. from Faith Theological Seminary, then in Wilmington, Delaware, and a Ph.D. from the College of Hebrew and Cognate Learnings of Dropsie University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition, he holds several other earned and honorary degrees.
Dr. Lin was a member of one of the Old Testament translation committees for the New American Standard Bible. He was also a professor in the graduate school of Bob Jones University, in South Carolina, where he taught Systematic Theology, Biblical Theology, Old Testament Hebrew, Biblical Aramaic, Classic Arabic, and Peshitta Syriac.
Moreover, he was a professor at Talbot Seminary, Los Angeles, and Trinity Evangelical Seminary, Chicago, and the president of China Evangelical Seminary in Taiwan. In 1961 the Lord led him to become interim pastor of the small struggling First Chinese Baptist Church of Los Angeles, and in 1962 the permanent pastor. When he retired as Senior Pastor a few years ago, the church had eight pastors, more than 2,200 in regular Lord’s Day attendance, and in addition had started several mission churches with more than 300 in regular attendance.
Dr. Lin has also been a popular teacher and Bible conference speaker, being in great demand by ministers, teachers, and church leaders for training in biblical interpretation and church growth in the Far East as well as in North America. 6