Receivingthe Holy Spirit more than once? Muslim argument on the corruption of the Gospel

[Vico]

Thank you, though his problems are also on a chronological level. He (the Holy Spirit) came, why does he come once more? Surely I can show the different graces, but I neeed to explain why it is said that the Apostles receive the Spirit, and then have to wait for the Spirit to come.

There are two sets of event with the Holy Spirit:

**1) **Jesus leaves them for three days and nights from death to resurrection, then – John 20:22 – in the upper room, Jesus: “receive ye the Holy Ghost” the power of forgiving sins (prior to Pentecost).21 He said therefore to them again; Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you.
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them, and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23 *Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose you shall retain, they are retained.

Haydock Commentary has for John 20:22:Ver. 22. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. It was said, (John vii. 39.) that the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not glorified. The sense must needs be, that the holy Spirit was not given in that solemn manner, nor with so large an effusion of spiritual gifts and graces, till the day of Pentecost, after Christ’s ascension: but the just, at all times, from the beginning of the world, were sanctified by the grace of the Holy Ghost, as no doubt the apostles were, before this time. Now at this present, he gave them the power of forgiving sins. (Witham)

— Some say, that our Saviour did not then confer the Holy Ghost on his disciples, but only prepared them for the receiving of the Holy Ghost. But surely we may understand, that even then they received some portion of spiritual grace, the power, not indeed of raising the dead, and working other miracles, but of forgiving sins. (St. Chrysostom, hom. lxxxv. in Joan.)

— St. Cyril of Alexandria, speaking of the remission of sins, promised in this text, asks, “How then, or why, did Christ impart to his disciples a power, which belongs to the divinity alone? It seemed good to him, that they, who had within themselves his divine Spirit, should likewise possess the power of forgiving sins, and of retaining such as they judged expedient; that Holy Spirit, according to his good pleasure, forgiving and retaining, through the ministry of men.” (In Joan. lib. xii. chap. 1.)

haydock1859.tripod.com/id113.html

 

[Vico]

Thank you, though his problems are also on a chronological level. He (the Holy Spirit) came, why does he come once more? Surely I can show the different graces, but I neeed to explain why it is said that the Apostles receive the Spirit, and then have to wait for the Spirit to come.

**2) **Jesus leaves them at the ascension, then – Luke 24:47-49, Acts 1:4-5 – the disciples wait in Jerusalem to receive power of the Spirit for the ministry. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:1-4 (Pentecost)1 And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place:
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared to them cloven tongues, as it were of fire, and it sat upon each of them:
4 *And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

Haydock Commentary has for Acts 2:2, and Acts 2:4:

**Ver. 2. **A sound, &c. Perhaps this was a kind of thunder, accompanied with a great wind, which filled with terror and awe the whole company, and disposed them to receive the gift of heaven with humility and fervour. This noise appears to have been heard over a great part of the city, and to have gathered together a great crowd, who came to learn the cause. This noise and wind were symbols of the divinity. It was thus also that formerly on Mount Sinai, thunder and lightning, the dark cloud, the smoking mountain, &c. marked the majesty of God. (Calmet)

— Jesus Christ, our Pasch, to answer perfectly the figure, was offered on the day of the great Jewish passover; so fifty days after, for accomplishing the like figure of the law given on Mount Sinai, He sent down the Holy Ghost on the day of their Pentecost, which meaneth fifty. But our feasts, as St. Augustine remarks, besides the remembrance of benefits past, contain great mysteries also of the life to come. (Ep. cxix. chap. 16.)
**
Ver. 4. **Began to speak divers tongues. Perhaps the apostles spoke only their own tongue, and the miracle consisted in each one’s understanding it as if they spoke it in his language. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, orat. xliv.)

— But St. Augustine and most others, understand the text literally; though the apostles had not this gift on all occasions, nor on all subjects, and therefore sometimes stood in need of interpreters. See St. Augustine, in Psalm xvii.; Expos. 2.; and Serm. 188. -

– The same Father observes, that the conversion of all nations to the Church, and their being united in one faith, all having one language or confession, is a perpetuation of the same miracle in the Church.

haydock1859.tripod.com/id117.html

1. Also we know that at the Last Supper the disciples received the Body and Blood of Christ. Did Jesus not make them capable of receiving the Holy Spirit then at least? We know that the Trinity is received in the Eucharist.

 

[MarcoPG]

With that Vico, I think it is clear. Thank you. I hope he will at least understand. Accepting is something else .