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Question: What does Luke 11:13 mean? Don’t we have the Holy Spirit already when we become a Christian?

Profile: Female, North America, Christian, 46–60

Answered by: Loren Faulkner, who has been a volunteer with us since September, 2019.

Answer: Hello, and thank you for sending your question to GotQuestions.org.

To answer: Yes, we do have the Holy Spirit the moment we believe in Christ as Savior (1 Corinthians 12:13). However, when interpreting Scripture one has to account for when and where and to whom a passage was given, its immediate context, and how it is to be applied in the life of a believer.

Luke 11:13 is a passage that Bible commentators have differing interpretations regarding its meaning. The earliest Greek manuscripts use a word for Spirit that can have multiple meanings.

For example, Bible teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee says that Jesus is telling His immediate disciples here to ask for the Holy Spirit, perhaps meaning His power. Scripture doesn’t say whether these particular disciples (some say the 70 were included here) ever did ask for the Holy Spirit during the Lord’s ministry.  This is deduced because later on, when Jesus appeared to them, after His resurrection, He breathed on them and said, “receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). They would need His guidance and strength until the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come upon them and the others in the Upper Room some 40 days later.

Other commentators believe that in Luke 11:13 Jesus meant what He had said at another time (see Matthew 7:11) meaning “the good things of the Spirit”, i.e., love, joy, peace, patience, etc.

Still others believe that asking for the Holy Spirit does apply to believers today when in Ephesians 5:18, we are told to “be filled with the Spirit.” Luke 11:13 would apply as Christians simply ask (even daily) the Holy Spirit to fill and empower their lives with Himself.

Luke 11:13 is an instance where Christians may disagree, agreeably! These varying interpretations do not nullify the fact that all believers in Jesus–since the Day of Pentecost so long ago– have the Holy Spirit living within them the moment they receive Christ as Savior.

I hope this is helpful to you. You may want to look at the following articles that can be found at www.GotQuestions.org. Just paste in the titles at the search icon.

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Question: How can I know if I have been reborn?