Tarrying for the Spirit?

Spirit-Baptism

Does the New Testament teach that believers must spend time “tarrying” before they can receive the gift of the Spirit? 

Jesus told his disciples to “tarry” in Jerusalem until they received the Spirit. In some churches, this command has become a teaching applicable to most Christians. The idea is that the believer must “tarry” before the Lord until his mind or spirit enters a stage more conducive to God’s Spirit, or that he must first be purged of certain sins - [Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash].

In Luke’s account, the Greek term rendered “tarry” in many English translations represents the verb kathizô, which means simply to “sit down, set.” It is the same verb used in the second chapter of Acts for the tongues of fire that “sat” on each of the 120 disciples. There is no sense of meditating or struggling with internal conflicts inherent in the word.

The English term “tarry” captures the real sense - it means to “wait, linger, to stay” in a particular place or state. In short, Jesus told his followers to WAIT in the city “UNTIL you are clothed with power from on high” – (Luke 24:49).

Likewise, in the first chapter of Acts, Jesus told his disciples they would “be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” And this would set them apart to become “my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

He said nothing about the disciples engaging in extended prayer, soul-searching, contemplation, etc. It was simply a matter of time before the Spirit was poured out – “until,” “not many days hence.”

PENTECOST

We certainly do find the disciples engaged in prayer and other spiritual endeavors between the ascension of Jesus and the arrival of the Spirit. And the 120 disciples were assembled in prayer when the Spirit fell. Considering all that had transpired since the death of Jesus, time spent in prayer was appropriate and expected.

But the Spirit was poured out at once “when the day of Pentecost had fully come.” That is, the arrival of the gift marked the fulfillment of what the original feast day had foreshadowed. The prophetic moment had arrived – (Acts 2:1-4).

Moreover, all 120 disciples received the same gift characterized by the same supernatural phenomena at the same moment. This was a collective event, and it is difficult to imagine how all 120 penitent believers achieved the right spiritual state at the same moment in time, assuming that was necessary before they could receive the Holy Spirit.

At the end of his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter exhorted the crow to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus.” Everyone who did so would “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Peter did not indicate that some individuals must spend time first in meditation and personal reflection, or that they needed to enter a state of mind more open to the Spirit – (Acts 2:38).

CAESAREA AND EPHESUS

At the house of Cornelius, while Peter was still preaching, the Spirit fell on the Gentiles in his audience, and they ALL began to “speak in tongues and magnify God.” According to the Apostle, they had “received the Spirit the same as us” – (Acts 10:44-48, 11:).

Again, Cornelius and his family received the gift while Peter was speaking. This description allows no time for extended prayer sessions or serious soul-searching before the outpouring of the Spirit. It happened spontaneously, and presumably, at the prompting of the Spirit of God.

Likewise, in Ephesus, the Spirit “came upon” the twelve disciples of John when Paul laid hands on them, and they “spoke in tongues and prophesied.” The Spirit responded to the Apostle’s prayer, and nothing is said concerning these men first spending time in extended prayer or of their need to purge certain sins from their lives before they could receive the Spirit.

The event in Ephesus happened as the result of Paul’s prayer and action (the laying on of hands), not due to any preparatory effort by the disciples of John – Acts 19:3-7).

And in his epistles, while Paul certainly talks about believers having the Spirit of God, he does not discuss how they first received it, though in places he seems to link the receipt of the gift to their initial conversion – (e.g., Romans 8:15, 1 Corinthians 2:12, Galatians 4:5-7, 2 Timothy 1:7).

God is sovereign and can do whatever He pleases. And there may be cases when He requires an individual to undergo expended repentance and serious personal reflection before He grants them the gift of the Spirit.

Nevertheless, the requirement to engage in such things, to “tarry” in earnest before the Lord in extended prayer and meditation, even if it is applicable in only certain cases, is not discussed in Scripture.

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