Introduction

The booklet The Holy Spirit and the Believer Today1 by William Davison claims to be “a Christadelphian Study”—it is not! There is nothing Christadelphian about it.2 In a most comprehensive way it undermines Christadelphian teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers and betrays a lamentable lack of appreciation on the part of its author as to what constitutes the new birth experienced by those who accept the truth, and as to the nature and purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on the early Ecclesia.

Although the author states his booklet is “an effort to look at the truth of the matter afresh”3 which he claims to have done “with some trepidation,” in fact there is nothing at all in the treatise that is new4—it is a rehash of evangelical teaching, which relies heavily on the work of other writers.5 And we look in vain for any signs of “trepidation” — he has not merely “venture[ed] onto holy ground”. Throughout the entire work he has unceremoniously trampled up and down over it as he uses one Scripture after another in a careless way with disregard for the context in which the words appear.

Christadelphians do not believe that “[Jesus’] coming by the Spirit into our lives is an essential element of the process of conversion.”6 The conversion experience for which WD argues throughout the booklet is not the Christadelphian experience; it is the experience described ad nauseum by the type of ‘born again christians’ to whom WD gave his testimony about his visit to Israel to be healed,7 and of those “messianic Jews” that appear to have made such an impression upon him.8 This kind of experience is characteristic of those who reject the Truth, not of those who uphold it in doctrine and practice.

Simply stated, for Christadelphians, the conversion experience is the result of understanding the gospel message and believing it. For them “the gospel... is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Romans 1:16). It appears to have escaped WD (who appeals throughout the booklet to the Greek text) that in the New Testament ‘belief and ‘faith’ are two English words for the same Greek word. ‘Belief is ‘faith’. But according to WD, “When we come to believe in him, the Spirit touches our hearts, convicts us of sin, and brings us to repentance, faith and spiritual maturity”.9 So as the result of our belief (i.e. faith) the Spirit gives us faith (or, belief)! For the Christadelphian, faith is simply our response10 to the gospel message graciously given to us, and because of our faith God by His grace counts us righteous. (Romans 10:17; 4:3).

It is interesting to note that when John Thomas was in the process of unearthing the Truth, one of the great stepping-stones along this way was the discovery that faith is not something given to men by the Holy Spirit, but simply an understanding of the gospel message and a conviction that it is true.

“The scrutiny of [the] testimony, and a conviction that it is true, is faith; and that faith so operated is the Lord’s “putting his laws into our minds, and inscribing them on our hearts;” it is in this way, by the testimony of the Holy Spirit, written or spoken, that the world is “convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement;” and he who believes what is written, and obeys, may say with the Apostle, “We are built on the testimony of Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the foundation corner stone. “Faith, then, results from the examination of testimony; not an infusion, and therefore, not wrought in the heart by any supernatural and indefinable process. Those who profess to have been the subjects of this process are credulous, and their theological system superstition.” Thomas, J., Apostolic Advocate, vol. 2 (1835-36), page 110.

FOOTNOTES
1 This will be referenced as HSATBT_WD.

2 In the opening paragraph the author confesses his indebtedness to the late Brother Alfred D. Norris who also wrote a booklet with the title The Holy Spirit and the Believer Today, which, as William Davison indicates, was originally published by the CMPA (in 1975, not 1985 as stated). What WD omits to mention is that the CMPA has withdrawn this publication. Although this work by ADN was, in my view, doctrinally unsound - an issue that he and I debated over a number of years - it is doubtful if he would have supported the extreme evangelical position set out by WD. Sadly, however, it could be argued that he laid the foundation upon which WD and others have built a more extreme edifice. My Reply to The Holy Spirit and the Believer Today by Alfred Norris may be seen at:
http://users.chariot. net. au/~aleck/Web_folder_AWC/HSABTareplyg3.html

3 HSATBT_WD, page 1.

4 Although WD says that he has struggled and prayed over the issue for 50 years or more, he has advanced not a whit over the past 30 years. In 1973 he wrote “The Operation of the Holy Spirit” (The Believer, vol. 3, number 15, pages 19-21; number 16, pages 10-13). The ideas set out there are identical to those set out now in the booklet under review.

5 Such as that referenced in WD’s bibliography - W. T. Davison DD, The Indwelling Spirit, Hodder and Stoughton: London, 1911.

6 HSATBT_WD, page 3.

7 HSATBT_WD, pages 28-29.

8 HSATBT_WD, pages 12, 25.

9 HSATBT_WD, page 14.

10 Some will ask: Is it not the case, that 1 Corinthians 12:8-9 states that, “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom... to another faith by the same Spirit... “? Does it therefore not follow that faith is a gift of the Spirit?
To argue thus is to confound things that differ. It is true that there was in the apostolic period a spirit-gift of faith to which the apostle in this Scripture alludes. However, the gifts of the Spirit were given only to those who had already believed (i.e. shown faith) and obeyed the gospel (Acts 2:38). But this gift of faith which was given after baptism, was given only to certain in the ecclesia — “to another faith by the same Spirit’ —this is not that faith without which “it is impossible to please [God]” (Hebrews 11:6). It is one of those supernatural gifts that we shall show are not available today.