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"Some years ago we went carefully over every reference to the word "spirit" in the New Testament. The occasion was an agitation that the spirit was something to be now possessed. We found then as we have since that brethren were following a mirage in talking of possessing the spirit today .... To sum up the matter. The first century believers had an endowment unique in the Christian era. Gifts of the spirit in various forms of manifestation were possessed by the brethren. The fact of the possession was obvious and the gift was under the control of the one who was thus endowed. The gift conferred no moral advantage -- a man had to work out his salvation by faithful obedience to the Lord's command. The message given by the spirit had to be absorbed, understood, and acted upon just as we have to do with the revelation enshrined in the Bible."-- John Carter

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Chapter One: The Alleged Gift Today

Chapter Two: God and His Operations

Chapter Three: Sanctified by the Word; Does this Involve the Guidance of the Holy Spirit Gift?

Chapter Four: Contrast Between the Holy Spirit Gift at Pentecost and the Alleged Gift Today?

Chapter Five: The Spirit Gifts in First Century Ecclesias

Chapter Six: Evidence for the Cessation of the Gift

Chapter Seven: Study of Four Key Passages

Chapter Eight: A further Twenty Scripture Texts on the Holy Spirit

Chapter Nine: Appendix; Consistent Christadelphian Teaching

Summary