Here is the one thing that I want to find out from you--Did you receive the Spirit as the result of obedience to Law, or of your having listened with faith?
"Repent," answered Peter, "and be baptized every one of you in the Faith of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For in it there is a revelation of the Divine Righteousness resulting from faith and leading on to faith; as Scripture says- -'Through faith the righteous man shall find Life.'
To those who have no Law I became like a man who has no Law- -not that I am free from God's Law; no, for I am under Christ's Law-to win those who have no law.
For, if some new-comer is proclaiming a Jesus other than him whom we proclaimed, or if you are receiving a Spirit different from the Spirit which you received, or a Good News different from that which you welcomed, then you are marvelously tolerant!
And this he did that the blessing given to Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through their union with Jesus Christ; that so, through our faith, we also might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.
He who supplies you abundantly with his Spirit and endows you with such powers--does he do this as the result of obedience to Law? or as the result of your having listened with faith?
For we have had the Good News told us just as they had. But the Message which they heard did them no good, since they did not share the faith of those who were attentive to it.
And it was revealed to them that it was not for themselves, but for you, that they were acting as Ministers of the truths which have now been told to you, by those who, with the help of the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven, have brought you the Good News--truths into which even angels long to look.