Many Christian groups claim to possess the gift of the Holy Spirit as their own. This note raises a puzzle from the Gospels. Luke 1:15 says John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, Luke 1:41 and 1:67 say the same of Elizabeth and Zechariah, and John 20:22 has Jesus breathe on his disciples and tell them to receive it. Yet Jesus himself is described as receiving the Spirit only at his baptism, in Matthew 3:16, some thirty years after his birth.
Mark 3:29 adds a warning that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is never forgiven. The note asks what is meant by being filled with the Spirit from the womb, why the order of those who receive the Spirit appears as it does, and what exactly the unforgivable sin is. (The New Testament text is not yet on this site.)
Source: see Credits and references (no. 15, p. 12).