Is There A Personal Indwelling Of The Spirit?
Does the Holy Spirit personally dwell in a Christian? Emphatically, no! The Bible teaches no such thing. The passages that deal with the indwelling of the Spirit in Christians say nothing about a personal indwelling. Read Acts 2:38; Eph. 1:13-14; I Cor. 6:18-19; Eph. 3:16, etc. Where is personal in the passages? Such reasoning is about like the Sectarians who read "only" into the faith passages.
God And Christ Dwell In Us
It is odd to me why the brethren that argue a personal indwelling of the Spriit do not go a_l the way and argue a personal indwelling of God and Christ. The Bible teaches that they dwell in the Christian, also. Why make the distinction? Let's read I Jn. 4:12-16. Verse 12 says "...God dwelleth in us..." Verse 13 reads, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us..." Verse 15 states, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." Verse 16 declares, "...and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him." These verses also point out that Christians dwell in God. Do the persons of Christians dwell in God? Do they?
In Jesus' prayer to his Father, he said concerning his followers, "I in them, and thou in me..." (Jn. 17:23). Paul wrote, "...Christ liveth in me..." (Gal. 2:20). Yet, when Paul wrote that the Spirit dwells in us, some brethren argue, "Personal indwelling." But the same brethren change their tune altogether on the Bible teaching that "Christ dwells in us." Some logic! Some reasoning!
How Deity Dwells In Us
The apostle Paul teaches that Jesus dwells in our hearts by faith (Eph. 3:17). He wrote, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." By faith does not mean, personally, does it? Does it not mean that as we permit the nature and characteristics of Christ to dwell in our hearts, to that extent, Jesus dwells in us? The same is true of God and the Holy' Spirit. The verse before verse 17, verse 16, states, "...strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." A brother reads this verse and declares, "Personal indwelling." He reads on to verse 17 and states, "Representative indwelling." Again, I say, "Some .logic." It appears that some have a warped conception of the Holy Spirit. They cannot imagine God or Christ dwelling personally in human bodies, but the Spirit — yes. Yet, the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). He is a divine person. He is like God the Father, and the Son.
Eph. 5:18 indicates that the degree of the Spirit is our choice. "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Is this the Spirit's person? Do we get a piece of his person today and another piece tomorrow? Col. 3:16, the parallel passage, shows how we are filled with the Spirit. Paul worse, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom..." The Word is not the Spirit, but it is through the Word that we are filled with the Spirit. This is the mode and means.
One of the qualifications of the servants of the Jerusalem church to care for the widows was, "full of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 6:3). They were to look out among themselves seven men. If "full of the Holy Ghost" means "full of the Holy Spirit's person," how could they look and know who was full? We are told that the personal indwelling does not act or re-act, influence or motivate, so how could they look out a man full of the Holy Ghost's person if there was nothing to see? Does not the expression here mean that the church was to select men that manifested the character, nature and fruit of the Holy Spirit?
The Spirit Has Location
To the brethren that are advocating a personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I ask, "Where does he come from — out of the atmosphere?" Is he floating around in the atmosphere, waiting to give a fragment of his person to a baptized believer? It would have to be a fragment if his person dwells in all Christians. I was under the impression that the Spirit is in heaven, a fixed place, but some brethren have him dwelling personally in human bodies of Christians, and that in parts, though they deny fragmentary indwelling. Their reasoning (?) is that the Spirit's whole person dwells in each Christian.
They tell us that this is so because the Spirit is everywhere. Would not everywhere include alien sinners? Does the Spirit dwell in them? The truth of the matter is that the Spirit is not everywhere, personally. He is in heaven. Omnipresence is another matter.
Getting Short-Changed
The conservative brethren who are claiming a personal indwelling of the Spirit are getting shortchanged. Some of the liberal preachers claim the same thing, but they declare that the Spirit is helping them by influencing their decisions and actions. Some of the conservative brethren stop short and say, "No, we are not influenced in any way by the Spirit that is personally dwelling in our bodies. We don't know where he came from, neither do we know where he goes. We don't feel him, nor sense him. In fact, we don't even know that we got him, except for the Bible that says that the Spirit dwells in us. We just know that the Spirit is a down payment on our salvation." This would be a down payment and no receipt, it seems to me. The Spirit that supposedly dwells in the Christian personally, gives no indication or sign of assuring eternal salvation by influence or feelings. But, nevertheless, his personal indwelling is the down-payment or guarantee of our inheritance, so some contend. This seems like a peculiar way to guarantee something.
We had better just take the Word of God, revealed by the Spirit, and let it serve as our earnest as we abide by its precepts.
— 151 Robin Rd., Bowling Green, Kentucky