Holy Spirit: Literal or Representational Indwelling?

Holy Spirit Indwelling Series Part 1

There are varying understandings of what is meant by the term “indwelling of the Holy Spirit”. This series of articles aims at examining the assertions of men and applications of scripture to determine the meaning of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as it applies today. Is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit literal or representational or miraculous/prophetic based on a specific age? Is the gift of the Holy Spirit the beginning of His indwelling? What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit? What does it mean to be sealed with the Holy Spirit? What exactly does the indwelling accomplish for a man? These questions and more will all be carefully answered by gradually moving through this series.

Here is a statement of the Apostle Paul, validating the existence of the topic of study, but in itself not a full explanation of what the Spirit indwelling is or does:

Romans 8:9 – “But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

Next, for fun consider this apparently opposing statement of Paul using the same exact word, “dwelleth”:

Romans 7:18 – “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not.”

These statements are a bit of a teaser for this article and will be returned to before its end. At present, consider the following statements:

  • Full of Energy – Representative of moving about without tiredness.
  • Full of laughter – Representative of being cheerful or humorous
  • Full of light – Representative of someone who is optimistic
  • Full of wisdom – Representative of someone intelligent / knowledgeable
  • Full of the Spirit – Representative of someone walking according to truth and righteousness

Today, when the above are said, they are seen as representing different personality traits. In the first century, and mistakenly today, the last statement “Full of the Spirit” is viewed differently at times. This will be examined in a later article in this series. For now, observe how these statements are widely regarded as representational and not literal filling someone up with energy, laughter, light, wisdom, and Spirit.

Revelation 1:10 records the writing of the apostle John, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” The question to be asked is: Was John literally in the Holy Spirit? Or was this a representation of his state of mind under its influence? I John 4:6 also written by John states: “We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” The context is the discernment between true and false teaching. The spirits here are not literal spirits that man is to be looking to find. They are representational rather of bodies of teaching. 2 Timothy 1:7 states: “For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline.” Has God given man four literal spirits that are literally roaming around inside of him? No, these are representations of man’s state of being. Romans 7:17 states: “So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me”. Is sin literally living inside of Paul? Or is it the representational propensity to give into unrighteous desires that Paul is talking about. Finally, Colossians 1:19 states: “For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell;” Can qualities literally dwell or is the text saying Christ was representational of qualities? In all of the verses mentioned in this paragraph, there is a representation of qualities. There is no literal dwelling, abiding, or living in a person of these qualities.

The terms abide and dwell are the same word at times in the Greek and used interchangeably depending upon the translation give a picture of how God and the Holy Spirit dwell within His Church and man representatively. John 6:48-58 – presents a discussion where Christ states in vs. 56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.” Putting aside the doctrines of consubstantiation and transubstantiation, Christ said he would dwell or abide in those who did as he stated. How exactly was He going to do that? Literally? On the other side of the statement is the abiding or dwelling of the individual in Christ. How is that going to happen? Literally? Consider the following passages:

John 8:31 – Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples;

John 14:19-21 – Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him.

John 15:4 – Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.

Romans 8:9 – But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

2 Timothy 3:14 – But abide thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.

1 John 4:15-16 – Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.

In the above passages there are many purposeful representational dwellings from the sides of Man, the Father, Jesus, the Spirit, the Word, things learned, and love (though one is a miraculous indwelling). The audiences were Jews, apostles, Romans, Timothy, and Christians. They were being told to abide or dwell in unity within the will of God. Nealy all of the language is representational. It is also reverse. There is therefore a reverse indwelling. For man to literally abide in all of the things mentioned is not even common sense. The passages were given to tell man that if he does the things which God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) has established God and man will be representatively of one mind.

I Cor. 3:16-17 states “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye.” This statement is often read to establish that the human body houses the Holy Spirit. However, to do so literally is a poor misinterpretation of scripture. The discussion of I Corinthians 3 focuses on building something. The building is the Church. The materials are the souls of man. The temple of God is the Church. The Spirit lives representatively in it because the Church represents those obedient to the Word of God given by the Spirit of God to man. When man does not obey, he essentially tries to destroy the temple of God. He is straw, wood, hay, and God will destroy Him. Only those who are obedient to God and are united with God in His Church will be allowed to remain (Isaiah 59:1-2, 2 Thessalonians 1:8). This verse in no sense advocates a literal dwelling of the Spirit of God within an individual.

Wrapping up loose ends, Romans 7:18, mentioned at the beginning of this article remains to be discussed. In this verse Paul says nothing good dwells within his flesh. What about the Spirit! Does that not dwell within him? Isn’t that what Romans 8:9 said? Yes, it did, and it did so miraculously based on the age of the miraculous and the position Paul had as an apostle. The point Paul is trying to get across in the verses surrounding and including Romans 7:18 is that in the Jewish Mindset striving after the works of the flesh for perfection, ultimately, fails resulting in sin. Obedience of Faith is not based on the perfection of flesh. It is when we match our lives with His will that we are representative of Christ’s Spirit. That is the indwelling of the Spirit. Man dwelling in the Spirit, the Spirit dwelling in man, relationships of unity, abiding, and dwelling. Paul was not making a contradictory statement.  However, for the age he lived in, that indwelling took on a different meaning that it does today.  It was a meaning not possible today.

This article presents the belief that the indwelling of the Spirit of God is completely representational outside of the first century based upon man’s obedience to the Word of God. The next article will further examine the belief of a literal indwelling of the Spirit, whether or not it has any relationship with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and when the indwelling is supposed to begin.

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Wallpaper

As I type this article, I am suffering from the cumulative effect of having stayed up very late for the past several evenings. What have I been doing, you may ask, to keep me up so late? Mary Lynn and I re-wallpapered the living room this past week and we have been moving around furniture and rearranging how we live to prepare for some new living room furniture that we will be getting this coming week. The only major piece of furniture that I can recall ever having purchased in our married life is the blue couch that is now sitting in our office and so it has been a long wait for us to have such things. This was also the very first home redecorating project that we have undertaken together in the first 15 years of marriage. (I can already hear the men saying, What a blessing! and hear the women saying, What a shame!) So we are both duly exhausted from having completed this project this past week and we still have much work to do in rearranging the sleeping quarters for the boys and getting Eddie out of his baby bed and Austin into his own room and etcetera.

However, looking back at the project, it seems that it has been a good experience and I thought I would share a few lessons learned. First, you’ve got to remove the old before you can put on the new. We spent several hours simply taking off the old wallpaper before we even thought about putting up the new wallpaper. In addition to that, we appropriately prepared the surface of the wall so that the new wallpaper would stick better. God told Jeremiah: See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10). Jeremiah had to root out, pull down, and destroy before he could build and plant. There’s a principle that’s true for wallpaper and godly living both!

Second, a healthy dose of patience goes a long way toward hanging wallpaper. When that stuff gets wet, it’s heavy and it also goes wherever it touches initially. Then you’ve got to peel it off again and retry until you get it right. This involved several different communication strategies between Mary Lynn and I several of which sent us in various different directions initially, but after the first five sheets were hung, we were able to develop a nice rhythm to putting the stuff up. Life is like that too. New things tend to frustrate us and cause us to rethink our situation, but with a little patience we can soon develop a successful rhythm. James said, But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1:4).

Finally, a good straight edge can solve a number of difficult problems. We measured, cut, hung, and cut some more and we needed a good straight edge for each step involved in the process. Of course, a straight edge is nothing more than a correct standard. God gives us the correct standard in His word and it is up to us to measure and cut our lives along that standard so that our lives turn out right and we don’t make a bigger mess than when we started. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Who’d of thought that hanging wallpaper could be so spiritual?

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Maintaining Our Spiritual Fire

This past week I saw a video on the news of a man stepping outside with a boiling pot of water, tossing the water into the air and its instantaneously changing into snow. He was near the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire and it was thirty-five degrees below zero. My first reaction was, “Hey, that’s kind of cool.” Then I thought, “Wow, that’s really cold.” And finally, “That guy’s crazy going outside in that kind of weather.” Consider that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit; water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s so cold that the water cooled down 180+ degrees in less than a second. The water froze because of a failure to maintain the fire. What can we do to maintain our spiritual fire?

Lesson #1: Much energy was needed to warm the water; but very little was needed to cool it. In order to boil water one must have a significant energy source. It takes 398 BTUs to change frozen water to boiling water. Energy is required! To the contrary, however, to cool water down takes practically no energy at all. A flick of the wrist and the boiling water was frozen. This reminds me of Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). Paul also said to the Galatians (5:6) that what avails is faith working (the Greek word ENERGEO � energy!) through love. Even spiritually speaking, energy/effort/work is required in order to stay warm; but what is required to freeze? Just do nothing. Work, that is, the input of energy, is important to maintaining our spiritual fire.

Lesson #2: Together the water was warm; separated, it became cold. Those trillions of water molecules in that boiling pot stayed warm so long as they were in close proximity to each other; they kept warm off each other’s heat. However, once they dispersed they quickly cooled not having the company of their “brethren” to keep them warm. Ecclesiastes 4:11 says, “Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?” The story is told of the preacher who visits the un-attending member and, without a word, while sitting in front of the fireplace, merely pulls a coal out of the fire to watch it slowly die. Yet, putting it back in, the coal warms to a soft red glow again. We need to exhort one another daily and not forsake our assembling together! (Hebrews 3:13, 10:25) Togetherness is important to maintaining our spiritual fire.

Lesson #3: Someone “stirred” the pot. That water didn’t become snow without someone agitating the pot! If the pot had been left on the fire it would have stayed warm, but it was moved, stirred, agitated. This resulted in the decrease of heat and the increase of cold. Agitation in the church often has the same results. Paul told the church at Philippi, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings” (Philippians 2:14). He said in Colossians 3:13 “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” Instead of murmuring and quarrelling we need to practice forgiveness to keep ourselves warm and lively. Forgiveness is important to maintaining our spiritual fire.

We all know what it means when a body has “assumed room temperature.” Warmth equals life. Cold equals death. Let us do all to avoid assuming room temperature and do everything in our power to maintain our spiritual fire!

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The Good Fight

Some battles in life are fought and instantly won; passing tests, playing games, solving a puzzle in the newspaper, or winning at a sporting event. We preoccupy ourselves with these “battles” because they give us instantaneous gratification and bring us a measure of pleasure and self assurance.

Some battles are fought for a while and won; graduating from high school or college, getting a promotion at work, achieving “retirement.” We can see the need for fighting these kinds of battles because there is a significant achievement to be won at the end and once we have achieved that level, we can move on to other things, having won the battle.

There are other battles, however, that are ongoing and we will never, in this life, completely win until we conquer them in death. These battles are constant and daily efforts with which we must struggle on a regular basis. This is a hard thing for our society to accept who are accustomed to complex crimes being solved in a one hour TV program, sporting events ending in less than two hours, and conquering the sudoku in 30 minutes. This kind of battle is only won in the continued fighting of it; it isn’t a battle that is won, never to be fought again.

It is becoming quite evident to me, that my success in weight loss is only as good as my desire to maintain that success. Months ago, I spoke with another gentleman about this and he related to me how it was a regular struggle to eat right, exercise and keep the weight off. He then said, “But it’s a good fight, so I guess I’ll keep on doing it.” Losing weight and keeping the weight off isn’t one of those battles that are won, never to be fought again. It is a constant and daily effort.

Similarly, in my police training this past fall one thing that I learned is that the law will eventually catch up to the criminal. Police activity is a constant and ongoing battle, one that never stops. It also isn’t one of those battles won, never to be fought again. It is a constant and daily effort.

We need to realize that living the Christian life is the same kind of battle. If we realize and accept this, I believe we will have a great weight lifted from our shoulders. The person who is constantly telling himself, “I’ve got to win today!” will soon find himself hopelessly burned out with trying to achieve this task. Why? Because living the Christian life is only something that is won while we continue the struggle. Paul told Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) and wage the good battle (1 Timothy 1:18). It was a battle that Paul was only expecting Timothy to win by continuing to fight it.

Let us recognize that today we fight the battle and that our victory is in our faith on a daily basis (1 John 5:4) and through this, we will overcome, not in this life, but, in the next. For today, however, if I have struggled, then I have won.

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Mi Corazon

On just about any mission trip, one thing can be assured, there are going to be some interesting stories. Recently, while in Panama, I had the opportunity to participate in a youth camp for a few days. Around 4:00 AM, Thursday, February 1st, 2007, I awoke to embark upon such a camp. We did so via the pick-up truck of one of the good brothers from David, Panama. During the ride, I met one of the more colorful persons that I have ever come in contact with on a mission trip, Edelma. Edelma was seated on the opposite side of the back seat with Rolando Rovira, my Panamanian contact, between. The first thing that Edelma did was offer me something to eat. As it was 4:30 in the morning, I was hungry and so I took the potato like substance that she offered and ate it. She then gave me some chicken and that too I ate. This had this surprising (to me) effect of amazing my hosts. They were not used to a foreign missionary eating the local food. Most all others who have visited have refused to do so claiming that they would become ill. (I’ve never become ill due to eating food in Central or South America, though I’ve gotten ill after returning to the states and recommencing eating our food!) I soon became their fast friends all because I ate what was put before me.

A few years ago Randal Matheny was recalling a lecture he had given mission students at one of our colleges. He told them that they wouldn’t be good missionaries unless they ate the local cuisine. There is just something about doing this that bonds the missionary to the locals. In their country, the missionary is the foreigner, but he becomes one of them when he eats what they eat and drinks what they drink. This is sound Biblical doctrine! Long before we were studying missions in our country, Jesus, the Master Missionary, said, “And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you” (Luke 10:8). Jesus knew what He was talking about!

As a result of my eating Edelma’s food, she became my fast friend. On the journey, when we were visiting the local markets for food for the camp, she would talk about this food and that. She asked me, “What kind of foods do you like?” As we drove through the countryside, she would point at all the flowers and say, “Look at this flower, Kebin!” “Look at that one!” And when we arrived at the camp, she treated me as a special guest seemingly catering to my every culinary need.

I learned later that this lady was a very special lady indeed. One of the members where she attends told me that when she comes to the services she always blows kisses to everyone whether she is early or late. Even when the men are preparing for the worship hour, she will go out of her way to make sure that they have been greeted by her holy kiss. Her behavior has garnered for her the nickname, “Corazon” or “heart.” Upon returning to the camp with this knowledge, I soon put it to use and after she had offered me a taste of what the cooks were preparing for supper, I said, “Gracias, Corazon!” The effervescence from my comment almost lifted the ceiling as all who knew her bubbled with glee at my discovery of her special name and from that time on, she was no longer known in the camp as Edelma, but simply “Corazon!”

Who would have thought that such a relationship would have developed simply because I ate a bit of “potato” and some chicken? It just goes to show that a little love and care can go a long way, can bridge the barriers of culture, and can pave the way for a great relationship. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed.” “eat such things as are set before you.”

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