Since our Area-Wide Gospel Meeting begins today on the topic of the Holy Spirit, I wanted to present some material on the subject that would supplement the topics that will be presented each night. One aspect of the overall theme of the Holy Spirit that will not be covered this week is the indwelling of the Spirit in the life of a Christian. My purpose is not so much to say that I have all this figured out and here is the result. Rather, my goal is to encourage us to use the language of the Bible about the Holy Spirit and to be careful not to ignore the Spirit as if He does not exist!

Christians over the years have discussed the topic of the indwelling of the Spirit in a spirited way. This year’s lectureship at Faulkner University included an exchange between Tim Rice and Wayne Dunaway. Brother Rice took the view that the indwelling of the Spirit is only through the Word of God; brother Dunaway argued that He dwells within us directly and personally. Over the years, brother Gus Nichols and Guy N. Woods took opposite views. Woods took the instrumental view; Nichols the direct indwelling. No one to my knowledge ever advocated that we should divided over this question. In fact, our brethren have been caution to not produce another division over it.

Use the language of Scripture. Do not be reluctant to use the language of the Bible. Where the Bible says, Spirit, let us say, Spirit. If the Bible uses Word, then we can say, Word. We should all admit that it is possible for the words to not be intended literally; yet, we have not made a mistake if we use biblical language. The Bible says, "Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19.) "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16.) "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38.) "And we are witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him." (Acts 5:32.) "If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" (Luke 11:13, Matt. 7:11.) (Compare the words, "good things to them that ask him" to "the Holy Spirit".) We can say then that the Spirit of God dwells within the body of the Christian. Even if I never understand fully how that is done, I can affirm that as a great biblical truth.

The Bible says that a farmer does not know how seed grows. (Mark 4:27.) A farmer knows some things about farming, but he does not understand everything. He does need to know all about photosynthesis and germination to be a successful farmer. He can use the right words without fully understanding the process. So can we.

We should be concerned when we do not use the language of Scripture. That is a signal that something is seriously wrong. What if a farmer never talked about the need for proper rainfall, sunlight, crop rotation, fertilization, etc? It might show that he did not understand how to be a farmer. Paul asked the Judaizers, "Received you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Gal. 3:2.) They were behaving as if the Spirit did not exist; they were depending upon the works of the flesh. Are we behaving and speaking as if we do not need the Spirit of God?

Does the passage speak about us today? We should use the language of Scripture and apply it to the people under consideration. We are not being commanded to offer our son on Mount Moriah. The command is to Abraham. The promise of power from on high was to the apostles assembled in Jerusalem, not to us. (Acts 1:8.) Do the passages concerning the indwelling of the Spirit speak to us, or to the apostles in the first century in some miraculous sense? Brother Tim Rice thought that Acts 2:38---the gift of the Holy Spirit---was a miraculous measure given to the apostles. He argued that Acts 2:38 and Mark 16:15f are parallel. Even if we admit that one passage is not for us, what about other passages that have no miraculous element, like those in First Corinthians 3 and 6? Acts 5:32 says, All those who obey him.

It seems to me that it produces confusion to say that the first part of Acts 2:38 applies to us, but just the last phrase applies to the apostles. In addition, by what rule does one decide that Acts 2:38 is parallel to Mark 16:15-20? Should we say that every time the Holy Spirit is mentioned that something miraculous must be included? No. John the Baptist had the Spirit of God, yet he worked no miracle. (John 10:41.) Surely, we can conclude that some of the passages certainly do refer to us, all believers, when they speak about the indwelling of the Spirit and that nothing miraculous must accompany it.

Word is an instrument of the Spirit. Paul described the Christian armor in Ephesians 6. He called the Word of God the sword of the Spirit. (6:17.) A man may cut a tree down with an ax. Someone may say, correctly, that the man cut the tree down without saying exactly how he did it. Another person may say that the ax cut the tree down. The whole truth is, of course, that the man cut the tree down with an ax.

We know that the word of God is said to dwell within our hearts by faith. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom." (Col. 3:16.) Since the Spirit gave the word of God, then the Spirit dwells in us through the word. It is not necessary to say that the Spirit dwells within us directly or personally.

Some religious bodies have so divorced the Spirit and the Word that they feel that they can discard the Bible. Since they have the Spirit to guide them, they do not need the Bible anymore. It is very instructive that the Bible relates many things that the Word of God does and what the Spirit of God does. The list looks strikingly similar. Should we think that the word and the Spirit do these things separately from one another, or that the Spirit accomplishes these things through the inspired word? "Word only" proponents say that the Spirit accomplishes these good things through the word.

Judas and John the Baptist. There are two examples where another spirit dwelt within a person. "Satan entered into him (Judas)" says John 13:27. John the Baptist came in the "spirit and power of Elijah." (Luke 1:17.) These statements do not mean that the spirit of Elijah personally or directly dwelt in John; nor does it mean that Satan literally entered Judas.

This is a good example of where we need to understand the use of language. This whole debate is over "how" not "what." Let us resolve to use the right language, even if the language is not intended literally. Many of us have been trained in the art of literalism. We take everything in the Bible physically, literally, directly and argue that to take it any other way is, in effect, to deny what the Bible says. We should be careful at this point. To understand language symbolically or metaphorically is not to deny its meaning at all. So it is argued that the spirit of old Elijah did not literally come and inhabit John, but rather that John the Baptist looked like, acted like, and preached like the old prophet.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit also dwell within the believer. The Bible also teaches that the Father and Son dwell within us.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." (Eph. 3:17.)

". . . and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth." (1 Cor. 14:25.)

"Take not thy holy spirit from me." (Psalm 51:11.)

The point being made is that we do not take the references to the Father and Son literally or personally, therefore we should not so take the ones which speak about the Holy Spirit. I do not think that this argument has validity. It implies that it is impossible for the Father and Son to dwell directly. Yet, the Bible speaks of the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit. "God is a Spirit," said Jesus to the Samaritan woman. (John 4:24.) Additionally, we should so divide the Godhead as the Spirit of God is so totally different from the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that to have one is to have the other. David did have the Holy Spirit under the Old Covenant. Jesus said to some Jews, If you had known the Father, you would have received me. To know the mind and heart of one is to know the mind and heart of the other. There is a oneness in character among the divine beings of the Godhead.

People under the Old Testament did not have a direct indwelling of the Spirit. Word only advocates argue that Abraham and others lived by faith in God. They did not have a direct indwelling of the Spirit. The Spirit of God dwelt in the temple of Solomon. Since they did not need such an indwelling, neither do we.

I do not accept the premise of this argument. We could also argue that the Jews did not have Christ. Since they lived by faith and did not have Jesus Christ, then neither do we need Him. But, of course, they did receive the benefits of Jesus’ death. (Heb. 9:14-15.) David pleaded for God to not take his Holy Spirit from him. The believers did have the Spirit of God under the Old Testament.

Language strongly implies it. The Bible does not say that it is always just the word that dwells within us, but it expressly says the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Bible includes both the Spirit and the Word.

"For our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance." (1 Thess. 1:5.) "Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. . . And they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake." (Acts 6:8,10.) Stephen had faith and power.

The Holy Spirit does not do everything through the written word. We have already noted that He created, intercedes, gives life, strengthens, produces fruit, empowered the apostles and our Lord, etc. He accomplishes much through the written word as His instrument. Must we accept that His indwelling is limited to the effects of the Word in our hearts?

Can have the Spirit without the miraculous. Brother Nichols and others have strongly defended the view that the Christian can have the Spirit directly and personally without having divine gifts. John the Baptist is an example of one who had the Spirit, yet one who did no miracle.

"Word only" advocates often warn that if you believe that you have the Spirit personally that you are just one step away from making some false claims about what the Spirit does in you. However, for the most part this has not proven true over the years. This doctrine of personal indwelling has not been the cause of the Holiness or Pentecostal thinking. Their leading doctrine is personal indwelling of the Spirit, but the baptism of the Holy Spirit giving them divine power and gifts. These are two very different concepts.

Some might ask, If you have the Spirit of God personally and directly, do you know it and can you feel it? Brother Nichols argued that a Christian did not know it or feel it in the sense that it did something unusual to you or for you. He argued that the only way we know that we have a human spirit or the Holy Spirit is from the Scriptures. No man would know that he has a spirit within, except by revelation.

I would not say that you cannot know that you have a spirit. You certainly do have emotions and inner feelings that are not a part of just physical functions. You do experience life and death (the departure of the spirit). God’s Spirit should do something for us if He dwells within us or else what would be the point in maintaining that we have the Spirit??

All along in giving some of the arguments for and against personal indwelling, I have revealed my hand as well. But here are some conclusions that I would make.

Maintain the language of Scripture and understand the possibility (and probability) that it is being used metaphorically, spiritually or figuratively. Figurative words are just as valid, true, useful and meaningful as words used literally. I would say that spiritual words are more real than physical words.

In conversion, man’s spirit is the part that is born again, not the body. (John 3:1-5.) Our spirit is renewed and begins a process of reformation in the likeness of God, in the likeness of Jesus, in the likeness of the Holy Spirit. Like John the Baptist who came in the spirit and likeness of old Elijah, we become more and more like the Savior, like God, like the Spirit. Since we are like Him in spirit, in our hearts, inwardly, it can be said that His Spirit dwells in us. Just as the spirit of truth or the spirit of this world can dwell with a person, the Spirit of God can also dwell within us. It means that we are like the world, or we are like God.

The Christians’ body is the temple of the Holy Spirit in a metaphorical or symbolic sense. Solomon’s temple did not literally house God. Solomon admitted such. He prayed, The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built. We should say, The heaven of heavens cannot adequately house God, how much less my body. God dwells in the believer by faith, in the heart, in his understanding, etc. Christians love and maintain the knowledge of God. In that sense, God dwells within.