Indwelling of the Holy Spirit - Stating the Real Case
- Steven Bowen
- Mar 9, 2020
- 5 min read
We have been silent too long.
The scarcity of true teaching on the glorious indwelling of the Holy Spirit is one of the greatest tragedies to fall upon the Lord’s church in the last half of a century, and beyond.
How much teaching on the Holy Spirit, I wonder, have you heard in your lifetime? Not much, I expect. And we seem to have been contented in that silence.
The lack of teaching for fifty years is only part of the problem. Another alarming fact is that much of the teaching that has been done in the church has been erroneous – not based on simple, easy-to-read scripture.
Just one example of the error on this subject and others is the world’s treatment of Acts 2:38 – “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Mainstream churches today generally say: “No, that’s not right. You do not have to be baptized for the remission of sins and to receive the Holy Spirit. You are saved by faith only, without baptism.”
It makes you wrinkle your brow and go back and make sure you read Acts 2:38 correctly: Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you … for the forgiveness of sins.”
I believe Peter.
Then some in the Lord’s church deny the latter part of the verse: “Oh, you have to be baptized,” they proclaim, “but you will not receive the Holy Spirit at baptism” – which, again, makes you go back to make sure you read what you thought you read:
“Repent and be baptized … and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Again, I believe Peter. We read of God’s giving of the Spirit to the baptized believer all the way through the scriptures. I choose today to accept that teaching, along with all of Acts 2:38, not just one part or the other. I hope you will, too.
--A question that has lain dormant
Why is it that many members of the church deny that when one repents and is baptized that he receives the Holy Spirit Himself?
Beyond the mere lack of teaching at all, the answer to that question is the second part of this fifty-year problem.
To begin to answer, note, first, that we are talking about God's giving the believer the Holy Spirit “Himself.” What many deny is that the Spirit Himself dwells. It is easy enough to identify one who holds this belief. Just ask the question:
Do you believe the Holy Spirit HIMSELF dwells in the Christian?
Or ask: Do you believe that God gives the Spirit Himself to one when he is baptized?
The answer to both questions, shockingly, often is, “No.”
No, they do not believe that a man receives the Holy Spirit at baptism.
And, no, they do not believe that the Holy Spirit Himself – in His Person – dwells in anyone.
What they believe is that the Spirit only dwells in the Christian representatively, that representative being the Word of God.
Several big problems emerge quickly with that belief:
One, many unbelievers know the word of God through and through – and yet they don’t have the Holy Spirit. Having God’s Word in our hearts doesn’t give a man God’s Spirit, at all. One receives God’s Spirit when he obeys the Word of God, not by gaining mere knowledge of it – Acts 2:38/5:32.
Two, the Bible never teaches the thought of the Spirit’s dwelling through a representative. The Bible never says the Spirit dwells “through” anything. God’s Word just declares the Spirit “dwells.”
I want to repeat that, lest we miss it: The Bible never teaches the Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian through anything. I hope that sinks in. The idea of the Spirit’s dwelling through something else is just not in the Bible. No man has ever put his finger on even one scripture that says the Spirit dwells through anything, or that He dwells representatively.
I say these things as kindly as I can; but I say them unequivocally because if we want to go to heaven, we cannot teach boldly that which the Bible does not teach.
What the Bible does teach is simple: It simply declares over and over that the Spirit dwells. That’s it. The Spirit dwells.
“You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you …” – Romans 8:9. No mention there of His dwelling “through something.”
“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God” – 1 Cor. 6:19. No mention that the Spirit makes His dwelling representatively.
But, instead, we find sound teaching that says that the body of the Christian is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, who is in us – and many such like scriptures.
--Another big problem
There’s yet another big problem with this “representative” belief, and this may be the biggest shocker of all:
If it is true that the Spirit only dwells through a representative, then we have to face a gloomy truth: The Spirit Himself does not dwell in the Christian at all.
That’s right. If that doctrine is true, something dwells in the Christian; but it’s not the Spirit. It’s the representative. The representative of the Spirit dwells, but the Spirit Himself does not actually dwell. That’s a scary belief to teach.
Until a man can affirm boldly with God’s Word that he believes the Holy Spirit Himself dwells in the Christian – and that God gives the Holy Spirit to every baptized believer – and that every Christian’s body is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit – then He merely believes in the Spirit’s influence, much like your mother or father's influence "dwells" in you. Little more. But he does not believe in the indwelling of the Spirit Himself.
--A fifty-plus year draught
No wonder the church finds herself in a spiritual draught in places. But I will say this: As long as I am able, I will try to do my small part to break that long, long silence – not argumentatively, or hatefully, but as a duty to those to whom I have some influence.
I will rejoice, I will write, and I will preach the great message of Galatians 4:6, as long as the Lord allows: “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father.’”
And I will believe God sends His Spirit, as He says, not a mere representative.
~ Steven Ray Bowen (coachbowen1984@gmail.com)
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