Responses to "How the Holy Spirit Dwells in the
Christian"
Editors Note: This
was the most read article for November-December. There were several good
responses and questions. This is a very lengthy section on this timely
subject. To read other sections you will need to scroll down to the next red
title.
Mark,
In your article on the Holy Spirit, you said:
Whatever work the Holy Spirit does
for us, the Word also does. For example, the Holy Spirit gives us
instruction (Neh. 9:30), so does the word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The Holy Spirit gives us a new spiritual birth (John 3:5), so does
the word of God (James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23). Time and again we find the
Spirit and the Word doing the same work in Scripture (e.g., Jn. 14:26/ Jn
6:45; Jn. 16:8/ Tit. 1:9; Jn. 6:63/ Ps. 119:50; Jn. 16:13/ 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1
Cor. 6:11/ 2 Thes. 2:13; etc.). Thus, the word of God must be the
instrument the Holy Spirit uses to do His work (Eph. 6:17b)
and indirectly dwell in Christians today.
That same logic can be applied in many other ways. For
example:
- My wife makes me happy.
- Eating ice cream makes me
happy.
- Therefore, my wife must make
me happy only when I'm eating ice cream.
I've seen others in the Church of Christ make the same
argument that you have made. However, such an argument is only made by those
who have a misunderstanding of the rules of logic. The fact that two
different things, A and B, might produce similar or identical results does
not logically determine that A and B are identical or that they must be tied
to one another. In other words, the argument you make about how the Holy
Spirit indwells us or works within us cannot be validated by the rules of
logic.
Just so you know, I do not think the Holy Spirit
necessarily enables Christians today to speak in other languages that they
did not previously learn. However, when the Bible says that the Holy Spirit
indwells every Christian, I do not think we have to explain that away as
only happening through the written word.пїЅ Were that true, then no
Christian would have been indwelled by the Spirit in the early church prior
to their having a collection of the new covenant writings.
--- Bob, Mobile, Alabama
Mark's
Reply:
Dear Bob,
Thank you for your reply to my
article on the Holy Spirit that you sent me a few weeks ago. I am thankful
for the feedback and appreciate it very much when others want to help me in
my study of God’s word.
You emphasized in your letter the
importance of following the rules of logic when coming to an understanding
of truth from the Scriptures. Concerning my article: “How the Holy Spirit
Dwells in the Christian” you said that my argument: “Whatever work the
Holy Spirit does for us, the Word also does... Time and again we find the
Spirit and the Word doing the same work in Scripture... Thus, the word of
God must be the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to do His work (Eph.
6:17b) and indirectly dwell in Christians today” cannot be
validated by the rules of logic. I beg to differ.
As important as logic may be in
the understanding of Scripture, we need to first of all come to an
understanding by what we mean when we speak of the importance of using
logic. Logic can mean very different things depending on the situation or
circumstance.
From one perspective, logic is an
extension of mathematics. Mathematical logic emphasizes the use of
true and false instead of numbers (e.g., calculus). Predicates are used
which are statements that are true and false depending on the values given
to each. The rules for mathematics are exact and the rules for
logic are properly designed; any valid mathematical deduction is
guaranteed to be correct.
If the deduction is not valid, then we must
have made a mistake in following the rules.
In contrast, philosophical
logic, which ideally follows the same rules as
mathematical, are typically based on real world experiences instead of
mathematical abstractions. Thus, there are errors that can occur in what
appears to be a valid philosophical deduction that cannot take place in a
mathematical deduction. The problem we run into is that while
mathematical terms are completely unambiguous, real world terms (words) are
not. If the meaning of a term changes even very slightly in the
course of a logical deduction, that deduction may turn out to be false. The
same is true when a word can have several meanings or when words are vague.
Let’s take a look at the example you gave:
My wife makes me happy.
Eating ice cream makes me
happy.
Therefore, my wife must make
me happy only when I’m eating ice cream.”
The sense in which each makes one
happy is not exactly the same. The statement: “My wife makes me happy” may
refer to the fact that by being married to her I do not experience the
trouble and heartache of discord or infidelity and this gives me joy and
contentment (certainly not the same kind ice cream can bring!). A loving
wife can help bring about a state of well-being, a more significant and
meaningful happiness than ice cream could ever bring. While ice cream may
give me pleasure, my wife brings more lasting and genuine joy.
Compare:
Jackie is a great actor.
Great actors get paid millions of dollars to make a movie.
Jackie gets paid millions of dollars to make a movie.
– Such argumentation depends
on the definition of greatness, doesn’t it?
You were right in saying: “The
fact that two different things, A and B, might produce similar or identical
results does not logically determine that A and B are identical or that they
must be tied to one another.” The example you gave does indeed prove
that such reasoning does not follow the rules of logic. However, that is
not the line of reasoning I used. IF I had argued in that way, then you
would be right in saying as you did: “the argument you make about how the
Holy Spirit indwells us or works within us cannot be validated by the rules
of logic.” By inserting my argument into a faulty kind of reasoning
system (that I did not use) does not disprove my argument nor does it
make your case that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us separate and apart from
the Word.
My argument did follow the
rules of logic:
I gather by what you said that
you believe that the Holy Spirit and the Word may accomplish many of the
same things for us, but may do so separately or independently from one
another. Such a conclusion would mean that the Holy Spirit and the Word are
both acting as two independent persons who do not make use of any medium,
means, or instrument to accomplish their work. Such a conclusion does
not explain how the Holy Spirit indwells us and leaves us to
speculate and come up with theories that have no basis in Scripture (e.g.,
emotional experiences, feelings, signs, etc.). Such a conclusion does not
explain why the word of God can, for example, bring about a new spiritual
birth (What makes the Word so powerful that it can do that?). If the Word is
not the medium the Holy Spirit uses, what is? If the Holy Spirit’s power is
not the means that makes the Word powerful to save, what does?
To suggest that the Word works
separately and independently from the Spirit makes the word of God out to be
a person, as if “he” did “his” work upon us without help of the Spirit. The
Word is not a person, it is the medium or instrument the Holy Spirit uses to
work in us. Are we to believe that the Word just happens to do the
same work as the Holy Spirit does, even twice on different occasions? How
are we to know when one is at work versus the other? By a rule of logic,
modus operandi (i.e., method of operation or functioning), we may rightly
conclude that the word of God is the medium the Holy Spirit uses to indwell
us and save us.
The inductive method of
interpretation of Scripture is certainly appropriate to use in hermeneutics
(method of interpretation) provided we respect all that God has said on
the subject. For example, as given in my article, “The Holy Spirit gives
us a new spiritual birth (John 3:5), so does the word of God (James 1:18; 1
Pet. 1:23).” When a result, such as a new spiritual birth, is
attributed to several causes in Scripture (e.g., the power of the
Holy Spirit, the word of truth, and our obedience to truth), we may
understand all causes to be present whenever the fact is mentioned,
in this case rebirth. The apostle Peter reminded his brethren that by the
mercy of God, they were born again to a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3). Though
that verse does not mention the Spirit, the Word, or our obedience, we
may understand that all of these causes played a role to bringing the result
to be “born again.” We may conclude that all of these causes worked
together to bring the result, not separately or independently or on
different occasions.
Let us remember that systems of
logic are not always adequate or accurate to learning or understanding the
truth from the Scripture (e.g., would the rules of logic apply to
miracles?). In addition, many rules of logic are rules made by men and are
thus imperfect. Aristotle, Socrates, and other philosophers of the past did
not write what they did by inspiration of God (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17) and the
wisdom of men pales in comparison to God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:18-25).
Furthermore, logic can explain only so much. When men attempt to use logic
to explain the mysteries of the universe, their theories, no matter how
clever they may seem, still are missing many premises to reach their
conclusion. We can only go by what is revealed, rather than what is not
revealed (Deut. 29:29). This is also true when we determine how the Holy
Spirit dwells in us today. Rather than allow our imagination to run wild and
base the authority of our doctrines on what God has not said, we
should base our conclusions on what God has said, standing only
on what God has revealed in His word concerning the Holy Spirit indwelling.
Thanks again for your letter.
Please know that I have taken to heart what you have said to me and will
continue to study the issue further. I want to be sure to rightly divide the
word of truth. Thank you for your reminder of the importance of critical and
correct thinking in the examination of Scripture.
In Christian Love,
Mark Larson
Dear brethren,
I recently read some of the sermon outlines you
have posted and I have a few questions. In your sermon outline, "HOW THE
HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS IN THE CHRISTIANS", I saw some things that puzzled me.
One question I have is: "When does the Holy Spirit indwell a person and
where in the Bible will I find it?" Is it before baptism or one moment
after baptism, or later?
In 1Cor. 6:15-20, the Bible says that the Holy
Spirit is in us; without any qualifying language, how can I understand that
to mean it is only through the Bible?
Can sinners produce Holy Spirit fruit?
Galatians 5:24 seems to indicate that only those who have "crucified the
flesh" are those who produce it. The reason I bring up this point is that
it seems to me that if we receive the Holy Spirit through the word only,
then why isn't a sinner, who has received the word, not saved already?
Doesn't Romans 8:9ff. teach that only those who have the Spirit are
Christians? If a person has the word, why isn't he saved without anything
else? Acts 2:41 says that some "gladly received his word" were baptized.
If they had received the word, did they have the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit and wouldn't they be saved per Romans 8, before baptism?
I have struggled with this issue for years; I've
known men who were scholars who disagree over this. If it is such a simple
subject, how can such learned men understand it so differently? As long as
a person doesn't teach that he can perform miracles, or tell me the Lord
speaks to him directly, I don't really get upset over his or her beliefs on
the Holy Spirit. I know that it has divided the church, I think
unnecessarily. If the Holy Spirit does anything beyond the words of the
Bible for the Christians, I don't know that there is anything we could do
about it. If Thomas Warren, brother Woods, Gus Nichols, and a host of other
men couldn't understand the subject the same way, then it is a bit more
complex than some want to allow. I know that I had read about and heard
from a few brethren that the Deaver's were teaching false doctrine and
believed in miracles. I did what I thought Jesus would have approved of and
called Mac Deaver personally. I didn't know him but, he was kind enough to
answer my questions and send his beliefs on paper for me to study. I don't
know that I understand everything that he teaches, but nowhere did I see
heresy. He doesn't teach miracles and he doesn't teach that He knows when
God or the Spirit "helps" or "strengthens" him. This is the very reason why
I don't receive brotherhood papers anymore. Many are good and have
excellent material, but there are times when things are broadcast that
haven't been researched thoroughly.
Understand, I've read a lot of your articles or
sermons and find them to be great; the Holy Spirit issue seems to
be complicated enough that honest people can have a totally different
understanding. Now I know everyone is not right! I see the weaknesses of
the different views of the subject. A more personal and direct view on the
Holy Spirit, some would say could "lead" to Calvinism. A word only view,
some would say, could lead to believing that God started the world up like a
clock and stepped back with a "hands-off" attitude. Please write me back
and give me any scriptures or points that might help me as I continue to
study this issue.
In His Name,
Chris
Mark's
Reply:
Dear Chris,
Thanks for your feedback on my sermon: “How the
Holy Spirit Dwells in the Christian.” One of the questions you asked was:
“In 1Cor. 6:15-20, the Bible says
that the Holy Spirit is in us; without any qualifying language, how can I
understand that to mean it is only through the Bible?”
1 Corinthians 6:15-20 was written to Christians
or saints (1 Cor. 1:2). Thus, when Paul says: “your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit who is in you” he refers to the Spirit within
Christians. To take this statement by itself, we only know that the Holy
Spirit dwells within Christians, but it does not explain how He
dwells within Christians.
As you well pointed out, there is no qualifying
language in this portion of biblical text concerning the Spirit’s
indwelling. Yet, we should not form a conclusion on the matter until we
examine all that God has said in His Word about this subject. To form
a conclusion without examining all passages related to this subject may lead
us to a false conclusion about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For
example, Romans 10:9 says: “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as
Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall
be saved.” To take this passage alone without consideration to other
passages that speak of how to be saved and conclude that we are saved by
faith only through confession of faith would be a false conclusion. Other
passages that teach how to be saved should also be taken into account to
gain a complete understanding (e.g., 2 Cor. 7:9-10; 1 Pet. 3:21). In the
case of 1 Cor. 6:19, we must view the statement “your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit who is in you” with a biblical perspective of all we
know about how the Holy Spirit works from other passages of Scripture.
You asked also the question: "When does the
Holy Spirit indwell a person and where in the Bible will I find it?" Is it
before baptism or one moment after baptism, or later?
We cannot find a direct statement or example in
the Bible that reveals to us exactly when the Holy Spirit indwells a person.
However, there are many principles of truth in Scripture concerning the Holy
Spirit’s indwelling that will lead to inescapable conclusions on when
the Holy Spirit begins to indwell a person.
(1) Principles of Fellowship:
God will not have fellowship with anyone who
remains in their sins (Isa. 59:2). Thus, fellowship with God does not begin
until we believe in Christ (John 8:24) and obey the gospel to be baptized
into Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16) to become
Christians (Gal. 3:26-27). This would also be true of our fellowship with
the Holy Spirit, since He is God (Acts 5:3-4). Sin grieves the Holy Spirit
(Eph. 4:30-31). People can resist the influence of the Holy Spirit by
disobedience to the Word (Acts 7:51-53). Therefore, sin must be put away and
forgiven by God for fellowship to take place with God (or the Holy Spirit).
Once we become Christians, we must do our best to practice the truth and
when we sin we must confess our sins with a penitent heart (1 John 1:5-10;
cf. Acts 8:22) if we want fellowship to continue.
(2) Fellowship Involves an Indwelling:
To have fellowship with God will also mean
that He dwells in us (See 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1) meaning God, in a figurative, but
spiritual sense, influences us for good and inhabits or resides in
us. Again, the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4), therefore once
fellowship has begun, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit has also begun.
(3) Only Christians Have the Holy Spirit
Indwelling: As you rightly said,
“only those who have the Spirit are Christians” (Rom. 8:9-11). The same can
be said about the Father and the Son dwelling only in Christians (1 John
4:12-16; Eph. 3:17-19). Christians are people who are walking in the truth
(3 John 4) and therefore walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16).
You also asked: “Can sinners produce Holy
Spirit fruit? Galatians
5:24 seems to indicate that only those who have ‘crucified the flesh’ are
those who produce it.” No, sinners
cannot produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Though sinners (non-Christians)
may at times display qualities that are similar to the fruits of the Spirit
(Gal. 5:22-23), the deeds they do are not done as children of God who are in
fellowship with God who follow the Spirit’s lead (Gal. 5:18) or guidance as
revealed in God’s word. Only those who have “crucified the flesh”
(Gal. 5:24) (i.e., put to death the old self and body of sin – Rom. 6:6),
“who belong to Christ Jesus” (Gal. 5:24; cf. Rom. 6:1-11) produce Holy
Spirit fruit. Non-Christians are still in their sins and thus walk according
to the flesh, not the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-25) and therefore do not bear Holy
Spirit fruit.
You also asked:
“Why isn’t a sinner, who has received the word,
not saved already?” and made
reference to Acts 2:41 “they that gladly received his word were
baptized.” By your additional questions, I gathered that you want to
know if the 3,000 who received the word were saved and had the Holy Spirit
dwelling in them before baptism.
If a person has truly received the Word,
that person has also accepted it as true and believes in the message. He has
taken it to heart and made it his own to live by (See the meaning of
“received” - lambanoo - by Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). Therefore, those who
receive the Word will obey the Word, just as the three thousand did
on the day of Pentecost when they were baptized into Christ (Acts 2:41; cf.
v. 38). Once they were baptized into Christ, we may conclude that they
entered into fellowship with God and at that point God or the Holy
Spirit dwelled in them.
The Christians at Galatia were reminded by the
apostle Paul when they first heard the faith and received the Spirit (Gal.
3:2; cf. Eph. 4:5; Jude 3). Are we to conclude that they received the Spirit
merely by hearing God’s word? No, because being hearers only is not
enough to benefit from the blessings of the gospel (cf. James 1:22-25) and
be saved. Sometimes people receive the Word initially, then fall away or
depart from the truth (Mat. 13:20-21). We may necessarily conclude that the
hearing of the faith by the brethren at Galatia led to their
obedience to the faith because they received the Spirit (Again, God
dwelling in us depends on our obedience to His word).
There was another question you asked: “If a
person has the word, why isn't he saved without anything else?” I am not
sure exactly what you meant by this question. The word or the gospel has the
power to save provided we believe in it and obey it (Rom. 1:5, 16; 1 Pet.
1:22). And just as the Father and the Son each fulfill a role in the
conversion or salvation of Man, so does the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-7). 2
Thessalonians 2:13 describes both the Holy Spirit and the Word working
together for our salvation: “But we should always give thanks to God for
you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the
beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in
the truth” (NASB).
In closing, I would like to reply to one final
question you had: “If it (i.e., the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) is
such a simple subject, how can such learned men understand it so
differently?” Certainly, there are times when brethren are mistaken and
need to be corrected (e.g., Acts 18:24-26). Other times, it is the unlearned
and unstable that distort the truth about the Holy Spirit and come up with
doctrines contrary to the truth (2 Pet. 3:14-16). The bottom line is: There
is but one faith (Eph. 4:5; cf. Jude 3) or one gospel (Phil. 1:27; Rom.
1:16). Since, ultimately, there is only one truth we must never stop
believing that it can be found. Jesus promised that if we continue in His
word, we can know the truth (John 8:31-32). He wants us to come to the
knowledge of truth (1 Tim. 2:4) and that includes the truth on the issue of
the Holy Spirit! God designed the Word to be understood (Eph. 3:3-5), thus
if we study and search it out (2 Tim. 2:15) we will come to understand the
truth on any issue that He has revealed in Scripture.
I hope my reply has been helpful to you in your
study and understanding. Thanks again for writing us and for your good
example of diligence in the study of God’s word.
In Christian Love,
Mark Larson
Chris,
I just sent you a reply to your questions on the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I got to thinking more about one of the
questions you asked: “If a person has the word, why isn't he saved
without anything else?”
When I taught that the Holy Spirit operates or does
His work through the Word, I didn't mean to suggest in any way that what is
accomplished (e.g., sanctification, salvation, etc.) is done only
by the Word.
There is a big difference between saying that all
spiritual blessings are accomplished only by the Word
(which is wrong) versus saying that everything the Holy Spirit does for us
is done through the Word. The Holy Spirit is very much at
work in Christians and the medium or instrument He uses to do His work to
influence us is the Word of God.
In Christian Love,
Mark Larson
"The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. The word of God does NOT do that."
Pat
Mark's
Reply:
Brother Pat,
Larry passed on your comment on
my lesson on the Holy Spirit which said: "The Holy Spirit makes
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The word of God
does NOT do that." I appreciate your feedback very much!
Please know that I am still
learning and studying this issue and that I am open-minded to learn from you
in the studies that you have had on this issue. I was pleased to discover
your web site on the debates you have held. I had no idea you have been so
busy in conducting debates. That's great! I have saved the material on the
debate you had on the Holy Spirit and I want to study it as soon as
possible. Thanks for your efforts and zeal for the truth. I recognize now
more than ever (after getting feedback from some) that the work of the Holy
Spirit's indwelling us may possibly not be so simply explained. Thus, I am
open to study more about this issue.
Concerning your above comment,
perhaps in my lesson I should have been more specific to point out that
whatever the Holy Spirit does for us as far as an indwelling is
concerned, the Word does also and thus His work for us while
indwelling us in done through the Word.
Now to specifically reply to your
comment: I am persuaded that Romans 8:26-27 (the passage you make reference
to) refers to the Holy Spirit doing a good work on behalf of saints
(Christians) and does not have to do with Him doing a work
within us (i.e., indwelling) in
which the Spirit directly or personally indwells us to enable us to pray as
we ought separate and apart from the word of God.
As I emphasized in my lesson, an
indwelling of the Spirit means that He resides or inhabits us in a
figurative, but spiritual sense and influences us for good. The Spirit does
not do this separate from the Word. When it comes to prayer, He is at work
on our behalf, but He is not personally or directly indwelling
our hearts to enable us to pray “as we ought” through such groanings.
I find it interesting that
immediately following Romans 8:26 ("Likewise the Spirit also helps in our
weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the
Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered") the next verse says: "Now He who searches the hearts
knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the
saints according to the will of God" (v. 27, NKJV). While
doing the work of intercession for us in prayer, the Holy Spirit does so
out of respect to the will of God (v. 27b). Jesus is our
only mediator (1 Tim. 2:5), thus the Spirit must do His work through the
work of Christ (Heb. 7:25).
The Holy Spirit dwells only
within Christians (v. 11) because Christians are people who faithfully obey
the word of God. Thus, when Christians pray, they do the best they can to
express themselves unto God according to God’s word. "He (God)
who searches the hearts (cf. Jer. 17:10) knows what the mind of the
Spirit (Holy Spirit) is" (v. 27) - God knows what is in our
hearts -- what our needs and concerns are and what we are trying to express
to Him, yet we struggle sometimes to come up with the right words (even
though we study God’s word regularly).
The argument Paul is making is
not that the groans the Holy Spirit makes are impossible to put into
words or that they are impossible to express by use of words. Bible
translations usually do not do justice to the Greek word being used here
when they say “groanings which cannot be uttered.” This phrase
comes from the Greek word alaleetos defined by Thayer to mean "not to
be uttered, not to be expressed in words." It is not that the groanings
cannot be uttered (as if impossible), but rather that the groanings are
given without words. If the Holy Spirit had so chosen to utter them in
words, He could have done so.
The point is, not just any
groanings does the Holy Spirit give when He intercedes on our behalf.
The groanings are not meaningless because God knows exactly what
these groanings mean as the Holy Spirit makes intercession (as noted above).
Why does the Holy Spirit groan? (i.e., sigh, cry, groan). Because He
recognizes our weakness that we are not able (at times) to pray as we should
and He empathizes with our problems, struggles, and our own “groans” or
cries for help. He therefore assists to help us communicate what we ought
to in prayer to God.
To “pray as we should” will
require that our prayers are in harmony with the word of God or God’s will.
Thus, even the groanings in which the Holy Spirit offers for us will
be expressed in such a way that harmonizes with the word of God. The
fact that the Holy Spirit does this work for us "according to the
will of God" means that God will listen attentively to His petition
on our behalf (cf. 1 John 5:14-15).
Thanks again for your feedback.
In Christian Love,
Mark Larson
Pat's Reply
Mark,
THANKS for your kind response. I agree with what much
of what you said below. I agree that the Holy Spirit could make
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered without
personally dwelling in us, if God wanted to do it that way. The question
is, does He?
I have a written debate (actually a transcript of an
oral debate) at my site with Tom Bright on the "personal indwelling" that
would probably be the quickest thing for you to look at if you wanted to.
You might consider all the passages that tells us that the Holy Spirit is
given to us as a gift if we obey, not something that is equivalent to
obeying.
Your brother,
Pat
Patrick
Donahue
4607 Old Railroad Bed Rd
Harvest, AL 35749
(256) 721-0726
www.BibleDebates.info
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