THE HOLY SPIRIT: ALWAYS AT HOME
We have physical bodies, but God’s Spirit does not, and that makes it difficult for us to talk about His working in the world. We don’t see Him doing His work. We see only the effects of His working (John 3.8).
God accommodates us in our physicality by describing the work of the invisible Holy Spirit in concrete physical terms. These words are only pictures to help us understand the invisible, not to scientifically describe the way God exists.
For example, the Bible speaks a number of times of the Spirit “dwelling in” us (e.g. Romans 8.9,11; 1 Corinthians 3.16, 6.19). Some people get the picture of the Holy Spirit being confined to the outlines of their physical body.
But isn’t the Holy Spirit omnipresent, i.e. everywhere at once? And if He’s everywhere at once, isn’t He always “dwelling in” everyone – including unbelievers? In what sense, then, does the Spirit “dwell in” each believer? How is that different from His “dwelling in” unbelievers?
These kinds of questions are a concern only to people who take “indwelling” in a rigidly wooden literal sense. But recognizing that the terminology describes how the Holy Spirit relates to us – and not the actual physical form of existence the Spirit takes in the world – makes better sense of the term.
When we say the Holy Spirit “dwells in” a believer, we’re not talking about the Spirit squeezing into the physical confines of my body. We’re talking about the Spirit of God who is always everywhere at the same time relating to my heart and soul and mind in an ongoing and uninterrupted way. For a Christian, the Spirit is not an unpredictably unreliable visitor. The Spirit “resides” in us; He relates in a permanent and reliable way. He is always available to relate to me. I am never out of His presence, His thought, or His concern. When I think and when I pray, the Spirit is always right there to intercede and influence and empower and comfort. I am never alone, never forgotten, and never ignored.
Since God’s Spirit is everywhere He is “in” every unbeliever in the same way that He is in every rock and tree and the most distant of stars. But despite His “presence”, the person that doesn’t know God has no permanent friendly relationship to the Holy Spirit. But the moment a relationship through faith is established between God and a soul, it’s as though a switch is turned on, completing the circuit, and that ongoing permanent relationship to the Spirit begins.
And so, our statement of faith says: We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is…to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
God accommodates us in our physicality by describing the work of the invisible Holy Spirit in concrete physical terms. These words are only pictures to help us understand the invisible, not to scientifically describe the way God exists.
For example, the Bible speaks a number of times of the Spirit “dwelling in” us (e.g. Romans 8.9,11; 1 Corinthians 3.16, 6.19). Some people get the picture of the Holy Spirit being confined to the outlines of their physical body.
But isn’t the Holy Spirit omnipresent, i.e. everywhere at once? And if He’s everywhere at once, isn’t He always “dwelling in” everyone – including unbelievers? In what sense, then, does the Spirit “dwell in” each believer? How is that different from His “dwelling in” unbelievers?
These kinds of questions are a concern only to people who take “indwelling” in a rigidly wooden literal sense. But recognizing that the terminology describes how the Holy Spirit relates to us – and not the actual physical form of existence the Spirit takes in the world – makes better sense of the term.
When we say the Holy Spirit “dwells in” a believer, we’re not talking about the Spirit squeezing into the physical confines of my body. We’re talking about the Spirit of God who is always everywhere at the same time relating to my heart and soul and mind in an ongoing and uninterrupted way. For a Christian, the Spirit is not an unpredictably unreliable visitor. The Spirit “resides” in us; He relates in a permanent and reliable way. He is always available to relate to me. I am never out of His presence, His thought, or His concern. When I think and when I pray, the Spirit is always right there to intercede and influence and empower and comfort. I am never alone, never forgotten, and never ignored.
Since God’s Spirit is everywhere He is “in” every unbeliever in the same way that He is in every rock and tree and the most distant of stars. But despite His “presence”, the person that doesn’t know God has no permanent friendly relationship to the Holy Spirit. But the moment a relationship through faith is established between God and a soul, it’s as though a switch is turned on, completing the circuit, and that ongoing permanent relationship to the Spirit begins.
And so, our statement of faith says: We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is…to indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.