What is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

That every true believer in Christ is indwelt by the Spirit of God, and that that Spirit is received when one believes the gospel, Scripture leaves no doubt upon the mind (Acts 10:44; Eph. 1:13; 1 Cor. 6:19; and many other passages). This Spirit is the Spirit of God’s Son, who gives us the consciousness that we are sons, and also the power to take this wonderful place of privilege, enabling us to address God as our Father (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). He is also the seal of God upon us, marking us off as His; the earnest, or pledge, of the inheritance which we shall receive when it is redeemed by power; the anointing that teaches us all things, and who establishes us in Christ, or attaches us firmly to Him; and the One that unites us to Christ, and to all other believers as one body (2 Cor. 1:21-22; 1 Cor. 12:13).

The Spirit of God, as dwelling in us, may be considered in two aspects: for He unites us to the Lord Jesus, so that His presence is intimately connected with life, that life which is in Jesus; John 14:19-20; Gal. 2:20. "He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit"; and further, His presence is that of God in the soul. The scripture, speaking of Him in the first of these characters (which is sometimes linked to the second), says (Rom. 8:2, 9, 10), that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus frees us from the law of sin; so that the Spirit is life because of righteousness. It is, however, also said (v. 9), "if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you"; and then His in-dwelling and action are blended, since (inasmuch as both are manifested by the formation of the character of Christ in the soul) "the Spirit of God" becomes "the Spirit of Christ." The "Christ in you" of verse 10 expresses the idea more clearly, especially as the apostle adds, "if Christ be in you, the Spirit is life." But in verse 16 the Holy Ghost is carefully distinguished from the Christian, for "He beareth witness with our spirit." In verses 26 and 27 the two characters of the presence of the Spirit are there remarkably shewn out in their mutual connections: for "the mind of the Spirit," known to God, who searches the heart, is the life of the Spirit in the saint. But, on the other hand, "the Spirit helpeth our infirmities," and "maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God." The reason of all this is simple. On the one hand, the Spirit is there and acts with power according to the mind of Christ; on the other hand, and in consequence of this operation, the affections, thoughts, and works, are produced, which are those of the Spirit; but yet they are also ours, because we are partakers of them with Christ, "our life" (Col. 3:2-3), for "God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life."

Verse 1 puts us in Christ, this verse Christ in us, which is the Christian state, according to the promise in John 14. It is not the state of soul which is a question here, but the fact of Christ being in us, as the next verse proves, connecting it withal with chapter 6. He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. This cannot be till we have that Spirit. We are not till then in the Christian state as belonging to Christ in fact, even if on the way, like the prodigal. The Christian is always looked at as born again, forgiven, and sealed. That is the Christian state — till then he is not in it. The indwelling of the Spirit is part of the Christian state, as Galatians, Romans, 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 1, and a multitude of other passages, shew.

In addition to being born again and possessing a new nature, a Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, the Comforter and divine Teacher. "The Spirit of truth . . . he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:17). "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God" (1 Cor. 6:19). "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6). This indwelling Spirit gives the believer the affections of a child and the consciousness of being a child of God, bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Rom. 8:16).

He works, as we have seen, before He indwells, grappling with the conscience, breaking the will, and finally producing new birth. This is something like the building of a suitable house for Himself. Then He takes up His abode so that the very body of the believer becomes the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:19). But we must not suppose that this is the end of everything. As indwelling He still works.

It cannot be too clearly understood that this indwelling is not because of anything in us, either at the beginning, or at any stage of the Christian life. From first to last, the Spirit dwells with us because of the unchanging value of the work of Christ. Cease forever to dishonor the value of that work by doubting the presence of this Holy Person. Your feelings, your faithfulness have nothing to do with this basic fact.

11 It is those that are led by the Spirit who are real children of God. And what a blessing! Children of God! This is no vain title. It is to enjoy the love of the Father - it is to be assured of His favour. It is to be accepted in the Beloved. It is to be able to trust ourselves (without the thought that He is imputing to us our sins from which Christ has washed us) to the goodness, to the fatherly affection, of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in the children. He can do so since they are washed in the blood of Christ, He gives them the full assurance that they are the children of God. This is then Christian life. Washed from our sins in the blood of Jesus, the Spirit that dwells in us leads us by spiritual affections, and at the same time gives us the perfect assurance that we are children of God.

But when we meditate on the character of that Spirit who dwells in us, the forms in which He is revealed as acting in our souls, we may then see how much more rich our experiences should be than they are. He is the blessed living power within, giving efficacy to what we have in Christ, if not hindered. God is said to have sealed us with the Holy Ghost. He has in that way, and by that gift, appropriated us individually to Himself. But this seal has a large and a glorious character on it, the impressions of which we should know, and that is our experience. This Seal or Spirit thus given to us is an unction (1 John 2.) As such, He is the power and light of all knowledge in us in the mystery of Christ (Col. 2.) But the Spirit as the unction is in us, to give those materials their real and due power, that they may not lie as cold inert masses in the mere understanding, but affect us as they should, being so Divine and glorious. This Spirit is also a witness (1 John 5.) As such He is the assurance, and rest, and liberty of faith in us. We have the grounds or materials of the full assurance of faith in the person and work of Christ (Heb. 10); but the Holy Ghost is in us as the witness, to give those materials their power, so that our souls may indeed enjoy the rest and liberty, and the blessed stability of heart with which such strong ground of confidence in God should fill us. This Spirit is also an earnest (Eph. 1.) As such He is in us the joy of hope.

It is the Holy Spirit who gives the believer the full assurance of the efficacy of the work of Christ in our behalf and of our acceptance before God in Him. By the Spirit the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and by that same Spirit we are able to call God our Father, to draw nigh to His presence in the holiest of all as His redeemed children, and to worship the Father without fear or trembling (Eph. 1:3-7, Rom. 5:5, Gal. 4:6, Heb. 10:19-22) . The Holy Spirit is the originator in us of all the thoughts, affections, and feelings of love and praise which arise in our hearts in response to the love of the Father and the Son. He is the power for Christian worship, therefore, no one is able to render such to God who is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

All these distinct things, not in the least degree to be confounded one with another, were concurrently accomplished on that day. Further, the Spirit of God was given as the indweller to each one that believed. This was clearly a consequence of the same great truth. Thus we have what was individual and what was corporate, what was universal and what was particular, all made good on this day of Pentecost, but, nevertheless, each to be distinguished from the other. The epistles take up some one, some another part of this vast subject. We shall have a little more detail as to each on some future occasion; but what I wish particularly to dwell on tonight is the grand truth itself of the gift of the Holy Ghost, and this distinguished from any workings of His power by particular members. These gifts differ, but the gift itself is and must be the same Holy Spirit. There are many and wide differences elsewhere, but there can be none here; and this is manifest when the truth is understood that we speak of a divine person, who comes down to dwell in each Christian and in the Church. It is evidently destructive of the truth for one to speak of differences in Him. There may be a variety of forms and measures in which His power is displayed; there may be and are different degrees in which the joy of His presence is entered into; but the fact remains, (and what can be more glorious and blessed than the fact?) that, as to Himself, He dwells equally in every believer who rests now on finished redemption in Christ Jesus.