Holy Spirit in You

  • John 14:16 – 17 “And I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
    • Jesus made a distinction between the Spirit being “with” versus “in.”
      • The distinction between prepositions is not consistent throughout the New Testament
        • Matthew 10:19 – 20 “But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak, for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”
        • 1 Peter 1:10 – 11 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
        • Other passages use the words “by”, “with”, or “through” the Spirit (g., 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12:3 – 9, 14:14 – 16)
        • Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
      • This change was to be shortly in the future
        • John 7:37 – 39 On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Spirit was not yet given, for Jesus was not yet glorified.
        • Jesus’ citation is not found in the Old Testament exactly as quoted. A close parallel is Ezekiel 47, in the vision of a colossal Temple that physically would not fit in Israel.  A tradition had arisen within the Feast of Tabernacles in which a procession of priests would bring golden pitchers of water from the Pool of Siloam to be poured out at the base of the altar, symbolizing Ezekiel’s prophecy.  Jesus was announcing the application of Ezekiel’s figurative description of the Eternal Kingdom, the church.  John, writing many years after the Spirit had been given, explained for his readers the timing of that application.
      • Jesus talked about this Helper twice more in the same evening.
        • John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
        • John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
      • The work of the Spirit cannot be clearly separated into “miraculous” and “non-miraculous.”
    • Many events of the past (before the time of John 14) had been attributed to the Spirit. Jesus announced a qualitative difference for the future.
    • Jesus recommended praying for the Spirit (Luke 11:13)
  • In passages in which the Spirit is connected to believers, the context determines which role of the Spirit is in view.
    • Signs and wonders
      • 1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.  And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.  (The following paragraph talks about prophets.)
      • Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
      • Joel 2:28 – 29 (Acts 2:17 – 18)  And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh
    • The indwelling Spirit
      • Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
      • Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
      • 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
      • Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying “Abba, Father.”
      • James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
      • Ephesians 3:16 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.
      • Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
    • Ambiguous (both?)
      • 1 Corinthians 2:4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
      • Galatians 3:2 Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith?
      • Jude 19 These are worldly people, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.
  • Some of the promises specifically related to this new function of the Spirit are:
    • Overcome the flesh (Romans 8:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:8, James 4:5)
    • Strengthened in the inner man (Ephesians 3:14 – 19)
    • The ability to love as God loves (Romans 5:5)
    • Renewed (Titus 3:5)