A STUDY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Part Eight)

By Bob Myhan

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ost professed Christians are in agreement on the fact that the Holy Spirit indwells [dwells in] faithful Christians. In fact, to deny this is to deny the explicit statement of Paul, to wit:

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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. (Rom. 8:8-11)

What professed Christians are not in agreement on is whether the Holy Spirit indwells Christians directly or indirectly, that is, apart from means or by means of some agency. One does whatever he does through means just as surely as he does whatever he does without or apart from means. It is said, “Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples)” (John 4:1-2). He did not baptize anyone personally; rather, He baptized through the agency of His disciples.

It is also said that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1) But this was done “through” His Son (Heb. 1:1-2). We are further told, “All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16), that is, “through” and “for” Jesus, which implies an agent acting on behalf of the Son. It was “the Spirit of God [who] was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1:2) This does not mean that the Father did not create the heavens and the earth. It means that He did so by means of the Son and that the Son did so by means of the Holy Spirit.

The fact that the Father “has in these last days spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:1-2) in no way minimizes the fact that the Father “has in these last days spoken to us.” Likewise, to say that the Holy Spirit indwells Christians indirectly, rather than directly, does not minimize the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who does so. Oftentimes, however, those who believe in a direct, immediate indwelling accuse those who believe in an indirect, mediate indwelling of not believing in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, at all. This is both unjustified and unjustifiable.

Whatever can be said about the nature of God is equally true of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit because each possesses the Divine nature. “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). He does not have flesh, blood and bones (Matt. 16:17; Luke 24:39). This does not mean, however, that God is without form (Phil. 2:5-6). Since the Father and Son are “in the form of God,” so also is the Holy Spirit. Whatever “the form of God” is the Holy Spirit is in it. If this is not the case, why is it not?

God is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10). But this does not mean that the “form of God” fills the universe (see Matt. 6:9).

‘...Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the land which You have given us, just as You swore to our fathers, "a land flowing with milk and honey."' (Deut. 26:15)

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. (1 John 5:7)

As God looks “down” from His habitation in heaven His presence is everywhere though His form is not. Those who defend a direct, immediate [apart from means], personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit, on the basis of His omnipresence, do not make a proper distinction between His presence and His form. It is not His form that is everywhere but His presence. His indwelling is not directly related to His omnipresence or He would necessarily indwell alien sinners, as well as Christians. But, though He is present wherever alien sinners are, He does not indwell them.

Those whom the Holy Spirit indwells do not have His literal form, or essence, in their bodies, for this would result in as many forms of the Holy Spirit as there are Christians. Therefore, it must be the case that the Holy Spirit dwells in Christians through some means. If this is not the case, why is it not?

[To be continued]

DIVINE PROVIDENCE (Part Three)

Providence and Individuals

By Bob Myhan

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s the crown of God’s creation, man exists on two planes - material and immaterial - physical and spiritual. Man alone, of all God’s physical creatures, was given free will. This means, simply, that he may choose his actions. Unlike lower creatures, he has very few instincts.

As a result, man alone has the ability to obey or disobey commands. Adam, for example, could choose to eat from any of the trees of the garden but was forbidden to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9-17). Thus, his freedom was not license.

Two historical accounts demonstrate God’s ability to use the free choices of human beings to accomplish his will for His people. He told Abram,

"Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." (Gen. 15:13-16)

God accomplished this through a series of decisions that were made by a number of people who were seemingly unaware of their part in fulfilling God’s prediction to Abram.

1.  Jacob decided to make Joseph a coat of many colors.

2.  Joseph decided to tell his dreams to his brothers.

3.  Joseph’s brothers decided to move the flock to Dothan.

4.  They decided to put Joseph into a pit, rather than kill him.

5.  Some Ishmaelites decided to pass by on their way to Egypt.

6.  The brothers decided they would sell Joseph into slavery.

7.  Potiphar decided to purchase Joseph as a slave.

8.  Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph and then decided to frame him.

9.  Potiphar decided to put Joseph into prison.

10.    The jailer decided to make Joseph a trustee.

11.    Pharaoh decided to put his butler and baker into prison.

12.    The butler and baker decided to tell Joseph their dreams.

13.    Joseph decided to interpret their dreams.

14.    Pharaoh decided to mention his dreams to the butler.

15.    The butler decided to mention Joseph to Pharaoh.

16.    Pharaoh decided to release Joseph.

17.    Joseph decided to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.

18.    Pharaoh decided to appoint Joseph as Secretary of Agriculture.

19.    Jacob decided to send Joseph’s brothers to Egypt for food.

20.    Joseph decided to keep things in their proper perspective.

There is no reason to think that God forced any of the people involved to make the decisions they made. Of course, He could have influenced some of those decisions. But the decisions were theirs to make. There was the miraculous element in the form of dreams. But those who were given the dreams decided to discuss those dreams with others. And Joseph’s dreams seem to have increased his brothers’ hatred of him. This could have been part of God’s intended purpose in giving Joseph those dreams.

Of this series of events, Joseph later said to his older brothers,

“But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” (Gen. 45:5)

“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Gen. 50:20)

This inspired account demonstrates the truth that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

[To be continued]