Does the Holy Spirit 'Indwell' in Christians?

Question:

You have answered several of my questions in the past concerning the doctrine of the Church of Christ. I would like to thank you for your time and attention to these matters. I do have some more questions for you.

I work with several people who attend various local Church of Christ churches. Occasionally we have conversations about Christian doctrine. The topic of the Holy Spirit came up. This inspired me to do a study on what various Churches believe concerning the Holy Spirt. My findings are very interesting. Here is a brief summary.

Pentecostals, Assembly of God, and Church of God believe in a "Baptism of the Spirit" which can lead to manifestations of the Spirit including speaking in tounges and "being slain in the spirit" Fundamentalist such as Baptist and Methodist believe in "the indwelling Spirit". That when a person is saved they receive the Holy Spirt. The Holy Spirit then acts as a comforter and guide. They do not believe in a "baptism of the spirit" but believe that the Holy Spirit convicts a sinner of his sin and when the person responds the Holy Spirt comes and lives or dwells within that person. A Christian can then grow in the spirit by seeking to be led by the spirit or grieve the spirit by living a sinful life.

I have found conflicting viewpoints on several Church of Christ web pages. The strongest viewpoint is that the Holy Spirit was used by God to establish the Church and write the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is no longer active and God uses the New Testament to bring people to Himself. Other Church of Christ seem to lean toward the "indwelling spirit" viewpoint.

Can you explain what the pervailing Church of Christ view is and the scripture interpretations?

Submitted by DH on Oct. 22, 1998.

Answer:  (Given by Bro. Don Raines)

One of the reasons that you might receive differing views from churches of Christ concerning the Holy Spirit, is because we do not have a creed or dogma outside of the teachings of the Bible. Each congregation is automonous and receives its authority from Christ, who is our head.  Therefore, it would be hard to find a congregation of the church of Christ that did not differ on some matters. Having said this, it is with a little saddness to admit that not all members of the Lord's church speak the same thing. (1 Corinthinas 1: 10).

However, the Bible is our absolute standard and authority when it comes to religious matters. On matters of faith and doctrine, Jesus has all authority (Matthew 28: 18-20). This means he has first and last word in religion. The first word is the Bible.  The last word is the Bible!! Creeds, traditions, oral or written, do not have authority over the word of God. Therefore, just because there is some difference fouund among churches of Christ, does not prevent an honest soul from knowing the turth. (John 8: 32). I believe that the scriptures are very clear about the role of the Holy Spirit and our relationship with him.

According to he is given to those who have thru faith, obeyed the commandment to "repent and be baptized for the remission of sins", (Acts 2:38) He indwells in all Christians who are faithful (1Corinthians19-20).   He does not make his presences known by "feelings". Anything that is of the 5 senses, (touch, taste, smell, hear, and see) is not faith. It is sight. (Romans 14: 23) Faith is a "sixth" sense. As Christians, we walk by faith, not sight. To deny his existence or indewlling because we don't "feel" him or because we are not "led" by him is to deny faith itself! How do we know that the Lord created the world in 7 days? By faith!! This truth is not diminished because we did not "feel" the creative power of the Godhead in creation. Because we do not "feel" or "see" the Holy Spirit work in our lives, does not preclude his indewlling. There are so many other things that the Bible reveals about the Holy Spirit and our relationship with him. I'm sure you have researched these truths. We obviously have not attained the unity that Christ prayed fervently for in John 17. Until we do, the world will continue to use our divisions to "prove" that religion is useless.

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