“What about…”
Aledo Church of Christ
Summer Series
2014
“Trinity” & Holy Spirit
“Define, describe, explain the Holy Trinity”
“How does the Holy Spirit work in us today?”
One Last Thought on the Trinity
Do you have a…
fax?
copier?
printer?
How does the Holy Spirit work in us
today?
If the Holy Spirit is God, then He can
do anything He desires just as the
Father and Son can do.
But, I can only know how God acts if
He chooses to communicate His
actions.
Therefore, I can only know how the
Spirit works from what I read in
Scripture.
“…for all
things are
possible with
God.”
(Mark 10:27,
NASU)
5 Views of the Indwelling of the Spirit
1. Does not dwell in humans at all.
2. Dwells representatively by the Word.
3. Dwells in miraculous measure and empowers
tongues, miracles, etc.
4. Dwells in Christians effecting salvation,
sanctification, and preservation of the saints.
5. Dwells in the Christian literally/personally but in
a non-miraculous way.
Does the Holy Spirit Dwell In Us?
Guy Napoleon Woods
1908-1993
Through the Word only
Bunyan Augustus
"Gus" Nichols
1892-1975
Personally, Literally, but
not Miraculously
Wendell Winkler was the first man I remember talking about the
Open Forum, spirited debate between Gus Nichols and Guy N.
Woods over how the Holy Spirit indwells the Christian. In those
days, despite the vigor with which each man presented his view,
the matter was not seen as divisive or worthy of a breach in
fellowship. So long as the Spirit’s Deity was not denied or so long
as one did not believe that the Spirit miraculously or directly
operated upon the heart of an individual to convert or exert His
will upon that one, the “how” was not seen as crucial. I remember
that many of my role models, Wendell Winkler, Hugo McCord,
William Woodson and Roy H. Lanier, Jr., on one side and Franklin
Camp, V.E. Howard, and Winfred Clark on the other, loved each
other and worked together despite their divergent view on how
the Spirit dwells in us. (Neal Pollard, Bear Valley Bible Institute)
Word Only?
The Spirit
The Word
Strengthens (Eph. 3:16)
Sanctifies (2 Thess. 2:13)
Saves (Titus 3:5)
Justifies (1 Tim. 3:16)
Witnesses to us (Hb. 10:15)
Prompts to love God (Rm 5:5)
Leads as sons (Rm. 8:16)
Raise from the dead (Rm. 8:11)
Strengthens (Eph. 6:10-17)
Sanctifies (Jn. 17:17)
Saves “engrafted” (Jms 1:21)
Justifies (Romans 5:1 w/10:17)
Witnesses to us (Jn. 5:39)
Causes to love God (Jn. 3:16)
Leads us (Psalm 119:105)
Raised from the dead (Jn. 5:28)
Woods, Guy N. How the Holy Spirit Dwells in the Christian.
Haun: Pasadena, TX; n.d., pp. 15-16
Word Only & Spirit Dwells Passages
Passages quoted:
1. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his.” [KJV] Rom. 8:9b
2. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” [KJV] Cor. 3:16
3. Lists: Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 2:22
4. “But do these passages assert the manner or mode of
such “indwelling”? No. They assert a fact, but they do not
indicate a mode.”
Woods, Guy N. How the Holy Spirit Dwells in the Christian.
Haun: Pasadena, TX; n.d., p. 16
Test: “But do these passages assert the
manner or mode of such “indwelling”?
Ephesians 5:18b-19
Colossians 3:16
but be filled with the
Spirit; Speaking to
yourselves in psalms
and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in
your heart to the Lord;
Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in
all wisdom; teaching
and admonishing one
another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual
songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to
the Lord.
Woods, pp. 13-14
Wood’s Conclusion:
“Is this to say that the word
and the Spirit are the
same? By no means. Of
course not. Not at all. It is
to say that the manner in
which the Spirit leads,
guides, directs and dwells
in us is by means of the
word.”
Woods, p. 14
Other Spirit Dwells Passages
1. “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth,
the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you
were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who
is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to
the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of
His glory.” (Eph. 1:14)
2. “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "For the promise is for
you and your children and for all who are far off, as many
as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)
Other Spirit Dwells Passages
3. “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if
indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone
does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong
to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead
because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised
Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
(Romans 8:8-11)
Other Spirit Dwells Passages
4. “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit
of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!””
(Galatians 6:4)
5. “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits
is outside the body, but the immoral man sins
against his own body. Or do you not know that your
body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God…,” (1 Cor. 6:18-19)
6. “For God has not called us for the purpose of
impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this
is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy
Spirit to you.” (1 Thess. 4:7-8)
Other Spirit Dwells Passages
8. “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of
God has been poured out within our hearts through
the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5)
Word Only?
The Spirit
The Word
Strengthens (Eph. 3:16)
Sanctifies (2 Thess. 2:13)
Saves (Titus 3:5)
Justifies (1 Tim. 3:16)
Witnesses to us (Hb. 10:15)
Prompts to love God (Rm 5:5)
Leads as sons (Rm. 8:16)
Raise from the dead (Rm. 8:11)
Sealed by (Eph. 1:13)
“Don’t grieve” (Eph. 4:3)
Strengthens (Eph. 6:10-17)
Sanctifies (Jn. 17:17)
Saves “engrafted” (Jms 1:21)
Justifies (Romans 5:1 w/10:17)
Witnesses to us (Jn. 5:39)
Causes to love God (Jn. 3:16)
Leads us (Psalm 119:105)
Raised from the dead (Jn. 5:28)
Why a reluctance to accept the
“indwelling” of the Holy Spirit?
1. “Some, among us today, are taking such
passages which merely assert the fact, and
from them conclude that because it is said
that the Spirit is in us, it must be literally,
personally, and immediately… It is an
obvious error. It also encourages
Pentecostalism now making great in roads…”
(Woods, pp. 16-17)
Why a reluctance to accept the
“indwelling” of the Holy Spirit?
2. “It is a conclusion which results from
disregard of the personality of the Holy Spirit.
One person, though he may be in another by
his teaching and influence, cannot literally
inhabit another. It is simply and only the
denominational doctrine of the direct
operation of the Spirit on the heart of the
sinner applied to the Christian. It is no less
false because advocated by some brethren…”
(Woods, p. 20)
My Conclusion
1. There is strong evidence in the New Testament
which shows that the Holy Spirit uses the means
of the Word to accomplish His work.
2. There are no passages which specify that the
Holy Spirit is in us only through the Word.
3. There are many passages which specifically state
that the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
4. It is possible to distinguish the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit and miraculous operation of the
Spirit.
Why a reluctance to accept the
“indwelling” of the Holy Spirit?
3. “We earnestly entreat our brethren to avoid
encouraging current Pentecostalism by a
reversion to the denominational doctrine of
special, direct and immediate influence of
the Spirit.” (Woods, p. 24)