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Indwelling, Sealing, and Baptism of the Holy Spirit

At salvation, our bodies become the temple of Holy Spirit who begins to live within us

The Scriptures also assert that the Holy Spirit dwells within all believers and is God's seal and deposit securing the complete deliverance He has promised. The Spirit functions in this way from the moment of salvation.

When we first enter the kingdom of God, we are born of the Spirit. John 3:5-8. At that time, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, moves from merely being "with" us to being "in" us, and our bodies become his temple. John 14:17; I Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19-20. It is the Spirit within us that continually reassures us that we are God's children. Romans 8:15-16. Through his Spirit, God dwells in our hearts — our "inner man" — through faith. Ephesians 3:16-17. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. Romans 8:9. The Spirit living within us is God's seal on our lives and his guarantee of what is to come. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 5:5; Ephesians 4:30.

However, this guarantee is not empty — there is more to come. We have not yet been fully redeemed, but now have the Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing that complete redemption. Ephesians 1:13-14. We still have dead bodies which sin is able to influence and control, and must continually choose to be controlled by the Spirit instead. Romans 8:9-11. Though our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we must choose to treat them as such, to glorify God with them. I Corinthians 6:19-20. Although the Spirit lives in us as a guarantee that God will complete his work in our lives, and does not depart when we sin, we can "quench" him by ignoring his moving. I Thessalonians 5:19. We can also grieve him by clinging to bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor or slander as a way of life, Ephesians 4:30, because part of his work is to build all believers together, in unity, into a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:22. The Spirit God has placed within us envies intensely — is very jealous of other things that control us. James 4:5. That is, even though the Spirit lives in us, he is not always in control. He had to be given control for the new birth to take place initially, but we can take back part of that control and sin without ceasing to be God's children or losing the Spirit. His presence in our hearts and his control of our lives are two different things.

NEXT PAGE: The Promised Gift of the Holy Spirit

Ian Johnson & Jonathan Brickman
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