Question: A popular theologian on radio...states that...when Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit being in ...

Question: A popular theologian on radio... states that in 1 Corinthians:6:19What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
See All... when Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit being in us he is using a figure of speech and that the Holy Spirit is not spatially present within the believer...that the indwelling is best described as a relationship...as one would say, “My beloved ones will always be in my heart.” I have always believed that the Holy Spirit, after the new birth...literally abides within the believer in the same way that my soul and/or spirit lives “spatially” within my body. I understand...the use of the word “spatial” is awkward, at best, when attempting to describe the “location” of a spirit being. But is it not correct to say that a human spirit dwells spatially in a body...? I understand that God the Holy Spirit is omnipresent and not limited by time and space, but does He not literally dwell within each believer? Is God joined to me like I’m joined to the Rotary Club in outlook and beliefs, or is it an actual supernatural union as I have always believed the Scriptures teach? Have I been so far afield in my understanding of this doctrine all my life?

Response: We don’t understand how the human soul and spirit live within the body, but they do. Paul describes death as the departure of the soul and spirit from the body to be with Christ in heaven: “absent from the body...present with the Lord” (2 Cor:5:8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
See All...). Paul desired to “depart, and to be with Christ...” (Phil:1:23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
See All...). He contrasted that with abiding “in the flesh” (v 24), again showing that the soul and spirit literally dwell within the body while it is alive, and leave it upon death. Of course, we can’t pinpoint a “location” of the soul and spirit within the body. That the souls and spirits of the redeemed who have died are literally with Christ in heaven is further indicated by the statement that they come with Christ to be reunited with their bodies at the resurrection and the Rapture (1 Thes:4:14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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We have biblical and logical reason to believe that the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ and the Holy Spirit within the believer, which brings life to spirit, soul and body, is no less in each person’s body than is the human soul and spirit. Our bodies, for example, are called “the temple of God” (1 Cor:3:16-17 [16] Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? [17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
See All...); the “body is the temple of the Holy Ghost” (6:19). Paul is specific regarding the body: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ [bodily] from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Rom:8:11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
See All...).

That there is something more than a mere relationship, such as “My beloved ones will always be in my heart,” is quite evident. The believer does indeed have such a relationship, but it is voluntary and by faith, as when Paul prays for the Ephesians, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph:3:17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
See All...). That also would be true of the analogy Christ makes of the believer’s relationship to Him as that of a branch in a vine (Jn:15:1-10 [1] I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. [2] Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. [3] Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. [5] I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. [6] If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. [7] If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. [8] Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. [9] As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. [10] If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
See All...), thus drawing its life and sustenance for victorious living from Christ. This is a faith relationship, and thus the cutting off of the branches that don’t bear fruit and throwing them into the fire (v 6) is due to failure to live by faith a fruitful life; it does not mean that salvation has been lost.

It is clear that there is an indwelling of Christ and the Holy Spirit, however, which is neither established nor maintained by faith. Never are we told that to be saved we must believe that Christ and the Holy Spirit come to live within us. That we are born of the Holy Spirit (Jn:1:13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
See All..., 3:3-8; 1 Jn:3:9Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
See All..., etc.), baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor:12:13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
See All...), sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph:1:13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
See All...) and indwelt by the Holy Spirit is not ours by faith. It is a work God does in all who believe the gospel and who are born again. Indeed, we are told that this indwelling (“the Spirit of God dwell in you...if Christ be in you” - Rom:8:9-11 [9] But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. [10] And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11] But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
See All...) is proof of our salvation and the assurance that we will be raised from the dead. Again, “Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Cor:13:5Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
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Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit “dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (Jn:14:17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
See All...). Surely this difference between being with and in which occurred at Pentecost is more than a deepening fellowship. It cannot relate to the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit, which is always true. Jesus promised that those who believed in Him would have flowing out from within themselves “rivers of living water” (Jn:7:38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
See All...). John explains, “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (v 39). This promised indwelling of the Holy Spirit was so different from the relationship which the Holy Spirit had to the great prophets of the Old Testament that, in comparison, the Holy Spirit had not yet even been given! This indwelling is referred to as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Though “spatial” may not be the proper word, surely God has created a permanent indwelling of the Spirit of Christ and of the Holy Spirit within believers’ bodies — and by faith He lives in our hearts.