Indwelling of the Holy Spirit

Definition and Meaning

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the teaching that the Holy Spirit enters and remains within those who believe in Christ. Protestant denominations broadly regard it as a mark of having become a believer and treat it as a topic where pneumatology and soteriology intersect. Because it refers to the ongoing "state" of the Spirit's presence within the believer, it is often distinguished from the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit, which refer to particular experiences or empowerments.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the Old Testament, the Spirit is chiefly depicted as coming upon particular individuals for tasks entrusted to them. Ezekiel 36:26–27 contains God's promise to put His Spirit within His people. In the New Testament, Jesus says that the Comforter (the Helper), the Holy Spirit, "shall be in you" (John 14:16–17). Paul calls the believer's body "the temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 6:19) and writes, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). Since the Reformation, Protestant theology has presented the indwelling of the Spirit as a basis of faith and of sanctification (the process of being made holy).

Denominational Understandings

• The Reformed tradition, including Presbyterians, holds that the Spirit indwells every believer at the moment of regeneration (the new birth) and that the baptism with the Holy Spirit also takes place at that time, while the filling of the Spirit can be repeated. It also connects the indwelling with the perseverance of the saints, teaching that the Spirit does not depart from true believers.
• The Wesleyan tradition holds that the Spirit indwells the believer at regeneration, while emphasizing a subsequent grace that purifies the heart. The Holiness Church has understood this grace of sanctification in connection with the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
• Pentecostal denominations (such as the Full Gospel churches) distinguish between the indwelling at regeneration and a subsequent baptism with the Holy Spirit that imparts power for service, and they tend to regard speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of that baptism.
• Arminian theology holds that believers who abandon their faith can lose their salvation and therefore differs from the Reformed view on the permanence of the indwelling.

Practice in the Korean Church

The expression "the Holy Spirit who dwells in me" is common in sermons, hymns, and prayers. Baptismal instruction and new-member classes sometimes teach that the Spirit already dwells in a person from the moment of believing in Jesus, linking this teaching to assurance of salvation. At the same time, revival meetings and Holy Spirit gatherings sometimes emphasize experiences of filling and of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. As a result, denominational differences in emphasis concerning the relationship between the Spirit who already indwells the believer and the Spirit who is newly "received" also surface in everyday Christian life.